CHAPTER 171: A GAME

"What a fascinating tech,"

Was the first thing Zero heard when he regained consciousness. He noticed that his his covering his face was white which meant that Mimic’s time was up and he was back to his normal form.

With heavy eyes, he scanned around only to notice that he was in a dark room, he tried standing up, and that’s when he realized that he was currently bound to a chair.

"Oh, you’re awake," the voice said again.

Zero blinked, finally forcing his vision to clear.

A man sat casually across from him, leaning back in a chair with the relaxed poise of someone who had every advantage in the world.

Though, no matter how much Zero looked, he couldn’t get a clear view of the man, after all, he seemed to be covered by shadows, his outline and hands being the only thing in the light.

"Introductions are... unnecessary at the moment." He lifted something between his fingers, revealing that it was a circular metallic object, the Mimic tech, "this, however, interests me."

He held it to the light, examining the microstructure like a jeweler assessing a precious gem.

"Your boss was really able to make tech like this with such limited resources," the person spoke, "as much as I hate to admit, he really is a genius."

Zero said nothing in response, but inwardly, he was panicking, he didn’t know who this person was, or where they had brought him..

All he knew was that he currently wasn’t safe and he didn’t know if OmniTech or the other Vigilants would reach him in time.

"Added to his genius, it seems he’s also a magician," the person said again, "after all, aren’t you supposed to have died in a fire, Zero?"

Zero froze at the words, the world thought of them as dead, but not everyone actually knew them, so this man before him definitely was a dangerous one and he seemed to know more than he let out.

"What do you want with me?" He finally asked, swallowing a bit.

"Nothing much," the man said with a smile, "just the same thing your boss wanted when he sent you here, information."

Zero frowned at his words.

"Information?" he repeated carefully. "About what?"

The man tilted his head, amused by the question.

"No, Zero, not what." The man shook his head, "about who."

The light hanging overhead shook just a bit due to the wind, lighting up the man’s face briefly, revealing a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"I want to know who your boss is," the man said calmly, "and more importantly... where he is now."

Zero’s heartbeat hammered in his ears.

"...Boss?" Zero forced a confused expression onto his face. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was acting alone."

The man laughed gently before giving him a pitying look.

"That’s adorable."

He stood, the chair barely making a sound as he pushed it back. He circled Zero slowly, hands clasped behind his back like a professor leisurely inspecting a student’s project.

"You infiltrated Xu’s inner circle flawlessly. You mimicked tone, posture, and speech patterns with impressively.... Although not perfectly. You had a way out route pre-planned. You had access to this tech, one capable of putting you in someone else’s skin."

He stopped behind Zero and close enough that Zero felt his breath at the back of his neck.

"And yet, you claim to have done that all alone?"

A hand rested lightly on Zero’s shoulder, causing him to flinch.

"We both know you have someone behind you," the man continued. "Someone very brilliant and also very resourceful. Someone that has managed to pique my Interest for the first time in a very, very long while."

He walked back around to face him.

" And I want that person’s name."

"I don’t know who you’re talking ab—" Zero, still completely nervous, tried denying but was cut off.

The man raised a finger.

"I’m giving you an opportunity here Zero. A very simple one." The man extended both hands towards the tied up Zero. "On one hand, you tell me who your employer is and on the other, you don’t."

He let the second hand drop slightly.

"This option ends very poorly for you." The tone of his voice immediately caused Zero to swallow in fear and the man didn’t miss it.

"So let me rephrase my question..." He added as he leaned in closer to the kid, "who and where is OmniTech?"

Him knowing that Zero worked for OmniTech was really simple, after all, OmniTech was the only one that was currently after Xu and Jian.

And that was exactly why he set that trap.

He knew that they would be curious enough to find out about the sudden disappearance of their targets and they would want information.

What he didn’t expect though, was them owning such tech, one capable of mimicing any appearance.

It was really fascinating.

Though, their plan went south due to the kid. As much as he tried, the kid couldn’t perfectly replicate Laohu’s temperament and that was exactly how they knew something was wrong.

Anyway, he just sat back down, waiting for the kid to make his decision and much to his disappointment, the kid did.

"I... don’t know what you’re talking about." Zero answered causing the man to sign and stand back up.

With what sounded like a snap, the sound of footsteps were heard and a woman walked into the room where Zero was being held.

The light briefly illuminated her features, revealing a head full of golden blonde hair. She had a tablet in her hand which she handed to the man without saying anything.

The man took it, nodded before sitting back down and tapping a couple of times on it.

A minute later, he turned it back to Zero, revealing exactly what he was doing, "I want you to know that you forced my hand Zero."

The man told him calmly as the screen switched to some type of video call.

"You see," the man said, "you boss left a couple of secured links everytime he used his avatar, and although most of them ended up being useless after, the last one he used to communicate with Madam Xu gave me just enough to be able to do this."

The moment his words were done, the call connected, revealing a blue eyed avatar with a frown on his face, one which Zero clearly recognized.

It was OmniTech’s avatar.

But before OmniTech or Zero could say anything, the man spoke up, "hello there OmniTech," he sounded as if he was just greeting a friend, which was far from the truth.

{What do you want?} The avatar asked, the frown on its face getting deeper.

"I was just hoping we’d play a little game," the man said, "and since I have one of yours, you should have no choice."

{....}

"Perfect," the man said with a smile, "the game is simple, I’ll ask two questions, for each that remains unanswered I’ll have my men take a shot at him, whether he survives or not depends on his luck."

As if to make sure they got his point, he called forward one of the elders, Elder Shen, who held a revolver in his hand and pointed it directly at Zero’s head.

"That gun in loaded with three bullets," the man continued, "so you better answer truthfully if you want your man back."

{...} The avatar refused to say anything else as he continued looking at the Zero in the chair, the kid looked scared, understandably so, after all, he would die at any point from now and he was fully aware of it.

"First question," the man said still in his chair as he had handed the tablet to the lady but she held it in a way that only showed Shen and Zero, "what is your true identity?"

{....}

"Three,"

"Two,"

"One,"

"No answer," the man said, "Shen, take the shot."

Bang!