Chapter 36 Is this the Real Life? (1/2)

Both Alina and Alex found it hard to look at each other, with everything that they had seen today.

The encounter that they had with Lord Gallius earlier was something that made the two still awkward right now.

Asteria's infuriating comments did not help matters either.

”Sigh.”

”...…”

Even though both of them were being held back by their emotions, Alex knew that he had to ignore these minor inconveniences for the more important matters.

”You seem to be taking it well.” Alex commented drily as he tried not to stare too much at Alina's face.

”Well, what can I do? I know that the afro guy is 100% not lying to me, so I have no choice but to accept that as the truth...” Alina replied with a downcast expression on her face.

Alex was about to nod when he suddenly paused, as he felt something wrong with what he heard.

”Wait…” Alexfelt that something was weird when he heard Alina's reply. ”How are you sure that the afro guy is not lying to you? I heard that the afro guy is the WEO President. For him to reach that position, he has to be an extremely good liar. I doubt that even you can detect him lying to you. So how are you 100% sure that he was not lying?”

”Eh?” This time, it was Alina's turn to be flustered as her face showed some semblance of panic. ”I just know that he is not lying, that is it.”

”Oh really.” Although Alex was fairly young, he already had a good mentor that taught him about cold reading, which basically allows Alex to glean information about a person just by looking at that person's facial expressions and their body language.

Using this cold reading, Alex was sure that he can, 40% of the time, somehow determine that someone is lying.

This kind of cold-reading was at the amateur level, so Alex was not relying on it all the time.

Heck, Alex's cold reading was not even working at all against Asteria!

But all the telltale signs on Alina's face made is obvious to Alex that Alina was hiding something from him right now.

”You should have kept your face hidden.” Alex said as she gave Alina a withering look. ”Now that I saw your face, I am sure that you are lying right now.”

”...…”

************

”…” Asteria sighed, knowing that she had placed herself in a corner right now.

She did not expect that someone like Alex can actually force her to talk just because she slipped with some of her words.

Alina also noticed that Alex has some knowledge in cold reading, which just made her situation worse.

”I should have not removed the mask earlier…” Alina thought wryly as she gave Alex a weary smile.

”Should I tell him that I can see Asteria? Won't that just complicate the situation?” Alina tsked, realizing that she was in a dilemma right now.

Alina cannot just not answer, as it will just make Alex more suspicious.

As such, the only way Alina can get out of this was by handling the matter smoothly.

Before Alex could obtain the answer that he wanted to get, Alina decided to sharpen her gaze as she put her mask back on her face.

”Why are you even interested on asking about my lie-detection techniques?” Alina hissed back, as she was obviously steering the conversation away. ”Shouldn't we discuss about more important things?”

”Hmmm…” Alex might be sometimes pushy, but he knew when he should retreat, and this time is one of those times.

”Okay, okay, I will not inquire further about that.” Alex replied, raising his arms in a surrender. ”Let's just talk about 'more important stuff'.”

Alina frowned, not liking that somewhat sarcastic tone that Alex had, but since he promised to not pester Alina anymore, she decided to not pester him too.

**************

”So what do you think should we do now?” Alex asked Alina, as both of them talked in subdued voices. Even if there are no bugs in their current place, they would not want their voice to be heard by anyone walking nearby.

”In my opinion, I think we should leave, right now.” Alina replied, with tension apparent on her body. ”I do not like to say this, but now that I know the truth, I realized that the afro guy and Lord Ergo are just playing with me. They will not honor my request. They will come to kill you.”

”That's the conclusion that I reached earlier too.” Alex replied wistfully as he gave Alina an apologetic look. ”But I think they are only after me. After all, I am the anomaly here.”

”You of course will be their priority.” Alina replied as she stared at the window of the comfort room with a vacant look on her face.

”After all, you have plans that will mess up the whole Simulated Esper World.”

”.....”

***************

30 minutes earlier.

When Alex and Lord Gallius started to talk, Lord Gallius gave Alex the 'truth' that he was talking about.

According to the him, their world, the Esper World, is actually just a Simulation, a virtual world.

Everything in this world, all the plants, the animals, the people, and the objects, they are all simulations, all created from virtual reality.

The soil, the weather, the air, and the water, all of them were created from virtual reality.

Even the laws and Esper Abilities in this world all came from the whims of the virtual reality.

There is nothing that is not virtual in this world, as all of them were created by highly advanced technology.