(Continuation of previous events). Pitch darkness everywhere and a loud whistling sound dominates the atmosphere, accompanied by a sharp pain in his head. After an unknown period of time passed. Minutes? Hours? Or days? Ethan slowly opened his eyes to find himself on a chair, feet and hands bound. Ethan began looking around the place, not comprehending the situation he was in. Several minutes after waking up and after fully regaining his senses, expressions of astonishment and shock appeared on his face. He then tried to forcefully break his restraints but stopped when he found he couldn't free himself that way. His heartbeat began to rise, and tension mounted horribly within him. He started quickly examining the place to find himself in a dilapidated room full of dust and cobwebs, with a small lamp barely illuminating the room hanging from the ceiling.
In front of his eyes were iron bars separating his room from a dark corridor where he could barely see anything. Since waking up, he had been wondering: What is this place? And what happened to him to end up here? Ethan tried to get up but couldn't. His restraints were tied too tightly, leaving him helpless and unable to do anything. He remained in that state for some time until suddenly he began hearing strange sounds coming from the walls. Ethan looked fearfully towards the walls. He found nothing strange inside his room, making him think the sounds were coming from outside.
Ethan tried again to force his restraints loose, but ended up falling to the ground with the chair, causing himself more pain. Ethan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began violently jerking his body in a desperate attempt to free himself. But the ropes were tight. Every movement only increased his pain. Sweat began to bead on his forehead from the effort and fear, yet his strength failed him, and he stopped resisting. He remained fallen on the ground, helpless. After several seconds, Ethan began to hear the sound of the iron bars moving, which increased his tension slightly. Ethan slowly opened his eyes and looked directly towards the iron bars. Expressions of terror and horror appeared on his face, and his heartbeats began to accelerate violently at the ghastly sight he saw. Behind the bars stood a humanoid creature without skin, wearing torn pants and no shirt. Where its face should be was a giant ear. The creature grabbed the bars and began pushing them forcefully, trying to get in. Ethan remained frozen in place, terror and tension dominating his body, while the creature continued trying to smash the bars with all its might. Ethan began looking all around the room, searching for anything he could use to free himself. Suddenly, an idea came to him. Ethan tried to rise with all his remaining strength and in one moment intentionally threw himself to the ground, causing a piece of wood from the chair he was sitting on to break with him. He repeated the process several times until all the chair legs broke. Afterwards, Ethan slowly moved towards one of the broken pieces that had pointed ends and tried to grab it. It was difficult at first, but he managed it in the end. He then began carefully trying to use it to cut the ropes binding him. The creature's blows against the bars became more violent, and the sound of metal under the pressure of its grip became clearer. Ethan held the wood piece with difficulty using his fingertips, placed it on the ground with its sharp end pointing upwards, then placed the rope over the wood and with all his strength began pressing the rope onto the wood and rotating it in a circular motion, trying to make the sharp point cut the rope. It took a long time, and the wood fell several times, but he repeated the attempt each time. Finally, the wood weakened the rope, and Ethan managed to free his hands with some force. He then quickly freed his feet, feeling relief and joy afterwards. Ethan looked towards the bars to see the creature still hitting them, but its blows had no obvious or strong effect on the bars. Ethan looked at his hands to find the rope marks imprinted on them, his face showing discomfort from the resulting pain. After several minutes, Ethan noticed the creature had stopped hitting the bars and began slowly moving away from him until it disappeared into the darkness of the corridor, while Ethan watched it with looks of confusion and anxiety. After it left, Ethan slowly approached the iron bars and began searching for a way to get out of there. He looked right and left to find two other corridors like the one in front of him. He tried pushing the bars with all his might, but it was futile. Ethan took a step back, trying to think of another solution. He looked around the room again, trying to find anything that could help him escape. The room was almost empty except for the remnants of the broken chair and thick dust. Ethan lay on the ground, his face showing anxiety as he looked towards the dark corridor. Ethan remained like that for a few minutes. Suddenly, he began to hear footsteps approaching him. He anxiously directed his gaze towards the corridor to see a strange man wearing blue medical clothes, a blue mask, and glasses hiding his eyes. The man approached Ethan's cage, looked at him calmly, glanced at the shattered remains of the chair, then said in a quiet tone, "It seems I will have some trouble with you." Ethan felt anxiety and threat from him, so he quickly went to one of the wooden chair pieces, picked it up, and used it as a weapon. The man lowered his mask, revealing his mouth, then took a whistle from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and blew into it forcefully. But no sound came out, and nothing strange happened because of it, leaving Ethan confused about what he had done. After several seconds, the sound of many footsteps coming from the corridor began to be heard.
