Diana rarely came to this abandoned warehouse area, so much so that if she hadn't accidentally heard someone mention that Ivan had moved his experimental equipment here, Diana wouldn't even have known there was such a place in the Academy.
Looking at the words "Ivan's Necromantic Laboratory" on the nameplate, Diana hesitated and gently knocked twice on the wooden door.
In such a remote place, even if one or two people died... perhaps no one would discover it?
The moment this thought popped into Diana's mind, it made her feel uneasy standing there. Fortunately, the owner of the laboratory didn't make her wait too long. Soon, Ivan opened the door and looked at the woman before him with surprise.
"Good morning, Mr. Ivan," Diana gave an awkward smile, "I heard you set up a laboratory here, so I brought some gifts to visit..."
Ivan looked at the woman in front of him with surprise. She was clearly dressed up meticulously, with an intricate lace short dress and delicate smoky makeup, all indicating the importance she placed on this visit.
Ivan wasn't very interested in her, but out of politeness, he still invited the woman into the laboratory.
Diana quickly discovered the strangeness of this laboratory.
In a Necromantic Wizard's laboratory... how could there be so many animals?
As far as her eyes could see, this relatively spacious laboratory actually contained turkeys, squirrels, lizards... turkeys, squirrels, lizards... They were kept separately in cages of different sizes, moving slowly with dull eyes.
Looking at the bewildered Diana, Ivan calmly explained to Diana.
"These are for my Wizard experiments, I need some living specimens for research..."
Diana immediately understood. The Wizards of Horton Wizard Academy were considered "White Wizards" under the supervision of civilization and law, and were required to comply with the 《Wizard Law》.
However, any experiment involving living subjects could only use animals instead of people.
Diana found a chair and sat down, feeling a little more at ease. Ivan's astonishing performance on the Enrollment Day yesterday truly shocked her. She had never imagined that this reclusive colleague possessed such powerful strength.
She looked around and couldn't help but ask.
"Mr. Ivan, where is your Necromantic creation? Why don't I see her in the laboratory?"
Speaking of this, Ivan also felt a great headache. He showed a very forced smile and pointed behind Diana.
Huh?
Diana turned her head to look back, only to find no one behind her, feeling a bit confused.
What does this mean?
"Look up," Ivan kindly reminded her.
Following Ivan's words, Diana subconsciously looked up, only to find a pale, eerie, cold, and indifferent young girl's face hanging upside down in the dead corner of the laboratory wall. Her lifeless eyes were staring intently at her, making Diana feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
"Ah!!"
Diana immediately stood up due to the sudden fear, stumbled a couple of steps, and looked at the Zombie hanging upside down on the ceiling with lingering fear.
Ivan was also very helpless. He had clearly reminded her, so why did she still get startled?
"Vivian, come down."
Ivan called out to the Zombie girl hanging upside down in the corner of the wall. The next moment, the black-robed figure jumped down and stood in front of the two, expressionless.
Seeing Diana's lingering fear, Ivan explained.
"Don't worry, Vivian has her own habits... she won't attack others without my command, she's very obedient."
To corroborate his words, Ivan beckoned Vivian to his side and handed her a broom.
"Vivian, go sweep the laboratory clean!"
Diana watched as the pale and terrifying Necromantic creation expressionlessly took the broom and began cleaning with a peculiar stiffness.
For a moment, Diana felt a sense of disillusionment as her worldview was impacted.
Ivan looked at the expressionless Vivian cleaning the laboratory and also sighed.
This Zombie under his command was good in every way, except he didn't know why she had developed some strange habits.
Two days ago on Enrollment Day, she suddenly wanted to suck a Wizard's blood, which was one thing, but after returning to the laboratory, she developed even stranger habits.
Vivian seemed to love the corners of the ceiling. As long as she was in a state of "no command needing to be completed", she would automatically hang herself upside down in the corner of the ceiling, like a sweeping robot looking for a charging station.
Then, with her eyes that held no hint of life, she would stare for a long time at anything that moved in the room.
Even Ivan himself occasionally felt a bit unnerved by her gaze.
Didn't the secret technique of the Corpse Raising Sect say it fixed all the Zombie's weaknesses? Where did these strange habits come from?
Diana calmed her startled heartbeat and said to Ivan with a wry smile.
"Mr. Ivan, I came this time to tell you two things..."
Unconsciously, she had already started using honorifics.
"First thing, a friend of mine asked me to communicate with you. He wants to ask you to complete a certain commission, and the reward is very generous..."
Diana paused, "At least five hundred gold pounds."
Ivan, who had originally intended to refuse, immediately perked up. He mused for a moment and asked.
"What exactly is the commission? Why did he come to me?"
Diana placed a business card on Ivan's desk and explained.
"My friend is named Pingtus. He's an exclusive reporter and usually comes into contact with many important figures. Over time, he helps these important figures with some private commissions..."
"Pingtus saw Mr. Ivan's performance at the enrollment ceremony and felt that you were the perfect candidate to complete a certain commission..."
"As for the content of the commission, I'm not very clear either. You might only know after you meet in person. I'm just the messenger."
Ivan picked up the business card. A string of neat handwriting was written on it with a pen.
"Saturday night, Port District Fugen Tavern, Pingtus awaits Mr. Ivan's arrival."
"Chesapeake's rum is very good, you'll like it."
Ivan thought for a moment, put the business card in his pocket, looked at Diana, and asked.
"What about the second thing?"
When the second thing was mentioned, Diana's expression turned ugly. She pondered for a while before speaking.
"I heard that on Enrollment Day, you took in that Navajo girl as a research assistant..."
Hearing this, Ivan immediately remembered. He had indeed forgotten about this "cheap apprentice".
Now that Diana mentioned this, he remembered that he had instructed Essida to come find him after she was settled, but she still hadn't appeared...
"I don't know who arranged it, but the girl named Essida was assigned a room far from the other Necromantic Wizard Apprentices, and closer to the Energy Shaping School apprentices instead..."
"If it were just that, it would be fine, but as far as I know, she seems to have had some conflicts with the Energy Shaping School Wizard Apprentices, and there might be group bullying occurring..."
Ivan frowned.
That the Energy Shaping School would retaliate was within his expectations, but he hadn't expected the retaliation wouldn't be directed at him, but instead target a Wizard Apprentice who had just entered the Academy.
It was a bit too unscrupulous.
Just then, text suddenly appeared before his eyes again.
【Sudden Event: Beat the young, here comes the old】
【Your newly accepted Soul Path genius seems to be jointly suppressed by disciples of other sects, causing her cultivation to stagnate. As a Demonic Cultivator, how can you tolerate this? Even if your own disciple has a thousand faults, it's not up to outsiders to discipline her!】
【Teach a lesson to the cultivators from other sects who suppressed your disciple, and let them know what it means to beat the young and have the old come! Reward: Demonic Cultivation Points × 2】
Even though Ivan had somewhat gotten used to the nonsense from this game panel, his expression still turned a bit strange at this moment.
These lines, aren't they a bit too much like a villain being stepped on by the protagonist?