"When you drop something, you pick it up right away."
Even though his back was to the lab door, Thomas seemed to know exactly what had happened. He glanced at the warlock who had just cried out and reminded him, "...In the Wizards' world, you never know when a feather pen you toss away will turn into an arrow that ends up in your heart. Faceless one, give him back the gemstone."
Zheng Qing really wanted to complain that after drawing so much blood from him, Thomas actually had the nerve to lecture him over a lost feather pen.
But when you're a cat at a snake's mouth, you have to bow your head.
So he obediently kept his mouth shut.
The rattlesnake, still smacking its lips, heard the master of the lab give an order and reluctantly twisted its body over to the foot of the experiment table. It opened its mouth and spat out a black gemstone already coated in a lot of sticky mucus.
