"Well then... let's head to the underground chambers." Kim Min-sae said with a friendly smile, though her eyes held hidden seriousness. "That's where we'll properly verify your identity... Xiao Yan has already reported everything to me about that strange power you used."
Suddenly, the room's door slid open and Xiao Yan stepped in hurriedly. He quickly bowed to Kim Min-sae. "Reporting, Chief Kim! About The Exiled's invasion and..."
Kim Min-sae raised her hand gently to stop him, a slight smile at the corner of her mouth. "It's fine, Xiao Yan. I already know everything."
Leon's brow furrowed immediately. Huh? Didn't she just say Xiao Yan already reported? Then why is Xiao Yan just now coming to report? Are they putting on some kind of act? He looked at Raven and Cyrus, but both men maintained neutral expressions as if this was perfectly normal.
"Alright, Leon, follow me." Kim Min-sae didn't give Leon time to wonder. She led him to a hidden passage behind a large bookshelf—a sloping corridor that descended deep underground.
When they reached the bottom level, Leon's eyes went wide again. This was a massive laboratory filled with high-tech equipment he'd never seen before. Pale blue light illuminated the entire room. Test tubes of various sizes containing liquids in different colors lined the tables, and in the corner... he noticed several Vine-born specimens lying motionless on operating tables. Some had been dissected, others remained intact but restrained with metal straps.
The smell of disinfectant mixed with something strange permeated the room, making Leon feel slightly uncomfortable.
Then he saw her... A woman in a clean white coat with soft pink hair tied in twin tails, looking cute. But the thick-framed glasses she wore and the "abnormal" smile on her face... made Leon's skin crawl inexplicably.
"Oh! You're here, Chief Kim! And that... my new test subject!" The twin-tailed woman spoke with unnaturally cheerful excitement. Her eyes behind the glasses sparkled when she looked at Leon, like seeing an exciting new toy. Her face wore a smile that seemed... slightly psychotic.
"I'll leave him in your care, Dr. Irin." Kim Min-sae said while patting Leon's shoulder lightly. "Examine him thoroughly to see exactly 'what' he is."
"Absolutely! Don't worry, Chief Kim!" Dr. Irin responded eagerly. "I'll check every nook and cranny of this little guy! Hehehe!" Her laughter sounded even more unsettling.
Leon's face stiffened, his brow twitching slightly. He watched Kim Min-sae walking away with pleading eyes, but she only smiled thinly at him before leaving, abandoning him alone with this strange-acting scientist.
I'm screwed... I'm probably not going to die from Vine-born, but from being experimented on by this crazy woman! Leon thought desperately.
"Alright! Little guy, come lie down on that table!" Dr. Irin said while pointing to a cold metal table in the center of the room.
Leon looked between the table and Dr. Irin's terrifyingly cheerful face. He wanted to run away from this place as fast as possible, but knew it wasn't an option. He reluctantly walked over and slowly lay down on the table, feeling like a lamb walking to slaughter.
"Very good, good boy!" Dr. Irin said while approaching with a strange device in her hands. It resembled something like a heart pump from the old world, but looked more high-tech and terrifying. It had wires tangled everywhere and blue sparks flickering periodically.
She was about to attach the device to Leon's chest...
"Oh! Wait, wait!" Dr. Irin exclaimed, making Leon jump. "Almost forgot... the first step of examination... you need to take off all your clothes first! Hehe!" She grinned widely, her eyes behind the glasses gleaming mischievously.
"What?! Hold on! Everything?!" Leon exclaimed in shock and embarrassment, his face immediately flushing hot. What kind of examination is this?!
Dr. Irin giggled at Leon's panicked expression. "Hahaha, just kidding! Who said to take everything off! Just... take off your shirt!" She winked at him playfully.
Leon sighed in relief... slightly... before reluctantly removing his tattered shirt, revealing his chest and muscles shaped by combat and survival.
"Mmm... quite the physique you have there." Dr. Irin muttered to herself softly as her gaze surveyed Leon's upper body thoroughly. Her face maintained that psychotic-looking smile, making Leon feel cold all over.
Before Leon could steady himself, Dr. Irin immediately attached the strange device to his chest!
Bzzt!
A sound like electric shock rang out, accompanied by pain shooting throughout his body! Leon jumped violently, his body convulsing severely for a moment, all his muscles tensing!
"What... what is this thing?!" Leon cried out in pain and growing fear, feeling more like he was being tortured than examined.
"Don't worry, don't worry," Dr. Irin said in her same cheerful tone. "Just hurts a tiny bit... for accurate test results! Bear with it a little!"
Then she began "pumping" the thing on various points of Leon's body repeatedly!
"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Leon's agonized screams echoed throughout the laboratory! It was pain different from when Vine-born had hurt him... this was pain that came with the feeling of his body being torn apart piece by piece!
For nearly two full hours, Leon endured the brutal "examination" by Dr. Irin, alternating between screaming in agony and passing out periodically... until finally... Dr. Irin removed the strange device from his body.
"Mmm... that should be enough for preliminary data." She said while wiping sweat from her forehead—Leon wasn't sure if it was from hard work or her personal enjoyment.
Leon lay sprawled on the table, looking completely wrecked. His hair was disheveled, his body soaked with sweat, eyes wide and unfocused, his body still trembling slightly from the pain he'd just endured.
"Alright... you can put your clothes back on now, little guy." Dr. Irin said while carelessly tossing Leon's old clothes back to him.
"...Yes..." Leon responded in a hoarse, weak voice. He struggled to prop up his strengthless body to sit up shakily, feeling like his body no longer belonged to him.
After struggling to put his clothes back on with Dr. Irin's curious gaze watching him the entire time, she led him out of the laboratory back up to Kim Min-sae's office.
Kim Min-sae was sitting at her desk leisurely sipping tea. When she saw Leon and Dr. Irin enter, she set down her teacup and looked up.
"How did it go, Dr. Irin? The preliminary examination results?"
"Reporting to Chief Kim," Dr. Irin bowed slightly before handing over some data sheets. "The possibility that this boy is Vine-born or has dormant Vine-born genetics is... zero percent!"
Kim Min-sae calmly took the data sheets and read them, her narrow eyes quickly scanning the text and graphs.
Leon, standing nearby and listening, was shocked with surprise and relief. Zero percent? That means... I'm not connected to Vine-born at all? Then what was that power?
"Hmm... is that so..." Kim Min-sae murmured softly after finishing the report. She looked at Leon with that thin smile at the corner of her mouth again. "Congratulations, Leon... it seems you're not the threat we initially worried about."
Leon felt like a mountain had been lifted from his chest. He smiled with relief for the first time in days. "Then... then I can go back to River Bend now, right?" he asked hopefully.
Kim Min-sae closed her eyes for a moment as if contemplating something, then opened them and turned to smile at Leon... a smile that made him feel cold all down his spine again...
"Hmm... go back to River Bend?" She drew out the words, her eyes sparkling with cunning.
"Such excellent raw material... with extraordinary potential like this... do you think I'd just let you return so easily... hehe."
"Besides, this was only preliminary testing."
She paused for a moment, watching Leon's stunned reaction with amusement before continuing decisively.
"Leon... starting tomorrow... Xiao Yan will accept you as a member of the Witherborn 'Special Operations Unit'!"
Leon's eyes went wide in complete shock! His body froze momentarily!
What...what?! Special Operations Unit?!! What the hell is going on now?!!