CHAPTER 271: CHAPTER 271: RECOLLECTIONS...

"...I forgive you. Just don’t do that again" Jade spoke after a moment of silence.

She and Emily retracted their auras soon after. Chris’s side which was ready to fight also relaxed.

"Thank you for understanding, as a way of making amends. I will not mention Muku from now on. I will only speak about him when he’s back. I won’t even ask you to clarify some of the answers you gave me. All that matters is that you’re safe. Speaking of which, let’s look for a place to sit and catch up. I’m sure you have some questions as do I" Chris stayed true to his words as he changed topics.

The Ty group then searched for a place to sit, which didn’t take long. They say under a big tree on its huge protruding roots.

"So, do you want to go first or should I?" Jade asked after they sat under the tree.

This was after Chris introduced his crew and Emily introduced Emily. Chris and Emily had met a few times so, they were fairly familiar with each other. They partook in some small talk before moving on...

"You can go first if you want" Chris replied.

"Okay, brother. I won’t ask anything specific. Just tell me anything you feel is worthy of note" Jade replied.

"Oh, okay. How Jade-like, it seems you’re still the same even after the change in hair colour. Anyway, I already told you about how I changed to this right? Well, let me tell you everything else then. It all started one day when I was at work..." Chris went on to tell Jade everything that had happened to him from the first day of the apocalypse.

Everyone, including his teammates, listened intently. They weren’t with him from day one. So, they were quite interested in knowing what he went through. Scarlett was especially interested.

Anyway, Chris began from the day he heard the voice in his head. Then how he along with many others ran to the safe zone and luckily made it. Not much happened in the first days as he was too scared to leave the barrier.

Then one day a group of people from a special organisation showed up. They offered a chance to join them to anyone willing. And they would help those people reach R1. The people would then be divided by their class level.

Chris who had been starving for days immediately took the offer. He simply just wanted food at that point. And they were offering it.

After that, the individuals really helped all those who signed up reach R1. And as fate would have it. Chris ended up being the only individual with a Pseudo-Legendary class. Which was made even more wondrous by his transformation from a short ordinary-looking man to a man some would call a hunk...

Then below him were three individuals who had Epic-level classes. Which was the class below Pseudo-Legendary. The four were immediately made into a team. And surprisingly enough Pete and Gnoth, who were Chris’s old friends were among the trio. The last one being Scarlett.

Sometime later, the four saved James from the wilderness who begged them to take him in. Of course, they refused after he said his class was only Rare, which was two levels below theirs with Peak being in-between.

However, Chris was willing to give him a chance. He made James face Gnoth for a chance to get in. If he could knock Gnoth down, then he would enter the team. After a long battle which was mostly James running away from Gnoth. James got lucky by tricking Gnoth with his Rubberman abilities and managed to knock him down.

After that Chris let him into the team. He felt that James’s abilities would be useful and he was right. For that reason, he was able to tolerate the troublesome James who kept on bothering Scarlett.

And speaking of classes. Unlike Muku’s team, Chris’ actually knew all the classes from top to bottom.

The classes went like this... Random- Elementary- Intermediate - Advanced- Super- Rare- Peak- Epic- Pseudo-Legendary- Legendary.

And from Chris’s words. The legendary class was just a myth at that point. It had only appeared once before in a mysterious lady they knew little about. So, Pseudo-Legendary was basically the highest level class around. And people with it were almost non-existent.

It seemed they didn’t know about the "Unique class" though it was pretty much just a subgenre of Pseudo-Legendary, so it didn’t matter.

When Jade and Emily heard about how the Legendary class was pretty much a myth. Their expectations remained the same. However, their minds were in a mess. They realised that Muku might be more special than they thought.

Sure, they knew he was special from his OP abilities, but now it had finally been confirmed...

They didn’t say anything to Chris though. Even if he was Jade’s brother. It wasn’t information they were willing to share. Only Muku was eligible to tell him...

Anyway, Chris continued telling Jade about what happened to him. From how his team rose through the ranks and became the branch’s aces, to the current mission in which they lost Pete...

"And that’s my story. Yours?" Chris concluded by asking Jade about her experiences.

"Wow. What an eventful life you’ve heard. Let me tell you mine then. After that we can ask questions from a more informed position" Jade replied then went on to tell Chris the most general parts of her team’s journey.

She had to be really careful with her words because, for the first time, she realised how many secrets her team had. From Muku’s bloodline, Audrey’s mutation, Emily’s death-defying abilities, the two fairies and more. While she trusted Chris, she didn’t trust his team. Not to mention that she couldn’t decide to reveal their secrets without asking the others first.

Chris could tell that she was only telling him the general stuff. But he didn’t pry. After all, he also held out in some parts. While they were family, they both had responsibilities to their teams which they couldn’t ignore just because they were talking to family.

"Wow. To think you guys killed your way out of a beast-infested school. No wonder you’re so strong. I’m even ashamed to be your big brother..you were killing beasts when I cowered in a corner..." Chris complimented Jade with a genuinely impressed and proud look on his face.

Unlike those cliché terrible brothers in novels. He didn’t mind that his little sister was better than him. I’m fact, he was happy about it. That way he would be reassured about her safety in the apocalypse even if he were to suddenly die one day.

After all, death in the app apocalypse came suddenly and unexpectedly. Pete was a prime example of that.

"I saw you in action earlier on. While you started later than I. You still managed to become such a great Evolver and that’s also amazing. Anyway, now that we have caught up. There’s some important stuff I want to ask you, brother. You and Brother Tony worked in the same city, right? Have you not heard from him ever since the apocalypse began?" Jade complimented Chris then asked a question which had been weighing heavily on her mind since she met Chris.

And that was whether her other brother was also still alive. Honestly, she, like the other girls had pretty much given up on finding their relatives. With all that had happened, it was easily possible that all their relatives were dead. That’s how brutal the apocalypse was.

Even if Layla and Emily, and then Chloe for the briefest time managed to find their relatives. The odds of finding anymore living relatives were still pretty bleak. And the bleakness would get worse with every moment which passes by. Again, such was the brutality of the apocalypse. And they had all learned to live with it.

Then out of nowhere, her supposedly deaf brother showed up. And he was literally the strongest person she met outside of their team.

And that made Jade greedy, it made her hopeful. She started thinking that if one was alive then the other one had to be alive too, right? And maybe her mother was too...

"Unfortunately, I haven’t come across Tony ever since the apocalypse began. However, I’m confident he’s alive. If I can make it out alive, I know he can as well. As much as I hate to say it. My younger brother is way more capable than I am" Chris gave Jade an expected but disappointing reply. She really thought that things were going to completely go her way for once. Unfortunately, the world was never that nice.

"Oh... Yeah. I guess you’re right. Brother Tony has always been better than you. You’re a noob compared to him. Since you’re a captain. Maybe he’s the leader of his own organisation or something" Jade spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

Her words made everyone but Chris smile awkwardly. They couldn’t help admire her ability to push Chris’s buttons though. It had to be a gift

"You disrespectful brat. I’ll teach you some respect today!" Chris spoke while lunging at Jade angrily. The brat made him lose all face with just a few words...