None of Cassia's questions received an answer. The three figures in white lab coats ahead showed no intention of explaining anything. He could only follow slowly, step by step.
The passage was not long, and suddenly the space widened. Cross-shaped corridors of the underground laboratory stretched out, brightly lit. The pale gray walls had been specially treated to diffuse the glare, making them appear soft rather than harsh.
The corridor branched like a fishbone. Following the elderly professor, Cassia turned down one passage. On both sides, countless small rooms had been partitioned out. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass embedded in the walls, Cassia could clearly see students who had arrived earlier—each bound tightly to a metal table with fine leather straps, as if lashed by invisible chains. Three white-coated staff surrounded every single one of them.
Cassia was still marveling at the sheer number of academy staff when the footsteps before him halted.
"We're here. Please, come in. Welcome to my workshop—though it is but a temporary one."The professor's tone was surprisingly gentle, perhaps in an effort to ease the terror whitening the young man's face.
"Please undress and lie on the metal table."The female nurse's voice was soft, almost soothing.
The laboratory was heated. Cassia did not feel the chill despite lying bare-chested on the icy steel slab. Instead, a faint coolness spread across his skin. He set aside the sheet of paper carrying his will, and with a heavy heart, lay down. The two nurses—one male, one female—fastened him in place with the leather straps. From ankles to thighs, wrists to shoulders, even around the neck, his body was bound tight, leaving only his head free to move.
Sensors of various types were then affixed, trailing fine wires of different colors that converged at a machine nearby. Numbers flickered on the display, tracking the state of his body.
The straps pulled so tightly that Cassia's face flushed crimson. A faint panic surged within him.
"Don't be nervous. Just a few minor procedures."The professor put on a mask, then shattered a glass vial with a sharp crack. He drew the pale yellow liquid into a silver syringe, attaching a needle so fine it was nearly invisible under the lights.
"What… what exactly are you doing?" Cassia's gaze swept across the surgical instruments neatly arrayed along the side table. Countless tools, their names unknown, gleamed like precision-crafted art pieces under the sterile lamps. Their points and edges glinted with a coldness sharp enough to pierce skin. The air was saturated with the stinging scent of disinfectant, mingled with chemical odors. Mechanical arms, driven by analysis engines, stood ready like silent executioners.
Whatever this "minor procedure" was, it clearly was not mere medicine.
"Can these operations be skipped?"From the next room came muffled groans. Cassia's chest tightened.
"Of course not," the professor replied evenly. "Do you hear how smoothly it's going next door? If we were to omit these procedures, then the 'Death Declaration Agreement' and the 'Body Disposal Agreement' you signed just now would take effect immediately."
He gave a smile that did not reach his eyes."You understand, don't you? Don't be afraid. As students of the First Three-Star Academy, you must cultivate strong mental resilience. I am, after all, an old professor of the academy. Have you ever heard of a teacher harming his students? Everything we do is for your own good."
He swabbed Cassia's arm with alcohol-soaked cotton. The icy burn spread swiftly through Cassia's veins, making him shiver. The professor stepped closer, syringe in hand.
"What is that? Professor, make sure you've read the instructions correctly. Don't miscalculate the dosage."Cassia stared at the fine, gleaming needle. He already imagined the sting upon his skin, and his heart quailed at the thought that a single slip might end his life on this steel table.
"Young man, have no fear. These procedures will remake you. When you wake, you'll feel reborn."The professor spoke with such conviction it was almost theatrical, as though swearing to the heavens.
Once more he swabbed the vein. Then, as Cassia's body trembled, he slowly pressed the plunger, releasing the yellow liquid into his bloodstream.
"If there's a reaction, prepare the serum," he instructed the nurses, tossing the empty syringe into a disposal bin. He then retrieved a high-security iron case from a cabinet. Cassia glimpsed it through the corner of his eye—equipped with both passcode lock and card slot. Forced entry would trigger self-destruction, the blast radius enough to devastate tens of meters.
Cassia tried to see what lay inside, but his vision blurred. A heat ignited in his veins—no, in his very bones. His blood felt aflame, fire racing through every vessel. His throat seared with thirst, every breath burned like molten air. His stomach churned violently, nausea wracking him though he had nothing to vomit.
His heart thundered wildly. On the monitor, the pulse neared 220 beats per minute—the threshold of human endurance. Cassia gasped desperately, lungs straining for air, yet it was never enough. His face flushed scarlet, edging toward a dark purple. Veins bulged across his forehead, and his eyes filled with blood.
His body screamed like an overloaded engine, ready to collapse. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. Sensation drained from his limbs. He barely registered the needles plunging into his skin, the array of colored drugs coursing into his body. His skin bloomed an unnatural red.
Through the haze, he forced his eyes open. But the light was already retreating, consumed by darkness.
And in that darkness—two golden eyes appeared.
They stared straight into him.
They were not human eyes. Golden brilliance radiated like the sun, yet the black depths around them were as desolate as the ocean floor. The pupils were no longer round, but a scarlet cross, glowing like molten magma, like the sacred blood of a virgin, fierce enough to burn the heavens, deep enough to swallow the earth.
What kind of being owned such eyes? There would never be an answer.
The darkness surged forward and engulfed him. Cassia collapsed into unconsciousness upon the steel table.