Following the staircase, the man in black and the driver quickly arrived in a relatively open space.

This place was originally meant to be a basement of a warehouse, but it was clear that it had not been maintained for some time.

The ventilation system was covered in grease and made creaking noises, the pipes were draped in cobwebs, and occasionally, a few mice would scurry across.

Of course, when saying it was open, it wasn’t absolute. There were some blood-stained instruments and a few operating tables along with matching simple workbenches and electric lights.

However, compared to the space that underground buildings possess, it was still somewhat sparse, occupying only a small corner.

"Put him on the operating table."

The man in black told the driver.

"Why, why not just finish him off?"

The driver looked resentfully at Morlaid, wishing he could eat his flesh and drink his blood.

After all, he had been struck hard on the forehead with metal, a grudge that had to be avenged.

"Killing him would be too costly, better to just turn him into an idiot."

The man in black shook his head.

"Do you need to bring him all the way here just to turn him into an idiot?"

The driver felt something was off because he knew just how formidable the man in black before him really was.

If it was just about making the person in front of them an idiot, there was absolutely no need to go through such trouble to bring him to this place.

Could it be...

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and the driver incredulously watched as the man in black pulled out another handgun.

The smoking gun barrel, the bleeding wound.

"You!"

The driver's eyes widened, completely unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"Some things you don't need to know."

The man in black approached, his fingers piercing into the driver's chest, leaning close to whisper in his ear.

"Of course, traitors are not allowed to continue living, did you think I didn’t know you were in contact with those people?"

"I, I didn't..."

"Good, dishonesty is your third biggest sin, so now, you don't even have the chance to leave a last word."

Saying so, the man in black's palm began to exert force.

Amidst the driver's agonized screams, the man in black turned the person in his hands into a dry corpse at an unimaginable speed.

Morlaid, who had tightly closed his eyes, trembled slightly, then stiffened there, reverting to the appearance of someone who had passed out.

The man in black casually threw him aside, and the driver's dry corpse turned into a pile of dust and a bunch of faintly blood-stained clothes with a thud.

At this moment, a gray-haired middle-aged man in a white lab coat, looking like a doctor, emerged from the shadows.

"Your approach is a bit too extreme.

You shouldn't have killed him, and even if you did, you should have left a complete corpse for me to deal with."

"No choice, who asked this traitor to contact the worst kind of imitators, who knows what those on the other side are thinking."

"So, you brought him here to me, intending to turn this person into a plague carrier?"

The doctor pointed to Morlaid, who was placed on the operating table.

"Then give the pursuing security bureau a tough time?"

"People of the Franliska family, I still dare not do anything to him.

But removing a small section of his memory, and then implanting a few parasites, shouldn't be a big deal, right?"

The tone of the man in black did not seem like he was afraid of the Franliska family.

"Heh, I want to remind you, the mistake made in the sanatorium was your doing. If the bishop's plan gets disrupted because of this, you might have to become blood medicine."

The gray-haired middle-aged man said carelessly.

"Actually, I'm quite curious about the effect of the blood medicine you'd make, Mariano."

"Luca, I can help you taste your own first."

"No need."

Luca shook his head, pulling out pale human skin gloves and putting them on his hands.

"You go and keep watch. I don't believe the security bureau hasn't noticed you guys."

"Tsk, the bishop really should revoke that restriction order."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Mariano curled his lips.

"To deal with some ordinary ants, we still need to use weapons made by ants."

"What, you're confident enough to go head-to-head with the silver-armored secret guards of Asflore?"

Luca taunted.

"Hehe..."

Mariano let out a few cold laughs, then left the basement.

Shaking his head helplessly, Luca approached Morlaid with surgical tools.

Just as he bent down to adjust the height of the operating table, Morlaid suddenly grabbed a scalpel from a nearby rack, intending to stab it into Luca's back.

However, just as Morlaid was about to succeed, a ghastly white tentacle burst out from Luca's back, tearing through his lab coat.

This tentacle quickly wrapped around Morlaid's wrist, holding the scalpel, and exerted a sudden force, causing him to cry out in pain, losing control of his hand, and dropping the scalpel to the ground.

"Didn't your parents ever tell you that you must listen to the doctor on the operating table, young man?"

The tentacle that had grown from Luca's back released Morlaid's wrist and retracted back into his body.

"Oh? You seem a bit surprised, is it because of my dear little Mary?"

Luca said, observing the despair in Morlaid's eyes.

"Strange, why would you be surprised? Hmm...never mind, why do I care, I still want to live for a few hundred more years."

Shaking his head, Luca securely tied Morlaid's limbs to the operating table.

"Could you please tell me what happened at the sanatorium? Maybe I could give you a more gentle surgery."

As he spoke, Luca pressed on Morlaid's gunshot wound, rendering him unable to make a sound.

Morlaid could only widen his eyes, his body convulsing, staring dead at Luca.

"Just like this, dear Mr. Morlaid, we can be gentle or aggressive, it all depends on your choice."

After speaking, Luca placed his hand on Morlaid's head, a wave of comfort emanating from the bottom of his heart.

It felt like lying on a cool mat on a hot summer day, as if one's soul was soaking in a hot spring.

"How about it, Mr. Morlaid, shall we make a deal?"

"I think we can also make a deal."

A stranger's voice interrupted Luca's subconscious hypnosis.

The doctor looked up to see several soldiers in black military uniforms aiming their rifles at him, and the one who had just spoken was a young man in a hunter's outfit with black hair.

