112 Choices 2

The sky had already turned dark and the air in the city hall had also turned colder. When Sofony looked up, she somehow disliked the dim glow of the fluorescent lamp above. The place was gradually being deserted since not many government employees work overtime. This made the city hall a lot gloomier.

Sofony received a call from the lady bodyguard at Steffy's side so she decided to leave the place. However, Gio somehow found her and even before she could say anything, he had already pulled her into a tight hug. She became dumbfounded for a few seconds, thinking of how and why he appeared here. Then after remembering it was easy for him to know about the most recent incident, she felt stupid for pondering about it.

"Gio..." She couldn't help but mutter. But unlike before, she didn't cry as he trapped her in his embrace. Her eyes only told him every insecurity and worry she had in her heart and mind.

After hugging for a while, Gio grabbed her hands and led her to a secure but deserted room in the city hall. His eyes asked for details so she explained what actually happened. She glossed over the minor things that occurred at the shooting range and focused more on the bombing incident.

At the end of her explanation, her body was shaking, slightly. The man knew it was not out of sadness or fear, but anger. He understood where she's coming from as he's aware of the root cause of everything.

"So this confirms she's alive, that woman?" he asked with a complicated look in his eyes.

When she looked down, perhaps due to frustration, and nodded to her, Gio stared at her for a fairly long time without saying anything.

Sofony became uncomfortable with his silence so, after half a minute, she looked up and met his conflicted gaze. She felt her heart jumped from nervousness. For some reason, she could feel that something bad was weighing in his mind.

She couldn't help but swallow some saliva. "Hey... What's the matter?"

The look in his eyes did not change. Or maybe it did because she noticed some hesitation from them. In the end, he did open his mouth to ask,

"Baby. Have you... ever considered what's the biggest difference between you and her?"

"The biggest difference between me and her?"

When she heard his question, she almost laughed, bitterly. She might be slow sometimes, but it didn't mean she was not aware of it. How would she not know when the system was reminding her every day?

"I know. It's not hard to realize it. She's different from me because she doesn't have anyone to care for. She's not even sparing time to visit her friends in prison. I don't think she gives a damn about her family too, if she even has one."

Gio nodded. "I've read my men's report. That seems to be the case." He paused a bit and watched her respond to his remark with a bitter smile. After three seconds, he added, "But you're different. You have so many people to worry about. And even if I can confidently say I won't be a burden, is this the same with the others?"

This time, both of them sunk into a long period of silence. Gio did not speak anymore as everything he wanted to tell her has been said. He just continued examining his girl's reaction, watching out whether she really got what he meant.

Actually, Sofony already knew of this. Without Gio explaining, she understood what he wanted her to do - to reflect on this disadvantage!

In fact, his eyes were also similarly telling and asking her,

'Baby, you get what I mean, right? How will you deal with them? What will you do? They're weak. While you can grow stronger, they are still weak and vulnerable to deadly attacks.'

'See? When your enemy only has herself to worry about, you're here wasting precious time, energy, and brain cells to think of how to protect them. You have to divide your focus. You can't devote yourself to attacking. Because while you value your life, you equally value theirs. And the enemy is aware of this.'

'Thus while she is free to strike anytime, you're stuck somewhere ensuring their safety...'

'The worst thing is, they don't know anything. You'll soon be tired cleaning up their messes. But you are not allowed to complain. You can't rest too.'

'You have no choice but do all the work. Because they CAN'T know anything!'

Time passed quickly. However, these questions still repeatedly haunted her, bothering her, until she had no choice but closed her eyes.

Complex and conflicting feelings began to assault her too, making her realize that her greed had caused her to be trapped in the illusion that they would be fine as long as she becomes stronger.

Wrong. Her brain told her. She forgot the enemy and her system would not let her grow... and that she was already in the middle of a fight!

Seconds passed after the system remarked this to her. Sofony didn't really put its words to heart but it successfully made her remember that it had always been telling her how stupid she was to become so attached to easily targeted non-hosts.

