Chapter 328: Investment

Chapter 328: Investment



Emir saw everything.

He saw how Felix killed, how he struggled, how he feared, how he enjoyed.

It wasn't so at the start but... Felix saw those 'lower' than him only as meals to be eaten, and he enjoyed the hunting, the killing, and especially the eating.

As if he were a man from the time before the old world, hunting for deer in the mountains, except the deer were humans and instead of mountains it was the slums.

Even the way of using leftovers remained similar for both.

That floating bowl was used later to quench his thirst for more meat as he used it to make stew, drink, even perfume, and anything else that would help delay his thirst from taking control.

None of that interested Emir, however.

He wanted to know, to understand what changed in his 'storyline' compared to the novel. Emir needed to use it as a reference so that he could point out when the third player joined the game.

But unfortunately, his mind was useless.

Only highlights, like the death of the girl, the suffering and the like remained.

Subtle beings like the third player were deleted from his broken memories in their entirety.

Letting out a snigger, Emir looked around the empty white void he found himself in after the blink and commanded.

"Return."

Blink.

The virtual world complied, and he returned to the outside world.

"He's back!"

"Hey boss, look."

"Guys-"

"Shush, lower your voices."

Loud screams welcomed his return but Lyra shut them down, wanting to make sure that he was fine first:

"Prince... Are you, alright? You need anything?"

Emir silently looked at her as he was slowly being pushed out of the NCI's soft cushion. He then removed his head, took out the wires from his neck, and stood up, feeling the ground. The real ground.

It was calm... There were no storms, no explosions.

"I am... Just need to orient myself a bit."

His feet pushed the ground a couple of times, feeling the familiar gravity washing over him as he moved around.

'I'm back'

After showing a smile, he returned his attention to Lyra.

"Yall got what I got?"

She nodded and Nathan approached them from the flickering console.

"It's safe to say that we've really involved ourselves in a shitshow of a play."

Lyra glanced back, glaring at him for a moment, then returned her gaze to Emir.

"Hm..."

Lyra, who showed herself to be sulking with puffed cheeks, did as she was told and stepped back, exiting the room soon after.

He didn't react to that as he knew that she was only going out to help Laura, while his partner opened up by a huge margin after they had done the 'deed' she was still a logical person at her

core.

Anyhow, Emir's letter was for Quinn Mercer, the girl whose father he had tortured to death.

While she wished for death to visit him, he wanted her to be his disciple, it was quite the...

play.

And so, to solve that issue, he would manipulate her.

This was only his first step in doing that.

After all, the letter was to announce his sponsoring her.

It wasn't going to be a normal sponsor either, he, while acting anonymous, would pay for all

her student expenses and give her a monthly salary that she desperately needed.

Basically, this letter was a warning that he would be slapping her face with a big wad of

credits.

And yes, she was desperate for money indeed.

When her father died, she was the only one left of the main family.

Now... what did orphans in the jungles and deserts attract the most?

Vultures... Hyenas.

Lo and behold, there came the vultures, there came the hyenas, her own relatives, even those

whom she saw as sweet aunties ate up whatever her dad left behind, not even giving her the

bones.

They stole candy from a baby and that baby let out all its irrational anger on the only target it

could.

Emir.

He, meanwhile, planned to use that anger, shape her into his mad hound, his Aetheric Duelist, and create a situation where she would feel guilty over the emotions she held for him. Her professor would be a man who only saw her as a great disciple, someone worth raising, yet she hated him so? How unfair was she to him? How sad must he feel?

Guilt tripping certainly wasn't on his bucket list of things to do, but it seemed to be the best

method for beings like her who acted only on emotion.

"A mad dog indeed."

Emir laughed... he couldn't help it.

How ironic was it that he, who had his fate decided, 'written,' now played as an unknown

Elite, sponsoring a girl and molding her to his liking?

Truly. The world was a small one... And fate certainly was a bitch.