Saul’s finger was still pressed against the puppet. He couldn’t decide whether to grab it or let go.
“Why do I keep getting death warnings? Am I just that unlucky, or is this normal in the Wizard Tower?”
Cautiously, Saul slowly loosened his grip, testing the waters. When he didn’t turn into a puppet, lying stiff on the ground, he breathed a little easier.
“Looks like the puppet can’t steal my body on its own. It needs me to open the cabinet… or face multiple puppets at once.”
Saul stepped around the puppet, heading for the small trash bin.
“If you’re not going back into that cabinet like a good little doll, then you’re trash now!”
But he got ahead of himself.
New text appeared on the hardcover book.
[May 21st, Year 314 of the Lunar Calendar
Because you were lazy, you tossed the puppet into the trash bin. Although that is where it belongs, the bin can contain garbage, but it can’t seal a tool.
When you return to the lab the next day, it looks like a hurricane swept through.
An enraged Senior Mark doesn’t listen to a word you say and licks off all your skin, flesh, and organs…
You become a skeleton.
Your left hand is very happy.]
Saul jumped back and snatched up the puppet. “So I die either way? Cabinet or no cabinet?”
He gripped the doll tight, tempted to crush it.
But it was so sturdy he couldn’t even pull off an arm.
Saul gave up.
Especially since he thought the puppet had just smiled at him.
Even without another death warning, he had a gut feeling: smashing the puppet wouldn’t end well.
“How about I take you out of the lab and dump you somewhere?” he thought tentatively.
The hardcover book didn’t give any warnings this time; it quietly retreated into his left shoulder.
“Phew—”
Saul exhaled.
He turned, ready to finish checking the last part of the room and get out of there fast.
But as he turned…
Crash!
Behind him, something clattered loudly to the ground.
The glass cabinet doors were wide open. Puppets lay strewn all over the floor.
When Saul turned around, he locked eyes with one of them.
“Help me, help me, help me…”
“Help me, help me, help me…”
“I want it too, I want it too…”
“Help me, help me, help me…”
In an instant, it was as if hundreds of voices were screaming in his head.
Saul ignored the hardcover’s earlier warning about being killed by Mark tomorrow. he turned to bolt.
But the moment his feet left the ground, he lost his balance and crashed hard onto the floor.
He tried to get up only to find his limbs as stiff as wood.
A numbness crept from his extremities, slowly invading his torso, his brain…
No!
He remembered what Monica had said about meditation. Desperately, he visualized the movements of the walking human monster diagram in his mind.
He had no actual diagram, no crystal orb to assist him but in this life-or-death moment, Saul managed to enter a meditative state.
The chaotic voices dulled but didn’t disappear.
The numbness in his organs began to recede, retreating to his limbs.
If Monica were here, she’d be stunned. Saul’s mental aptitude was even greater than she had imagined.
But he still couldn’t move his limbs were stiff like logs.
Wait, my left hand can still move!
His skeletal left hand remained flexible, capable of gripping and flexing.
Pouring all his strength into that hand, Saul dragged himself along the ground, trying to crawl away from the puppets.
But moving his left hand broke his concentration, and the numbness surged back through his body.
Still, just meditating wouldn’t save him; he'd run out of mental energy and die anyway.
So, Saul stopped meditating altogether. He focused solely on crawling with his left arm, dragging his body forward… inch by inch.
Whenever the numbness reached his chest, he’d pause, meditate again, push it back, and keep crawling.
Back and forth,he crawl, meditate, crawl, meditate he inched his way toward the lab’s door.
Finally, his left hand touched the door.
“Who would’ve thought… that damn live experiment actually saved me.”
The lab door opened inward. Saul would have to pull it open.
He pushed himself up against the wall to grab the handle with his left hand…
And the door swung open on its own.
Mark’s half-face peeked out from behind the door, his wide, eerie eyes staring down at Saul.
“Saul, what are you doing?”
A familiar face, but Saul felt ice in his veins.
From his vantage point on the floor, he could see clearly.
That wasn’t Senior Mark.
Just a thin flap of facial skin, stretching through the crack in the door.
It hadn’t even noticed it had been exposed. It just kept glaring.
“The lab’s a mess. Where do you think you’re going? Get back and clean up!”
Next to the door, the red trash bin suddenly popped open.
Clack!
A pale, bony hand gripped the edge of the bin.
Knuckles bulging, veins popping it was clearly straining, trying to climb out.
Behind Saul came a low, sloshing gurgle. Something was rolling toward him.
His teeth chattered.
Even after becoming a mage apprentice, he was still weak, helpless, and waiting to die.
The hardcover book flew up in front of him again, pages flipping furiously, no pauses.
Each page showed the same giant word:
DEATH
It didn’t even bother describing how he’d die this time.
“Heh… hahahaha…” Saul burst out laughing. “Why is Death always after me? Is my meat that delicious?! Hahahaha…”
He was cracking.
“Come on! Come on, all of you! Let’s go! Let’s see who’s stronger after becoming freaks! Come on! Hahahaha—!”
Bang!
The door suddenly swung wide.
The edge of the door smacked Saul in the forehead, knocking him down.
“Ugh!”
His laugh cut off. He clutched his head instinctively.
“ Wait… I can move?”
The hardcover book quietly retreated to his left shoulder.
No time to check, Saul quickly looked up.
Mark’s half-face was gone.
The door stood fully open, and a man wrapped head to toe in pink bandages stepped inside.
Only a pair of silver eyes remained visible, no ears, no nostrils, not even a strand of hair.
Saul lay half-slumped on the floor, frozen by the silver gaze. His mind went blank. Not even fear remained.
Luckily, the bandaged man just glanced at him, then turned toward the lab and murmured, “Back. All of you, back.”
Then he looked at Saul again. The chill in his gaze melted into something like gentle water.
“A new apprentice. Why are you spending the night in the lab?”
“The night?”
The moment the thought struck him, Saul’s full mobility returned. He felt like himself again.
He looked at the sand timer on the wall.
At some point, it had fallen to the eleven o’clock mark.
“When Senior Mark left, it wasn’t even six yet… How is it eleven already?”
From Saul’s perspective, he’d only been alone in the lab for less than half an hour.
(End of Chapter)