The sound of footsteps became clearer and closer. This made Ethan's heart pound violently from tension as he gripped the wooden piece tightly, ready for what awaited him. From the dark corridor, a group of dog-like creatures began to appear, but without fur and more deformed and horrifying. The creatures stood directly in front of the man and began circling him and sniffing him while he remained standing in place, showing no signs of anxiety or fear. The man turned towards Ethan, then took out a small glass bottle containing a strange liquid resembling blood. He threw it at Ethan, shattering it and spilling the liquid on his clothes. Ethan looked at his clothes to find them stained by the liquid. He touched his clothes to notice they had become strangely hotter, which puzzled him. Ethan returned his gaze to the man to find all the dogs looking at him with strange stares. They then began running savagely towards Ethan's cage, terrifying him. The dogs pushed the cage so hard that cracks appeared in the walls connected to it. Amidst all this, the man remained standing in his place, looking at Ethan with cold stares. He then began walking towards the cage, ignoring the pack of dogs. Upon reaching the bars, he took out an iron key, inserted it into the cell lock, and opened the cage for the dogs to enter. The dogs then began entering the room in huge numbers, heading towards Ethan with eyes thirsty for blood. Ethan gripped the wood tightly and began hitting them one after another, trying to defend himself. But they eventually managed to knock him to the ground and began dragging him out of the room towards the corridor. Ethan opened his eyes and in a desperate attempt to escape, grabbed one of the iron bars to stop the dogs from dragging him. He began kicking and hitting them with all his might. But one of the dogs bit Ethan's hand forcefully, piercing the flesh of his arm, causing Ethan to let go of the bars from the intense pain and grab his injured arm while being dragged by the dogs to an unknown place.
After a while, Ethan suddenly felt the dogs had stopped. He opened his eyes to find himself in a grey-colored room with a large lamp in the ceiling illuminating the entire room. Around the edges of the room were a group of worn cloth chairs, and in the center was an iron bed with a strange person tied to it, naked. Ethan tried to get up from the ground but stopped abruptly when he noticed his hand was shackled to the chair with metal restraints, which provoked him. Ethan looked around the room to see the dogs had torn his shirt and were shredding it into small pieces. He also saw a small table in front of the bed filled with sharp medical tools. Ethan took a deep breath, then looked again towards the bed, surprised to see the tied person looking at him with anxious and fearful stares. He then said to him, his face showing seriousness, "Oh, you're awake! That's excellent. We don't have time for talk. You must free me quickly so we can escape from here." Ethan kept looking at him with anxious stares, then gestured with his free hand towards the iron shackles restraining him. The man shook his body violently, causing the bed to shake slightly, then said in a tone laced with anger, "It doesn't matter. Do anything to get free. Cut them. Tear them all. That's more merciful than what this monster will do to us." Afterwards, the man began trying to move his legs with all his strength, but he only managed to move the bed a few centimeters. Meanwhile, Ethan looked at him with bewildered expressions, puzzled by what he was planning. The man continued doing that until he finally managed to knock over the table with the surgical tools, scattering all the sharp instruments around the room. The man looked at Ethan, his face showing exhaustion, then said, breathing with difficulty, "T-take one of those knives and free yourself, then free me! Come on, hurry!" Ethan grabbed one of the knives lying on the ground and began trying to cut the steel cable attached between him and the chair. The man then screamed at him, "What are you doing? Use the knife to open the chains by inserting it into the keyhole and turning it! Hurry!" Ethan began to do as he was told, searching for the keyhole in the lock, inserting the knife inside, and trying to open it. (Sound of door opening) But it was too late. Ethan and the man looked towards the door to see the same man who had kidnapped them. The man took a look at his tools scattered on the ground, then said in a semi-annoyed tone, "You're very troublesome, Lucas. I think I need to punish you." Expressions of terror and fear appeared on Lucas's face. He then began trying to escape his restraints with all his might, screaming hysterically, "You #%$%, what do you want from me? What did I do to you? Get away from me!" The man paid him no attention, then put the table back in place and began picking up his tools from the ground while humming some tune, ignoring Lucas's screams. After the man entered the room, Ethan quickly hid the knife and pretended he had just woken up. After the man finished gathering his tools, he paused for a moment, then lowered a large bag that he seemed to have been wearing recently and placed it aside. The man looked at Lucas with cold stares, then secured his head to the bed using a leather strap. Afterwards, he picked up a black ink pen from the table and began drawing dotted lines around Lucas's right arm, left leg, and both eyes. Lucas kept screaming with all his might, "You madman, let me go! I haven't done anything to you!" Tears even began to fall from his eyes. But the man didn't bat an eyelid and continued what he was doing. The man grabbed a strange syringe filled with a green substance and injected it into Lucas's arm and leg. Afterwards, he took a sharp scalpel and began slowly and deliberately cutting Lucas's arm, ignoring his hysterical screams of pain. While Ethan was trying to free his restraints when he noticed the man wasn't looking at him, his face showed terror and anxiety. Lucas tried to resist, but his attempts were futile. His eyes overflowed with tears, and his body trembled between fear and pain. In despair, Lucas muttered weakly, addressing Ethan, "Please.... do something...." Finally, Ethan managed to free his restraints. He gripped the knife tightly, then looked at the man to find he hadn't noticed his freedom yet. He then began moving silently towards the man, preparing to stab him with the knife. He approached cautiously, each step increasing his tension and heartbeat. The man suddenly turned around. Ethan lunged at him with all his strength and stabbed him in the stomach with the knife, causing him to fall to the ground, blood staining the clothes around the knife. Ethan pulled the knife from the man's stomach and rushed to free Lucas, whose face was pale. His hand had already been cut off, but for some unknown reason, it wasn't bleeding. Ethan began cutting his restraints one by one. But before he could cut the last restraint, Lucas looked towards him and said weakly, "...Watch your back..." Ethan quickly turned around. He found the man trying to stand up while holding his wound. Ethan rushed towards him, kicked him, knocking him to the ground, then quickly returned to Lucas and cut his last restraint. Ethan helped Lucas stand up. Lucas looked towards the man, his face showing hatred and exhaustion, then said, "Kill him.... Kill this monster. He doesn't deserve to live." He then began coughing violently, to the point of blood coming out of his mouth. The man pulled something from his pocket and with all his remaining strength threw it at Ethan and Lucas. The thing exploded, spreading the same red substance the man had thrown earlier on Ethan. Ethan looked at the substance stuck to him, expressions of terror appearing on his face. He then began running quickly while supporting Lucas towards the exit door. At the same time, the deformed dogs smelled the substance and all turned towards Ethan trying to escape and began chasing him. But before they could reach him, Ethan had already exited the room and slammed the door shut forcefully, preventing the dogs from catching up. Ethan looked around to find two corridors surrounding him, one to the right and one to the left. This made him pause for a moment, trying to decide which path to take. After a moment of concentration, he noticed that in the left corridor there were drops of blood extending along its length. This made him remember that the dogs had bitten his left hand, making it bleed almost the whole time, and this led him to conclude that this corridor was the one leading to his previous room. Therefore, he turned right and began walking towards the other corridor. Ethan could barely walk due to Lucas's weight, who could barely move. The corridor was dark, but Ethan's eyes had adjusted to the darkness earlier. A faint light emanated from the end of the corridor, and an eerie silence dominated the atmosphere. Ethan kept glancing back every few steps, ready for any attack or sudden movement. But there was something strange. Ethan noticed that the light at the end of the corridor was getting closer faster than usual. As if it was approaching them, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Ethan continued advancing and approaching the light little by little. Until they were only a few steps apart. At that moment, Ethan froze in place, expressions of tension appearing on his face.
