The Evolution Chronicles

Han continued to lead Mian through the mansion, showing the various paintings and explaining their origins. From the first dominant of the pack, all the way down to the mother of the founder's first son, an then down to the son himself. The history of the pack seemed quite rich.

But even as time slowly ticked by and they went through over half of the mansion and examined different portraits, he still caught no sight of any other type of demi-human. A few warning bells began to ring at the back of his head as he kept on pondering on this matter.

"...And finally, this is me." Han stopped before a large painting that was triple of the size of the others. Han's features were clearly expressed in every line of the painting, down to he crooked scar that covered his left eye.

Under the painting, carved into its wooden frame, was Han's name. Han Belmun.

"As the Patriarch of this pack, it is part of my responsibility to bear the name of our founder. No Patriarch can take on this role without bearing the Belmun name." Han continued his lecture, but Mian held little interest for that. Instead, his mind was elsewhere.

'Hana, please can you scan Han? I need to see any information that is important to me. You can filter out the rest.'

[One moment... The result of the scan is as follows;]

[Appraisal]

Name: Han - Belmun

Race: Demi-human - Werewolf

Age: Forty two

Health: Good

Energy: 4,670

Stamina: 2,220

Strength: 3,090

Agility: 2,780

-Expand/Collapse.

[Pack Ranking]

Name: Han - Belmun

Rank: Dominant (Low)

Rank Privilege: Boosted Toxins, Strong Leadership Talent, Mystic Force.

---

[Warning!!! Negative Status Effect has been detected! Running diagnostics.]

[Status Effects]

Negative: Memory Binds, Muscle Binds, Emotion Binds, Thought Binds.

Positive: None.

---

A status page that Mian had never seen before popped up within Mian's mind as he examined the portrait of the Belmun Patriarch. His eyes widened and his train of thought came to an abrupt stop.

'Hana. What is all this? Negative Status Effect? Memory Binds? Muscle Binds? This doesn't make sense.'

He already had a clue of what was going on, but he decided to be sure of it by asking Hana. His mind struggled to believe that the humans' influence had already seeped so deep into the demi-human society.

[Host, from my scans, I have found that some strange and obscure energy has been infused into the body of this dominant demi-human before you in order to suppress his mind and body. It is also very likely that he has undergone an extremely intensive brainwashing to suppress his memories. I recommend you leave his presence immediately, or else, something unpredictable might happen.]

'I can't leave now or it will look suspicious I will just play along for now.' Mian responded before turning his attention back to Han. His discovery had led him to believe that the humans had taken control of this pack through some very strange means. That put him in danger, but he would at least try and see if he could help them.

Eventually, Han's tour had come to an end.

"Let my people treat you to our hospitality for your stay. I can not let a pack member of my good friend go without allowing them to experience some of our delicacies. Please, hold on a moment." Han stopped by the staircase that led upstairs before clapping loudly.

A middle ranking pack member at the lower tier came hurrying from one of the side passages at the sound of the clap.

"Take our guest to one of the empty rooms upstairs, and prepare a meal for him. He will be staying the night, or even longer if he wishes." Han smiled at Mian at the last part of his sentence, making a shiver run down Mian's spine. His knowledge of the truth of the pack, coupled with that smile was enough to scare him.

The Werewolf led Mian up the stairs and down a corridor to his left. Doors were placed on either side of the corridor, but the pack member ignored them all and led Mian to the end of the hall before opening the door.

"Here is your room. Your food will be here soon." She bowed her head slightly before hurrying away.

Mian looked on after her before shaking his head and walking into the room. The room was spacious, but not even half as large as his Patriarch's chamber back in the pack lands. A small bed was placed opposite the door, right under the window, and a bedside table was placed right beside it.

Mian immediately went to sit on the bed. Nothing else contained in the room caught his attention. There was too much on his mind to be bothered by those small things.

'Adventure... I wanted an adventure.... And I got caught in a stupid conspiracy!'