"Heh, it seems Mariano really is a damn fool."

Luca shook his head, then stepped back, moving away from the operating table.

"Don't move..."

The soldiers' commander was about to order his men to shoot at this extremely dangerous individual, but he was stopped by the young man.

Luca, observing the motionless soldiers, sighed regretfully, then walked into the shadows beside him and immediately disappeared.

The soldiers, although they had been briefed that they were dealing with a non-human monster, were still somewhat shocked and even terrified.

"Continue the search, leave this person to the security bureau to handle."

"Yes, sir!"

The officer saluted and then led the soldiers away from the area.

The young man approached and looked at Morlaid, who had passed out.

"The Franliska family? What's so special about that?"

He placed his hand on Morlaid's chest.

"Strange, just an ordinary person, huh?"

After pondering for a while and not understanding, the young man gave up on further investigation.

There are many mysteries in this world, and certainly, special ordinary people exist, and historically, they are quite common.

People from the Independent Treaty Security Bureau arrived with a stretcher in the basement.

"This is a survivor, and it might be related to the Philmede Sanatorium incident, so be careful."

"Yes!"

Several people from the security bureau nodded, taking the matter seriously. They instructed the person carrying the wireless communication device to quickly leave the underground space to call for reinforcements.

The accompanying medical worker treated Morlaid's gunshot wound briefly, and then the security bureau's personnel carried him away from the site.

A few black steam cars escorted the ambulance in the middle towards the nearest Eske Royal Hospital.

After professional medical treatment, the bullet lodged in Morlaid's arm was removed and placed into a container of blue, clear liquid.

A person in a hunter's outfit quickly took the container and hurriedly left the hospital.

After all, the bullet was fired from Mariano's handgun, and it was uncertain if it had any special properties.

An hour later, after being treated at the hospital, Morlaid finally regained consciousness.

Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, he instinctively tried to prop himself up with his hands.

"Mr. Franliska, I advise you to stay lying down for now. Your gunshot wound has just been treated, and if the wound were to burst open, I'd get scolded by the doctor..."

A person in black said.

Seeing the familiar attire and hat greeting him, Morlaid almost had a reflex reaction.

Fortunately, he realized he was in a real hospital and controlled himself in time.

"Again, the security bureau?"

"Yes, but this time it's the real security bureau."

The person in black emphasized the word "real."

"Phew."

Morlaid sighed in relief, deciding not to sit up anymore, as lying in the hospital bed was quite comfortable.

"By the way, it's now 6:24 PM, Mr. Franliska, would you like some dinner?"

"Yes, thank you."

A quarter of an hour later, with the help of the security bureau personnel, Morlaid sat up.

"What is this?"

He looked somewhat puzzled at the fruit pizza in front of him.

"Oh, this is a new dish concocted by the royal chefs, very effective for vitamin supplementation for patients."

"…So, strawberries, pineapple, mango…just sprinkle them all on top?"

Morlaid pointed at the colorful pizza.

"Yes, doing so enriches the nutrition, what's wrong?"

"…Okay, nothing, nothing."

Morlaid took a piece and ate it.

Although it looked odd, it was surprisingly delicious.

Half an hour later, after finishing dinner, Morlaid leaned against the head of the bed and closed his eyes to rest.

"Mr. Franliska, could you now tell us about the Philmede Sanatorium?"

"…You are really from the Independent Treaty Security Bureau, right?"

"Yes, please be assured."

The person in black took out the security bureau's ID as he spoke.

"Hans, my name is Hans, here's my ID.

I don't think any terrorist organization would bother to fake this, right?"

Morlaid looked at the complex silver seal and a series of special symbols and nodded.

If these could be faked, then the kingdom wouldn't need to continue its standoff with the Norian Kingdom.

The technology for the seal's anti-counterfeiting is said to be producible only by the royal workshop.

"Terrorist organization?"

Morlaid asked curiously.

"The ones who kidnapped me are a terrorist organization?"

"Yes, it's a terrorist organization called the Grave Diggers' Church, particularly fond of capturing vagrants for human experiments. That warehouse was one of their labs.

Of course, the giant sewer centipedes rumored in the streets are likely their doing."

"Then this terrorist organization seems a bit too professional."

"It's an unavoidable situation, as you should know, the turmoil caused by the Nine Nations War a hundred years ago continues to this day."

"Oh, I see, so it's another branch of a restoration organization?"

Morlaid realized.

The Nine Nations War that swept across the Carlan Continent a hundred years ago left many countries destroyed but not completely.

For a century, people have been using the name of restoration to carry out terrorist activities.

This explains the existence of things that shouldn't exist in reality.

After all, it wouldn't be surprising for these restoration organizations to possess some of the biological weapons frantically developed by those destroyed nations at their end, and "Little Mary" might be one of them.

"It is and it isn't, Mr. Franliska, you can consider it similar to terrorist organizations like the Star of Empire."

"Understood."

Morlaid nodded, not delving further.

"The sanatorium incident…"

"Mr. Franliska, there's no need to rush, take your time to remember."

"Alright."

He began to organize his thoughts.

Hans did not disturb Morlaid, instructing his subordinates to start preparing.

A few minutes later, Morlaid took a deep breath.

"Mr. Hans, can we start now?"

"Of course."

Hans opened his notebook and recording device.

"…First off, I saw several people carrying standard Treaty 430 rifles."

Hans' pen paused for a moment, looking up in surprise.

"Standard Treaty 430 rifles? Were they our security bureau's people?!"