"Ha... ha..."
"Isn't it almost ten minutes..."
"Lilith said I only have ten minutes left... Does that mean I only have ten minutes left to breathe my last breath?"
Merka smiled bitterly, propped himself up with both hands, and struggled to stand up from the ground.
A drop of blood dripped from the tip of his nose, as Merka reached out to touch it, he realized that unknowingly, his fresh blood had already stained the entire area around his mouth and even his chin.
Although his body did not send any signals of pain, the gradually disappearing vitality was unquestionable.
"But... maybe what she means is, if I don't find the cause of my death in ten minutes, she'll help me find it."
Merka awkwardly smiled, rolled up his sleeves, quickly wiped his face, got up, and began investigating in the vast botanical garden.
By the roadside, two tall poppies swayed slowly in a windless area, looking eerie as if they were swinging red swings hanging on trees; the diseased gray hanging basket, like a decaying corpse, silently hung on the street lamp, its lips protruded and fiercely pierced into the ground; the usually gentle snowdrop flowers now also opened their white fangs, facing Merka aggressively.
Passing by these terrifying giant plants that exceeded normal cognition, as Merka walked, he observed these violently distorted green demons, feeling both horrified and puzzled.
"How were these plants grown, anyway?"
"However, let's put aside how these plants were grown..."
"What's strange is that those cold-blooded lab coats actually have the leisure to study plants."
"Aren't they supposed to be only interested in angels?"
Suddenly, a silent body lying next to a giant plant caught Merka's attention.
Frowning, Merka walked towards the body clad in a lab coat.
He thought there wouldn't be anything even remotely human-like here, but it seemed he had made a wrong judgment.
"Wearing a lab coat... are you a researcher?"
"Sorry for the intrusion."
Merka came to the front of the body, half kneeling down, briefly said a prayer, and then began rummaging through the body's clothes.
Before long, Merka found the researcher's ID card on the body.
"Botanical Garden Observation Room Level Alpha Staff...? With this, I should be able to access those locked doors."
"This is a good find, I'll keep it."
Merka stripped off the body's coat, searching up and down, trying to find something else.
A small device resembling a Nokia phone fell from the lab coat of the body, Merka curiously picked it up and toyed with it in his hand.
To his surprise, a random press accidentally turned it on.
The device was small, but the screen was not, Merka looked at the screen emitting several fluorescent dots, quickly recognized that it was likely a map of the botanical garden.
The fluorescent dots on the map were divided into red and green.
Following the map's guidance, Merka walked to the nearest red dot from his location.
Instinctively looking up, Merka saw a rose growing straight up.
This strange blood rose was protected by a huge glass dome. Its roots were implanted in the ground, and a dark golden business card was forcibly embedded.
The font engraved on it was extremely familiar yet unfamiliar English letters to Merka.
Experiment Subject 103
Endurance C
Strength C
Agility G
Recovery Ability B
Communicability None
Rationality None
Magic Power E
After the 1,007th physical damage experiment, the plant-like angel, compared to other angels turned into plants, had an average decrease of ten percentage points in recovery ability.
After the 671st instinct suppression experiment, the plant-like angel apparently showed an emotionally vivid and violent growth state in harsh extreme environments. This trait is evident in angels of any form.
After the 671st rationality testing experiment, plant-based entities are almost unable to show intelligence in any form. All of its behaviors are driven by the instinct for survival as the top priority.
The progress of plant-based angel experiments is slow, and the experiments are temporarily suspended as of today... In order to recover the early investment, most of the botanical angels will be used for sustainable harvesting of charcoal energy.
— Approver, Vice Dean, Pandora Altria
These seemingly calm words on the surface actually revealed the arrogant and cruel atmosphere of the laboratory, deeply piercing Merka's eyes.
Supporting himself against the glass wall, Merka turned his head away, losing the desire to continue reading.
"These... these plants, are they... angels?"
"Damned nobles... it's you again, it's always you..."
Somehow, a sudden evil feeling welled up in Merka, leaning against the glass wall, he started retching.
A black blob of liquid sprayed from Merka's mouth, sticking to the glass dome, conveniently covering his reflection in the mirror.
"Aren't you a noble? My respected squire knight."
Suddenly, the reflection of Merka on the glass wall and the liquid merged and intermingled, and began to speak.
A black line suddenly surged out of the shadow, a hand covered in a black suit suddenly reached out from the glass, viciously and urgently grabbing the back of Merka's neck, slamming his head on the glass with force.
Blood splattered momentarily, the terrifying force applied on Merka's head, leaving a large hole in the glass.
