850 Investigate 2 (1/2)
”O… Okay,” Vera felt goosebumps appearing all over her body. She followed Garen out of the classroom before standing still at a corner.
”Were you the one who delivered the dorm keys to me previously?” asked Garen directly.
”Yes… You weren't here so they told me to send them to your dorm,” Vera tried her best to look natural.
”Did you touch the things?”
Vera froze at once.
”What… What things? What are you talking about?”
”The documents in my drawer,” Garen reached his hand out and patted her face. ”Didn't you know that going through other people's stuff without their permission is actually against the rules…”
”I didn't! Don't accuse me!” Vera went to great lengths to plaster an innocent expression on her face but her heartbeat sped up instead.
”Whatever. I don't have time for silly chats with you. I'm aware of your current situation. You're not getting enough money from your family, right? Don't worry, I have money but I'll need you to help me do some things. As long as you make yourself pretty, I have no qualms about spending tens of thousands on you,” said Garen calmly. ”You're allowed to refuse, of course. But if that happens, I have a recording of you in my hands now and I'll have no choice but to send it to the Academy for them to screen it publicly.”
He raised his watch. The screen was currently displaying the interior of his dorm room clearly and showed Vera opening his drawers sneakily. She even took some cash from the lowest drawer and stuffed it into her pocket.
”I wonder how the 'little boys' who admire you will react once they find out about these recordings. And your best friends as well…” Garen looked on coldly while Vera's face turned pale instantly. Panicked and helpless looks appeared in her eyes faintly.
”You… I didn't do it on purpose… I was wrong! Really, it was just a moment of confusion…” Vera was rambling slightly now.
”That's enough. I don't care whether it happened in a moment of confusion or not. I'll look for you when I need you. That's all.”
Garen pinched her cheeks before turning around and leaving.
*************************
At night
Garen sat leisurely on a bench at the roadside of the Academy and quietly flipped through the related information that was sent through various channels.
The whereabouts of his little brother Baylon remained unclear. He had only discovered that his last appearance was in the One for All Bakery, the little shop where he used to work. After the loud explosion occurred by the river, no one saw him ever again.
It seemed as though all the channels had only received the same information, including Vivienne, Sofia, and the others.
Beep beep, beep beep…
”Hey, Kendall? No news? Alright, okay, yeah,” after disconnecting the call, Garen knitted his eyebrows closely together again. His instincts told him that the case involving his little brother Baylon this time was not a minor issue, unfortunately. His Soul Seeds had been trembling faintly until now. Therefore, this was clearly a serious problem that would affect and change the bigger picture.
His phone rang again immediately. The caller was a middle-aged man who was in charge of issuing tasks in the military headquarters.
”Student Nonosiva, I'm so happy that a Level Three student like yourself chose the task that we issued. We have drafted a small group for this task that will comprise of fifteen members with you as the captain. You will lead the patrol throughout certain territories for a duration of one month. You can choose one of the remaining available regions as the location of your task.”
”Understood. A small group of fifteen people. What kind of patrolling method will we be using? What opponents will we be going up against?” Garen continued asking.
”You will be using the Mechs to patrol and counter a broken red and white-colored Mech. Once you've encountered your opponent, please inform the headquarters at the first moment and stall it. If possible, go all-out and kill your opponent,” replied the middle-aged man meticulously.
”This is a map with the regions you may choose from,” He was sent a map that segregated the Blackboard Region into smaller areas.
Garen glanced at the map and noticed that it divided the region into a total of more than thirty pieces. The tasks within almost half of these areas had been accepted. Within the remaining areas, he chose the place that was closest to his home without hesitation. Fortunately, that area had not been chosen yet.
”Your map has been determined. Meet with your team members by tomorrow and set your own meeting point. This is your group number,” a group number was given to him by the person on the other line.
Garen nodded and asked a few more questions about some important matters before disconnecting the call.
Moments after the phone call had been disconnected, he received another phone call from Celine. When he glanced at it, he noticed that there were more than ten unanswered phone calls previously, meaning that she had been calling him much earlier.
Just as he answered, the sound of Celine's heavy breathing echoed from the other line instantly.
”Nono, guess what I've found?!”
His instincts told him that something was amiss. Garen sat up straighter suddenly. ”What happened? Don't tell me you've made another great discovery?”
”It's more than just a great discovery!” said Celine angrily. ”I went looking for one of my friends in the higher level intelligence departments of the Academy because of the situation with your little brother. Later, I ended up discovering a shocking secret from him!”
”Tell me!” from Celine's experience, everything was a shocking secret to her. No one could imagine how astonishing this secret truly was. Garen calmed his own breathing quickly and listened carefully to the voice on the other side of his Watch Terminal.
”Have you heard of the Forbidden Mech?” Celine's first sentence made Garen's heart tremble.