?Usually, Nick wouldn't care about such a comment.
Yet, when he had heard that comment just now, his insides began to tense with rage, and he narrowed his eyes.
Naturally, it was to be expected that several people weren't happy with Nick's success.
He was a John, just like them!
What made him so special that he got such a prestigious position as Chief Zephyx Extractor?!
Naturally, envy created resentment, and people wanted to voice that resentment.
Nick understood all of these things, which was why he usually didn't care.
But things were different today.
Nick had felt apprehensive and apathetic ever since the incident had occurred, and the sudden burst of anger was the first real emotion he had felt since then.
Kiara watched with surprise as Nick walked up to the big man.
The big man's friends noticed Nick's approach and tapped the big guy on the shoulder, who turned to look at Nick with a raised eyebrow.
Nick stopped in front of the big man and looked into his eyes.
"What?" the big guy asked with annoyance.
"What was that comment just now?" Nick asked with a threatening tone.
The big man looked at Nick with surprise.
Then, an arrogant and provocative grin appeared on his face.
"I said that you're at least good-"
BOOOOOM!
BANG!
A green Barrier appeared before the big man's body shot towards the walls of the megastructure, hitting them with an explosive sound!
Everyone looked with shock at the man, who was now on his knees beside the Inner City wall.
For just a moment, everything was silent.
Then, the man's friends turned to Nick aggressively.
"What the fuck is-"
But the guy that had just shouted stopped when he saw Nick.
Nick's eyes were absolutely bloodshot, and his teeth releasing cracking sounds.
Everyone immediately had the same thought.
'This guy is insane!'
This was not the expression of a sane and normal person.
This was the expression of someone who lost all their marbles.
The pure anger that Nick radiated at this moment made the onlookers feel apprehensive.
Of course, the fact that his punch was so strong and fast that nobody even saw it played a role in that.
Naturally, Nick was quite intimidating as someone who had trained in hand-to-hand combat for years while also having killed more than ten people in combat with his bare hands.
Instead of shouting at Nick, the guy's friends took some apprehensive steps back while covertly reaching for their weapons.
"What's going on over here?!"
Everyone turned to look at one of the guards.
Then, they noticed that several guns were now pointed at them.
Nick glanced at the guards.
His demeanor had already returned to normal.
It was almost like he hadn't exploded in anger just now.
"Nothing," Nick said.
The guard frowned and looked at the big guy, who was currently walking back.
The guy looked at Nick with narrowed eyes.
"What's going on?" the guard asked the big guy.
The guy didn't look away from Nick.
"Nothing," he said.
The guard narrowed his eyes. "You all have to work together today, and I don't want to see something like this happen again. The next time something like this happens, the aggressor gets their shift doubled!"
No one answered.
A moment later, the guards turned and went back to their posts.
After the guards left, four groups formed.
One was Nick and Kiara.
Another one was the big guy and his friends.
The biggest group was the neutral people.
And the last group was the lone Extractor from the Spartans.
Kiara just looked at the big guy's group without any fear, while Nick ignored them.
The big guy kept glancing at Nick while he was talking with his friends quietly.
Nick's anger had vanished, but it was replaced by fear and frustration.
Nick knew exactly that his destiny had been in the big guy's hands just now.
If the big guy had complained to the guards, this incident would blow up.
If this were just between two Extractors, this wouldn't be a big deal, but this was between a Chief Zephyx Extractor and a normal Extractor.
Everything Nick did reflected on Dark Dream and impacted their relationship with other Manufacturers.
Sure, the guy had provoked Nick, but that didn't give Nick a justification for hitting the guy.
Obviously, Nick had lost control over his anger, and losing control over anger was something that teenagers and stupid people did.
This was unbecoming of a Chief Zephyx Extractor since it made Nick appear like a hormonal teenager.
The fact that the big guy hadn't told the guards about this saved Nick's reputation and maybe even his career.
Nick wasn't sure why the guy hadn't blown the incident up.
Pride?
Did he feel like running to the guards was a cowardly move?
Fear?
The guy would obviously also get some punishment since he had provoked Nick.
Malice?
What if he wanted to kill Nick in secret?
Nick didn't know.
No matter what the reason for it was, the guy hadn't blown the incident up.
Since the incident hadn't been blown up, this was just seen as a short conflict between two men.
They didn't want others to interfere.
So the others wouldn't interfere.
Some tense minutes passed, and a couple more Extractors appeared.
In the end, there were 33 Extractors.
Eventually, a group of three people walked over to the group.
"Everyone, pay attention, please!" the leading man shouted.
The Extractors all looked at the man.
"In five minutes, we will send all of you down into the undercity."
"If you, at any point, look down, you will die."
"If you lose your hold, you will die."
"If you sabotage others, you will die."
"Am I understood?" the guy said.
No one answered.
The leading guy gestured to one of the people beside him, who walked forward and handed out a couple of things.
Every Extractor received a huge sack, a heavy hammer, and a smaller sack.
The small sack was filled with nails, and the big sack was filled with grips that could be nailed into walls.
"For the next four hours, your job is to nail these grips into the underside of the city."