Chapter 21: Still Far

'Quest completed.'

Allen awoke from his own little trance, hearing the female voice inside his head.

"What?" Allen asked himself. He opened his interface and saw the rewards there. He had already finished the Identity Crisis I quest.

The boy placed his finger under his chin. The quest said to introduce himself three times to three different people who knew who he was before. So far, he only encountered Kyle and Philip. There has to be one more person.

His mind immediately wandered to the woman in the Codes shop. She must've knew Allen before, and even when Allen didn't introduce himself, she thought that he was a different man.

Wrapping the thoughts in his head, Allen slapped the side of his face and sighed, "Does it matter how I finished the quest? The important thing is that I can finally get out of this place.

–

"Why am I here?" Allen asked himself after finding himself in the roof of the building opposite to the Codes Shop. Dusk was approaching and some of the shood were closing.

This was a typical scene inside the camp. Once the night falls, all non-essential shops would close. Codes Shops were classified as non-essential since it didn't have to give its service to its customers right away. Their employees were required to go home unless they apply for a 24-hour shift which requires a bigger tax.

Most shops couldn't afford the extra tax for them to operate at night, and since there weren't a lot of customers at night, they didn't bother applying for the 24-hour shift. The Codes shop Allen went to was one of those many shops.

He was proning on the roof and watched all the employees get out one by one. There weren't a lot of workers in the shop, only about five. First were two women who worked at the counter, next were two men who were assigned to assist customers. It didn't take long before the woman Allen humiliated walked out of the shop.

She seemed to have recovered from the shock of humiliation brought upon her by Allen. She now looked calmer than before.

"Good work today," Allen heard the woman said to the guard who was stationed by the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Be careful on your way home," the guard said and bowed his head to the woman.

"Be careful indeed," Allen whispered to himself and followed the woman. As time goes by, he was constantly asking himself what he was doing. What will he gain after he knows how the woman knew him?

Yet, the feeling irked him, making him restless. He couldn't stop thinking about how the woman could possibly knew who Allen Vermillion was. His guts were telling him that he was doing the right thing.

The woman had a handbag on her. It looked expensive with its brown leather and the gold hardware. She opened it and tooked a phone out, typing a number in and calling it.

Phones and the internet was already established in the Otherworlds. Although it was only currently available in Haven, and there was a limitation where they the access was limited inside the camp.

"Hello, honey?" the woman said with a soft and very feminine tone. "Yes, dear. I'm coming. I just finished some things in the shop, but I will be there on time. Yes, dear. I will see you there. I love you."

Allen smirked after hearing the woman's call. "So, you have a husband. I didn't even see a ring."

Like a snake slithering in the roof, Allen continued to follow the woman. She was walking to the area of luxurious restaurants which made Allen doubt that he could continue following her.

In that area, the roofs were all lit up with bright lights, and there were many drones patrolling the skies. After all, it was the entrance to the Wealth Valley, and the people there wanted extra protection.

Allen was about to give up when he saw a shiny black luxury car stop in front of the woman. A driver walked out of the car, making Allen follow him to watch the direction that the car would open.

He saw an alley right to where the car door was, so he leaped through it and landed on the ground. He walked to the pavement just in time for the driver to open the door and the woman to walk inside.

As if it was in slow motion, Allen watched the person inside. His blood boiled and toothy grin was plastered on his face aftet he saw who it was.

"Lewis Nixon," Allen whispered just in time before the car door closes.

His body wanted to tremble but he suppressed the feeling. He kept a straight face and hid his grin and walked away, turning to a corner where he saw another cloaked man.

The man walked towards Allen and slapped him across the face. The man's movements were so quick and his presence was barely there that Allen's passive skill couldn't activate on time.

'Enhanced Instincts I activated.'

Allen touched the side of his face and conjured his hammer. He tried to strike donw the man with it but his attack was stopped with a single hand. "W-What?"

The man was silent. Instead, he showed took an object from his cloak and showed it to Allen. A tablet that had the face of a fuming Jake.

"What in the hell are you doing?!" Jake yelled. "Bernard, slap him again."

Allen anticipated the attack. He tried to dodge it on time but he still felt Bernard's palm graze across his face.

"You told me give you a few hours," Jake massaged his forehead. "You were gone for more than five hours, idiot! What were you thinking?!"

"I only–"

Slap.

Jake's voice had long since vanished from Allen's ear. Inside his mind were new questions that sprung up after encountering Bernard. His skill was already activated. This skill predicted his opponents' movements, yet how was Bernard able to land all the slaps in his face?

This man didn't feel anything special. In fact, he barely felt anything at all. It was like he wasn't there in front of him in the first place. If Allen didn't see him, he wouldn't know that Bernard was even in front of him.

It then dawned Allen how he was too far from being strong. If the likes of Bernard were able to overpower him without a second thought, he was still far.

'New quest available.'