Barg was a mage apprentice who worked at the secret laboratory. He was once just a street thug that lived in the slum, but one night the boss of the area sought him out.
With trembling legs and a mind filled with panic, he meets the boss. He thought that he would be the only one there, but there were many others that were also summoned.
He still remembered what the boss said at that time. "There's a chance to change your life once and for all."
Then, he provides a vial for each person in the room. "This is your chance, your only chance to change your life, or do you always want to be the lowly thugs you are?" The boss's eyes scrutinized each one of them. "Remember! Fortune favors the brave." The boss smiled without explaining anymore. At that time, he looked at the vial briefly before drinking it in one gulp. If one can change, who wants to be a lowly thug?
Who knew that vial was a spirit-awakening liquid? What was more surprising was that he successfully opened his spiritual space. After all, the chance of opening spiritual space was one in hundreds. If one consumed spirit-awakening liquid without going crazy, one would already be thankful. Not to mention him successfully opening his spiritual space; the goddess of luck must have been smiling brightly at him at that moment.
Sure enough, for everyone who consumed the vials they presented, none of them managed to open their spiritual space. Everyone of them ends up dying or going crazy except one who lost consciousness and started to bleed from his seven orifices; no one knew his condition.
That was how he changed from a street thug to a mage apprentice, and even the boss who previously looked down on him needed to call him sir afterward. Now, another chance was presented to him.
Although he was a mage apprentice, in the laboratory, he was on the bottom of the ladder. Forget about the experiment subject, because even if they are beneath him, he couldn't do anything to them. His superior said that they must ensure the experimental subject's mental state.
So, even though he was a mage apprentice and was revered outside, in the lab he was just an errand boy. Barg was never satisfied with his position and wanted to change it. Now, the chance for it has come.
Fortune favors the brave. He always believes that saying.
After breaking the door key, he pushed open the heavy steel door. A creaking sound was created from the friction between the door and the floor.
His eyes shone with greed at the sight of several experimental subjects lying on the stone bed.
"Luckily no one has retrieved it yet." He said, smiling.
Even though the laboratory was attacked, the first thing he did was not to run away but to come here.
"Everything was for a chance."
Even though the higher-ups tried to hide their experiment, as someone who was not satisfied with his position, he always looked through everything with suspicion. Indeed, it was not for nothing, as he gleaned something about the experiment. Not every experiment, but one with the most precious thing—he didn't know how he even managed to find out about it; maybe the goddess of luck smiled at him again.
Every experiment subject here hides an experiment object in their bodies, and it was that very object that was his goal.
He walked towards the nearest corpse of the experiment subject and took out a knife from his robe. Even as a mage apprentice, he never forgot his roots and always hid a knife on his body for self-defense, and now it was proven to be useful.
Maybe because of greed, the various small explosions, or maybe because of how impatient he was, he didn't check for anything amiss and just started to extract the object.
He tore open the stitches on the corpse's chest without hesitation. Because the body was already dead, the blood didn't squirt out, which made it convenient for him. He reached towards the corpse's chest, more precisely at the corpse's heart, and took out a round object.
"Hahahaha, fortune really favors the brave." Barg laughed wildly. "I never thought those mages would be so crazy as to try to implant a core directly into a human."
Ryan peered through his closed eyes towards a crazy man who laughed wildly. His hands were covered in blood, and he was laughing. If he was not a madman, then who was?
Looking at the bloodied corpse in front of the madman made him shudder.
Just as he was thinking about what the madman was doing, he saw him dig out something from another corpse's heart.
Gulp!
He gulped hard. Luckily the sound of the battle covered it up, or else he would be in big trouble.
He looked up and saw the madman only three people away from digging up his heart.
'What should I do?'
His head began to think about how to survive. Direct battle was a no, as he didn't have any experience; even if he watched many Chinese Kung Fu or Muay Thai films, all he knew was the theory, not to mention whether that theory was real or just fiction. Surrendering was also out of the question; he knew the madman was from the lab, and if he realized there was a successful experiment subject, he didn't know what the madman would do.
So, the only chance for him was a surprise attack. His mind began to think of various scenarios where the chance of surprise attack would present itself.
That's it!
It's alright; it was for survival. He began to reassure and hypnotize himself. After all, he was a modern person who never saw blood, and now facing the fact that he needed to kill someone, even if it was for his survival, still brought him tremendous mental pressure.
He only got one chance. If he failed, his new life would end before it even began. The best scenario would be he woke up in his old apartment after dying, but it was only his wistful thinking. The chance for it happening was negligible.
Step! Step!
The footstep walked closer until it stopped below Ryan.
Barg used his hand to lift the corpse's clothes. He frowned as he felt there was something not right about the corpse. But he didn't have any time for thinking about that, because the corpse suddenly opened his eyes wide and glared at him. At that moment he was stunned still; no one knew whether it was because of fear or surprise.
Now!
Leveraging when Barg was stunned, Ryan's right hand, clutching the scalpel, shot out like lightning towards Barg, leaving little time to evade.
Stab!