Chapter 28: Black Box

Hana looked enraged. She couldn't believe what she just read. There was deep anger as well as some hints of fear in her eyes. Alex couldn't help but take a step back when he saw the enraged Hana. Ryan shook his head, "It's okay, calm down Hana. The words of the scientist might be like that but from my investigation, I don't think he took on his words and did anything. But we should take these words with complete seriousness. It's about the kids… It's been a month now that the number of gates appearing has been increasing. And as the rate of gates appearing has increased, the number of new awakened has also increased. Just yesterday, we had 10 more awakened, From a mere C-Class gate. Now that's why this is a bigger issue. More kids mean more experiments. And well, those experiments and the good kind… I'm sure Hana can talk about that."

Ryan said as he brought up a list of names, all seemed to be newly awakened. He then looked at Hana, waiting for her response.

"I know that this topic hits you deeply but that's why I wanted you on this case. It doesn't matter if it's politicians, it doesn't matter if it's another S class awakened, it doesn't matter who's the in charge of these experiments. What does matter is you take them down. I can't trust anyone in this but you."

Hana nodded, She knew why Ryan told her about this. But she looked towards Alex and then back to Ryan.

"If the mission was for me, why Have Alex in this as well. I don't mind that he is here but I don't think he can do anything about this, at this moment at least." Hana was right. Alex nodded in agreement, He knew his own strength. So being in this briefing didn't make sense to Alex.

Ryan smiled, "Alex being here is important but the reason can't be said right now. Hana, you can go to the document room. I want to have a small chat with Alex, alone." He said as he walked towards Alex.

As Ryan pulled Alex towards his desk, he looked at Hana who was walking to the door into the next room, "Hana, one more thing. Check the name of the scientist while you're looking into the files."

Hana, felt like she knew why Ryan said that. She took a deep breath and entered the room.

As she did, Ryan turned his attention to Alex. Alex looked back at Ryan. Both with an awkward smile on their faces. It was quiet.

After a few seconds of awkwardly smiling at each other, Ryan closed his eyes and clapped. As soon as he did, The two were back in Master Zhun's cave.

He then looked towards Alex, trying to read his expression. Alex looked around, still amazed by Ryan's powers, "It looks so realistic. This is amazing. Your power is that you can create illusions, right?" Alex asked in an excited voice.

Ryan nodded, a smug smile on his face. He was happy to hear praises about his powers, who wouldn't be? "It is indeed. And well, Do you remember where this place is?" He asked as he looked towards Alex with an intrigued face.

Alex nodded in reply. Ryan then smiled, "Then tell me. What made you stop for a moment while following Master Zhun. What was that small fragment of confusion and doubt in your face after entering the cave?" It seemed like Ryan had noticed something.

Alex smiled awkwardly, 'I think he noticed my facial expression when the system told me that I entered an illusion. He must have been observing me from the start… I guess I can just make some excuse.'

"I uh, I just felt a bit fuzzy and I guess the thought of a random cave-like entrance in the middle of a corporate looking building seemed weird." Alex quickly thought of an excuse. Ryan smiled when he heard Alex, he looked up and the cave got darker, the environment became scarier.

"Don't lie. Years of investigations have to lead to me being quite inept at picking up lies." Ryan said as his voice became progressively more demonic. Alex didn't know how to react. The only reason he didn't become scared was the prompt that appeared in front of him.

[Illusion Detected]

'I don't think he wants to harm me, I'm still not in combat more. It just says that I'm inside an illusion.' Alex said to himself as he thought of how to reply to Ryan. After taking a deep breath, Alex spoke, "Well, I just felt a bit fuzzy, That's about it. It didn't feel real, I felt like I was in some type of simulated environment or illusion. That's why I was a bit confused. There really isn't nothing to it I guess." He scratched the back of his head.

Ryan didn't say anything after hearing Alex's words. He sighed and looked up as the cave slowly started to dissipate. "I guess that's good enough for me."

Ryan looked at Alex, "Well, I called you for another reason." Ryan opened a drawer and handed a black box, larger than his own hand to Alex, "Take it. It's a compulsion for every awakened."

Alex took the black box and opened it. Inside, there was a small earpiece and a smartphone. "I did leave my phone at my house so I guess thank you." Alex laughed as he took the phone and opened it.

However as soon as he opened it, he dreaded to see that the UI was extremely simple, It looked like the OS was made for specific tasks only.

Ryan laughed as soon as he saw Alex's face. "I know, that happened to me as well. You expect it to be filled with features but it's the most basics phone out there. It's like that for a reason. Its use is for phone calls, which you can hear and speak into via. Earpiece. And it's also how we notify you for gates. As soon as one opens, it will be sent to your map. Of course, for safety reasons, as you are only C-rank, the map will only show C-Rank or less powerful gates. Once you become stronger, more gates will be seen."

-----

Changing up the upload times

For this week( and this week only) It'll be an alternative, so the next chapter will be in approximately 48 hours.

I am doing this so I can have stockpile when for just in case something like what happened 2 days ago doesn't happen.

I hope you all enjoy!

*also shameless power stones request!*