Ascenders Rift

Chapter 66: Alarming News! Countering the Enemy

Within a quiet room, a middle-aged man with a chiseled face, sharp eyes, and long dark hair reaching to the nape of his neck sat on a couch while browsing a tablet. The TV was currently showing the news, but the man's eyes were preoccupied with the details on his tablet while vaguely listening.

"Violence continues to rise as the occasional sightings of the newly identified Planet Devouring Star has stirred the mind of masses. Authorities have deployed both the law enforcement and mechanized infantry to keep the peace on the streets. Following the recent announcement made by the Imperial Council, all citizens are required to conform to a strict curfew regimen, the date for the official briefing by the Imperial Council has also been set for January 30. Here's more on what's next on the Earling Star News..."

Alan's eyes shifted towards the TV for a slight moment before he spoke, "Madness... as expected, in any disaster, there are always those who will strive to obstruct the balance and create as much disorder as possible. I suppose, it's in this way they some can feel worth, or it could even be that they're just plain looking to get some advantage they can in the case that the disaster is nothing but a hoax. Sigh... there's no point even bothering to ponder it too much."

After removing his eyes from the TV and fixing it on the tablet, Alan couldn't help but speak with a mocking look on his face.

"Well, this is interesting, having your husband forge documents to claim full benefits form your brother's will. Hmph! This world is truly a dark one, indeed..." Alan said as his eyes gazed upon the list of information below a familiar-looking face, a grown beauty with a tan complexion and long red-dyed hair, perfectly matching with her red lips, fine nose, and almond eyes.

"Leah Cross... oh well, I suppose I should deal with this for him since I have a bit of time." Alan said as he shifted his eyes from the tablet towards the table, he then pressed a button, causing a screen to pop up and spoke, "Call Nelly."

Following his words, the screen began to show a portrait of a bald black man with a thick beard, he had a broad nose and sported a set of cunning but sharp eyes. Soon, the screen was opened, and the face of this man was visible. He currently had a tinge of blood on his face as at this time, the sound of running water was heard from his background.

"Sir Alan, how can I help you today?" Nelly said while washing his hands.

Alan looked at this and spoke, "Nelly, why do you keep calling me Sir at such times? We are not at work right now, you know?"

Nelly smirked and replied, "Well, for you, that may be true, but as you can see, I just got off a project."

Alan's eyes flashed when he asked, "Who was it this time?"

Nelly shook his head and replied, "Old James..."

Alan sighed at this before he spoke, "I never thought we had so many spies, our numbers have dwindled by a large extent. I really don't know how we're going to handle it if there are more amongst our ranks."

Nelly, hearing this dried his hands and shifted his eyes towards the direction of the screen when he spoke, "Don't worry too much; after all, you've still got me."

Alan looked at Nelly deeply, as his eyes turned slightly red when he spoke, "Nelly, it must be hard..."

Nelly remained silent for a while before he took out a cigarette and lit it. After giving it a puff, he gazed towards the floor where a corpse was vaguely shown in the on the screen when he spoke, "It's fine, I can manage. Let's get on topic, so Alan, what do you want me to deal with this time?"

Alan organized his mood and spoke, "This one is much easier, you only have to send maybe one or two trustworthy guys to the respected authorities. Have them gather a few inspectors to deal with a woman and a man, there's no need to kill them, they only need to pay back what they stole and suffer a harsh penalty. I am sending the details now,"

As Alan said this, he pressed a button on the tablet, causing all the details about Leah and Milano Lewis to be forwarded to Nelly.

Beep! With a loud sound, Nelly looked at his unusual-looking wristlet, which seemed to have a widescreen on it. There, he saw a mail like an icon popped up with the title of the sender being Alan.

"Received, this should prove to be a decent little break, I'll get this done quickly," Nelly said with a smile as he hung up the phone.

Alan stared at the now dark holographic screen with a smile before he pressed the button causing it to vanish, he then put down the tablet and lifted his head towards the ceiling as his face grew a bit serious while he thought.

"This is no time for remorse, they've chosen their path I suppose this is what they were expecting. Heh, that brat Evan is something else; if it weren't for him, I'd have taken quite a while to learn about this, who knows how I would've danced to the enemy's hands. Speaking of Evan, there's another matter that's quite odd, I did my best to trace the cause of Evan's parent's death, but it had nothing to do with neither Leah or Milano. Based on the details given, their car was in perfect condition, and there were no signs of prior damage or fault that could have possibly lead to the crash. I wonder, could it be that they..." Alan was about to think further, but it was at this time, the TV's volume had risen by a section as a news reporter's words drew him from his thoughts."

