CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER 31: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TASK

While Zaen was touring the dorms, Karloff and Johann were engaged in an intimate discussion. Naturally, it was about their new temporary recruit.

"Did you seriously break thirteen protocols to let him stay?" Karloff asked, massaging his forehead. "Sometimes I think you might actually have regressed mentally as well."

Johann smiled, sucking on his favored imported lollipop. Usually, he would be smoking, but considering his physical age, he was making do with the lollipop.

"Didn’t you see what he was holding?" he asked.

"A walking stick?" Karloff replied, unsure of it. "I didn’t get a good look before you snatched him up and made us leave."

Johann chuckled, engrossed in watching the surveillance footage from the medical wing, where Ann did the unthinkable yet predictable thing.

"See what happens when he drops the stick," he said, turning the monitor towards Karloff.

The man had no idea and didn’t look enthused with whatever was going on, but then he saw what Johann was hinting at.

"Is that...?"

"It’s not a walking stick, it’s the walking stick," Johann said with a smug smile.

Unlike him, Karloff wore a baffled expression.

"But how? It was lost during the battle against the endless horde..."

"The same night the director perished," Johann mumbled, subconsciously, clutching his fists.

Among slayer weapons, the lower the number it had, the greater the strength it held. Weapons under the number 200 were rare and could be considered calamity class if not handled properly.

"To think he had such a weapon," Karloff mumbled. "But how did he get it? It wasn’t with him when we rescued him."

"I have a theory about that," Johann chimed in. "Remember the inventory system we use during the game? Apparently, he can access that and more any time he likes."

"...Are you sure we shouldn’t lock him up and conduct experiments on him? If the higher-ups learned about his abilities, they would stop at nothing to extract and mass produce it."

Just like that, Karloff got carried away and kept rambling about the benefits the agents would have with a virtual inventory, shop, and whatnot.

While it was true that if they managed to extract such abilities, the agents’ capabilities would skyrocket, it was a significant ’if’. The Phoenix Project wasn’t complete yet, which meant that ability extraction wasn’t a secure process.

Essentially, that was the Phoenix Project. A secret project that could extract abilities of an agent from their corpse and implant them into someone compatible, or a synthetic body, along with their memories.

In other words, they could mass produce an SSS-rank ability and grant everyone that.

So far, they had only been able to extract people’s experiences from the corpses. That’s how they came up with the capsules, which Zoey fed Zaen earlier in the day.

However, they didn’t have any luck when it came to extracting abilities.

That was the only reason Johann broke so many protocols and refused to inform the seniors about Zaen, because they wouldn’t hesitate before killing him for the greater good.

"Till the Phoenix project is complete, no one will inform the higher-ups about him," Johann said, tossing away the lollipop before it exploded mid-air. "It will be better to cultivate him and help him learn more about his abilities before sending him to extract everything."

"...if you say so," Karloff shrugged. "But what about the stick? If the higher-ups learned about it, they would take it from him forcefully."

Hearing his words, Johann couldn’t help but smile again.

"The boy is not as big of a fool as you think," he said. "I don’t know how, but he knows the value of the weapon and knows we definitely know about it. That’s why he keeps it in his virtual inventory where only he can access it."

He then continued the video where the stick mysteriously disappeared and reappeared from Zaen’s hand multiple times since he arrived at the forward base.

"...if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he is flaunting the stick."

"That’s where you are wrong," Johann interrupted Karloff. "He knows what he’s doing. Tsk, I should have tortured him more."

***

Zaen just walked out of the shower and felt a chill down his spine.

Who the hell is cursing me now?

Behind him, Jenna walked out, wrapped in a towel.

"See? Isn’t it fun washin’ up with someone to scrub your back?" she said, flexing her biceps.

"Scrub? More like making mochi out of my back," Zaen mumbled.

"Did you say something, sweetie?"

"Nothing!"

"Hm, ya want me to carry ya to your room—?"

Zaen immediately summoned the stick and walked away without answering. Thinking she had done something wrong, she looked up to where Zoey was watching them from.

"Did I do somethin’ wrong?"

Zoey shook her head and went back to her room without saying a word.

"What’s up with the young’uns these days, huh?"

Meanwhile, Zaen was back in his room, wondering if he should use the fortune wheel. It was the only secret he managed to keep from Johann. Whether it was the right move or not... only time would tell.

I already told him too much. That fucking skin suit was too much for me to handle.

Back to the fortune wheel, he had seven spins. If he opened the tab, he would have to spin at least once to close it. In the end, he decided against it. The priority was to upgrade his inventory first. The seven slots weren’t cutting it anymore.

[Proceed to buy a 3-slot inventory upgrade for 1200 coins?]

[Yes / No]

Begrudgingly, Zaen pressed yes, and just like that, the coins disappeared. He quickly closed the [Shop] and opened [Inventory]. Sure enough, there were more slots to store items now.

However, the restrictions remained. The first three slots remained exclusive for items gained through the wheel, while the rest could be filled with objects obtained from the game or task scenarios.

"...wait, I forgot to complete tasks today!"

He shot out of bed and opened the task window. While he couldn’t leave to complete an IRL task, he could increase his perception. But when he opened the page, he noticed something strange.

[Task: Bus Ride to Hell.]

[Objective: There have been a lot of disappearances in the [Redacted] city. All disappeared individuals had one thing in common: they boarded Bus 375.]

[Task: Investigate and eliminate the cause of strange disappearances.]

[Condition: This is a one-man operation. Taking help from others might alert the anomaly. Proceed with caution.]

[Rewards: Rewards will be provided based on the player’s performance.]

[Note: Since the task is located in [Redacted] country, upon accepting it, the player would be teleported inside the bus automatically. Upon successful completion, they would be teleported back to their origin point.]

[Accept this task?]

[Yes / No.]