Noticing the noise, the old man didn't pause in his actions. The blade pierced the child's wrist, and blood immediately surged from the child's body, dripping steadily onto the table.
The demonic creatures that were still alive in the cage were stirred into a frenzy by the fresh blood.
The old man squinted as he walked to the cage where Ronan was held, observing his state before grinning grotesquely, "You seem to have caught your breath."
The demon snake was a low-level demonic creature and completely unable to understand human language.
The old man didn't care; he was more like talking to himself, "As long as it survives, the effect of the living Najarala toxin is stronger."
After saying this, he reached into the cage and pulled out a child whose lips has already turned black, his eyes were blank, and doesn't even struggling to his pulling.
With his hand around the child's neck, he placed the child on the table. The child, still somewhat dazed, obediently rolled up his sleeve at the old man's gesture.
"Good boy," the old man said, stroking the child's face before pulling out a piece of hard bread the size of a palm from a drawer. The child eagerly took it, biting down large chunks without any water, and swallowing it whole without chewing.
While the child was eating, the old man grabbed a red demon snake from the cage next to Ronan.
The demon snake thrashed its tail, trying to break free.
The old man held the serpent by its midsection and placed it against the child's wrist.
The red demon snake wrapped around the child first, then opened its mouth and bit down.
The child still eating the bread immediately cried out in pain, dropping the bread to the floor.
"Good boy," the old man said, using his other hand to stroke the child's face, coaxing, "Just endure a bit."
The child couldn't hold back and toppled over in pain.
Seeing that the time had come, the old man grabbed the demon snake by the head, forced it to release its grip, and tossed the serpent back into the cage. He then walked over and yanked the child up from the floor, threatening through the child's cries, "If you cry again, I'll feed you to the monsters."
The child sobbed, his voice growing weaker.
The old man picked up the blood-stained bread from the ground and handed it back to the child, pouring a cup of purple liquid and coaxing, "Drink this; it won't hurt anymore."
The child's body trembled as tears blurred his lips.
The old man half-squatted, using his knee to support himself, one hand behind the child's head while he poured all the purple liquid into the child's mouth.
Then he lifted the child again, ignoring the bleeding wound from the demon snake's bite, and tossed him back into the cage.
After tidying up the room slightly, he looked ready to fiddle with those knives again.
Ronan gathered enough strength to slam against the cage once more.
This scumbag!
He couldn't understand how humans could be so cruel toward a child. In his previous life, although living was hard, he lived in a peaceful era and had never witnessed such a scene.
In his anger, Ronan's head felt hot, and he couldn't be bothered to think much more.
Seeing the old man preparing to use a knife on the other unconscious child on the table, he slammed against the cage violently.
Noticing his growing "excitement," the old man came over with a pouch of powder, saying excitedly, "Good, good, good! The quality is quite good."
The more lively Ronan became, the more accurate the experimental data was, and the old man was extremely pleased.
Ronan saw him blowing the powder in his direction, and soon after the powder drifted in, his consciousness quickly faded away.
The demon snake's body slumped back into the cage, and Ronan was knocked out.
When he finally woke up, he had no idea how much time had passed.
In the innermost part of the room, the groans of children could be heard from inside the cages, while the old man had disappeared, probably back upstairs.
Just as Ronan was about to move, he suddenly froze. He opened his mouth to scream, but all that came out was a "hiss" sound.
He couldn't blame himself; anyone waking up to find a human hand next to them would react the same way. He saw the demon snake gaping its mouth, looking quite strange as it continued to hiss.
Ronan was dumbfounded, and the demon snake's breath trembled violently.
After a long while, the sound of a child coughing brought him back to reality. Inside the cage, a little girl coughed up a large pool of blood, and the other children around her were crying softly.
Only then did Ronan notice the overwhelming stench of blood in the room, so thick that it made it hard for him to breathe.
The hand in the cage was very small, not belonging to an adult. Ronan felt compelled to look at the long table, where the child was already gone. When he glanced over at the cage containing the demonic creatures, he saw it was similar to his own, filled with chunks of meat.
Ronan "vomited," watching the demon snake curve its body, shaking its head vigorously as it opened its mouth wide.
If he wasn't mistaken, it was the child who had fainted earlier... who had already been chopped up by the old man... fed to the monsters. The hand in front of him was likely part of that!
Ronan sat in stunned silence for a long time, listening to the cries of the children while numbly watching the monsters tear at their "food."
He crawled back to the corner of the cage, keeping a safe distance from that hand... He needed to think of a way out.
Acting impulsively like before was completely useless. That old man could easily blow a breath of powder to knock him out again.