160 That Sunday 3 (1/2)

”If you're thinking she's under an illusion, I would have loved to play along but I'm sorry, your guess is incorrect.”

It was the same baritone voice, but unlike its usual crazy tone laced with both anger and madness, it was unbelievably calm, so foreign and distant that it sent shivers to Gio's spine.

'You...'

Recognizing what the words of the other man who just popped out of nowhere implied, Gio badly wanted to tear the person in front of him into pieces even if he was the only remaining blood-relative of Sofony.

”...Why are you still doing this? Haven't I showed you enough proof that I won't die and can be enough of a helper to her?”

Such a stupid father who only knew how to bring chaos and heartbreaks to his daughter and the people around her. May the gods forgive him for asking, but why does someone like him exist? Since he was so high-ranking, how come he didn't know that after he abandoned her, Gio was currently his daughter's only pillar of support?

Fred, still dressed in his white lab coat and with patches of beard across his chin, gazed deeply into the young man's raging eyes three meters away from him. If looks could kill, he would have long dropped dead on the pavement. However, the abnormal non-host was actually no threat in Fred's eyes even if he was someone immune to all system-related attacks. This was why he remained indifferent, even studying the emotions showing from the young man's face. To where he was relating it, no one knows.

Strangely, nothing was moving behind Fred.

The few shocked bystanders there... the five-meter tall tree... the red light above which didn't change even after a minute or so, the unmoving blades of grass or leaves, the lack of wind movement...

In this seemingly frozen world, the only side showing activities and flow of time was the one where Sofony was. The rest was like a motionless picture captured in a flash of a camera. If only the things around them had at least turned black and white, he would not be so unnerved, thinking he only got teleported into a fake, static realm.

But now he knew, this man, either through an item or a skill, had frozen their part of the world, isolating him from the place he badly wanted to go. At the same time, Fred activated a skill or item projecting the reality outside of this world. This showcased just how much potential a high-ranking host... especially someone from the previous generation if it was about bringing chaos, confusion or destruction to the masses.

Why? Why couldn't this old man just leave them alone? Does Fred hate his daughter or him so much?

As if the older Mendez guessed the turmoil in Gio's mind, his mouth opened up.

”I'll go straight to the point since to my regret and disappointment, you're not seemingly realizing it.”

”Lad, you are way too dangerous, not only to normal folks, but even to hosts, especially the unsuspecting low-level ones.”

The younger fellow didn't know that this man's current calmness was normally the sign Fred's enemies were watching out for whenever he was doing something scary or abnormal.

”I should be saying that to you.” Red-eyed, Gio marched towards the man, his fist threatening to fly to Fred's nose. His voice which had never failed to calm Sofony down whenever she was confused or at a loss before was strangely very agitated today.

”Fred Mendez! I just don't understand.”

”What kind of father are you that you not only left her,” he temporarily paused. Shaking his head, he continued, ”...you not only refuse to meet her, you even want to remove me, her current only home and emotional support!”

”Don't you realize that you have already hurt her enough! What more do you want?”

Facing this, Fred did not move. He acted as though he didn't hear his friend's nephew indirectly telling him that he was a bad father. Maybe he knew it already in his heart and had tempered his mind about it, thus he was not very affected.

So instead of getting angry, he only slowly enunciated a word,