?Nick didn't move for a while.
That sounded like Kiara, but he wasn't sure if that truly was her.
The way the people laughed was unlike their usual laughter, making it sound alien.
Because of that, Nick couldn't be sure whether or not that was Kiara.
He just hoped that it was someone else.
He wanted to shout and ask, but Nick didn't dare to.
If he did, his voice would almost certainly cause people to look in his direction, which would kill them.
Sadly, this meant that Nick had to continue with uncertainty.
Some seconds later, Nick was done putting the last grip on the ceiling and started moving back to the central support of the Inner City.
He moved past the part where he had messed up and continued.
Ding!
Nick touched the wall of the central support and took a deep breath.
Then, he dropped down without looking.
He landed on the platform, and only then did he dare to open his eyes.
Nick looked around and saw a couple of people standing around.
They looked exhausted, which meant that they were probably very low on Zephyx.
Surprisingly, all of them were eating some kind of stark white bread, which Nick hadn't seen before.
The next moment, Nick's eyes met the assistant's eyes, and the assistant walked over.
The assistant noticed the limp sack hanging from Nick.
"How many did you lose?" he asked, referring to the handles.
"I dropped two handles and four nails," Nick said.
The assistant's eyebrows rose in slight surprise.
"You put all the other ones onto the ceiling?" he asked.
Nick nodded.
The assistant turned to look at the "ladder" Nick had created.
He couldn't see its end through the red mist.
"You were in there for quite a while," the assistant said. "You seem to have a good Barrier."
Nick nodded.
His Barrier had cost over five million credits.
Only Kugelblitz had the funds to give their Johns Barriers that were this good.
The assistant looked at Nick's ladder again and scratched his chin.
"If you manage to put two more sacks of grips onto the wall, you may leave early. You are booked for six hours, but I am less interested in the number of hours you work for me than the result," the assistant explained.
Nick nodded. "Sure."
This was a common and effective trade that good supervisors gave their employees.
When a bad supervisor saw a hard-working employee who worked more than others, they gave them even more work.
In the short term, the amount of work finished increased, but in the long term, the hard-working employee's motivation would get destroyed, and they would start doing the bare minimum at some point.
Meanwhile, a good supervisor gave bargains.
"If you do more than the average employee, you can leave early."
This created an incentive for the employee to work even harder, and they would also feel like their hard work was being seen and appreciated.
Naturally, Nick wasn't opposed to that offer.
The assistant shot Nick a short smile and handed him a piece of stark white bread.
"Eat this. It's sugar bread that has been treated with Zephyx. In around 30 minutes, you should have fully recovered," the assistant explained.
Nick took the bread and nodded before taking a bite out of it.
Nick's tastebuds were immediately assaulted with sugar.
People who had grown up in the Inner City might find this overpowering taste of sugar disgusting, but Nick loved it.
While Nick was eating the bread, he turned to look at the ladder that Kiara had created.
He couldn't see the end of it, and he didn't hear any hammering coming from there.
Was she truly dead?
"What about the girl working there? I heard laughter coming from there earlier," Nick asked the assistant.
"She hasn't come back yet. Either she is dead or has a very good Barrier," the assistant said.
Kiara was one of Dark Dream's top earners since she had an Adolescent all to her own.
It was possible that she was still alive.
She definitely had the funds to buy a Barrier comparable to Nick's.
Nick kept looking at the ladder as he kept eating the bread.
Kiara could come back any moment now.
As the minutes passed, Nick became more nervous.
"Can I look for her?" Nick asked.
The assistant's brows furrowed. "Why?"
"She's my employee," Nick said.
The assistant took out some sheets of paper and looked at them.
When he saw Nick's profile, his eyebrows rose.
"Sure, but be quick," the assistant said.
"Thank you," Nick said before jumping to Kiara's ladder.
Then, he "climbed" it.
"Kiara," Nick said carefully as he kept climbing.
He kept climbing.
And climbing.
Nick's heart rate increased as he kept climbing.
There was no answer!
Eventually, Nick couldn't feel the next grip.
He touched the ceiling in many different places.
There were no more grips.
He was at the end of the ladder.
Nick just looked at the metallic wall in front of him.
He felt horrible.
Another one was gone.
Trevor, Kiara, Cryon, Jonathan…
All because of the Crimson Sea.
All because of Nick…
As Nick thought about Kiara, he remembered the little girl they had saved a couple of years ago.
Kiara had been taking care of the little girl.
A couple seconds later, Nick moved back towards the center again.
He landed on the platform with a forlorn expression.
"I take it she jumped?" the assistant asked.
Nick sighed and nodded.
"Sorry for your loss," the assistant said neutrally.
Nick didn't answer.
After a bit, he just grabbed one of the big sacks leaning against the central support and went back to his own ladder.
Nick didn't feel comfortable just sitting around.
He wanted to do something to distract himself.
Nick quickly went past the place with the weird grips and reached the end of his ladder.
Then, he just continued fixing grips to the ceiling in silence.
A minute later, Nick's mind was occupied with working again.