In the laboratory, Saine had Lina strapped to the Laboratory Table, looking down at the figure before him from on high.
To ensure the experiment proceeded normally, Lina wore no clothing.
Fine runic chains appeared around Lina's wrists, the roots of her legs, shoulder blades, back, and other areas.
Set against Lina's fair skin, those black runes lent her an even more bewitching, fallen beauty.
At this moment, the one bound to the Laboratory Table was, strictly speaking, not "Lina," but Mei Kaili.
This old witch had just rejected Saine's proposed trade and cooperation, choosing instead to stubbornly resist.
"Heh heh, boy, when I was rampaging across the Black Domain, you were still wandering some magic academy, for all I knew."
"With those little tricks of yours, you think you can fool me?" Lina's face revealed a trace of mockery as she spoke to Saine.
Mei Kaili was very old—at least tens of thousands of years old.
To swindle an old witch like her, especially one who was also an explorer of Truth Arcana, was no ordinary difficulty.
In a place like the Black Domain, what kind of "dirty work" had Mei Kaili not seen?
In fact, even if Saine had wanted to speak with her in a reasonable, equivalent, and fair manner, this old witch would not have trusted him much.
A woman whose heart was always filled with darkness would let her thoughts scatter first toward the shadows, no matter what she considered or encountered.
And the demands Mei Kaili had made of Saine struck him as far too harsh.
For the sake of self-preservation, this woman refused to leave Lina's soul no matter what.
Moreover, she demanded that Saine sign a Soul Contract with her, placing his soul under her control, before she would "consider" further negotiations