Dream Rise House.
As orange hue covered the evening sky, the setting sun splashed its magical colors on the waterfall, making it look as if it was set ablaze. The mist glittered with beautiful fire colors, making it a spectacle to behold.
Zed observed this through the living hall, feeling the hypnotic sensation of the mist brush past his face.
"Hehe, you have a beautiful house."
A voice erupted in the hall.
Startled, Zed swiftly turned around. Some distance away from him, dark smoke burst out of nowhere, and through it, five figures stepped out.
All of them had their faces shrouded. Four of them by masks and the last one with dark smoke.
"W-who are you? And how did you appear here?!" Zed asked, his voice panicked.
The four grinned while glancing at the one shrouded with smoke.
He was a mutant named Yose, a high-ranking Beta! One of his powers gave him an ability similar to teleportation, making it easy for him to bypass security sensors.
Yose also grinned. The villa has many motion detectors and surveillance drones, but for him, it was nothing.
He then glanced at his companions.
Sylvan - The Chief Supervising Officer of Delta City.
Mountain-head Wong [1]- The infamous criminal that World Government was hunting for.
Marlon[2] - The chief bodyguard of the former President.
Amora[3] - The grotesque killer.
All of them were Betas! And it was a strange combination for sure with criminals working with those affiliated to the government!
Yose’s grin couldn’t help but spread further. After all, not only was he getting benefits from these four, he would also earn from what they would acquire from this kid.
And seeing how panicked this kid was, he knew everything would be far too easy.
"We aren’t here to answer your questions, kid."
Sylvan said as he stepped forward.
He examined Zed through his senses and concluded his condition was as bad as when he saw him two days ago.
This made his heart pump with greed.
Zed had used two Rank VII pills for stabilizing his body!
Rank VII!
Creating such pills not only required rare, valuable herbs and precious mutated components, they also needed the skills of a scientist that was at least Rank VII!
A level that not even a hundred scientists have achieved around the globe!
Then there was the requirement of formulas and advanced genetic machines!
These series of reasons made it impossible for one to purchase even one Rank VII pill all the money in the world! Something even the echelons of Nine Aristocrat Families couldn’t afford to waste!
And yet, this kid consumed two of them like they were ordinary pills! This made him sure he had many such pills!
Sylvan arrived before Zed and placed a foot on the armrest.
"Kid, I should kill you for your impudent behavior!" Sylvan said as he recalled how Zed humiliated him in front of Rebecca
"...." Zed cowered back in the chair, his face ashen.
"No need to cower!" Sylvan laughed malevolently. "You are lucky I plan to spare your life!"
Behind, the other four scoffed in secret. They knew why he didn’t want to kill Zed... because he didn’t have the guts to do so!
And truthfully, who could have guts to kill a child of an aristocratic family, even if it was a bastard?!
Not them. They arrived here to seek resources and whatever secret this kid had.
What they didn’t know was that Sylvan planned to torture Zed. Of course, it would be after getting what he wanted!
"Answer my few questions and I will let you live!"
Sylvan grabbed Zed by his neck.
"First, where are the pills?"
He noticed Zed didn’t have his storage ring so he asked. Otherwise, he would have directly grabbed the ring.
"Pills?"
Zed tried to pretend to be clueless, but the panic on his face made it obvious he was lying.
"No need to pretend! We have information you have high-ranking genetic pills!"
Sylvan snorted and squeezed his throat. As veins popped on Zed’s forehead and his face turned further pale, Sylvan commanded, "So tell us, where are those powerful pills?!"
Zed’s eyes momentarily darted to a shelf above the fireplace before arriving back on Sylvan. It was only for an instant, and if it was anyone else, they wouldn’t even notice.
But they did! They were Betas!
They brought their eyes on the shelf and noticed a glass bottle hidden by a book. It was filled with six capsules!
"Hehe, kid, you might want to deceive us, but your fear answered us!"
Sylvan laughed happily.
He knew the panic made Zed look at what he wanted to desperately hide! This was a common psychological phenomenon!
While saying so, he shot at the shelf. The other fours weren’t any slow as they too arrived before the shelf.
While they were in an alliance, no one trusted each other when it came to priceless pills!
"Let’s not create trouble for each other," Sylvan said as he grabbed the bottle. "As we agreed, we will distribute every treasure equally!"
The other fours grunted. It was Sylvan who recruited them so they allowed him to unseal the bottle.
"Please don’t open the bottle!" Zed’s voice came from the chair. "Those capsules are dangerous!"
Sylvan lifted his head and broke out into wild laughter. Even Mountain-head Wong, who had a relatively serious personality, couldn’t help but laugh.
This kid was far too stupid!
No! The fright has ruined his brains and made him an idiot!
Did he believe they will fall for his obvious lie?!
"Well, kid, we don’t mind!" Sylvan grinned while tossing the seal away. "Stay there while we take them! Hahaha!"
Powerful, medicinal aroma drifted out of the bottle, making the space tremble with intense energy fluctuations.
Eyes of everyone instantly brightened. There was no doubt the capsules were high-ranking!
Sylvan shivered from excitement.
Even working like a dog for World Government never brought him this close to such priceless treasures! But now robbing a kid was giving him far more than he ever imagined!