"Hello everyone, my name is Cyntia Smith, and I am here at the scene of the explosion on the EarlingStar Academies Labs. As you can see behind me, there's hardly anything that could resemble a structure at this section of the campus. The blast had destroyed not only the lab but also quite a few nearby school buildings, causing injury to not only the instructors but a few students. While some suffer from critical injuries, we've received confirmation that there were roughly four deaths for students and teachers from this incident." The female reporter said while gesturing towards the scene behind her, one could see a group of workmen with helmets behind a blocked off region with yellow barricade tape and machines carefully moving the debris.

Some places on the floor had dried up bloodstains, while some others had broken devices such as cell phones and burned computer screens. The sounds from the construction machines moving and using their lifts were striving for dominance with Cyntia's voice.

"At this time, the working team is striving hard to unearth any lucky surviving scientists from the lab, but based on the yield of explosive many are saying that changes are highly unlikely. It truly is a tragic occurrence; we can only offer our best wishes to those who've survived with less than critical injuries and our dearest condolences to the families of those who've suffered losses." Cyntia said as she made a curt bow to the cameraman, the scene then shifted towards the central news station, where a few individuals began to address the issue.

Alan narrowed his eyes at this; he shifted his eyes towards his desk as if waiting for something as he spoke, "That lass... tsk! What has she gone and done this time?"

As Alan said this, his finger began to tap the table restlessly. Soon, the desk started to flicker with a blue light as the previous holographic screen popped up once more. However, this time only the face of a pretty woman appeared; she had silky black hair and slender upturned eyes that gave her a hint of elegant allure.

"Angeline, what happened? Have you forgotten how to not stand out? Is this what the MSS sent you to do at that academy?" Alan said the face on the screen.

Angeline hearing this was a bit embarrassed, but she didn't dare to show it, she replied with a helpless look on her face, "Instructor Al, I had to do what had to be done. These bastards were preparing to make a move on that boy of yours, so I had to distract them a bit. I even got myself in a scuffle against their high ranks, che! They're pretty strong, I even ended up with a few injuries... cough..."

While she was trying her best not to look wounded, the moment Angeline coughed, her face turned pale. Alan was shocked by this; he jumped to his feet and drew a coat over his body as he spoke, "Tsk! So careless, how many of you were injured, and where are you right now?"

Angeline seeing his concern felt warm, she wiped her mouth and spoke, "I'm... no, we're fine, we've already found a shelter. You don't need to search for us; I only called you to show this..."

As Angeline said this, a message appeared on the screen. Alan frowned when he tapped it, causing it to open. Soon, his display was flooded with a series of lists, they were quite strange and colored in blue, orange, red, and gold, respectively, with markings called Classes on their surface.

Alan was shocked when he saw this, he spoke, "This list... could it be?"

Angeline nodded and finished his words, "It's as you've suspected, it's the primary goal for initiating their so-called HDP's (Human Development Projects) in the various academies. Though this is only for the EarlingStar Academy, and while still don't know what they plan to do with them, we can at least try to prevent as many of these students as possible from reaching their hands."

When Alan looked at this, his eyes flashed when he spoke, "Indeed, even if it doesn't affect them much, this should be enough to change the game in our city for the least. Give this info to that MSS Chief in secret and patch me through to him, we need to have the rest of the MSS act along with us."

Angeline was a bit startled, she spoke, "But, haven't you remembered what Evan said, they could be traitors among our ranks."

Alan shook his head and spoke, "Even if there are, it won't be so for the one at the highest chain of command. I know that guy full well, even more so that I did for Ralph. We can trust him enough and have him push the next step directly with these details, as for us, we only need to handle the rest in the shadows. We can also take this chance to filter out the spies from the MSS after he makes a direct order."

Angeline was a bit hesitant as she spoke, "I had a similar plan, I was prepared to leak some of the details at certain intervals, over a period and see who amongst the sector would start moving differently. Are you sure doing it directly like this is even a safe measure?"

Alan seeing this sighed and spoke in a reassuring tone, "Don't worry too much, even if things don't go as planned, I still have a way out, for now, let's see what he does and take actions from the dark..."

"Fine," Angeline replied before hanging up.

The screen faded, as Alan's eyes shone with a firm light when he shifted his pupils towards the window, gazing at the city, which was somewhat different. There was rising smoke at various places with scattered objects on the distant ground, seeming no different from a scene created by a riot.

"The future is never certain, and only time can tell the outcome of everlasting change..." Alan muttered as he gazed towards the horizon as if striving to see the hazy future that lied in the distance.