Alo explained everything that had happened to Zhang, and he nodded slowly. As soon as Alo finished talking, he said in a worried voice.
"It's been close to two hours since Nakai left with Mana. Do you think he is okay?"
Before anyone else could speak, they heard a knock at Zhang's door and everyone stared at the door before their eyes landed on Wang Bao. Alo instantly pointed at the section under the bed and Wang Bao slid his slim frame under the wood without any hesitation; luckily he had lost some weight since it was a tight squeeze, forcing him to take shallow breaths. While Wang Bao moved, Alo grabbed both Wang Bao and Nakai's bags before throwing them behind Zhang's chair. With Mika and Luka sitting on the bed together, Alo slowly opened the door.The bags were thrown behind Zhang and his chair before Alo opened the door.
In the corridor, the elderly doctor along with two guards were waiting for Zhang to open his door. Alo could see one of the guards was pushing a cart that had their food, and he quietly sighed in relief before greeting the doctor. Four tray were passed to Alo one after the other, and Alo handed them to Mika and Luka who struggled with the weight but Mika was able to get to the table with two trays, while Luka barely made it to the bed with the other two. With their food set, Alo tried to close the door, but the doctor stuck her hand out and asked Alo with narrowed eyes.
"It seems that your human friend has left his bed. Do you know anything about this?"
Alo leaned against the door frame lazily, pretending to think things over before answering in a light voice.
"I don't know about Bao leaving the clinic, but I know that Nakai has gone with Mana to talk about something. Maybe he joined them."
The doctor looked at Alo suspiciously before asking another question.
"And who told you Nakai was with Mana?"
Alo quickly shrugged his shoulders as if it was obvious before replying lightly.
"The intern; I went to see how Bao was doing but he said I couldn't come in."
The doctor looked back at the guards then back at Alo and she sighed, annoyance written on her face. Without bothering to ask any more questions, the doctor ordered Alo and everyone else in the room in a stern voice.
"Until you are told otherwise, you are not to come to the clinic. That goes for everyone."
With nothing more to say the doctor and guards left and Alo closed the door, listening to the other side in case the guards were still present. Luckily he did since he heard the two guards that came with the doctor get into position on either side of the door. Alo motioned for everyone to stay quiet while he pulled a throw blanket from the bed, pushing it under the crack of the base of the door. This wasn't enough to soundproof the room, but it would help muffle their voices if they whispered. While Alo stood back up, Zhang walked over to the bed and helped Wang Bao out from under the bed since he was struggling.
Before they came up with a plan, Alo told everyone to eat first. The meal was some barbecued marinated meat skewers with a few different salads and flatbreads. Everyone shared their meals with Wang Bao since there were only four trays, but even after the generous sized meal, Wang Bao was still hungry. The entire meal, Wang Bao was worried about Nakai and whether Mana was hurting him or not.
As soon as they finished their meals, Alo piled the empty trays on the table before motioning for everyone to get on the bed. To help in soundproofing their plans, Alo draped the blankets over their heads. It was a little stuff with five people breathing the same air and Zhang intermittently let fresh air in by waving the bottom edge of the blanket every few seconds. Speaking in a hushed voice, Alo started coming up with a plan.
"I think it would be best if we look for Kang's wolves first. Nakai is strong and smart; if he finds himself in trouble, more than likely he will have a solution on how to get out of it."
Wang Bao didn't like the idea but he couldn't argue against Alo since he was right. For the second part of the plan, Alo suddenly looked towards Mika and Luka but hesitated, as if he didn't really want to continue. Zhang looked between the mink brothers and Alo, connecting the dots before disagreeing strongly by saying in a firm voice.
"It's too dangerous for them to be involved like that, Alo."
Both Mika and Luka wanted to help in whatever way they could, and they looked at each other before Mika spoke up, determination in his voice when he asked Alo.
"What is it you want us to do?"
. . . . . . .
