156 That Saturday 1

A factory located at Aurora City was blown up this time, most likely turned into nothing but tall heaps of ashes, the culprit — the annoying bomber kid. The report came to him more or less a minute after Fred Mendez left his condo unit.

'If Leo Jones is the one who did the attack, then Fred must be doing something else around that time, only sending signals to this boy when he left my place.'

Gio's eyes squinted, the grip on the phone tightened so much that cracking noises were starting to transmit to his assistant's ear from the other line.

"Sir, we're already making our staffs work on double-checking the casualties and damages. However, you have to know that this Styrofoam factory within Aurora City is operating round the clock, and thus, there were at least 200 people there when the explosion happened. So far, only less than 30 survivors are found, with only 5 or so are lightly injured..."

'In other words, the rest are heavily wounded...'

Gio hurriedly ordered him to arrange the compensation and to check if the media had already gotten wind of it. His mind was on whether this particular factory would be the end of this disturbing incident. His instinct was kind of warning him... the lunatic wouldn't simply end things like that.

Not even a minute passed and his phone buzzed again, this time due to another call that came from the same number that Clarissa Guzman's Original had used to probe him before. He knew, this time it would be from the real owner of the number. Yet he looked unhappy that this was the case.

For that short while, he wished that it was another whoever who had hacked or manipulated this world's natural laws again to get this number made the phone call.

'If this is really him, it means he's colluding with Fred?'

His uncle, Conrad, had also a very competent information source so it would not be surprising to see him calling to inquire about the recent incident. However, it was only if he made the call at least half an hour after the bombing, not a minute! There was a limit to how fast an uninvolved party's information team could be, no matter how efficient they were in their work, if they were only normal people!

Therefore, to Gio who was aware of his involvement with Fred, it was like his uncle was blatantly telling him that he had a part in this!

Now that he remembered it, didn't Fred only came out of hiding five or so years from now? When Sofony was already past level 5?

"Gio."

Without letting the other man continue, he immediately said,

"One of my factories is attacked a minute ago. Congratulations. You're so efficient in finding out."

The voice he used must have been too cold that it rendered Conrad silent for a couple of seconds. When the other man recovered his senses, he coughed before replying,

"I know. Have you already investigated who is behind the attacks? If I'm not mistaken you've recently been man hunting the mafia. There are already some records of attacks against your cousin's family. Be honest with me, Gio. Is it them?"

Should he play along with his uncle?

Regrettably, Gio was too disappointed and angry to do that hence he removed the phone from his right ear, staring at the call timer flashing on it.

He respected his family head, but not to the point of blindly worshiping him and acquiescing to him even after he did something wrong or detrimental to him.

With a tap on the red icon on his screen, he showed his intention to no longer hear out Conrad's next bullshitting, directly ending the disappointing call that had only proven how correct his suspicions were.

After texting Sofony to message him back of her current location, he pocketed the black phone, then picked up the long grey coat that he hanged over the backrest of the sofa when he arrived home half an hour ago. Grabbing the car keys from the coffee table, he strode towards the door, intending to fetch his girl from Jasper City and take revenge against the unreasonable man by bringing him his daughter.

Simple vengeful thoughts were already swimming in his mind. The few as paybacks for his two lost businesses.

'Old man, I'll just be doing you a favor. Don't blame me for being so helpful.'

Unfortunately, the man taking big strides towards the elevator didn't know that Conrad had long shut down the city. At the same time, Fred blocked any means of media and communication outside of it. It meant that his message only appeared to be sent, giving him the illusion that nothing was out of the ordinary with the messaging and networking system of Alina City. Outside of his knowledge though, the message did not really go through, at least, it did not reach Sofony who was currently staying in a hotel near the hospital where Chris was confined.

Later, when he arrived at the checkpoint near the two city's boundary, he realized that a city-wide illusion was enveloping the whole of Alina, preventing people to get close to the sky-high ice walls that served as the final blockade of the city. Gio, who was immune to all kinds of mind-attacks from system hosts easily bypassed the illusions that had already caused tens of thousands of people to lose their way on the road.

Alas, no matter how abnormal and powerful he was, being ultimately a non-host, even if he rode the most high-tech plane or helicopter in the world, he wouldn't still be able to go past the extreme blockade Fred had set up.

It was a situation where a man was against nature. A situation where a normal man would never be able to win.

'Is this what occupied him after our small talk?'

He coldly stared at the glistening and breathtakingly arranged ice walls from the distance, half-amazed at how Fred managed to do this within an hour, half-annoyed that it was now completely trapping him here.

Left with no choice, he went back, planning to pass the night within Alina City.

'He must be plotting to have that kid bomb my other properties until I become a beggar in the streets.'

'Is this really only to force me to agree?'

As Gio drove back to his inner city, he thought that the plan was so childish and irritating since even if Fred did blast everything he owned to oblivion, he could just go back to the main house and leech off his damnable uncle. It was very dumb due to the fact that only his properties and companies were being targeted but not the real enterprises of the Albarez family which were under Conrad's supervision.

If Fred was making him surrender out of guilt for the innocent people dragged into this one-sided war, then Gio would be forced to agree that Fred was truly a madman, the idiot type who forgot or was not aware of why Gio was well-known as a ruthless demon, in and out of the country. Gio would only probably feel bad for those lost lives for a couple of seconds, but he wouldn't feel any guilt for them. It was not like it was him who asked them to bomb everyone to death.

Blame the hosts whose souls were bound to hell but have hands that could reach for the skies.

They were picking the wrong person to agitate if they were thinking he was someone who would eventually choose to be a hero and save humanity by sacrificing himself and his happiness. Sorry, but he was never that kind of person. Selfishness and utilitarianism were his main principles in life. He now had a heart, but it was never kind and big to the point that it would choose people he doesn't know over himself and the people he wanted to be with.

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