Noah shivered in agony and dread while the warden stood before him, grinning like a demon. He placed his left hand behind Noah's head before bringing his right hand back. “Congrats on passing the first phase…”

The warden unleashed a flurry of right hooks solely aimed toward Noah's midsection. As if Noah were paper, the screw's tip began to bore shallow holes in him.

Soon, Noah began to lose an immense amount of blood, with a scarlet-colored liquid starting to bubble around his lips. A loss of sensation slowly corrupted his body as any attempt at movement he made resulted in nothing.

As his vision slowly started to darken… a soft sound snapped him back to reality.

Crack!

The warden ceased his brutal strikes and dropped Noah to the ground. “Oops. It seems I almost killed you…” the warden remarked, opening his palm to see the shattered dust remnants of an iron screw.

As the iron dust began to settle, Noah’s defeated corpse rested against the wall. His shirt was completely drenched in a scarlet-colored liquid, and beneath it were hundreds of shallow punctured holes.

Suddenly, a murky sound came from the warden’s vest, it had a similar voice to Herod’s. “Have you finished the start of the treatment on that brat…?”

The warden reached inside his vest and pulled out a walkie-talkie and placed it next to his mouth, “I did, and just as ordered, I didn’t kill him. But I do have to ask, why did you order me to do this? If I recall, the last time I did the treatment was on him.”

“Hm? Well, it’s because I made a bet with an old friend. To be honest, it’s quite the thrill; if either one of us loses, that person would experience a fate similar to hell.”

The warden became distraught as he still tried to reply calmly, “And why would you make such a bet?”

“Why do I need a reason? I’m just doing this for fun. Having the thrill that rushes through my veins is worth this bet. Perfect timing as well, after all, I was starting to get bored of life.”

When such remarks reached Noah's ears, he was furious. The fire for revenge within his body grew as he remembered all the horrific things that Herod caused… from his mother’s death, all the way to the pain he’s feeling right now.

With the last of his strength, he tremblingly raised his blood-smothered palm and touched the door's double-sided hinge.

Once the warden noticed him still moving, he clicked the button on the side of the walkie-talkie, and exclaimed, “Impressive, you can still move at that state.”

He then sent a powerful left kick towards Noah, sending him crashing to the wall beside the entryway. It created a fairly large crater before Noah fell to the ground once again.

When the warden heard this, he smiled and murmured a few words before pushing the door open and exiting.

The next thing Noah knew was that he was sitting on the ground, leaning against the rough surface of the wall in his cell. The adrenaline which helped alleviate the pain was now gone. Leaving him in a state of excruciating pain and incapable to move.

Suddenly, Qin's voice reached Noah's ear, repeating, “Noah. Oi. Noah. Oi.”

“What?”

“Oh, so you’re still alive.”

“Why’d you think I was dead?”

“Well… you were brought out by the warden, correct?”

Questioning Qin’s knowledge, Noah had to ask, “How did you know that?”

“If you were, then you must be experiencing something called ‘special treatment’. Normally, some other guards would be the person treating the slaves… and most people don’t even survive a day. But for some reason, of all people to do it to you, it was the warden who did it.”

“How do you know all of this…?”

Noah was cut off by Qin, who asked him another question, “What phase are you in? Is it still the first?”

Noah remembered hearing the words, 'Congrats on passing the first phase...’ from the warden only seconds before he was beaten. He responded swiftly, concluding that he was on the second phase. “No… I’m in the second, but can you tell m-”

Before Noah could imply any questions, Qin cut him off once again, saying, “I know you have a lot of questions right now, but I’ll only answer one… after all, didn’t you attempt to educate me about survival sometime during the morning? I’ll return the favor… if I answer all of your questions, I will confirm to you that you will die in this place.”

Noah, who was perplexed, didn't ask any further questions, respecting Qin's wisdom, simply pondering – What would be the best question for the outcome of my survival and revenge…? Would it be asking about the phases…? Would it be asking how many phases there are…? No… He opened his lips and asked, “How do you know all of this?”

In Qin's cell, you could see he was taken aback by the question, but he responded in a homicidal tone while exuding bloodlust which Noah could feel through the wall, “I can’t do that… after all, if I do… you will die Noah.”

Noah didn't ask for anything further after that; instead, he shifted his query to the second most important question in his viewpoint. “What are the phases? And what should I do to pass the second one…?”

“I told you only one, but fine. The phases are used to mentally break people’s psyche, or at least that’s what it looks like on the surface. But… in actuality, they are meant to prepare people for something far worse... it's for entertainment basically. And as for your second question, I think you already have the idea as to what it is that will make you pass the phase.”

“What do you mean... entertainment…?”

“If I tell you this, you might lose all will to live… and I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t want to lose a friend I just made.”

Noah, confused by what he said, asked, “What…? What are you saying…? What do you mean…?”

“Hm? Do you know the saying ‘Curiosity Killed the Cat’?”

Noah stayed silent.

“It’s basically a paradox, okay… let's assume in an experiment, a cat and a poisoned fish are placed inside a box. If you seal the box, you won't know if the cat died or is still alive. And in the human psyche, we most likely believe he’s still alive. But, as previously stated, if your curiosity outweighs your rationality and you open the box, only to discover that the cat died, your curiosity killed the cat."

As Qin explained the paradox, Noah envisioned it word for word, from placing a cat in a box alongside a poisonous fish. All the way to opening the box and discovering the cat had died, or in another route, alive.

They had an awkward silence afterward. Noah wondered why his replies and responses were so evasive, and later, throughout the years of friendship he and Qin would share, he realized that this was the only time Qin was secretive and dark about anything. Maybe it was because they just met, or maybe it could be something much worse.

The day swiftly passed, and night would arrive, and despite the fact that Noah had experienced so much that day, he learned something that would serve him well in the future. He discovered something he had felt so strongly from others: bloodthirst.