Lohan remained in the center of the luxurious penthouse for a few more seconds, letting his sensors scan the room one last time.
Not a single biological trace of Oscar or his four guards remained; Lohan’s Efficient Digestion had been absolute, converting every drop of blood and muscle fiber into refined biomass and mana.
He picked up the kinetic pistol he’d used in combat, wiping it clean of any inorganic residue with his membrane before stowing it under his overcoat again.
Ensuring he had left no footprints or evidence of his presence, Lohan walked to the edge of the terrace. Below him, the Lower Zone was still shrouded in a toxic fog, but on the horizon, a faint line of pale light was beginning to cut through the oppressive gray of Eden-3’s sky.
Activating Viscous Adhesion and Structural Stability, Lohan leaped over the railing.
He didn’t take the stairs, opting instead to simply jump off the building while maintaining contact with the wall’s surface to control his descent speed.
The adrenaline rush from that jump was even greater than that of the combat he had just endured.
Without the ability to fly, there was still real danger in a leap like that.
The cold, damp concrete slabs served as footholds for the mana he channeled through his fingertips, allowing him to slide vertically while controlling his own speed.
Using Selective Viscosity, Lohan braced himself with ease, increasing the friction between himself and the wall to slow down, or even using organic webs to reposition himself during the descent so as not to fall too fast, obviously retrieving the webs he had shot out after use.
Upon reaching the dark alley at the base of the building, Lohan moved quickly.
He crossed the silent streets of Sector 4, and within minutes, he was back at his small apartment. The place was exactly as he had left it: ransacked and with the lingering smell of mold.
Lohan felt no sadness as he looked at that hole for the last time. He opened his backpack and began gathering the very few possessions he had left. He took the spare set of dark clothes and the packs of nutrient solution he had recently bought with Elysium’s money.
However, the most important item was the last to go in: the Elysium Neural Helmet, carefully wrapped in cloth to prevent damage.
With the heavy backpack on his shoulders and another small bag containing $40,000 in physical credits and Oscar’s hidden jewels, Lohan left his apartment carrying the equivalent of at least $100,000 in credits without looking back.
The Monday sun rose timidly, casting an eerie glow over the industrial towers as Lohan reached the bus stop.
The flying vehicle, an old model that creaked with every maneuver, landed with a metallic clang. Lohan climbed aboard and found a seat in the back, leaning against the cracked window as the bus began its ascent toward the Upper Zone.
The trip would take nearly two hours, so Lohan decided to test his new toy.
Focusing his will on the chip implanted in his left eye, he projected the holographic interface into the air in front of him.
The crisp, bluish light of the high-tech hologram contrasted sharply with the decay of the bus’s interior.
Lohan immediately felt the stares of the other passengers, exhausted, unemployed workers from the Lower Zone, fixed on his screen.
He noticed the glint of envy and resentment in their eyes; in that world, owning a high-performance ocular interface was a status symbol that very few residents of the Lower Zone could ever dream of having.
Lohan ignored the discomfort of others.
First, he performed a deep format on the device, erasing any record of the previous owner, and after transferring his accounts to it, he began browsing real estate websites in the Upper Zone, looking for apartments that offered sufficient security and comfort.
He needed a place where he could train his mana integration without being detected by Federation sensors.
As a magic fanatic, Lohan was dying to practice it in both worlds, but in Elysium he urgently needed to level up, and in the Real World he couldn’t risk exposing himself any more than he had to.
Suddenly, a message notification popped up in the center of his vision, accompanied by a soft alert tone that only he could hear.
[Lisa: Hayes! I’ve been awake for half an hour and you still haven’t sent a single message! What’s going on over there? Are you okay, or do I need to send a search party to clean your remains out of the gutter? 😡]
Lohan let out a silent laugh, drawing a few more suspicious glances on the bus. He quickly typed out the reply mentally, much faster and more practical than having to do it physically on his old cell phone.
[Hayes: My bad, little fox. The cleaning process was a bit more labor-intensive than I imagined, and I ended up losing track of time while organizing my move. I’m fine, I promise. Actually, I’m on a bus right now, on my way to the Upper Zona to check out some apartments. I decided to look for cleaner air to match someone as pure as me, lmao. 😇 😉]
-xXx-
In Upper Zone, inside a luxurious suite that smelled of fresh flowers and was filled with cutting-edge technology, Isabella Vance was sitting on the edge of her silk bed, Syn’s golden hologram floating before her eyes.
She had just woken up, her red hair still tousled, but Lohan’s reply made her jump out of bed as if she’d been electrocuted.
"What?! He’s coming here right now?!" she exclaimed into the empty room, her golden eyes wide with shock.
The idea that Halon was physically making his way to the Upper Zone, her territory, brought a wave of anxiety and excitement she could barely contain. She quickly returned to the chat, her fingers flying over the privacy interface.
[Lisa: You’re coming now?! Hayes, are you crazy?! The Upper Zone isn’t like Sector 4—you can’t just wander around here with that backpack and your fugitive hoodie without attracting the attention of ten security drones a minute! 🤦♀️]
[Lisa: Get off at the next stop. NOW! I’ll pick you up. We’ll check out that house together. Don’t argue with your President, Vice President. See you in ten minutes. Out.]
The holographic screen closed before Lohan could even formulate a response.
-xXx-
Back on the bus, Lohan stood frozen for a few seconds, staring at the void where Lisa’s message had just vanished. He felt his heart race as a chuckle escaped his lips.
’Tbh, she really has no filter...’ Lohan muttered to himself, feeling a mix of shock and apprehension.
He thought about how reckless her attitude was.
Isabella Vance, the heiress to one of the most powerful conglomerates on the planet, wanted to pick him up personally at a bus stop? The risk of drawing unwanted attention to both of them was astronomical.
If paparazzi or stalkers from rival corporations like Hogue saw Isabella Vance picking up a boy from the Lower Zone in a private car, the rumors would destroy the cover he’d worked so hard to maintain.
However, as he closed his eyes and felt the steady flow of his mana, Lohan decided to set that worry aside for a moment.
He recalled the progress they’d made in Elysium and the sense of absolute power he’d felt when dealing with Oscar.
He was no longer the boy who had to hide in the shadows, afraid of any confrontation; he was the Vice President of one of Elysium’s most powerful Guilds, at least for now.
Besides, Lisa’s hospitality would be extremely useful.
As she had said, his identity as someone from the Lower Zone was a major obstacle for him here, whereas Bella could spare him countless bureaucratic and paperwork-related problems that a Lower Zone resident would face when trying to rent a property in the Upper Zone without guarantors or proof of income.
Lohan then stood up and walked to the bus door.
When the vehicle stopped at the threshold between the pollution of Sector 4 and the Upper Zone’s first atmospheric filters, Lohan Hayes jumped onto the pavement, ready to meet his friend in the real world and take the first definitive step toward mastering both worlds.
"Wait, is this going to be our first time talking in person?!" Lohan finally realized.