Nakai was conscious but his entire body was paralysed thanks to the injection. From the sofa, five guards surrounded his limp body while they tried to drag him through the back door in the study beside a large bookshelf. Nakai could see their faces instantly turn red from his size and weight, making him very happy. Slowly the five guards were able to drag Nakai on the ground across the room, but when they got to the door everything became trickier. The guards grunted and huffed loudly while trying to force Nakai's large body into a C shape, wanting to curve him around the bookshelf and doorway in order to get him into the laboratory. The struggle the guards were facing reminded Nakai of the palace; Wang Bao had ordered his guards to transfer him from the dungeons to his bedroom and they had struggled just as much with the task. Had Nakai's face not been frozen in place, he would have been laughing loudly the whole way.
When the guards were finally able to manoeuvre Nakai into the laboratory, more guards were waiting to help lift him onto a large metal table. Nakai cast his eyes around the large circular room and figured this was the same place their medicine was made. There were three scientists inside the room already, and they walked from counter to counter, carrying various containers and glass bottles while wearing white lab coats and safety glasses. On the left side of the table the guards were struggling to get Nakai onto, there was a large glass panel that looked over the other laboratory that was one level lower. Nakai couldn't see much because he was still on the ground, but he could see large screens with different vitals and information on. None of the scientists paid him any attention, as if this was a normal occurrence for them. When Nakai was on top of the table, he could already feel the cold sensation running through his body begin to dull; he thought to himself that Mana's scientists could learn a thing or two from the palace doctor since it took his body a few days to be able to move his toes.
After almost ten minutes of struggling, the guards were finally able to get Nakai onto the table and five of the nine guards left the room. Nakai heard the beeping of key cards being swiped at both exits, and he knew he would need to get a hold of one himself if he was going to escape. At the head of the table, Mana watched over his still body with a dark gaze while a short olive skinned scientist walked over; Nakai moved his eyes along with her movements and saw she was pulling a metal trolley that was holding two thick needles used for drawing blood. Nakai could already feel the blood circulating in his arms and legs, leaving only his torso paralysed but he wasn't scared about the forced draining of his blood. Instead he watched intently while the scientist stuck the needle through his tanned skin, her movements neither quick or slow but very precise. As soon as one IV bag was set up, the scientist walked around to the other side of Nakai and did the same thing. Mana watched closely before stepping away to talk with one of the guards.
The scientist also walked away, letting Nakai's blood empty into the large IV bags. Nakai listened carefully to the contents of Mana's conversation with the guards, and he heard Wang Bao's name being mentioned. Hearing that Wang Bao was being accused of killing the medical intern caused Nakai's heart to jump but he wasn't able to hear much more since Mana and the rest of the guards quickly left.
Once the guards and Mana left, it was only Nakai and the three scientists left. Nakai already knew he would be able to take on the scientists easily, but getting out of the laboratory was something he needed to think about since he had no weapons. While Nakai thought to himself quietly, two scientists came to either side of his body and removed the IV bags that were filled with blood while the third scientist attached another two empty bags. Nakai didn't really pay them attention but he soon realised it was only him and one scientist. Instead of getting off of the metal table, Nakai waited for the scientist to come to him. The IV bags were half way full when she walked over to check on Nakai's vitals. She reached out to check Nakai's pulse on his neck when Nakai punched her in the side of the head. The blow wasn't hard enough to kill her, but she was knocked out, dropping to the floor limply. Nakai quickly sat up and peered through the glass screen; when he saw no one was looking up into the room, he got off of the table and dragged the unconscious woman to a desk beside the study door, hiding her under the desk. Before doing anything else, Nakai made sure to grab her key card and swiped it before entering the study. His body felt a little sluggish because of the amount of blood that had been taken, but Nakai pushed through while he searched through the drawing of Mana's desk.
. . . . . . .
Zhang disagreed with Alo again as soon as he heard the plan but before he could properly argue, Alo told him in a stern yet quiet voice.
"In their mink form they are less detectable, Zhang. With the heightened senses of their beast form as well, it will help us find the wolves and we might end up finding Nakai at the same time.."
Zhang wanted to disagree again but he was cut off by Mika.
