An assistant dragged the corpse away, leaving a wet trail across the floor.
Another assistant carried over a wooden bucket and mop and cleaned the filth off the flagstones.
A rusty smell spread through the air.
No one in the circular hall dared make a sound.
The twenty-odd remaining bandits watched it all unfold, holding their breath for fear they would be next.
"Continue."
The assistants immediately seized the bandit closest to the experiment table. His legs had gone weak, and they practically dragged him over.
"No... don't... I'll do anything... please..."
His pleas earned him no mercy.
Valerius picked up another crystal beaker. The Purple Liquid inside was darker than before, its concentration higher.
"Experiment zero-zero-two. Double the concentration of the culture medium."
An assistant silently took notes nearby, his quill scratching across the parchment.
The same procedure followed: brutal force-feeding.
This bandit's reaction was even more violent than the last one's.
He let out a beastlike growl. His muscles bulged, and the veins beneath his skin stood out clearly, writhing like earthworms.
"How do you feel?" Veylin stepped closer and asked calmly.
The bandit jerked his head around, his bloodshot eyes locking onto Veylin. Hoarse sounds rasped from his throat. He seemed to have something to say, but he had already lost the ability to form coherent words.
"What are you looking at?" Veylin pressed.
"...Tower..."
The bandit forced out a barely intelligible syllable.
Veylin brought up the system interface, and streams of data flashed before his eyes.
[Overall assessment: Mental Corruption (12%)... Mental Corruption (27%)...]
The contamination level was climbing rapidly.
"What tower?"
"...Black... spiral... it's... watching... us..."
His body suddenly arched backward, bending at a horrifying angle as though folding in reverse. The sharp crack of breaking bones was clearly audible.
Then he collapsed