The gods haven’t forgotten his hard work! They were rewarding him today!
Smiling happily, he emptied the pills on his palm.
Sss
The moment they made contact with his skin, the outer shells of the capsules melted, leaving behind crystalline medicinal liquid.
Sylvan was startled and before he could wonder about this, the liquid poured into the pores of his skin.
At the same time, the outer shells - that had melted - turned into drifts of moistures. They enveloped the alarmed four.
Yose was the fastest to react. Turning his body into a cloud of smoke, he drifted back, far behind the range of moistures. The others weren’t so fast as the moistures entered into their nostrils.
"What the hell just happened?!" Yose wondered while retreating back.
In front of him, Mountain-head Wong and Marlon jumped on dumbstruck Sylvan. What they did next almost frightened Yose to death.
"No way!"
Even though he was in smoke form, the back of his hair stood up.
His masked companions have shredded their pants and started doing something that should be illegal!
Sylvan released heart-wrenching screams as the two men above him carried out the most monstrous act possible on him!
Yose hastily turned around. Just seeing that immoral act terrified him out of his wits.
BOOM
Beams of energy erupted fro Sylvan’s eyes and smashed into Mountain-head Wong. Sadly for him, Mountain-head Wong has an almost impenetrable defense, and the beams didn’t even let behind a scratch. All the attack did was make him angry, and this anger was vented on Sylvan in the worst way possible!
Marlon was the same as Sylvan tried to surge energy blasts out of his palms. Marlon wrapped his body with a darker shade of steel.... this naturally also hurt Sylvan.
"Save me, God!" Sylvan cried.
Yose shivered as he heard these cries. The man who inspired fear and demanded respect from an entire city was now crying in such a terrible way.
A few seconds later. the cries stopped. Yose didn’t dare imagine why. Even if the cries have stopped, he could hear grunts of his two male companions... they made him almost throw up!
Amora swallowed forcefully as her heart rose to her throat. The moistures have also entered her nostrils, but it didn’t work. Most likely because just like her eyes, the inners of her nose were also stitched.
As she perceived what was going on, her face turned white as a paper. She could imagine what would have happened had those moistures worked on her.
And she then thought of the scenario where she had taken out the capsules instead of Sylvan... and the crystalline liquid had seeped into her skin. That made her break out in cold sweat.... because that scenario was far too terrifying! It made her stomach twist!
"I told you guys, those capsules are dangerous."
Zed’s voice came from the chair.
"But you didn’t listen."
Amora and Yose spun around. They noticed with shock that he had put dark goggles on his eyes and wireless headphones over his ears.
🎶🎵♬🎼
Even at this distance, they could hear music playing through his headphones.
Headphones with powerful music that could filter noises! And heat-sensitive goggles that could block vision depending on the intensity of heat!
Could he have put them before the capsules took effect so that he didn’t see or hear the repulsive act... then that would mean... he was expecting this?!
This possibility made their hearts pound heavily for it would mean... he was expecting them! That should be impossible, right!?
✵✵✵✵✵
Half a mile from Dream Rise House.
Heather sat leg-crossed on a boulder. She read readings from the tablet and noticed the energy signals of the one who mattered were the same.
"I can’t intervene until he’s in fatal danger..."
She thought of her mistress’s commands. She knew they were because her mistress’ son wouldn’t appreciate any help from them.
Of course, she wouldn’t care for his wishes when he was in a life-threatening crisis.
She placed the tablet down and closed her eyes. Her body was ethereal and in just a blink of an eye, she could reach where she had to.
✵✵✵✵✵
Some hundred meters away from Dream Rise House.
Many people from different factions were outside, waiting. After the events that rocked Delta City, they had arrived in the city. And when the news of Zed spread, the factions sent them here.
With Rebecca gone, they wanted to test their lucks. Of course, most of them were of cautious nature and they didn’t take action, afraid of any traps set up by Rebecca or House of Hestia. They only observed.
BOOM
A muffled explosion caught them by surprise. They looked ahead and noticed a window leading to the living hall exploding from energy beams.
Glass fragments spread into the sky and dust cloud masked everything. It was impossible to see clearly, but they noticed a figure leaping out of the window and running. Behind him, two figures followed, charging at him at top speed.
"Let the dust settle! I want to see what’s going on!" A member from a powerful faction said.
"Same here! The dust is blocking everything!"
Others agreed.
They soon got their wish as the dust settled. What they saw was a man pinned to the ground... and two men doing an act that shouldn’t be mentioned.
The scene made their hearts jolt and vision darken. It was a scene that was forever imprinted in their memories... something they never wanted as this wasn’t the type of scene one wants to remember forever!
"Oh god! You should have made me born blind if you hate me so much!" The man who wanted the dust to settle down broke into tears. "Or at least give me a chance to stab my eyes in advance!"
[1] Introduced in Chapter 329. During the end of The Fair Arc (Desolate Blood Forest), he tried to capture Kiba for resources.
[2] Chapter 493. He was also the one who activated Anti-Cosmic Field, indirectly responsible for the awakening of Extermination.
[3] A comrade of Marlon. She has come with him and Goten Whiteskins to Delta City to complete the mission of seeking a shard of Cosmic Spark