...
Clarissa only needed two hours to regain consciousness, realizing she was now in a suspicious and brightly lit place. She roamed her eyes around to check the interior of the room. The place was like a hospital"s operating room, no, a laboratory. There were all sorts of equipment here which she could not even name, all refracting a very cold glimmer to her retinas.
Her brain had to rewind everything that took place at Aurora City before her eyes dilated, allowing her to arrive at a realization.
She was not supposed to be here!
She should not be at this dangerous place!
As the sense of danger began to flood her, she naturally only thought of one thing - to leave!
However, another truth slapped her in the face. She found out that she actually could not move! When she tried to get up, she realized her body was tightly bound to where she was currently lying. Both her hands were on the side, a metal lock securing her waist in place along with her hands. Also, her bare feet were fastened with iron cuffs. Whoever did this to her was definitely treating her like a live human specimen ready for dissection!
"d.a.m.n you, system! Where am I?" she roared in her mind after learning how dangerous her situation suddenly becomes.
Her beautiful and expressive eyes widened and her breathing became slow and heavy, all testifying to her nervousness. Yes, she was nervous, and afraid. After all, no matter how courageous one was, she would still be unnerved if one day she suddenly found herself lying on an operating table.
In her case, the worse happened as the unfamiliar and undesired emotion got amplified by the teleporter"s curse.
"You are in Dr. Lauren"s underground lab. Just in case you"re wondering where you are."
This female voice rang even before the system managed to answer her.
Clarissa stiffened. Seconds later, when she finally thought of turning her head to where the voice came from, she learned it was actually Sofony. Her reactions came out instinctively. She immediately glared at the girl sitting comfortably on a metal bench two or three meters away.
She remembered that everything she went through today was due to this woman and although she knew her complacency was half at fault for what happened, the hatred and annoyance Clarissa felt for the other was more than enough reason to direct killing intent towards her. Therefore she gave Sofony a piercing glare, the kind which blatantly showed how much Clarissa wanted to slaughter her!
Five seconds pa.s.sed in silence. Clarissa ultimately recalled the effect of Leo"s spell on her so she went back to calming herself. Only after that did she remember who she was and what she could do.
She was still a host. And unlike Floyd who was captured after his points got drained until zero, hers were still around 30,000. With this much, escaping was not an impossible task. Hence, she began asking the system for advice and a.s.sistance.
Meanwhile, Sofony oddly didn"t show anything again on her face despite receiving a glare from Clarissa. The girl only remained looking at the other for a while, then looked down to the phone in her hands. Her thumb swiped across the screen. Not long after she typed something on it, a disheveled woman in a long white coat walked in.Clarissa who was busy scouring her shop and inventory for items useful for her planned escape momentarily paused, her eyes going to the woman she immediately a.s.sumed to be the laboratory owner.
Clarissa guessed correctly because this lady scientist was indeed the owner and chief researcher of this underground laboratory. Her name was Lauren Walker, Gio"s cousin from the mother side. She was a biologist whose main job was to dissect and research human specimen in hopes of discovering or furthering people"s knowledge on how to treat cancer and other incurable diseases. Of course, she was also someone dreaming of discovering something not yet discovered by anyone else about a human body. After all, it would be a great honor if she happened to really accomplish that!
Regarding Clarissa"s matter, the only reason she agreed to her demon magnate cousin"s request was that he baited her with information about someone who could heal wounds and diseases in the blink of an eye. The information sounded like bogus, but since it was her cold and silent-type lunatic cousin who attested to it, she reluctantly promised to at least see the specimen. That was why she and her helpers appeared at Aurora City a few hours ago.
What she saw was more like magic though. She had yet to witness the healing part, but just the barrier alone which no one from her cousin"s elite agents could cross already convinced her to accept the task. Naturally, she had considered the possibility of that wondrous barrier being a product of some black technology.
Still, she became very excited at the prospects of studying an unusual human! After all, that was what her cousin whose words weighed more than tons of gold had repeatedly promised!
"Miss Silver, she"s awake. I"m so glad!" exclaimed the woman as she widened her shining eyes. The eyebags under became more prominent due to her action.
"Yeah, she has just woken up. But it also means we can now experiment what I propose to you. I a.s.sure you, it will definitely be amazing. I won"t let you regret cooperating with me, Miss Lauren," replied Sofony who stood up from the bench and walked towards the operating table.
A smile appeared on the white coat wearing woman also marching in great haste to Clarissa"s direction. The expression from Dr. Lauren"s face was seen by the restrained girl. Alarmed by the faint craziness she saw from the woman"s eyes, the girl immediately told the system,
"Hurry up, release me from here!"
Sadly, her system was in the mood to lecture and spout bulls.h.i.ts today.
"Shut up, just do it!"
Clarissa did not care about its taunts anymore. She made it cut off the restrainers and then withdrew an invisibility tool from her inventory.
"Sofony Mendez, you b*tch! I"ll make you pay for this!!! I swear!!!" Although this made Clarissa look like a total madwoman or sore loser, the bound woman couldn"t help but shout this before she went invisible.
In the next seconds that followed, surprise got written all over Dr. Lauren"s face. She could not believe that a specimen she was about to study and dissect suddenly disappeared right before her eyes! Because of this, the bewildered woman"s mind became plagued with questions.
How did that happen? How did her dissection target disappear? Where"s the promised research material now? How about the cure to cancer and the possible key to immortal life? What"s the use of the Albarez" sponsorship if there"s no specimen? Really, what just happened?
Even though she was someone with high IQ, if the matter was not at all logical and could not be explained by science, of course, it would greatly astound her.
The bewilderment even got doubled because she also finally discovered that the metal belt and cuffs on the operating table had been cleanly cut in half! She didn"t even see how that happened?
"Hey, Sofony... this..." exclaimed the scientist, shaking her head repeatedly before turning to the girl next to her.
She then saw that the pretty girl"s face remained stoic as though the scene they witnessed was not in any way shocking. However, Lauren was on the brink of depression because she doesn"t want to lose her research material!
"Hey, Missy, she disappeared..." When Lauren"s spirit came back to her body, she immediately protested. "Gio"s girl! Though you already warned me of some mind-boggling things that I will see... This didn"t come to mind. I thought at worst I"ll only witness someone spitting fire at me! But hey! This is way different! My study subject disappeared! What happens to the promised wondrous body parts? Especially the brain?"
Sofony was silent for five or so seconds, her face turning dark. After conversing with the devil in her head, she frowned, and then replied,
"Actually, she didn"t leave..."