Chapter 38: Scheming

Lucas was surprised by May’s words. He never expected that kind of language from her. The most surprised person, however, was Clovis, who with so much hatred began to scream and scratch his own body, trying to put out the flames of his anger.

For someone proud like him, this whole situation is worse than the pain he is currently feeling. Knowing that his life is in the hands of these two made him so furious that for a few seconds he no longer felt the pain.

“Wow, you’re very good, withstanding so much. But remember, anger is a sensation that has highs and lows. You are furious at the moment, but in seconds, the pain will take over your body, and you will not even be able to feel anger.”

Clovis continued to writhe on the floor in pain and fury. Even though his anger temporarily relieved his pain, he was unable to move his body properly. All he could do was squirm as he gritted his teeth and screamed through closed lips.

Taking two chairs, Lucas sat down on one and introduced the other to May.

“It looks like we’re going to be here for a while, this guy is very persistent.”

Sitting in the chair while continuing to look at Clovis in silence, May did not feel an ounce of goodwill for him. Although she knew he was suffering at the moment, it brought relief and happiness that was really confusing her.

‘Am I that kind of person?’

She had never felt that before. Looking at Lucas who had a smile on his face as he watched Clovis on the floor, she saw Clovis’s hand being kicked when he tried to reach out to her, so she was unable to contain her curiosity.

“Are you ... are you used to this kind of thing? You look very relaxed.”

“Yes, this is normal in my world.”

“...”

She was speechless with that answer. What kind of world does he live in? Without paying much attention to May’s reaction, Lucas started to speak.

“Leaving that aside, we need to explain the situation better to him. Let’s take the opportunity that he is still managing to hold on and tell his future. Hey, dog, pay attention to what we’re going to say, we’ll only say it once.”

In a low voice, May whispered in Lucas’s ear after seeing him kick Clovis a second time, in the background one could hear Clovis cursing and threatening.

“What if he gets even more furious and can withstand for more time the effects of the drug?”

“As I told you before, you don’t have to worry, the limit that a normal human being can handle this pain is for an hour. This includes abnormal cases like his, where the person endures the pain using a stronger emotion. Do not worry. It can also help us since if we want him to listen to us, he needs to have his mind working. If he is feeling too much pain to think, you will have to give the antidote, and there goes the persuasive power. We need to talk to him now.”

After understanding Lucas’s reasoning, May turned to Clovis and took the lead when speaking, cutting out the hateful words.

“Clovis, the pain you were feeling before is not going to go away. The reason your body doesn’t move properly is that the pain is so great that it is numbing your senses. Your brain cannot process so much pain and still function normally.”

“What I fed you is a neurotoxin called F-196, also known as Endless Nightmare. That toxin...”

“Wait, May, it looks like our great friend Clovis knows what we’re talking about.”

Even though she knew it was sarcasm, associating the word “friend” with “Clovis” was making May angry. Slapping Lucas on the shoulder, she murmured.

“Stop sarcasm.”

“Okay, okay, wow!!”

Lucas was right. Although he didn’t know all the details, Clovis had heard about this neurotoxin from someone before. Remembering the effects of the toxin, his pale face turned even whiter.

“This toxin activates the nervous system of the entire body, sounding false alarms as if you were injured. The best thing about this toxin is that the pain doesn’t go away, it continues for the rest of your life, a life of torture.”

“The only way to deal with this toxin is to take the antidote.”

Lucas took a small glass bottle from his pocket. It was only two inches long and contained a strange greenish liquid.

“A bottle of the antidote is only effective for one day, so it’s important to take it regularly.”

Crouching close to Clovis, Lucas waved the bottle at the man’s face as if he were waving a carrot at a horse waiting for him to run for you.

“A very good feature of this neurotoxin is that it was made to turn people into slaves. The only person capable of creating the antidote is the person who gave them the drug. There are more than 500 different types of the same drug, if you take the wrong antidote, you die, which means that only the person who gave the drug knows which is the right antidote. Now you understand? You became our slave.”

“I will warn you, there is no point trying to get the antidote elsewhere, or trying to analyze in the laboratory the antidote that I am going to give you, it is proof of errors. After all, only large organizations use this drug. They wouldn’t use it if it was easy to deal with.”

Putting her hand on Lucas’s shoulder to prevent him from speaking any more, May stepped forward and said in a cold voice: