The lights in the Containnt Unit had already been turned on.
Every second the lights were on was expensive, but it was a necessary expenditure.
After all, they couldn't work with the Specter in the dark.
When Nick entered the Containnt Unit, he saw a black shadow in the corner of the room.
The Drear was lying in the most distant corner, unmoving.
"Alright, princess," Albert said loudly as he walked towards the Drear. "Enough moping around."
The Drear didn't move.
Albert opened the small bottle and very carefully removed one drop of liquid with his finger.
Then, he just wiped his finger on the Drear's head and moved back a bit.
A mont later, the Drear's body twitched, and then, its body began to smoke.
Nick saw how the Drear's eyes were regrowing at a visible speed.
On top of that, its broken wings and ribs were moving back into place with cracking sounds.
Around a minute later, the Drear had fully recovered.
Even though Nick knew that he was safe behind Albert, he still felt a bit nervous.
After all, this was a Specter.
The Drear slowly opened its eyes and looked around the Containnt Unit.
Then, its eyes fell on Nick.
DING! DING! DING! DING!
Suddenly, a loud alarm sounded in the room.
Nick knew what this alarm ant.
The alarm sounded when a sharp spike in Prephyx levels inside the Containnt Unit was asured.
A sudden spike in Prephyx levels ant that the Specter was preparing an attack.
Apparently, the Drear wasn't the biggest fan of Nick.
An instant later, the Drear shot to its feet and charged at Nick.
"Hol' up, missy!"
BANG!
Albert's left hand opened and grabbed the Drear's head in a fluid motion.
The Drear flapped around and used its talons to stab Albert's torso.
DING!
Yet, when the Drear's talons hit Albert's torso, a tallic sound reverberated throughout the room, and Albert wasn't injured in the slightest.
DING! DING! DING!
The Drear used several more attacks, but no matter what it did, Albert wasn't injured in the slightest.
Albert didn't even move.
After about 30 seconds, the Drear gave up.
Obviously, this man right in front of it was far more powerful than it was.
"There we go," Albert said as he put the Drear down again. "Now, can we have a normal conversation?"
The Drear just glared at the distant Nick.
It really didn't like Nick.
"Just ignore him for now," Albert said, moving to stand between the Drear and Nick.
The next mont, Albert squatted to be at eye level with the Drear.
Surprisingly, the Drear also looked into Albert's eyes.
There was no fear in its eyes.
"You're a Specter that feeds on ntality," Albert said. "You're not a Specter that feeds off blood, organs, bodies, death, or unfortunate circumstances."
"You feed on ntality, which ans that you have gone through enough mories to understand what I am saying. I'm quite sure of it."
The Drear didn't show any reaction.
"I'm not sure if you realize your current circumstances. So, let enlighten you."
"You have been captured, and you are inside a Containnt Unit from a Zephyx Manufacturer."
The Drear showed no reaction.
"You are not going to break out. That's not going to happen. This is your new ho indefinitely."
"However, if you manage to gain the trust of the company, we might be able to enter a cooperation in the future."
"At that point, you can leave the Containnt Unit."
"But until then, you are stuck here, and I'm also quite sure that you know why we humans catch Specters, right?"
The Drear showed no reaction.
"We want Zephyx. The stuff you produce when you absorb all that energy from the atmosphere," Albert explained.
"As long as you give us Zephyx, your life won't be bad. We will even help you in becoming stronger."
"The stronger you beco, the more Prephyx and Zephyx you contain, which leaves less Prephyx and Zephyx for all the Specters that are still roaming free. Increasing your power is also in our interest."
"Because of that, we will not be stealing all of your Zephyx. Only the majority. The precise amount is not up to , but that's how it usually works."
"We give you food. You give us Zephyx. You beco stronger. We get money."
"Understand?"
The Drear showed no reaction.
It just kept on looking forward.
"Alright," Albert said as he stood up again. "Let give you a couple of hours to think. Now, my little friend over here will be doing most of the work. So, I don't want you to attack him."
The Drear moved slightly to the side so that it could look at Nick again.
Nick just looked back emotionlessly.
The next mont, Albert took out a little gadget from one of his pockets and looked at it.
"Man, it really doesn't like you," Albert said to Nick with a chuckle. "Specters aren't usually that angry when they get captured, you know?"
The gadget Albert had in his hand was a mobile Prephyx scanner. It had the sa function as the alarm from earlier, but it was portable and had a higher sensitivity.
Just now, the Prephyx levels had been going up and down, almost like the Drear debated attacking Nick again.
"Now, listen here. One more thing," Albert said, pushing the Drear's head to look at him again.
"If you don't cooperate, we'll have to do the bargain bin thod, and you don't want that."
Nick raised an eyebrow. 'Bargain bin thod?'
The Drear looked at Albert again.
"Most Specters cooperate to so degree. Not all of them cooperate fully, but they, at least, consu stuff to continue growing, which produces Zephyx."
"But there are also the Specters that completely refuse to do anything. They believe that they can simply use up our money by forcing us to spend resources on keeping them contained without gaining anything from them."
"These Specters are not very popular with the Manufacturers, but there is still a way to get money out of them."
The next mont, Albert grabbed the tip of the Drear's right wing.
RIIIIP!
And tore it off.
The Drear pulled its wing back, but it didn't seem like it was in pain.
Albert showed the Drear the part of the wing he had torn off.
Then, Albert took out a small box with a shredder on top.
Albert put the part of the Drear he had torn off onto the shredder, and the shredder imdiately turned the part into tiny particles.
After that, the wires all over the box started to electrify, and a minute later, the particles in the box vanished.
Albert opened the box and showed it to the Drear.
"You get it?" Albert asked.
The Drear looked into the box.
Just now, it had felt a bit of Zephyx coming out of the box.
"That's the bargain bin thod," Albert said. "We can tear about 70% of your body off without killing you. We shove that body into the mixer, get our Zephyx, and give you a week to recover."
Albert slowly stood up.
"Either you cooperate, or that's your future."
"It's your decision."
"We'll be back in about three hours."
After that, Albert walked out of the Containnt Unit.
The Drear just looked at Nick.
Nick looked back, but he also left a couple of seconds later.
The Drear just kept looking at the door.
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