He was now sure... that this wasn't just an ordinary light... It was a semi-humanoid creature wearing all-white clothes. Instead of a head, there was a small lamp illuminating the area around it. The creature continued approaching Ethan slowly while Ethan stood frozen from tension and fear. Lucas was heavy, so they wouldn't be able to escape if it chased them. Therefore, Ethan picked up the knife and prepared for any sudden attack. The creature kept advancing slowly towards them, and with each step it took, Ethan's tension increased. The creature passed slowly beside them as if it hadn't seen them and continued walking until it was far away. Ethan kept looking at the creature, expressions of bewilderment and relief appearing on his face because it had moved away from them. Lucas looked at Ethan and said with difficulty, "We don't have time to stop. Come on, let's move." Ethan steadied himself, then continued walking down the corridor until he reached a large room containing a group of cages with a small lamp emitting a faint light. Ethan entered the room and put Lucas on the ground because he was tired from carrying him and needed some rest. Ethan sat down, exhaustion in his eyes, to rest a little from this tiring day. Lucas opened his eyes and said to Ethan in a calm tone, "I think I told you before there's no time for rest." Ethan looked at him with an annoyed expression but ignored him and remained seated. Expressions of anger appeared on Lucas's face, and he said in an angry tone, "This is no time for pampering or resting! If he catches us, he'll turn us into them." Ethan looked at him bewildered. Lucas continued, "And if you don't know who they are, I mean these." Lucas pointed towards one of the cages. Ethan looked towards where Lucas was pointing and saw him indicating a cage containing a semi-humanoid creature with 6 limbs distributed across its body like a spider, covered in dense hair and with black eyes. Ethan kept looking at the monster for a while, not understanding what Lucas meant, until a few seconds passed and expressions of shock appeared on his face after he understood what Lucas meant. Lucas continued, "I saw it with my own eyes. He's insane. He cut off the limbs of one of his previous victims and reattached them elsewhere, and did other things I can't say. He mutilated him, and that's what he was going to do to me." Then Lucas fell silent, tears streaming down his face, expressions of despair on his face. He then used his remaining hand to get up from the ground and said, "Well, I think I can walk on my own now. Come on, let's try to get out of here." Ethan got up with him, and the two began walking, trying to escape from here. But before they could leave, the creatures in the cages suddenly started moving towards the bars. They emitted sharp, annoying sounds as if asking for help. But their sounds were nothing but groans and incomprehensible murmurs. Ethan turned towards them, looking at them with pity and sadness. Lucas continued, looking at Ethan with exhausted eyes, "These... were once humans. I don't know how long they've been here, but it's clear they have suffered here, and that's what will happen to us if we don't get out." Ethan took a few seconds, looking at the suffering of these tortured humans with pity and sadness, then turned towards Lucas and continued walking, leaving them behind. But before they were far enough away, they began to hear the sound of many footsteps heading towards them. Lucas looked at Ethan with a worried and shocked face, "$#! It's those dogs again! They must have gotten out. Hurry, faster!" Afterwards, the two began running at full speed, trying to lose the dogs. They kept running and turning randomly between corridors, ignorant of where they were going, until they suddenly stopped from exhaustion in front of a door. Lucas opened the door and said in a high-pitched, strained tone while holding the door, "Hurry, get inside!" Ethan went inside, and Lucas closed the door behind him, sat against it to lock it securely, and said while looking at the door, "Well, this will stop them for a whi_" Lucas stopped speaking, expressions of shock and tension appearing on his face. The same happened to Ethan. Lucas put his hand on his face and said in a tone full of shock and confusion, "W...we're back in the same room." They had returned to the very room where they had first met, which shocked them. Lucas continued, "How did this happen?" Suddenly, before Lucas could fully comprehend the situation, the door behind him shattered, throwing him away towards the iron bed, falling to the ground while feeling pain all over his body. Ethan was immediately shocked upon seeing what happened to Lucas, making him turn towards the door to see who had done this. He found the man who had kidnapped them standing there, who had somehow healed his wound. Behind him was a giant creature with a strong body, many hands all over its body, and possessing 5 heads at the top of its body. Ethan stepped back, picked up the knife, and took an offensive stance. The man looked towards Ethan, then picked up a strange device resembling a flashlight but smaller, with a black button in the middle. The man pressed the button, and a red laser beam shot out, directed at Ethan. The monster looked towards Ethan with its differently colored eyes, then began running quickly towards the red light. Ethan tried to defend himself using the knife, but the monster grabbed him in one second using its hands, rendering Ethan helpless. Lucas looked towards Ethan, his face showing pain, then looked towards the man and shouted at him in a tone of anger and fear, "What's wrong with you, you madman? Why are you doing this to us? What did we do to you?" The man directed his gaze towards Lucas and remained silent for several seconds. He took a deep breath, then replied in a calm tone, "I'm sorry for you, really. I don't want to do this, but... I can't help it." Expressions of shock appeared on Lucas's face, and he replied, "What do you mean? If you don't want to do this to us, then stop it." The man replied while wiping