"I'll do it. My sense of smell is better than Luka's, plus I'm faster than him."
Alo gave a light smile but he would be lying if he wasn't nervous about his plan; whether it was Luka or Mika, he didn't want anyone to be hurt. With the plan set up, they all moved from out of the stuffy blanket, and Mika changed into his beast form. Wang Bao made sure to grab the wolf's pouch, and Alo helped remove the straps from Wang Bao's backpack so that Wang Bao would be able to wear the pouch comfortably. The pouch wasn't only useful for holding Mika, but also allowed Mika to differentiate the scents of Mana's wolves and Kang's wolves. With Mika and Wang Bao set, Alo warned them seriously so as to make sure they weren't forcing themselves to be brave.
"If you feel you can't do this, come straight back, okay? We can figure something else out. Also Mika, if Wang Bao is taken back to the clinic, run back to the room and we'll go to the clinic for Wang Bao, don't try and fight them alone."
There was no way for Mika to answer Alo, but he gave a small nod to show he had heard him. Wang Bao also replied to Alo, his voice gentle.
"We'll be fine, Alo."
Alo gave Wang Bao a small smile before walking towards the door where Zhang was waiting. On the count of three, Alo pulled open the door and before the guards could turn around, they were hit on the back of the head. Both Alo and Zhang caught a guard each before they fell to the ground and dragged them into the room; Wang Bao then walked out of the room with Mika's head sticking out of the bag on his back. With a few sniffs of the air, Mika found Kang's wolf's scent coming from two directions. The stronger scent was coming from the corridor to their right that would lead them to the main hall and clinic, while the other was down a corridor on their left that looked to go deeper into the mountain. Mika knew it would be too dangerous to go towards the main hall so he hit Wang Bao's left shoulder a couple times, and they started moving. Wang Bao made sure to keep his steps light, wanting to decrease the amount of noise they were making in order to not get caught.
While walking at a quick pace, Wang Bao was grateful Mika was leading the way; they passed through and entered so many corridors, that Wang Bao knew he would've gotten lost if he had gone alone. No one was keeping track of time, but Wang Bao felt they had been walking for too long without seeing anyone, until Mika started gnawing on his shirt. Wang Bao didn't know what this meant and he looked over his shoulder to see what Mika was doing, but he suddenly heard loud laughing echo through the stone corridor. Without thinking, Wang Bao started running down the long cold corridor until he had enough sense to feel Mika scratch his right shoulder. To their right was a large storage room with two rows of shelves going through the middle of the room, and Wang Bao ran inside before closing the door; he made sure to leave a small gap in order to see into the corridor, and it wasn't long before he saw two tall men come closer. Without making any noise, Wang Bao backed into the room and hid behind one of the shelves.
Both Wang Bao and Mika could hear the two men talking between themselves quietly, and they thought they were in the clear once their voices started to grow quieter, but Mika suddenly heard one of the men sniff the air. The men started making their way back down the corridor and it wasn't long before Wang Bao heard the sniffing sound as well. Wang Bao tried to quietly look around for something to cover their scent, but he couldn't find anything. Before Wang Bao could come up with a plan, Mika jumped out of the leather pouch and scurried across the stone ground. Wang Bao wanted to whisper for Mika to come back, but he heard the door suddenly being pushed open fully and the two men entered the room quietly. Just as the men walked into the room, Mika suddenly jumped out at them, biting one of the men in the process; despite having the upper hand of surprise, Mika's small body was quickly caught by the other man but he was able to let out his defensive stench as one last attack.
Both men wretched loudly at the incredible stink hanging in the air, but the grasp on Mika's body never let up. Just when the men were going to leave the room with Mika, Wang Bao backed away from the wooden shelf he was hiding behind and ran as fast as he could towards it, shunting the heavy shelf with his shoulder. Both men turned around at the loud sound while Wang Bao repeated the action again, causing the heavy shelf to fall onto the men with a loud bang. Mika quickly scurried out from under the shelf and out of the room with Wang Bao. However once Wang Bao shut the door behind him, Mika suddenly squeezed his way back under the door. Wang Bao wanted to shout out to Mika, but he heard the lock of the door slide into place, then Mika squeezed his way back out into the corridor, and up Wang Bao's body until he was back in the bag.
