Chapter 30 – Negotiation

The lights in the Containment 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 Containment Unit, he saw a black shadow in the corner of the room.

The Dreamer was lying in the most distant corner, unmoving.

"Alright, princess," Albert said loudly as he walked towards the Dreamer. "Enough moping around."

The Dreamer 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 Dreamer's head and moved back a bit.

A moment later, the Dreamer's body twitched, and then, its body began to smoke.

Nick saw how the Dreamer'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 Dreamer 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 Dreamer slowly opened its eyes and looked around the Containment Unit.

Then, its eyes fell on Nick.

DING! DING! DING! DING!

Suddenly, a loud alarm sounded in the room.

Nick knew what this alarm meant.

The alarm sounded when a sharp spike in Prephyx levels inside the Containment Unit was measured.

A sudden spike in Prephyx levels meant that the Specter was preparing an attack.

Apparently, the Dreamer wasn't the biggest fan of Nick.

An instant later, the Dreamer shot to its feet and charged at Nick.

"Hol' up, missy!"

BANG!

Albert's left hand opened and grabbed the Dreamer's head in a fluid motion.

The Dreamer flapped around and used its talons to stab Albert's torso.

DING!

Yet, when the Dreamer's talons hit Albert's torso, a metallic sound reverberated throughout the room, and Albert wasn't injured in the slightest.

DING! DING! DING!

The Dreamer 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 Dreamer 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 Dreamer down again. "Now, can we have a normal conversation?"

The Dreamer just glared at the distant Nick.

It really didn't like Nick.

"Just ignore him for now," Albert said, moving to stand between the Dreamer and Nick.

The next moment, Albert squatted to be at eye level with the Dreamer.

Surprisingly, the Dreamer also looked into Albert's eyes.

There was no fear in its eyes.

"You're a Specter that feeds on mentality," Albert said. "You're not a Specter that feeds off blood, organs, bodies, death, or unfortunate circumstances."

"You feed on mentality, which means that you have gone through enough memories to understand what I am saying. I'm quite sure of it."

The Dreamer didn't show any reaction.

"I'm not sure if you realize your current circumstances. So, let me enlighten you."

"You have been captured, and you are inside a Containment Unit from a Zephyx Manufacturer."

The Dreamer showed no reaction.

"You are not going to break out. That's not going to happen. This is your new home 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 Containment Unit."

"But until then, you are stuck here, and I'm also quite sure that you know why we humans catch Specters, right?"

The Dreamer 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 become, 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 me, but that's how it usually works."

"We give you food. You give us Zephyx. You become stronger. We get money."

"Understand?"

The Dreamer showed no reaction.

It just kept on looking forward.

"Alright," Albert said as he stood up again. "Let me 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 Dreamer moved slightly to the side so that it could look at Nick again.

Nick just looked back emotionlessly.

The next moment, 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 same 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 Dreamer debated attacking Nick again.

"Now, listen here. One more thing," Albert said, pushing the Dreamer's head to look at him again.

"If you don't cooperate, we'll have to do the bargain bin method, and you don't want that."

Nick raised an eyebrow. 'Bargain bin method?'

The Dreamer looked at Albert again.

"Most Specters cooperate to some degree. Not all of them cooperate fully, but they, at least, consume 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 moment, Albert grabbed the tip of the Dreamer's right wing.

RIIIIP!

And tore it off.

The Dreamer pulled its wing back, but it didn't seem like it was in pain.

Albert showed the Dreamer 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 Dreamer he had torn off onto the shredder, and the shredder immediately 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 Dreamer.

"You get it?" Albert asked.

The Dreamer looked into the box.

Just now, it had felt a bit of Zephyx coming out of the box.

"That's the bargain bin method," 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 Containment Unit.

The Dreamer just looked at Nick.

Nick looked back, but he also left a couple of seconds later.

The Dreamer just kept looking at the door.