Stanley Reed didn’t dare to say a word and immediately went to the table to pick out a medicine bottle as instructed.

If it hadn’t been for the lightning just now, Raymond Brooks would have thought this was some kind of anime fan meetup or a movie shoot. But as he watched the little imp approach him, hopping step by step, his heart was instantly filled with terror. He wanted to struggle, but his numb body simply wouldn’t obey his brain’s commands.

Stanley Reed walked up to Raymond Brooks, didn’t bother with any blades, and simply extended his sharp fingernail to slash Raymond Brooks’s arm. Blood immediately welled up. Stanley Reed’s beady eyes lit up, and he smacked his lips, squeezing the wound while collecting the blood in a transparent glass bottle.

The bottle was quite large, and by the time it was nearly full, Raymond Brooks was already shivering with cold, his head spinning. When the bottle was finally filled, the little imp smeared the wound as a makeshift way to stop the bleeding, then casually stuck his claw into his mouth to suck on it. That greedy expression, as if savoring the most exquisite delicacy, made Raymond Brooks’s skin crawl.

However, this unnecessary action immediately drew a dissatisfied snort from Albert Harris. Stanley Reed shivered, not daring to hesitate, and quickly poured potion number six into Raymond Brooks’s mouth.

The potion had a faintly sweet aroma as it entered his mouth, but its terrifying effect was the complete opposite. Moments later, Raymond Brooks’s whole body was wracked with excruciating pain, every inch of his skin feeling as if it were being torn apart. It was the first time in his life he had ever experienced such agony, and he couldn’t help but scream.

Raymond Brooks’s pained appearance made Albert Harris look satisfied, as if a grudge had been avenged. He nodded approvingly. “Looks like the rending potion is quite effective. I wonder if it’s the human constitution that’s resistant to the real potion, or if there was something wrong with the last batch?”

Albert Harris knew the strongest effect of the rending potion was yet to come. Uninterested in hearing Raymond Brooks’s screams any longer, he ordered, “Stanley Reed! Take him to the dungeon and keep a close watch on him. Starve him for the night! If he dies during the experiments one day, I won’t mind giving you the corpse as food.”

Stanley Reed was overjoyed and immediately spouted a string of flattering words, but Albert Harris’s tone suddenly turned sinister: “However, if I ever catch you trying to sneak a taste again, you’ll be the next test subject!”

Stanley Reed had spent quite some time in the lab, and recalling the miserable fates of previous test subjects, he trembled in fear, nodding repeatedly. He immediately dragged Raymond Brooks out of the room.

The little imp was surprisingly strong, dragging Raymond Brooks along, bumping and stumbling, until they reached a dark, damp basement, where he tossed him inside.

“Hurry up and die, you wretch! Lord Stanley Reed has never tasted human before!” The little imp, shedding his earlier humble and respectful demeanor in front of Albert Harris, now acted outrageously arrogant, kicking Raymond Brooks a few times, then licking the blood-stained fingers with relish. Greed flickered in his small eyes, but ultimately he didn’t dare defy Albert Harris’s orders. He shut the cell door and hopped away.

Just as Raymond Brooks struggled to turn over, the pain in his body suddenly intensified tenfold, making him scream again. Suddenly, a mysterious voice sounded in his mind: “Unknown toxic substance detected. Absorb and activate the super system?”

Raymond Brooks, writhing in agony, answered absentmindedly. Instantly, a cool sensation spread from his chest throughout his body, and the pain noticeably lessened.

“Insufficient energy supply. System activation progress: 0.5%. More energy required to complete.” Another “ding” sounded in his mind, then vanished without a trace.

Wait, a system? What’s this?

By the time Raymond Brooks came to his senses, the voice never appeared again. Was it just an illusion?

Raymond Brooks didn’t have time to think further, because he was already stunned by the sudden influx of information in his mind. When he first woke up, he’d felt there were many unfamiliar memories in his head, and after all this turmoil, those memory fragments had now been automatically digested and absorbed.

It turned out he was no longer the original Raymond Brooks, but a young man named Arthur, and this wasn’t Earth at all, but a completely different world.

So it really was a soul transmigration! As a homebody who loved reading web novels on Qidian, Raymond Brooks immediately realized what had happened.

Raymond Brooks’s parents had died young, and his only close relative, his grandfather, had passed away last year, so he didn’t have many attachments. The problem was, he’d heard plenty of stories about transmigration and rebirth, but never one this miserable!

From Arthur’s fragmented memories, Raymond Brooks learned that this place was a world of magic. “Arthur” seemed to be a noble descendant, twenty years old, and had been living a comfortable life. Two days ago, while out for a stroll, he was inexplicably teleported to this demon-infested place, captured, and sent to the lab of that fanatic Albert Harris, thus beginning his tragic life as a test subject.

The human world where Arthur lived included humans, elves, dwarves, and other races, but this place was most likely the legendary demon realm, hostile to humans!

The demons were a race of great power, but after losing to the human alliance in an ancient war, they were banished to the harsh abyssal world, with the entrance sealed by a powerful barrier.

Even so, the demons had never given up on returning to the surface. Every five hundred years, the barrier would weaken, marking the start of another great war. But the demons were just as unfortunate—throughout history, they had never achieved final victory.