. . . . . . .
Nakai couldn't find anything of importance during his search, and he considered whether to leave the study through the long corridor that he had been brought through, or to re-enter the laboratory and see what they were doing on the lower level. In the end Nakai was forced to choose the latter since he could hear the first door being unlocked. The second door to the study was hidden enough for Nakai to allow a small crack, and he listened as two guards entered the room; discussing Kang's wolves between the both of them.
"Kang will be starting to suspect something is up soon; the journey to the base of the mountain only takes a full day, maybe one and a half max but they've been gone for three days now. I heard the leader of their group say when we saved them that Lani is coming back too. We are lucky that Rana is gone but if Lani comes back before we strike? There's no way we'll succeed against Lani."
Nakai continued to listen carefully while the men walked across the room at a casual speed.
"Are you serious? That mut Lani has been gone for six years; I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't transformed since he left, if that's the case then he'll be awkward in his wolf skin. Besides, I say we just kill Kang's wolves now and drop them off of the peak; spill their so called ancestral blood. Ordering Mana to never step foot there, who does that old man think he is?"
Nakai could hear the bitter men draw closer to the door and he softly closed the door before walking back to the metal table. He laid down just in time before the two Werebeasts opened the door, still enamoured in their conversations, however they had changed topics from Kang to Wang Bao, peaking Nakai's interest.
"Did you hear that human is still missing? There was also a mink found in one of the storage rooms but he got away because one of the shelves collapsed. Mana has ordered more guards to patrol the corridors until both of them are found."
Nakai had his eyes closed and he heard both men walk over to him, one guard standing on either side of his head while they talked freely. The man on Nakai's right replied to the other guard seriously.
"What happens once he's caught? He killed that medical intern and is now running loose. I think we should just kill him; what's the point of experimenting on him when he's a threat to us?"
Nakai snapped as soon as he heard the mention of Wang Bao being experimented on, and both guards suddenly found their throats being constricted with Nakai's large hands. His grip on the guard's throats slowly tightened with every passing second as he sat up, a dark expression on his face. Nakai looked between both men with a murderous gaze then asked in a low voice.
"What experiments?"
The man in Nakai's left hand was too preoccupied with trying to breathe while the other man had no intention of speaking; Nakia knew he had been the one to say they should simply kill the wolves and Wang Bao, causing a dark smirk to creep onto Nakai's face. Speaking in a low voice, Nakai asked the calm man quietly.
"Don't want to talk?"
With a change in expression, Nakai tightened his right hand, cutting off the guard's airway completely. Both Nakai and the other guard watched as the man's head swelled with blood, causing his complexion to turn a grotesque red as well. After watching the man struggle, Nakai turned to the now frightened guard while loosening the grip of his left hand; the guard instantly gasped for air while holding onto Nakai's wrist, hoping he would let go completely. Nakai looked a little more relaxed now despite having a man dying in his right hand, and he said to the scared guard in a calm voice.
"Answer two questions and I'll let you live. What experiments and where is the dungeon?"
The man looked at the other guard on the brink of passing out, but he knew there was no hope in saving him. The guard also knew that if he wanted to be the one to survive, he would need to cooperate and hope Nakai would keep his promise. Because Nakai had loosened his grip slightly the guard could talk, but his voice was gurgled and quiet.
"If we can retrieve the poisoned cells from his body then we could potentially grow the plant ourselves."
Nakai felt the man in his right hand go limp, and the thumping heart beat against his fingers was slowly decreasing; he could see the other man was hesitating to tell him the answer to his second question, and he tightened his right hand until they both heard a grotesque snapping of bones. While Nakai let go of the now dead guard, his voice and face darkened when he spoke to the other guard.
"Hurry up, I'm losing patience."
This was more than enough for the guard to loosen his lips, and he stumbled over his words with the same gurgled voice.
