75 Mice in a cage 2 (1/2)

Underneath his black cloak Hypnos's gaze narrowed. He stared warily at Chàng Bo, his gaze lingering on the jade pin which rested in Chàng Bo's hair.

A myriad of expressions crossed Hypnos's face, as he looked at the jade pin he silently mouthed the words \”sovereign system\”.

His bone hands clenched under his cloak with strong envy for a few seconds, until he quickly regained his composure.

Chàng Bo remained seated, unaware of the changes in Hypnos's mood.

\”So as I was saying before\” Hypnos began to speak again, \”Our Grandfather was the first Gatekeeper. As I mentioned Gatekeepers have rules, one of those rules being that they're not allowed to have children. This rule is there for good reason.

The Gatekeepers are a race of their own. When a Gatekeeper awakens their bodies begin to change, they are modified to handle terrifying amounts of essence, their minds can process huge quantities of information, and they attract large amounts of energy. And the training they go through only improves such abilities.

If a normal being was made a Gatekeeper and underwent such a massive change in their bodies physiology they would die from the burden, but as I mentioned before, people chosen to be Gatekeepers aren't normal people.  They volunteered their souls when they lived in the Real Realm. So they've always been inherently different than regular people in the 400 realms.

Before being reincarnated in the 400 realms, the Gatekeeper volunteers went through some type of massive treatment. I'm not sure about the details but I heard from a source of mine that there were 8 million people signed up for Gatekeeper positions, and after this treatment known as a soul refinement, there were only 8,000 volunteers actually used in the project.

I'm trailing off now, but the point I'm trying to make is that Gatekeepers are made to be the perfect most powerful overseers of their realm down to their very last cell. They're so powerful in fact that even the people in the Real Realm fear them or rather fear their potential. Gatekeepers were meant to be tools for this experiment, but One accidentally made monsters that could become a real threat to the real realm if not controlled.

That's why One made strict rules and even Watchdogs known as Gates to keep the Gatekeepers under control. These Gates are made from the souls of criminals from the Real Realm. As punishments for their crimes they are enslaved to watch the Gatekeepers and keep them in line. I believe they're even allowed to kill Gatekeepers if they show signs of knowing too much or rebelling.\”

Chàng Bo's blue eyes now glowed like black holes, his aura was cold with rage. All he could think about was Mao Lu.

Why would Lu volunteer for an experiment such as this?

Chàng Bo clenched his fist, \”Mao Lu is so naive and so pure like a ray of sunshine or a fresh breeze. He's also too trusting, he would never suspect he's being made a fool of or being used like a puppet. And even if he did suspect there is nothing he can do about it, he'd be more at risk.\”

With these thoughts running through his mind Chàng Bo felt increasingly nervous for Mao Lu. He felt a growing and desperate urge to find him.

Inwardly Chàng Bo was shocked by his own desperation and fear. He never used to be like this. He never used to get nervous or feel afraid on another person's behalf.  Ever since he'd met Mao Lu his emotions had begun to change.

….

Unaware or unconcerned of his feelings Hypnos continued, \”If a Gatekeeper has a child after their abilities have been awakened, than that child will inherit their abilities. They will inherit the Gatekeeper physiology and genetics. Becoming a child with Gatekeeper abilities but without the restrictions and the rules. Such a child would be hard to monitor and could be a potential threat to the Real Realm. Hence one of the rules is that a Gatekeeper is not allowed to reproduce, if they do they are killed straight away. Which is why our Mother's birth was and still is miraculous.\”

\”Our Grandfather was very close to One, unlike other Gatekeepers he knew secrets and had a good understanding about the 400 realms and the Real realm. I believe that in our Grandfather's previous life before the experiment, he was someone very close to One. Which is probably why One twisted a lot of the rules and made a lot of excuses for him. It is because of this that when our Grandfather fell in love with a woman in his realm he was able to hide their relationship and even consummate with her. When he found out she was pregnant though, our Grandfather realised he was in trouble, but he couldn't bring himself to kill the woman that he loved. Instead he decided to hide her, he distanced himself from her and pretended that their romance never happened. Of course the creators aren't stupid, and One knew what had occurred, but due to his fondness for our grandfather he kept it secret and made sure the existence of our mother was well hidden.\”

The scenery around Chàng Bo and Hypnos changed yet again, the darkness around them had transformed into a large field of grass and wheat. In that large field sat a pretty woman with bright blue eyes, she was holding a baby girl and staring up at the starry sky, whispering \”My dear darling you have no idea who your father is nor of the significance of your existence, but he's someone important, someone that owns this world. One day you'll be able to meet him, one day we'll be a real family.\” She continued to hug the baby girl as she sat in the field and stared at the night sky.

Chàng Bo and Hypnos watched this scene in their black boat.