Chapter 271: the keys

"We don't have pictures, so we can't confirm if it's a rumor or not. But a lot of people in Kensington are speaking about this. So I believe it should be true,"  Riali responded. 

"That's the skill of Zale. No one else should be able to make it happen. Strange," Varant commented, frowning. 

" Well, there was one more person who was able to use black lightning. But it's true that both of them are dead. So it is indeed strange," Riali agreed. 

"Alright. I've decided. I want you to go there with Arne and investigate. Gensi and I will focus on Ayn," Varant said, giving commands to Riali. 

"I'll do that right away," Riali affirmed before he left. 

Sitting alone in his room, Varant opened his drawer and brought a group picture out of his drawer, which he placed on the table. 

"Black lightning again, huh. Pretty interesting," he muttered as he looked at the group photo, which was taken right after their victory in the Last Great War. 

In the picture, Varant, Raia, Zeiss, Zale, Clarisse, and even the chubby man were visible. 

"Is this the signal of something big happening again? I hope not," he said as he kept the picture back. 

Outside the office, the vice captain of Alpha Squad, Riali, had joined up with Arne as the two of them prepared to leave.

...

Inside the Welling Estate, Lucifer was sitting in front of Ayn. Veracity and Cassius were also inside the room, but unlike before, Veracity was sitting near Lucifer this time. 

"So, Ayn. Time to start again. The question is the same as this morning. But unlike before, you won't get asked a second time. I'll break one of your bones with each lie and deflection," Lucifer warned Ayn, much more seriously than before. It had already been too late for him. 

"Will you use violence on a girl? How about you give me time to think about it? I'll answer you tomorrow," Ayn suggested, trying to delay the interrogation. 

"I'm sorry, but there's going to be no tomorrow for you if you don't answer tonight," Lucifer retorted as he stood up.

He moved his chair closer to Ayn and sat within the arm's reach of her. 

"So tell me what I asked. You have three seconds. At the fourth second, you'll lose your right arm," he said, staring into Ayn's deep eyes. 

"Give me time; I promise I'll tell tomorrow," Ayn said, concerned. 

"One..."

"Come on! It's not an easy decision. I need to think a lot about it!" She further said as she noticed that Lucifer had started the count. 

"Two...."

" You little scumbag! Why don't you just die!" Frustrated, Ayn reached out her hand to grab Lucifer's neck.

Lucifer didn't even bother as he knew this wasn't going to affect him. He didn't try to stop her.

"Argh!"

Before Ayn's hand could even reach him, she screamed as if she was again electrocuted. Her eyes closed as she fell on the bed. 

Seeing this happen, Lucifer actually reacted. His fists clenched unwillingly.

"Is this girl toying with me? After all this, she still tried to use her powers?!" He let out as he smacked his fist on the table which was near him, breaking it. 

"I might as well just kill her!" he yelled in frustration as he stood up and grabbed Ayn by the neck. Fortunately, he was still wearing his gloves, and he didn't actually crush her neck. 

He took a deep breath before he released her throat. 

"This girl is really a bag of trouble. Even kids aren't as annoying," he said as he walked back and forth in frustration. 

Today, his mood was already bad for what he had to go through to bring the clouds, and now this. 

Fortunately, he controlled himself.

"It's fine. As you said, we have plenty of time. She'll give us answers. She's just stubborn, it seems," Cassius comforted Lucifer. 

"Yeah. She has yet to come to terms with reality. It's the first day she has been awake after all. She will understand soon," Veracity also chimed in.

"Thank you. We'll do it again tomorrow. You can leave," Lucifer told Cassius and Veracity as he sat back on the chair.

Cassius glanced at Lucifer but decided that it was good to leave him alone for the moment. He and Veracity left. 

Sitting alone in the room, Lucifer muttered in frustration. "This girl really will die at my hands someday if she keeps doing it."

He stood up and locked the door before he walked inside the bathroom to take a shower. 

As Lucifer closed the door of the bathroom, Ayn slowly opened her eyes sneakily. She didn't move from her position though. She closed her eyes again as she smiled. 

She had pretended to use her abilities to make them believe that she was actually shocked. 

She already had an experience on how it felt to be shocked so she could give a convincing performance. 

After ten minutes, Lucifer stepped out after taking a shower. He walked to the wardrobe and got dressed before he walked back to the bed. 

The room was filled with silence as Ayn didn't move at all. She kept pretending to be sleeping and only guessed Lucifer's position with the help of his footsteps. 

....

Soon, midnight arrived. It had been over an hour since Lucifer fell asleep. 

Ayn hadn't moved even an inch in the last hour as she waited to be sure that Lucifer was asleep. 

It was only now that she slowly opened her eyes and turned around to see Lucifer, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. 

She took a deep breath as she got off the bed. 

Tiptoeing, she stepped inside the bathroom where Lucifer had hung his old clothes. She believed that there was a chance the keys were in his old clothes. 

She searched the old clothes. Unfortunately, she didn't find anything there. 

'This guy, it looks like he has it in the clothes he is wearing,' she thought as she left the room. 

Stepping out of the bathroom, she observed Lucifer, who was still sleeping. She closed in on him. 

Standing before him, she took a deep breath as she observed his pockets to see if she could see a key-shaped thing inside. 

Even though she didn't see anything like that, she still didn't give up. She gently touched Lucifer's thighs where his pockets were to see if there were keys inside. 

'The keys aren't here either?' she thought, frowning. 'Where did he keep it?'

As she was about to search elsewhere, Lucifer moved. The key pendant, which was hanging in his neck, got revealed because of the movement.