Chapter 163 CHAPTER 163: THE BLACKOUT II



"Track his movements from that moment till now..." He ordered Aida as he wanted to know where Lee Jung was right now.

[Affirmative sir] Aida replied and immediately a holographic map appeared and the screens continued moving.

A line appeared on the map that showed Lee Jung's movements along the map.

Strangely sometimes the line on the map broke off and then reappeared, but Davies knew that it was only Lee Jung entering a blind spot and then remerging into the views of the cameras.

He bother much about it though, because no matter how many blind spots Lee Jung passed through, he still couldn't completely escape the eyes of the cameras. 

Even if he only passed through the blindspots, all Davies would have to do to find him was to determine and follow the blindspots and he would still find him.

"The only way the little bastard can escape is if all the cameras in the city suddenly stopped working," he muttered with a little laugh, and as if by word command, all the screens suddenly went blank.

Not only the screens but every electrically powered object he could see suddenly turned off.

Strangely enough, it was not only in his mansion that such a scene was occurring, but rather it was happening all over the city.

It was a city-wide blackout.

"What the hell?" he muttered as he looked at the blank screens that were still being displayed because the laptop and the holographic display balls functioned on their inbuilt batteries.

[Seems like you jinxed it] Miya intoned.

'Jinxed what?' he asked, not understanding what she was inferring.

[Well, you said, the only way he would ever be able to escape from your sights was if all the cameras in the city, and I quote "stopped working"]

[So, here you go] Miya said like it was his fault.

'Noooo...'

'Is that even possible?' He found it hard to believe such absurdity.

[Well, you're witnessing it] Miya's voice resounded in his head to make him realize that what he thought impossible was currently happening, and he was witnessing it.

As for whether such a thing could be a coincidence... 

Yeah right, that idea was swept immediately under the rug as soon as it popped up.

One thing he had learned throughout all his five lifetimes was that there was no such thing as a 'coincidence' in this line of business. 

Everything had a cause and a reason behind it no matter how absurd the cause or reason was.

It could be sensible, or it could be absurd... But it was present.

The cause of what had just happened was absurd, the reason was even more so.

'Did that lil bitch going by the name of Fate just black out the whole city just because she wanted to hide Lee Jung's movements and location from me?'

'Like really?' he had to ask himself again and again to be sure if this was really happening. 

Unfortunately, the reality remained the same and he had been slapped in the face by it.

'This may be really bad news... Like really bad news..." he thought in sudden realization.

[What do you mean?] it was Miya's turn to be confused as she didn't see what was bad about the current situation other than the fact that Davies wouldn't be able to track Lee Jung's movements and thus wouldn't be able to steal the high-grade mana poison antidote.

Luckily for her impoverished thinking ability, Davies saw differently and was about to pour some enlightenment upon her stupidity. 

'If you haven't already noticed, this isn't the first time that such a coincidence has occurred, and it probably wouldn't be the last, but haven't you noticed something different this time?' he asked.

[What's different about it?]

[It's still the same old thing where she changes things to somehow favor the protagonist...] she trailed off, not sure where she was wrong. 

'...'

'The scale you dimwit! The scale!!!' he clutched his head in exasperation internally. 

[What scale?] Miya asked, even more confused.

['He doesn't just expect everything to suddenly click just because he shouted a word that almost made no sense and had no connection with the situate... Oh'] she was thinking to herself when she suddenly understood what Davies meant by mentioning the scale.

'What happened this time cannot in any way be compared to the previous 'coincidences','

[It was way too loud of an interference this time] She affirmed, understanding what he meant, but still not sure what he was getting at.I think you should take a look at

'Exactly...' 

'The whole city being thrown into a blackout just to hide his movements and location from me is way too much...' he confirmed her thoughts. 

[So what is the problem... She made a big move this time, so what?] 

'The fact that such a big move was made is the problem,' Davies replied, not losing his patience.

'For this kind of huge coincidence to occur, don't you think that the reason why he is being hidden had to warrant such a heavy reaction?' he finally let her know his thoughts about the issue.

[...!] 

[That can either be very good news... Or very bad news] she spoke in realization, her brain cogs turning at impossible speeds.

'... Unfortunately, I think it's very bad news,'

'There is no doubt that for such a huge coincidence to occur, there has to be a very big opportunity for Lee Jung right now,' 

'All would have been well if I can steal the opportunity... But I think fate has had it with me,' he explained, feeling a little shiver run down his back as he spoke the conclusion that he had come up with by himself. 

[What makes you think that?] 

'I think the signs are pretty obvious,' he replied, referring to the blackout that they had been able to conclude had occurred to hide Lee Jung's movements from him.

'After this kind of crazy coincidence, I'm pretty sure that even if I try to find Lee Jung even after this, there'll be an even more absurd coincidence that would throw me off again,'

'... It'll also probably be a fatal coincidence,' he said. If he was speaking instead of communicating with her with his thoughts, his throat would be dry in slight nervousness... Having to bear the pressure of being able to be attacked from anywhere, by anything, at any point in time, was quite burdensome on the mind.

[...]

'Unfortunately... That's not even the worst part,'

'Whatever the opportunity that has been prepared for Lee Jung, it's either going to empower him enough, or embolden him enough for him to come at me after gaining whatever the opportunity is,'

[... Then that means...]

'Yeah... When he emerges after fully digesting this opportunity, he would be the one coming at me...'

'Our next meeting could even be a fight to the death...' he said with a chuckle, but that was not very likely.

But even though it was not, he still needed to make preparations of all kinds because he didn't know what kind of cheats Lee Jung would gain this time and how he would use it... Or more likely, them, against him.

Since he didn't know what was coming at him, he would need to make preparations in all directions, and even then there was still a high chance of him losing to Lee Jung as unlike Lee Jung, he didn't have full access to his system tools, he didn't have any cheat opportunities, and he didn't have a phenomenon of nature behind him to clean up his shit.

Yet, he wasn't completely helpless either. He had his own advantages and things to fall back.

He even had a couple of trump cards that he could pull out should things enter the worst-case scenario. 

He wasn't going to be helpless on the battlefield between him and Lee Jung and he would do his best to come out on top.

With that decision being made, he reverted his focus to the outside world once again.

"Aida, terminate the connection to the security cameras and wipe all traces away," he instructed, no longer going to bother himself with finding Lee Jung's location.

It wasn't like he could find it right now anyway, so he shrugged and decided to save himself the energy and time.

[Affirmative sir] Aida responded and began working on the tasks he had allocated to her.

"Seems like it's a citywide blackout," Daniella who had gone to pull open the windows while checking on the situation through her new lackeys in black, said to Davies.

"I noticed," Davies replies half-heartedly, his mind already cooking up preparatory plans for the beginning of the end.

"Aren't you going to keep looking for that guy?" 

"Should we keep looking for him?" Daniella asked.

"Don't worry about it, it'll probably take a while for the blackout to be taken care of," he replied, still in a half-hearted tone.

'After all, Lee Jung has to escape first before the blackout can be fixed,' he thought.

Soon after, the laptop that Davies had used in the hacking process was back to showing its homepage, leaving no traces that it had been used for any illegal activities just a few minutes ago. 

He had Daniella pick up all the holographic balls from the floor and put them into his inventory, along with the laptop that he had shut down, and the special USB Drive.

It was time to focus on more important matters.