"Ah, w-well. The dungeons are under the main hall. Y-You can get there by going u-under the large fire pit...O-or there is a door in, uh, in Mana's bedroom...A-And also one in the laboratory."
Hearing all that he needed to know, Nakai kept his word and let go of the man; loud coughing and gasps instantly sounded through the room before it was suddenly cut short. Nakai had hit the man on the back of the neck, and he stood up from the metal table before grabbing the unconscious guard, placing him beside the sleeping scientist. While Nakai moved, he thought over the possibilities of where Wang Bao would be.
He figured Wang Bao wouldn't head to the main hall since it was the most dangerous option, but it didn't mean Mana's bedroom was any safer. Nakai looked down into the laboratory and counted close to twenty people, half of which were armed guards. Nakai searched both men but they weren't armed; he then stole the keycard from the dead man just in case before bracing himself. After three deep breaths, Nakai's heart rate slowed down and he became more focused. Looking through the glass panel again; The room was also a circle with tall double sided shelves lining the walls; Nakai could see the shelves were pulled away from the walls in order to allow both sides to be used, and this would allow him enough coverage to enter the room. In two large circles around the middle of the room was where all the scientists worked at their desks and workstations, with various bottles and containers spewed across the entire workspace while they analysed different things that Nakai could see. Nakai quickly noted in his head that the guards were stationed around the first large circle of desks before he swiped the scientist's card, and silently moved through the door while staying crouched.
With no one looking in his direction, Nakai quickly moved down the metal stairs and hid behind the closest tall shelf. His first task was to kill one of the guards in order to get a weapon, while also using the shelves to cover him as he moved around the room. Nakai was doing well at staying hidden as he moved towards his target, a bored guard who was leaning against a shelf with a lazy expression, but a scientist suddenly caught sight of him and called out to the guard before he could attack. All of a sudden a flurry of bullets were fired at the place where Nakai had been spotted, but he was no longer there. Nakai had jumped from behind the shelf towards the other end of the shelf, before he reached around the shelf and pulled the stunned guard with him, running around the round room while staying covered by the shelves. While running glass and liquid of various colours sprayed into the air off of the shelves, and while Nakai crouched down to knock the struggling guard unconscious, he could hear a group of scientists yell at the guards, their voices fueled with anger.
"Stop, stop! Go after him, don't destroy our life's work!"
The guards instantly seized fire and ran to the area where Nakai had been spotted, but he was nowhere to be seen. All of a sudden loud gunfire rang through the room and guards fell to the ground dead one by one; the loud gunfire echoed off of the walls, making it hard to hear where the sound was actually coming from. Nakai was able to kill six guards as they scrambled around to find where he was firing from; he didn't bother with the scientists yet since they weren't a threat, and they had all hid under their desks anyway. Nakai continued to run around the edge of the circular room, wanting to reach the entrance in order to take care of any guards that tried to enter, but a guard suddenly spotted him through the gaps in the shelf and opened fire. Nakai was forced to dive away and he found himself under a desk beside a frightened scientist. Without pausing, Nakai looked around quickly, and it wasn't long before he saw the legs of the guard that had shot at him; aiming his gun, Nakai swiftly shot the man's legs before giving a deadly shot to the head when the man fell to the ground in agony.
With two guards left, they frantically ran around the room like headless chickens and it was only a matter of seconds before they were shot by Nakai. With the guards dead, Nakai got out from under the desk and looked towards the entrance, but there was no signs of anyone coming to save the scientists. Nakai then walked to the back of the room while ordering the scientists in a strong voice to stand up. He wasn't in a patient mood and when he saw no one was going to listen to him, he walked forward and kicked one of the desks across the room, revealing a frightened scientist. In a loud booming voice, Nakai shouted again.
"Stand up now!"
Seeing just how strong and angry Nakai was, everyone listened and stood up, their bodies trembling from the fear of ending up like the guards. On the ground, Nakai found a full box of zip ties and he ordered everyone to stand in a line as he tied all of their wrists in front of them; to need so many, Nakai figured they had conducted a lot of experiments on unwilling people. As soon as everyone was bound, Nakai pointed to the ground while asking seriously.
