Crossing the River by Feeling Snake-chan's Butt

"Are these the drugs Orochimaru used to make you sense Natural Energy?"

Simu looked at the test tubes before him and asked calmly.

The tubes were each about thirty centimeters long and filled with transparent mucus.

Uzumaki Rii nodded. As though recalling some painful memories, her body trembled slightly.

Simu reached out and gently patted Uzumaki Rii's back. Only then did her emotions settle, and she answered:

"During the experiments, Orochimaru would smear these drugs over our bodies, and the Natural Energy around us would automatically surge into us."

"Under the influence of Natural Energy, our bodies would undergo drastic changes, turning us into monsters that went berserk."

"Then... then those who went berserk and couldn't stop would either turn to stone and be crushed, or be used by Orochimaru for other experiments in their monstrous forms."

"The clansmen who came with me all died like that."

Uzumaki Rii blurted it all out in one breath, then collapsed to the ground and burst into loud sobs.

It wasn't that she was mentally fragile. Facing endless experiments and watching her clansmen die one after another had simply put her under unbearable pressure.

The fact that she had not gone mad by now was already a miracle.

That was precisely why she saw Simu, who had saved her, as her only light, even going so far as to say she was willing to become a test subject again.

"Don't worry. From now on, you can choose the life you want."

Simu rubbed Uzumaki Rii's red hair.

Feeling the warmth from his hand, Rii quickly stopped crying and rubbed her cheek against the back of his hand like a kitten.

"I don't want to choose my own life. I only want to stay by Lord Simu's side forever."

Rii raised her head, a