Chapter 54: Getting Closer

After discovering that Noah wasn't actually in the Metal Body prison, Jay chatted a bit more with Colt before he retrieved his little ones and both headed towards an area controlled by Wolf's Fang to continue their search for Colt's contribution points.

'...Ahh, how I wish I had another regeneration pill right now...' Jay thought, following Colt closely.

Although the situation had undoubtedly become extremely complicated now that he discovered that Noah was in Wolf's Fang's hands, he was still keeping calm and thinking about how to rescue Noah anyway since panicking would not help at all.

As for how he discovered that Wolf's Fang were the ones holding Noah, it wasn't that hard to guess, after all, in the South Zone, who besides Wolf's Fang would be capable of messing so openly with Metal Body?

Finally, while he also thought that the information Colt told him might be false, Jay dismissed that idea quickly, not because he trusted Colt, but because he trusted his little ones, who were adamant that Colt was telling the truth.

The talk with Colt actually not only helped him figure out about Noah's whereabouts, but also confirmed another of the parasites' abilities outside of assimilating other people's abilities and being able to power Jay.

Unlike the time when Jay got the system, he could now feel how he had an even stronger connection with the parasites, being able to more or less discern what they were feeling and what they wanted to express to him.

He had already had a slight suspicion of this when he infected Carl, but in the absence of other hosts and suitable situations to be able to test this theory of his, he could only wait until the next opportunity to confirm this, which fortunately came when he conversed with Colt.

While Jay had only tested it on two people so far, he was almost certain that parasites could also affect a person's judgment to be seen as trustworthy, or at least that was what Jay felt when he spoke with Colt.

At first Colt had been very cautious towards him, which was completely understandable and something Jay had noticed right away, however, the moment Jay again infected him with his parasites, his attitude took a 180 degree turn.

His posture, attitude and the way he addressed Jay, all of them indicated that Colt felt significantly more comfortable with him.

And although it was quite beneficial, it had a very clear limit, it only helped to create a favorable impression of Jay, so things like ordering him around or forcing Colt to tell him personal secrets remained a definite no.

At least that's what he thought, since he felt that there was a lot more to discover about this characteristic of his little ones.

'Hm...though I doubt creating a favorable impression on someone from Wolf's Fang is going to be helpful in this situation...'

After a few minutes, the two arrived at the next district controlled by Wolf's Fang, however, to their surprise, even after searching through several neighborhoods, they failed to find a single person.

"Looks like we came too late..." Colt said a bit disappointed.

Just as he had said, the guardians of this area had long since been defeated by the guardians of Metal Body, as for their whereabouts, neither of them knew nor were they interested in finding out.

"Don't you have some way of knowing where your companions are?" asked Jay, "That way we could find out where they are and thus avoid those areas."

"Oh, right." Colt replied, turning on his smart watch before opening Palu and entering into a group chat, "Well, I won't know exactly where they are, with this I'll at least be able to see where they've gone...at least I hope so."

Looking a little closer, Jay could see that this chat group had quite a few members, some even had their profile pictures included, among them there were 2 people he could recognize, one was the companion of the man who fainted in front of him, and the other was the guardian of the entrance to the South Zone.

Although there was the occasional message from unknown people, the one who was posting and sending images the most was none other than the companion of the man who fainted, mainly uploading pictures of what appeared to be unconscious Wolf's Fang members.

Apparently it was a group chat for all Metal Body members.

"How...unexpected." Jay couldn't help but say that out loud.

Who would have thought that Metal Body, one of the two ruling organizations of the South Zone, the most dangerous place in Nightown City, would have a group chat where everyone could communicate with each other.

But Jay wasn't surprised only for that, but also due to the fact that when he and Noah checked Taylor's smart phone, they didn't discover anything similar.

However, taking into account that someone had thanked him for beating Taylor up, he could already get an idea of why he wasn't in this group.

"Hm...not good, looks like all the outer districts have already been cleared..." Colt said after giving the messages a quick glance, "Damn..."

Colt's mood got a little worse after this, but there was nothing he could do about it, so he could only go home, at least he managed to catch 4 members, which was something.

But just as he was about to tell Jay to go back, a message from the temporary guardian of the Zouth Zone, Aiden, appeared in the group chat.

[All those who have finished with their respective districts gather at the center of District 8, we need reinforcements.]

"!"

This message managed to completely shake Colt, but it was completely understandable, after all, District 8 was an area where the Metal Body executives were currently fighting.

It was a battle where the requirement to enter was to be of rank (C-) at the very least, in no way was a place where even the elite members of Metal Body could enter.

And it was for that very reason that this message shocked him, just how bad was the situation there that they even had to call in reinforcements from the obviously weaker rank (D+) members?

"Apparently the situation in the main battle isn't good..." Colt said looking at the message on his smart watch, even though he was aware that he would only get his ass kicked, he still wanted to help with all he had.

*CRASH!*

Suddenly, they both heard the sound of a heavy object crashing into something, quite similar to when the wall of the store that Colt crashed into collapsed.

However, what struck them most was the fact that in the midst of that noise, they also seemed to have heard a person's voice.

The next moment, a message arrived on Jay's smartwatch.

[Jay, there is a confrontation in the next district, it's 3 people against 2, the latter have just thrown one of them against a building, it seems they are stronger.]

'So that's what it is...nice, if we manage to capture them, I will be able to interrogate them and thus find out where's their prison, or even if they know where Noah, but first, we need a plan..."

After reading the message, Jay wanted to tell Colt what should they attack, but unexpectedly, he had already started running in the direction the noise had come from.

"...This guy..." Jay said, smiling bitterly before following him.

***

"Take this!" shouted an ordinary looking man dressed in sportswear as he threw his fist forward, several stone fragments surrounded his fists, and although they might look like an injury, they were actually part of this man's skill.

Faced with this attack, however, his opponent simply dodged it as if the fist was in slow motion and instead sent another punch straight into the man's ribs.

Fortunately, the man reacted quickly and covered that part of his ribs with stone fragments, greatly decreasing the damage he received, although the blow still forced him back several steps.

'Just where did this guys came from...' The man thought, raising his hands as he took a close look at the person in front of him.

This man was a member of Metal Body, while the other was a member of Wolf's Fang, they were an esper and a pugilist respectively, as for their ranks, both were (D+) rank.

He was confused because only half an hour ago he and his companions had taken care of the guards from the previous district, however, these 2 people suddenly appeared.

Moreover, although they were supposed to have the advantage since they were under the effects of the blood pill, the difference in power between them was clear.

"Hey hey, are you sure you can afford to wait? I'm sure I broke a few bones when I threw your friend against that building, sorry for that, he was a lot lighter than I thought, haha." Laughed the Wolf's Fang member pointing to a nearby one story building.

"Shut the f*ck up, assh*le!"

Hearing his words, the Metal Body member couldn't help but get angry and lash out at his enemy, even though he knew he couldn't hurt him much, there was no other way out of this situation.

With one of his teammates out of combat and the other one occupied, he had to take care of the man before him by himself, and even though he had fearlessly lunged forward to attack...he knew that the odds of him winning were not high at all.