Song Yi was carried through the dark corridor.
The man in light green robes held him firmly by the arm, dragging him as if he weighed nothing. Song Yi's head was still spinning because of the punch to his stomach.
Each step made the pain throb stronger. The stone walls passed by in a blur. Distant torches lit parts of the path with flickering light.
They went down more steps. The air became even heavier, filled with strong chemical smells. The man stopped in front of a thick wooden door reinforced with iron. He pushed it open with his shoulder and threw Song Yi inside.
Song Yi fell to his knees on the cold floor of the room. He supported himself with his hands and looked around, breathing with difficulty.
The room was wide and illuminated by several torches fixed to the walls. Yellow and red flames danced, casting long shadows. In the center, there was a wide table made of dark wood, full of burn marks and old stains.
Tall shelves covered almost all the walls. On them, hundreds of glass, ceramic, and metal containers were lined up.
Liquids of different colors shone inside. Dark green, bright purple, viscous black, murky yellow, blood red. The smell was unbearable, sour, rotten, overly sweet, and metallic. Song Yi knew immediately that they were poisons.
At the back of the room, a hunched old man worked with his back turned. He wore gray robes, worn at the edges. Thin white hair fell over his curved shoulders. His wrinkled hands handled a small container.
The man in green robes spoke dryly.
"Elder Wei, I brought the next one."
The old man turned slowly. His face was a network of deep wrinkles. His small eyes shone with cold interest. He looked at Song Yi as if examining an insect.
"You can leave." Said Elder Wei with a hoarse voice.
"Come back only when I call."
The man in green robes nodded and left. The door closed with a heavy thud.
Song Yi remained on his knees, his chest burning. He raised his gaze to the old man.
"Who are you? Why am I here? What is all this?" He asked, his voice hoarse and full of anger.
Elder Wei did not answer immediately. He walked to the central table and picked up a container with dark purple liquid. He opened the lid carefully while speaking.
"You are test subjects. Mortals like you only serve for this."
His expression was neutral, without emotion. As if he were talking about the weather.
Song Yi felt his stomach churn.
"Test subjects? You kidnap us just to poison us?"
The old man did not respond. He grabbed Song Yi's chin with surprising strength and forced the purple liquid into his mouth.
The poison went down burning like liquid fire. His tongue burned, and his throat felt like it was tearing. Song Yi choked and coughed, but the elder pressed harder and forced him to swallow everything.
The pain exploded. It was as if every part of his body was being burned from the inside. Song Yi fell and writhed on the cold floor. He screamed loudly. His lungs burned, his stomach twisted, and his veins seemed swollen and about to burst.
While he suffered on the table, Elder Wei took a scroll and wrote with a thin brush. He wrote quick words, observing each reaction.
Song Yi screamed for several minutes. In his mind, he repeated without stopping.
'What did I do to deserve this? I was just hunting in the forest to eat. I lived on the streets, alone, without hurting anyone. Why? Why me?'
There was no answer. The pain was the greatest he had ever felt in his life.
After half an hour, the pain began to decrease slowly. Song Yi lay there, breathing weakly. His veins were still bulging, purple and green, but he did not seem to be dying. His chest rose and fell, irregular but stable.
Elder Wei frowned. He looked carefully.
"Interesting... You are not weakening like the others."
He searched on the shelf for another container with light green liquid and forced it into Song Yi's mouth against his will.
The second poison went down burning. This time it attacked other organs. Stomach, liver, intestines. The pain returned even more terrible. Song Yi rolled on the ground, screaming until his voice became hoarse. His body convulsed. Cold sweat ran down his face.
In the distant cell, the other prisoners heard Song Yi's loud screams echoing through the corridor. Many prayed in silence that their turn would never come.
Elder Wei wrote down all the changes. He saw the poison working perfectly in the boy's body, swollen veins, sweat, convulsions, but there was something strange. Song Yi was not dying. He seemed, in fact, a little stronger after the crisis.
Song Yi breathed with difficulty on the table. He looked with half-open eyes at the hunched old man. Hatred and resentment burned in the depths of his mind.
'Why? What did I do to deserve this? I just wanted to live in peace. Now I am here, being poisoned by a crazy old man.'
Elder Wei took another container and forced him to drink. The pain doubled. Song Yi screamed louder. His body twisted violently. Veins bulged on his arms and neck.
'I will kill this old man. I swear. If I get out of here alive, I will tear his skin off slowly. I will make him drink every poison he gave me. I will make him feel every pain.' Resentment began to arise in Song Yi's mind.
It was so much that it showed in his expression.
At the end of the day, the disciples came and took Song Yi to a small cell next to the elder's room. It was individual, with strong bars, a stone floor, and a bit of dirty straw in the corner.
He lay there, his body burning from the inside. Without strength. But something strange was happening. Instead of getting weaker, he felt a strange energy circulating in his veins. As if the poison was feeding something unknown inside him.
The next day, Elder Wei called him again. No other prisoner was brought. The old man was focused only on Song Yi. He wanted to understand exactly why he did not die and how each poison acted in his body.
This time there were three different poisons. A yellow one that burned the stomach like acid. A black one that made the blood seem to boil in the veins. A transparent one that attacked the head, leaving the vision blurred for hours.
Song Yi screamed louder than the day before. His body twisted on the cold table. Cold sweat ran down. The pain was unbearable.
'What did I do wrong? I never hurt anyone...'
He swore in silence while his body burned.
'If I get out alive, I will get stronger no matter what. I will kill that hunched old man in the worst way possible.'