"Feed the dogs~ Feed the dogs~"
In the pitch-black room, the Splitter placed all the bottles in the center of the secret chamber, then silently left.
Countless people were bound hand and foot to chairs inside the room. They seemed to be unconscious.
Fan Ye opened his eyes to complete darkness. "Where... is this?"
His head hurt badly. It felt as though a dog had been chewing on his brain.
Fan Ye shook his head and looked at his hands and feet. They were restrained against an iron chair.
This scene, this situation—it made Fan Ye feel like a criminal in an interrogation room.
What exactly had happened?
Fan Ye fell into thought.
He remembered that he had been out on a company team-building event.
Afterward, a white-haired man had greeted him, and Fan Ye had politely responded.
But then, his vision had gone black, and he had passed out.
So, had he been kidnapped?
Fan Ye swept his gaze through the darkness. There were many people there, all fixed to chairs and arranged in a circle.
At the center of the circle they formed sat countless bottles of differently colored potions, their uses unknown.
Just then, the man beside Fan Ye woke up. "Mm... Why am I here? Where is this?"
"Hey, where is this?!"
The man had an extremely loud voice. His shout immediately woke the others.
A black-haired young man with glasses raised his head. "I suggest you stop shouting. If you draw the people who captured us here, you'll be the first one they deal with."
The man frowned at the young man's words. "Huh?"
The bespectacled young man shook his head. "Hard to understand? Well, everyone has a brain, but that doesn't mean everyone uses it."
"Let me tell you what I know. Of course, I'm only saying this for those capable of understanding our current situation."
"I was in Hainan running telecom scams when a white-haired person found me. I thought he was a cop, but apparently he wasn't."
"He snapped his fingers, and I lost consciousness. I don't know what method he used—perhaps drugs, perhaps something else."
"I should've been the first to wake up. Three hours and fifteen minutes have passed so far, and I'm already starting to feel hungry."
"My schedule and meals follow strict routines. I should have just eaten dinner, yet I'm hungry now. That means we've been brought here for more than twelve hours."
Someone in the darkness fell silent for a moment. "You were in Hainan?"
"But I should've been in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam."
"Ha Long Bay?"
"No, no, wasn't I in the Northeast?"
"What month is it now?"
"It's almost September."
"It's cold."
"What's strange about that? In the north, temperatures start dropping rapidly around September."
"Because autumn is coming."
The bespectacled young man frowned. "In that case, we must all be from different regions."
"He was in Vietnam, I was in Hainan, and he came from the Northeast."
"So, what kind of person could travel from north to south in a single day, crossing vast distances to capture us all and bring us together?"
"The Flash?"
No one could figure it out, and neither could Fan Ye. "I was in Ningxia."
"Ningxia? The north?"
"Alright, the range is even wider now."
"Then suppose a group of people set out from here, went to all those places, and captured us. What was their purpose?"
"None of us look particularly wealthy. Why would they go out of their way to drag us here from such distant places?"
Everyone was equally confused. They could not understand why this was happening either.
Just then, footsteps suddenly echoed through the darkness.
The Sequence 009 Splitter appeared and walked straight to the center of the room.
"You're all calmer than I expected. As expected of the superior specimens I carefully selected. Though you can never be as perfect as I am, you're qualified enough as inferior specimens."
The bespectacled young man frowned. "You brought us here?"
The Splitter suddenly walked up to him. "No, no, no. You should say 'sir,' not 'you.'"
The young man's eyelids twitched wildly. He suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Did... did you bring us here, sir?"
The Splitter grinned. "That's more like it. Yes, I brought you here."
"You're more sensible than I imagined. I thought you'd fly into a rage like cats and dogs abandoned by their master."
"I even caught one extra person, planning to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. Looks like I saved myself some trouble."
As he spoke, the Splitter looked directly at Fan Ye. "Oh, right. You're the extra one. Would you all like to see how I kill someone?"
"I prepared it for you, after all. Wouldn't it be a pity not to watch?"
At that moment, a bald man suddenly spoke.
"Can you get to the point? I hate it when people waste my time on irrelevant things."
Smack!
The Splitter suddenly appeared before him and grabbed him by the throat!
"I said, use 'sir.' If you can't remember, I can use you as an example."
The bald man's eyes widened as the suffocating sensation of having his throat gripped flooded over him. "Sir... sir..."
The Splitter released him. "Heh. Since it's your first offense, I'll forgive you this once."
"Since everyone wants to get straight to the point, I won't waste any more words. Do you think the world is really a good place now?"
"Don't answer me. As long as you have an answer in your hearts, that's enough."
"Everyone has thought about defying heaven and changing everything, but very few ever try, because everyone rationally believes it's impossible."
"Yet a small number of people still persist in trying. What they don't know is that this, too, is part of their fate."
"Humans cannot control fate. Your destinies, your lives and deaths, have never been yours to decide."
"But if I said I could give you an opportunity to control your own destinies, how many of you could seize it?"
The crowd was stunned. Seeing this, the Splitter pointed at the potions on the ground.
"Do you see the potions on the floor? Drink them, and you will be reborn, surpass humanity, and take control of fate."
"But the potions are limited. That means some of you won't obtain this power. For those who miss this opportunity, I offer my regrets."
"They are destined never to leave this place."
"Fate has never been fair. There's a button on your chairs. It will light up in three seconds."
"The first person to press the button will be released first. Everyone else, regardless of order, will be released in the second wave."
"Then, begin!"
One. Two. Three!
The instant the buttons lit up, everyone slammed them down almost simultaneously.
But only the restraints on the bald man's chair opened. Clearly, he had pressed his button the fastest.
"Whew..."
The bald man let out a long breath and walked up to the Splitter.
The Splitter smiled at him. "Choose, first one."
The bald man was all muscle. Without another word, he swung his fist at the Splitter!
"I choose to beat you to death!"