For a couple of days, things remained calm.
However, this was just the people of the upper layer preparing to make their move.
And one week later, they became active.
Reports of rumors were brought to Nick's attention.
People in the Outer and Inner Cities started to believe that Nick was a Specter in disguise.
Naturally, these rumors were unfounded and easily disprovable, but that didn't matter.
The people believed them anyway.
'You're finally becoming active, huh?' Nick thought.
'I was waiting for that.'
"Aria, what do you think was my relationship with Julian?" Nick suddenly asked out of nowhere.
Aria was a bit taken aback.
Then, she frowned.
She had put Julian out of her mind ever since he had been executed.
However, deep inside, she had still been suspicious of Nick.
"I'm not sure if he truly fooled you," Aria said.
"He didn't," Nick said, surprising Aria.
She had expected Nick to deny knowingly working with a Specter.
"I knew that he was a Specter ever since he became Dark Dream's CEO."
Aria had doubts, but hearing it straight out of Nick still shocked her.
Nick had colluded with a Specter.
Then, Nick proceeded to tell Aria about Horua and what Wyntor had done to him.
After that, Nick told Aria about his bargain with Julian and why he had done so.
Naturally, Aria's opinion of Nick fell into the abyss.
Kugelblitz had done many illegal things, but they had not colluded with Specters.
Specters were humanity's enemy!
However, she didn't voice her opinion.
Nick told her that Simon already knew about it and that the Left Arm must have received her report from him already.
The fact that over eight months had passed since then meant that Aegis wasn't planning on doing anything about that.
"You could have destroyed Crimson City," Aria said.
"But I didn't," Nick said. "Julian has been executed, and I'm now Crimson City's Liaison."
That didn't do much to improve Aria's opinion of Nick.
"Why are you suddenly bringing up this topic?" she asked with annoyance.
"As a Specter with control over half of the city, there were many things that Julian knew that no normal human could know," Nick said.
"Send a squad of our assassins to keep watch over Leiman Gerlon," Nick said. "I want a list of every person entering and exiting from his house. Keep the surveillance up for two weeks. It is important that the assassins don't get noticed. Because of that, I only want Peak Experts or stronger in the squad."
"Why?" Aria asked with furrowed brows.
"It's going to be a surprise. I'm the bad guy. Let me act like one," Nick said calmly.
Aria wasn't happy to hear that.
She also didn't trust Nick anymore.
However, she was stuck with him now.
Additionally, the policies he had come up with seemed to actually benefit Crimson City.
Although, Nick was reserving quite a lot of manpower for this little surveillance mission of his.
These people had very important things to deal with, and those things had to be put on hold.
"Take this as an opportunity to regain a small part of my trust," Aria said before leaving the office to make the arrangements.
After Aria left, Nick glanced at the door.
'She would've found out anyway. Better that I tell her myself,' Nick thought.
'This is something that will put someone's opinion of me into the lowest place, eliminating all the positive things I have done until that point.'
'If I keep improving the city, her opinion of me will become better again with time, and I'm no longer in danger of losing all my social points with her.'
Over the next two weeks, the rumors got worse, and people started to talk about Nick more and more while becoming more and more afraid of the guards.
People became extremely uncooperative with the guards, making it much harder to police the city.
Even some of the guards started to believe the rumors.
Two weeks later, Nick received his report from his assassin squad.
"And what are you going to do with this now?" Aria asked with annoyance.
Nick stood up from his chair and walked to the door. "I'll show you. Please accompany me. Your presence in this is imperative."
Aria wasn't the biggest fan of how Nick talked, but she had decided to give him a chance.
If this turned out to be a disappointment, Aria would no longer be as cooperative with him.
The two of them left the headquarters and made their way to the upper layer.
Naturally, the two of them could pass without any tests, and they simply strolled into the upper layer.
The people of the upper layer saw Nick and Aria and immediately became careful.
The two of them were their enemies!
Several of the people of the upper layer gathered together and blocked the street.
"Excuse me, Liaison," the person in the front said.
"Yes?" Nick asked calmly.
"What is your business here? Maybe we can be of assistance," the man said with fake politeness.
"Leiman Gerlon," Nick said. "You can help me by bringing him here."
The people looked at each other.
"Of course," the man said. "Please, give us a moment."
A couple of them left to get Leiman, and a couple of minutes later, an older man walked towards the group.
He was flanked by several businessmen with strict gazes.
Obviously, they had already told him that Nick and Aria were looking for him.
Most likely, they had also told him to hide any kind of evidence that could convict him of a crime.
They also quickly forged a story that gave Leiman an alibi for every day.
The upper layer would not cooperate with the city.
They would protect their people.
"The Liaison wanted to speak with me?" the older man asked with a friendly voice.
Nick nodded. "You're a retired Expert, right?"
Leiman just smiled. "Yes, I used to work for one of the old Manufacturers that no longer exist. Is there something you need of me?"
Nick looked at him. "Do you still have a Barrier?"
Leiman looked at Nick with suspicion. "Of course. Excuse me, what's with this line of questioning?"
"Are you wearing your Barrier, and is it active?" Nick asked.
Leiman frowned. "Yes, naturally. Every Extractor feels unsafe without their Barrier."
"Good," Nick said before he looked at the ground.
Then, he saw a big stone and picked it up.
The people were confused about what Nick was doing with the stone.
Nick threw the stone in his hand up and down a couple of times.
Then, his eyes focused on Leiman.
BANG!
Nick threw the stone with all of his power at Leiman.
Leiman had not expected an attack, and the stone hit him right in the chest.
The stone turned into powder, and Leiman was pushed back a couple of steps.
The people around Leiman were shocked beyond belief.
The Liaison had publicly attacked an innocent man!
He hadn't even accused him of anything!
He had just attacked!
"What's the meaning of this?!" several of them shouted in protest, stepping between Nick and Leiman.
Meanwhile, Leiman's expression was just filled with shock.
"Quiet!" Nick shouted, using his Zephyx to drown out all the noise.
The people immediately shut up.
Then, Nick turned to Aria. "Do you understand now?"
Aria looked with shock at Leiman.
That stone had been thrown with so much force that even a Peak Expert would have some bruises.
Yet, the skin showing through the hole in the clothing in the middle of the man's chest didn't even turn red.
But that wasn't even the most important part.
The most important part was that his Barrier hadn't activated!
Something like this was classified as a dangerous attack by any Barrier, no matter how cheap or expensive.
"Why didn't your Barrier activate?" Nick asked calmly.
Leiman looked at Nick with shock.
He tried to think of a way out of this situation.
"I'm not wearing it," he quickly answered. "I forgot that I put it away earlier."
Nick just looked at him evenly.
"You don't even seem angry at the fact that I just attacked you with a stone. Instead, you calmly answer my question. That's quite unusual, wouldn't you think?" Nick asked.
"Of course I'm angry!" the man shouted. "What's the meaning of this?!"
Nick remained silent for two seconds before he took hold of another stone.
Then, he looked at the other people.
"Everyone will step away from him. Anyone that refuses will be executed for colluding with a Specter," Nick ordered.
Everyone's eyes shot open, and they reflexively jumped away from Leiman.
A Specter?!
The word Specter terrified every human who wasn't an Extractor.
"I'm not a Specter!" the man shouted in protest.
A small smirk appeared on Nick's face, and he turned to Aria, who looked at Leiman with narrowed eyes.
"Aria, may I introduce you?" he asked.
Aria didn't answer.
Nick gestured to Leiman.
"This is the False News."