CHAPTER 77: THE TARGET WASN’T ME

As the hovering car glided out of the Government District, Amber noticed a dazed look on Leon’s face and got confused.

"Why do you have that look? We just got the permit basically." she asked.

"Amber, what if there are traitors in the Academy?" Leon asked in a low voice.

"There are always some spies and all. Even if we do a deep background investigation about everyone we hire, some still slip by. And honestly, it’s not that bad of a thing, so we let it slip," Amber said. "Why are you so concerned about it?"

"I meant traitors who are there for killing the students," Leon said with a sigh.

Amber frowned at his words and parked the car in an alleyway. Then, she erected a barrier and asked, "You think there are people in the Academy who are scheming to kill the students?"

"What if I say they already succeeded?" Leon asked, finally turning towards her.

"Stop throwing me into suspense and tell me exactly what you know," Amber snapped at him, as she remembered how Jade had talked about there being someone behind the dungeon incident.

Was Leon talking about the same thing?

"It’s not about the dungeon if you’re thinking of that," Leon said, as if reading through her thoughts.

"You also think it was done by someone in the Academy?" Amber asked, feeling more confused than ever.

"At first, I didn’t think much about it. But now I’m really suspicious of it. I don’t think it’s just a coincidence," Leon said, regaining the shine in his eyes.

"But how? How did they even do that? It’s difficult even for me to sneak into the Academy," Amber was really confused at this point.

"They probably planned this for a long while so you are unaware," Leon said. "It’ll be tough to find them out."

"How did you even come to that conclusion?" Amber asked. After all, they had been together the whole day, so it wasn’t like she missed something, right?

What did she miss?

"It was when I talked about how mutation brought the changes in me," Leon said. "While it’s a lie that I have Grade 8 Talent, it isn’t a lie that I did experience mutation."

"What are you talking about?" Amber narrowed her eyes and asked.

"I’m sure you detected some abnormalities with my blood, but probably ignored them since they weren’t harmful to me. They were acting like anti-bodies," Leon said.

Amber nodded. She did discover it, but guessed it was related to his secret so she didn’t ask. It wasn’t harmful to him anyway. It just seemed like something that boosted his vitality.

"Before I joined the Combat Department, I got infected by the virus," Leon decided to come clean since the matter had grown too big to keep hidden.

"WHAT!?"

As expected, her reaction was over the top but understandable. No man had ever managed to survive after being infected by the virus, so it was hard for anyone to believe his words.

Amber touched his forehead and said, "You aren’t infected. Are you telling me that you got mutated instead of dying from the virus? That’s insane!"

"Yes, I am," Leon said. "The day I was infected by the virus, I recognized its effects quickly and knew I was going to die or rather, turn into an Abyssal Creature. So I decided to use my research and boosted my anti-bodies slightly and took pills to commit suicide."

Amber’s blood ran cold upon hearing that. She couldn’t even believe that she had almost lost Leon. For some reason, she felt sadness wash over her mind as the thought of Leon’s death sent her thoughts spiraling.

"That was the plan, but something else happened." Leon smiled faintly. "I survived and became a mutant. The mutation actually boosted my anti-bodies to a new degree and made my resistance towards corruption higher."

Amber recalled how Leon was faring better in the dungeon than others and realized it was because he was a mutant.

"It’s not pure immunity, right?" Amber asked and there was a hint of fear in her voice.

"If it was full immunity then I would have gladly given my blood for experiments," Leon chuckled, but Amber didn’t seem to like his words.

She looked away and muttered, "You just have a minor resistance, nothing else."

’Why are you becoming so grumpy then?’ Leon shook his head and said, "Anyways, I didn’t pay attention to it back then because too many things happened with me. But how did I get infected by the virus in the Academy?"

Amber froze, as she also realized the problem. How did the virus even reach inside the Academy? Even if it somehow got there, how did the Academy’s Rune Formation not detect it?

The Starlink Academy had many Rune Formations engraved on the Academy’s premises which helped it protect itself and safeguard the students.

One of them was used to detect even the faintest sign of corruption. This was how they also detected the Call of Primordial Expanse in someone.

If even a faint sign couldn’t escape, then how did it end up there and manage to infect someone right under everyone’s nose?

"The most bizarre thing about this is that the device that keeps an eye on our health didn’t actually alarm anyone in the Academy. It was as if it stopped working," Leon said, rubbing his chin in wonder. "So many suspicious events."

By now, both of them were sure there was a traitor in the Academy and that they occupied a very high position. That was the only plausible explanation for so many things to happen and nobody noticing.

Amber took out her phone and dialed a number. After a few rings, they heard an exhausted voice from the other side.

[What is it? If it’s just going out to drink or something, I’m busy. Go do it yourself.]

"Morgon, this is important," Amber said in a serious voice.

Morgon seemed to notice the tone of her voice and asked, her voice regaining energy and becoming full of vigilance.

[I’m listening.]

"I need you to keep an eye on everyone in the Academy, especially the higher ups," Amber said. "There’s someone who almost killed a student and I think they’re also responsible for the dungeon incident."

[...right when the Gathering is about to take place. This isn’t good.]

"I know what you’re thinking but please don’t do anything rash. I have some clues so I’ll investigate by myself while you keep an eye on those pretentious bastards." Amber gnashed her teeth as she was really angry and wanted to go back to the Academy and smash every single one of those higher ups.

She knew one of them definitely had a hand in this.

[I will. But things aren’t simple so be careful. If they can do this right under the nose, they aren’t simple either. I always keep an eye on the higher ups, so I’m surprised too.]

Amber hummed before she cut the call. She trusted Morgon enough to know that she could handle the situation in the Academy.

"Morgon will make sure no one leaves the Academy, but it’ll be only for a short while so we need to find the culprit fast. Especially since the Gathering is almost here," Amber said. "Why did they target you anyway? For your research?"

"Their target wasn’t me," Leon spoke with certainty, and his emerald green eyes turned a darker shade as he whispered in a dangerous tone, "It was Silver. They were targeting her."