The towering man looked at the startled person in front of him, "An experimental subject?"
Without waiting for Ryan's response, he continued, "Follow me!"
After witnessing the battle, he didn't have a choice but to follow him. He was afraid that rejecting him would be equal to suicide.
He didn't want to die yet after just escaping it with great efforts.
Ryan followed the man with a distance of about a meter and a half. Actually with someone that dangerous, that distance means nothing, but still it gives him a sense of security. Below his clothes, he also didn't forget to grip the knife tightly, something that he took after it flew away from Barg's hand .
He followed the man until they arrived at a place where the 'roof' was missing.
Ryan shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness. He looked at the uncovered sky. The sky was as blue as he remembered, the sun was also still shining brightly up in the sky.
The opening on the surface was not the original exit. The edge of the hole was not even, it was likely that it was torn open forcefully.
"Ah!"
Ryan let out a startled cry as he suddenly felt his body was out of control as he ascended. His feet suddenly left the ground as he 'flew' towards the surface. Ryan was amazed as he looked at the ground that was going farther.
He was flying, not using any support technology but literally flying. After a while, he arrived on the surface.
He looked around, noting that the city was not technologically advanced. Many buildings were still built with stones and woods. But he noticed that it was quite orderly, and the road was also already paved with stones and not a dirt road.
Maybe because he was in the center of the city, so the city planning was good, and there was a lot of street lamps along the road. He couldn't notice what used to light it up, but he guessed it was probably used oil and a lamplighter would light it up every evening.
He looked around and noticed that it was quite clean, trash or other dirty things couldn't be seen on the street.
It was so different from what he saw in the memories. In those memories, the buildings were disorderly, there was a lot of trash along the road, the dirt road was also uneven causing many puddles of water when it was raining.
"We arrived!"
His thoughts were interrupted with the sudden declaration.
Ryan looked at the front where many experiment subjects were gathered. But he didn't see any relief or gratitude on their face. Instead their face was full of fear and wariness. Some children were even bawling their eyes out and crying.
Ryan didn't know what happened as he walked towards them.
"I want to go back, I want to see sister Rose." one of the children suddenly screamed while crying, startling Ryan.
Who is sister Rose?
His mind suddenly conjured up a red haired woman who would play with the children in the underground laboratory. She always had smiles on her face and would play with all the children.
Oh yeah, what was she saying all the time?
'Your dad and mom abandoned you because you are disobedient. As long as you are obedient, sister Rose will play with you. If you are disobedient, then you will be punished and abandoned again, so you must be obedient, okay?'
Thinking about all the things that sister Rose said all the time at the underground laboratory, he realized a frightening fact.
Almost every child in the underground laboratory was sold or abandoned, very rarely they were kidnapped. With everyday interaction and subtle guidance, they had become obedient. Actually the disobedience one would be dealt with quickly.
So, all the children regard the underground laboratory as their home. It was not just because of the sister Rose word, but also because they could have a full meal everyday just at the cost of consuming some bitter pills.
In this world where the poor couldn't even fill their stomach, it was such a privilege to have their fill everyday.
Now, facing destruction of their home. They must feel anger and hatred towards the one who destroyed it, but their fear must overwhelm their other emotions. It was likely because they must have witnessed something when they were attacked. While those who were crying were children who were ignorant and couldn't recognize things.
If it was still the original who came here and not him, he would likely behave like them. Brainwashing was really a frightening thing. If they knew they were treated as guinea pigs, what would they think?
It seems the saying of ignorance is bliss was true.
"Give it to me!" The man suddenly turned towards Ryan.
"What?"
Ryan's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Did he know that he took the cores from the laboratory?
"What's in your hand, give it to me!"
Ryan heaved a sigh of relief. It's not the cores but the knife in his hand.
He reluctantly give it to the man.
After giving the knife, he walked towards the other experimental subjects were, but didn't interact with them and chose to sit alone.
On the other side, the brown haired man walked towards people who had the same attire as him.
"How is it Captain?" one of them asked.
"He escaped."
"What!??! Are you serious?" She seems to be shocked that the Captain's opponent had escaped.
"He used a teleportation scroll." The Captain replied simply.
"We must report it immediately, and let the guards help in exploring the underground."
"Let's do that, those mages likely have already escaped."
"It's alright, even though the director of the laboratory escaped. We still managed to capture a few of their higher ups." She gestured towards a few black robed people who had a chain on their hands.
"Besides, we also managed to get one of their successful subjects."
"It was the only consolation."
Boom!
Suddenly there was a huge explosion, and everyone could feel the earth below them tremble