dust off his clothes, "I told you I can't. I've tried to stop several times, but I couldn't... It's like an addiction... Every time I perform a procedure, I get a kind of ecstasy... a beautiful, irresistible ecstasy. But its problem is that it's followed by a feeling of regret, which bothers me. I tried to listen to this regret and stop doing this, but I've become enslaved to this feeling and can't suppress it for long." Lucas replied, trying to get up, "I'm not interested in your lusts. We just want to get out of here." The man replied, "And I'm not interested in you. I want my ecstasy... Well, how about I tell you what I'm going to do to you?" Lucas replied, despair on his face, "Just shut up." The man ignored his words and continued, "I will restrain you and this boy, cut off both your hands, and attach them to one of you, then cut off the other's head and attach it to the second body's torso, then_" And before he could finish his sentence, he heard a sound coming from behind him. The man quickly turned around to find Markus standing at the door, looking at him from behind his mask, saying sarcastically, "I thought I was the only one who built secret underground hideouts." The man backed away from Markus and replied with a mixture of calmness and shock, "It's you... How did you get here? I thought I hid the entrance to this place well?" Markus replied, "I guess you didn't notice, but I've been following you since the moment you kidnapped this boy." The man replied, "And you didn't intervene until this moment? You are a strange man." Markus replied, "To be honest, I got a bit lost in this place... Anyway, since I've caught you now, can you remove that mask?" The man replied, "Do you think I'm stupid enough to show you my face so easily?" Markus replied while scratching his head, "It doesn't matter. Your voice makes it clear you're Alexander." Alexander took a deep breath and replied in an annoyed tone, "You are clever, boy. Now let's finish this quickly." Alexander took a whistle from his pocket and began blowing into it. Unlike the first whistle, this whistle produced a loud whistling sound that spread throughout the place. Markus looked towards Ethan, who was being slowly crushed by the monster, for a few seconds, then began walking slowly towards it. Alexander looked at him bewildered and said, "Don't try. You won't be able to free him. That thing is ten times stronger than a normal human." Markus ignored Alexander's words and stopped in front of the monster. Markus pulled his hand back, ready to deliver a punch, then placed his right foot forward while keeping his left foot in place. Suddenly, his hand began shaking violently as if vibrating like a thin wire. In one moment, Markus delivered a powerful blow to the monster's body. The blow caused no external or internal damage to the monster, which made Alexander wonder why Markus had done this. But he was surprised when he saw the monster slowly release Ethan and stand motionless as if unconscious. Ethan fell to the ground, unable to move from the intense pain, while Markus turned towards Alexander and calmly began approaching him. But before he could take a step, creatures resembling the monster he had hit stormed into the room. There were about 4 monsters. Alexander directed the red laser towards Markus, making the monsters head directly towards Markus intending to kill him. But Markus showed no reaction, only staring at Alexander from behind his mask that hid his features. Two monsters tried to attack Markus simultaneously. Both of Markus's hands vibrated, then he delivered a direct blow to the monsters' chests, causing them to fall heavily to the ground with loud thudding sounds filling the room. Meanwhile, Markus stood firm, ignoring Alexander's astonishment. One of the remaining monsters tried to attack Markus from behind, but he quickly turned towards it and delivered a powerful blow to one of its heads, smashing it completely. This made the monster scream hysterically from the pain. Markus's hand vibrated, and he delivered another blow directly to another head, causing it to fall immediately to the ground. As for the last monster, it fell to the ground for an unknown reason. Markus looked at Alexander calmly and began approaching him. Alexander felt threatened and headed towards his table, grabbing a sharp weapon to defend himself. Markus stopped directly in front of Alexander, who desperately tried to stab him with the sharp tool. But Markus twisted his entire arm backwards, breaking it. Alexander began screaming hysterically from the pain, which attracted the attention of Lucas and Ethan, who were watching this scene in astonishment. At the same time, they felt happiness and relief at being saved. Markus approached the suffering Alexander. His hand began vibrating, and he delivered a direct blow to his face.
This caused Alexander to stop screaming and moving for several seconds, as if time had stopped for him. He returned to normal after a few seconds passed. Expressions of bewilderment and shock appeared on Alexander's face, and he said in a surprised tone, "Hey, what's happening? How did you suddenly appear in front of me?" Then he tried to point at him with his broken hand, expressions of shock appearing on his face upon seeing his hand. He said in a terrified tone, "What happened to my arm?! It was fine just now!" Markus's hand vibrated, and he delivered another blow to Alexander's face. Alexander repeated the same thing as before (losing consciousness for several seconds - bewildered by Markus appearing directly in front of him - surprised his hand was broken). Markus repeated this about 5 times while Lucas watched everything with an expression mixed with shock and confusion, thinking:
After receiving the sixth blow, Alexander fell heavily to the ground, unconscious. Markus looked at him, then looked towards Lucas and said in a cold tone, "No need to worry. It's all over." A big smile appeared on Lucas's face as feelings of joy and happiness overwhelmed his heart, as if this was the best thing he had heard in his life.
(End of Chapter)