"Where is the entrance to the dungeons? I know there is one in this room so don't try to lie to me."
Nakai wasn't in the patient mood after having to kill so many people as well as knowing that Wang Bao was wandering around by himself; while he waited for someone to answer him, Nakai leaned against the only bare wall in the laboratory. He watched as the scientists looked among themselves before one finally stepped forward with shaky legs. The scientist was around his own age and she slowly spoke to Nakai, though she avoided his gaze with a shameful expression on her own face.
"It's through the wall you're leaning against...But you see, it's not an entrance exactly."
Nakai slowly turned around. At first he couldn't see anything that looked like a door but after close inspection, he could see a faint engraved outline in the shape of a large square in the bottom section of the wall. The woman who had just spoken walked forward and pointed to a small seam where a key card was supposed to slide in and she spoke in a quiet whisper; she was obviously growing more nervous the more Nakai found out about the entrance.
"You use a card to open the passageway."
Nakai dug inside his pocket and pulled out one of the key cards he had then pushed it inside the wall. When the scientist saw Nakai open the shoot, she scurried back to the other scientists, afraid of how Nakai would react. As soon as the key card was pushed inside the wall, the large engraved square glowed white before sliding open. To Nakai's surprise, there were no stairs or elevator, instead there was only a large hole that went down into what Nakai guessed to be the dungeon; there was no actual way of knowing where the hole led unless you willingly jumped down the passageway, since the hole was too dark to see more than a few feet. Nakai was quick to figure out why such an odd entrance way was in the laboratory, and he slowly turned his head to look over at the scared scientists before asking in a dark voice.
"This is a rubbish shoot isn't it?"
All of the scientists avoided Nakai's dark eyes with shameful faces while the scientist that had shown Nakai the entrance answered in a trembling voice.
"...Yes."
Nakai could feel a deep rage begin to burn inside him and he punched the wall with a heavy fist. His sudden burst of violence made the scientists gasp quietly, but they didn't bother to run. With a tight jaw, Nakai started to speak in a quiet voice, but the longer he spoke, the louder his voice became.
"Let me guess, once you were done with Wang Bao, you would simply throw him down here like a piece of trash that was no longer needed. You would've tried to do the same with me too and the others I came with. How many people have you dumped down the hole and forgotten about?!"
His loud booming voice sent chills down everyone's spines until it felt as if their blood and bodies had frozen solid. Nakai didn't bother to continue talking or asking questions, and he lazily aimed the gun in his hand at the scientists, shooting them before they could run or scream. Without wasting another second, Nakai walked around the room collecting all of the guns from the guards; he then pulled all of the dead bodies into a pile and started joining their bodies together with zip ties and belts from the guards. Nakai worked quickly to join everyones legs and arms into pairs and it wasn't long before he had a three tiered mattress of bodies joined together. Nakai knew his method was dark and twisted, but he was too blinded by burning rage; the thought alone of Wang Bao and the others being tested on like lab rats made him see red; what made it worse was that the scientists would simply throw them away once they were useless, and this pushed Nakai to see only red.
With his safety pillow ready, Nakai activated his armour cuff before dragging the pile of dead bodies to the rubbish shoot. He checked the hole once more, but there was no use since it was impossible to see the bottom. Nakai took three slow breaths to calm his racing heart before he gave his body a heavy shove. Holding on for dear life, Nakai suddenly fell down the dark hole. As soon as the rubbish shoot sensed something pass through, the key card was pushed out and the door shut silently.
From the study, Mana along with two guards walked through the door and into the second level laboratory. She had been hoping to see Nakai either dead or on the brink of death, but when she saw the scientist and guard hovering over another dead guard, her eyes bulged wildly, as if they were about to pop out of her skull. Without saying anything, she stomped out of the second level laboratory and into the lower level room. She didn't need to walk far in order to see the aftermath of Nakai's destruction and her bulging eyes blackened while she let out a blood curdling shriek, her skin crawling from the immense anger and frustration caused by Nakai.