行尸走肉第3季

Slowly opening his eyes, Ryan noticed the same screen as he remembered and the familiar words words "Forget" and "Obey" before everything turned hazy.

Ryan felt the "wakener" drug title was misleading because his mind suddenly turned hazy, and his focus was trapped on the images.

He found his eyes forced open by the metal clamp but stayed calm directing his focus inward.

Inside his mind, Ryan saw a jet-black energy streaming toward his brain. Ryan sensed the black energy trying to wrap around his consciousness and start exerting its control. Like a puppet master, the black energy spread out and started directing his consciousness on how to act.

Ryan tried to exert his power over the black energy but couldn't. All he could do is concentrate all his defense on staying aware of what was happening as he gave up fighting.

Slowly he sank deep into a state of trance.

The black energy tried to break his defenses, wanting to control him completely, but since Ryan concentrated all his energy on that one point, he was able to hold on and stay aware.

After the black energy manipulated parts of his brain Ryan didn't know existed, it dissipated.

Ryan then felt as though his consciousness was floating, and he experienced an out-of-body state as he watched himself lying on the table from above.

He saw the screen with the flashing words in front of him and the dark and damp room surrounding him.

Nothing changed until he heard a voice. The voice wasn't from Bee or the other one he had heard earlier. This voice was pleasant and sounded like a heavenly maiden calling to him.

"What is your name?" The voice said.

"Anthony Dire," he heard his body reply.

It was confusing watching and hearing himself talk outside of his body.

His body being shirtless and strapped down to a metal table didn't help either.

"What do you remember about your childhood?"

"Nothing."

Ryan hoped they wouldn't ask him about anything pertaining to the "new" Ryan, as he wasn't sure whether he could manipulate the answers or not.

"Why did you fall unconscious four weeks ago?"

Quickly Ryan exerted control over himself and stopped the answer that was forming.

"I upgraded to F-Rank in cultivation." Ryan decided he had to give them something, and he had already displayed his energy in that room, so he knew they at least had that information on him.

"Like I thought," He heard the voice mutter.

"What feelings do you have for Mara Frost?" The voice asked after several seconds.

pA n,dan(-)0ve1.c0m Ryan was stunned, and in the second, he lost the ability to control the answer coming out of his mouth, "She was my first in this world. I already think of her as mine."

"If you were to learn of a tournament being held for her, one where if you participated and won, you could save her from a lifetime of sadness. Would you risk exposing your secret to win?"

Ryan, who was trying to gain back control over his brain, felt utterly shell-shocked hearing her words but was prepared.

"No."

He said the answer he thought she was looking for, although he wondered what the real answer would be.

"Are you prepared to receive a command?"

"Yes," Ryan answered, eager to finally learn something.

"Your first command is to attend the tournament being held for Mara and participate."

"I will obey." Ryan felt those words suddenly come to him, and he let them out.

"Your second command is to win the tournament and expose your cultivation while fighting the prince."

Ryan was confused as to what the girl was talking about but still replied, "I will obey."

"Your third command is to follow protocol Z when the tournament is over,"

Having no clue what protocol Z was, Ryan could only say, "I will obey."

"Your final command is to forget your entire day thus far. You will not notice any abnormalities and will believe your body needed extra rest today."

"I will obey."

After he replied, he saw Bee come into the room and stick a needle into his arm, and his consciousness faded to black.

===

"Darius, how good it is to see you," Dr. Rubenstein said, "It's been a long time since we've met in person."

Seeing the hideous old woman Darius did his best to keep a straight face, "Yes, it has," he grumbled.

"Yes, well, time waits for no woman. Let's get started," Darius said, trying to get the conversation over with.

"Very well," she said, "As I suspected, subject one fell unconscious due to the effect of achieving F-Rank in cultivation."

"As we know, subject one was close to achieving this before coming into the academy. We are working in unprecedented waters since he is the first male to achieve the ability to cultivate."

"And although we know the reason for his ability to cultivate, we do not know if the pill that woman gave him has unknown side effects."

"Most likely, this is just a one-off occurrence. We tested his energy for any harm done, but it came back clean."

Nodding, Darius asked, "How's his memory?"

"Nice and blank, just as a good boy should be." She said, licking her lips.

Darius felt a shiver down the back of his neck at this old witch saying "good boy" and felt bile fill the back of his throat.

Swallowing it back, he said, "And the grand empress's orders have been followed?"

Showing her two remaining teeth in a wide grin, she said, "Yes, he's ready and set for the event."

"I can't believe we caught such a big break as having one of our biggest obstacles, daughters fall in love with subject one."

"Not only can we complete our original objective, but we can get rid of a thorn in our side that's been plaguing the grand empress for years."

Darius nodded his head, he had to agree.

"I still thank the Heavens that the grand empress decided to implant the Frost into them. Without it, we wouldn't be able to control her."

Dr. Rubenstein slipped a hand below the table and said, "I still can't believe she'd humiliate her grandson for the plan."

"It gets me sssso turned on thinking about it." She said as she suddenly transformed into her pretty appearance, her snake voice coming back as her cheeks flushed from the below-the-table activities.

Darius wasn't sure if he wanted to vomit or glance below the table, but before he could do either, Dr. Rubenstein stood up and straightened her lab coat, "Right, I think I have an appointment to attend to."

And just as fast as Dr. Rubenstein came, she was gone.