Sofony's eyes could no longer stop the tears from welling up. After she stopped dodging this issue, she only managed to think of two solutions. Two solutions which essence was basically the same.

Sofony looked at him in the eyes. With reluctance in her voice, she asked, "Gio, are you telling me that I only have two choices?"

"....Either I leave them or they leave me?"

A second later, she froze. Then she shook her head and corrected herself, "No, actually either it's me who leave this city... or them, right?"

These were the only options she managed to come up with... Essentially, they're the same since they both mean to separate. Wasn't this what he wanted to tell her? When she tried to think about what she could do to at least ensure they wouldn't be put into danger any longer, a separation was all that came to mind.

Yes, if she really doesn't want them to get dragged into her dangerous situation anymore, the only choice was to part ways with them. She could only try to attract all the troubles to herself and send assistance and bodyguards to them from afar.

Actually, she had long understood this. Only her selfishness made her steer away from the topic. She was too afraid to bring it up. She simply didn't dare imagine being away from them yet.

Now, she knew the consequences of a vulnerable non-host staying with someone like her...

Wendy was controlled twice. The first time, it was to kill someone. The second time around, it was to kill herself. Today, Steffy was targetted too, and by someone using the face of her older sister, and if she was not just quite lucky, she would have ended fried to death, or stabbed to death.

In the current world that she lived in, they were really too vulnerable. And the problem was her. She was not strong enough yet to 24/7 secure their safety.

"Wrong." she suddenly heard him say. His answer successfully awakened her from her dazed state, making her raise her head again and blinked at her ever mature and dependable man.

"There are many solutions," he began. "If only you are not limited by your mindset, principles, and beliefs you'll see that separation is not the only answer. But because you are still naive, you can't see past your horizon." He shook his head without breaking eye contact with her.

"Gio..."

He narrowed his eyes and added,

"Listen up, girl. If I were you, I would've long resorted to a massacre or any moralless means. Nothing matters to me as long as I can make the enemy lose her life or everything. You might think of me as cruel or heartless. But this is how I've always been operating. For me, it's either they die or I die. Actually, this is really not my motto..."

"There's no way for the 'I die' part. It must always be the 'they die' part only."

He paused for a while and chuckled as he took in her stunned expression. "Of course, things don't always go the way you want them to be. So you have to make them happen."

"So what should you do? Of course, strive to destroy her. Even if you can't catch her due to her face-changing ability, so what? Employ tactics to scare her to death and make her fear for her life. Or create an illusion that there's nowhere safe for her in this city. Occupy her with so much trouble that she won't be able to think of anything any more than survival."

"If it's a game of chess, you don't merely check the king. Isolate him from his forces. Stimulate his fear to make him forget that he's actually a king and not a homeless rat. If she's confident because of her abilities and backers, make her unable to use them..."

"There are so many ways, Sofony."

Gio paused even though he had so much more to lecture her about. The girl before him had sunk into deep contemplation. He reckoned she was reconsidering her options. However, when he saw the frown and conflicting emotions in her face, his eyes darkened.

He looked at her a little longer and when he received no response, he could only say, "Forget it. I know now where the problem is."

"Maybe you don't have enough conviction and confidence yet to do all these things. And this is why none of these had ever crossed your mind."

Shocked, Sofony looked up and tried to defend herself. "I,... I'm still thinking..."

At the end of her response, her voice became tinier, her eyes also broke contact with his.

Gio had actually already predicted her inner thoughts, '...still thinking, whether she can do what I said, right?'

He wondered if he's being forceful when he imparted to her these all sorts of dark ideas.

He shook his head and laughed, "Girl, it's fine. You don't have to think so much of my words. But I just want to tell you to reflect on what could give you the two things I mention." He referred to what could grant her enough conviction and confidence.

"And... just in case you still can't think of anything better than the first two you told me a while ago," he paused and looked away to the darkness peeking through the window pane.

"...choose to send them away. My meaning is, you stay here, while you send them out of this city, or better, out of this country."

"Remember, here is the current battlefield. The most stupid thing you can do, which you naturally what you should never even consider, is leaving the weak ones here."