Seeing the scary image of Carla, Xavier took two steps back cautiously. "Wait, what do you plan to do with that knife?" he asked.
Seeing his reaction, Carla snorted. "Do not worry, I won't kill you. You are more valuable to the mistress than you think you are."
Xavier did not understand what she meant by this statement, but hearing it gave him a little bit of comfort,nat least, he wouldn't be killed. As long as he was alive, there was hope.
At this point, he made up his mind to go through anything to survive before the system arrived. Perhaps, after using a character hack on Carla, he might be able to extract as much information as he wanted.
"Lay on the bed behind you," Carla instructed.
Xavier looked at the cold, metallic bed. While it didn't appear rough, it didn't appear comfortable either. It would have been better if it were a proper bed. Seeing he had no choice in the matter, he gave up on comfort and lay on the bed with his stomach facing the ceiling. The coldness of the bed bore deep into his back, causing him to flinch a bit.
After he lay on the bed, suddenly, several long strips of metal appeared out of nowhere, binding his legs and hands to the bed, rendering him immobile.
'This doesn't feel right at all,' Xavier yelled inwardly, feeling the tightness and coldness of the strips that now bound him to the bed.
He was also confused. How did the strips come about automatically? Was this bed operated by electricity or some other power source, or was it magic? He wondered.
On the other hand, Carla began making her way towards the bed gracefully, her eyes fixed on Xavier.
When she was close enough, she whispered, "Open your mouth."
"Why?" Xavier asked. He was a little bit suspicious. He had seen these sorts of scenes in so many movies where a captive is bound and fed poisons or strange potions. If he had the chance, he wouldn't want that to happen to him.
"Just open your mouth," Carla instructed again. This time a frown was on her face, clearly annoyed by his question.
'I have no other choice then. Hope it's not poison,' Xavier opened his mouth wide enough to be fed.
Carla brought the bowl above his face and gently poured the content into his mouth. The content was a strange-looking silvery liquid.
It tasted bitter and sour in Xavier's mouth. He couldn't help but squeeze his face, showing his disgust for the very poor taste of the substance.
But then pain struck him, making him forget about the taste instantly.
Pain exceeding anything he had ever felt coursed through his body. He felt a strong headache, as though something was pounding his brain inside, trying to get out. His lungs weakened as well, and he involuntarily gasped for breath. His vision went black, and his hearing weakened by a large margin.
Every area of his body went through immense pain at the moment, including his internal organs.
'What's happening to me? Am I going to die? Did she actually feed me poison?' While his body went through hellish pain, his mind was active, trying to understand his situation.
Unbeknownst to him, his body was exuding some sort of misty aura.
"T-This aura," Carla stuttered as she observed the color of the misty aura escaping from Xavier.
A black misty aura with traces of red and white could be seen escaping from Xavier's body. It was like smoke escaping from burnt wood.
It wasn't as dense as an actual mist, but it was dense enough to be visible to someone standing over twenty meters away.
Since Carla appeared, she had always been composed. She didn't let her inner emotions get exposed by her outward expressions, making her difficult to predict.
Nevertheless, seeing the reaction from Xavier, her body couldn't help but shiver violently, both in shock and with a slight hint of fear. Her words became stutters, and her composure became distorted.
"Dark soul!? This hasn't happened before!" she whispered to herself.
"I need to inform the mistress immediately!"
Saying this, Carla began to float into the air as she flew out of the underground structure, leaving Xavier, who was still in deep pain.
At this moment, the pain in Xavier's body was getting even more unbearable. It was as though he was experiencing a long, painful death, and death didn't appear to be arriving anytime soon.
Apart from the strange black smoke escaping from Xavier's body, everything else seemed normal. His body was even calm and peaceful, a big contrast from the violent pain coursing through him.