Chapter 534: Work Asses Out (1)

Chapter 532

Watching the door close behind Ray, Van’s face suddenly darkened as he lowered the hamburger to the side.

He rubbed his tired face several times before looking around the room.

"Sleep, huh?"

A dry chuckle escaped him.

Heaving a sigh, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

It was a pendant attached to a silver chain, holding a small blue gem that looked almost like a precious stone.

The gem was tiny, roughly half the length of a finger, dangling from the silver chain.

Van twirled the pendant in his hand for a moment, his teeth tightening.

"This is why I can’t sleep, Ray. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you about this at all. I promised."

And with that, his mind flashed back to a distant memory from when he was much younger—around ten years old.

He could still remember a small, cramped room in a house located in Wall Rose.

He stood before his grandfather, who handed him the same pendant he now held after the boy had spent countless times pestering the old man about his parents.

The old man had refused him time after time, repeatedly telling him that it wasn’t time yet.

Eventually, Van had enough.

He burst out in anger, demanding to know when the time would finally be right.

"On your sixteenth birthday, son. You should be much wiser by then," the old man said.

"But till then..."

The old man walked towards a small metallic box and rummaged through his old belongings, searching through them until he finally found what he was looking for.

Then, he handed it over.

The same pendant Van held now.

"—Keep this with you. I don’t know if I will make it to your sixteenth birthday, but if you want to know about your parents, then don’t let this depart from you."

Young Van received the pendant, his eyes gleaming as he stared at it.

"A little warning, though. Do not let a single soul ever see this pendant. Never give it nor show it to any single person. Trust no one with this pendant. If not, you could lose your life."

The old man paused.

"I promise, I will tell you everything when you clock sixteen."

And after that day, Van kept anticipating his sixteenth year.

Who knew that the old man wouldn’t live to see the day.

Not after the Aberrants came crashing through Wall Rose.

A tear slid down the corner of Van’s face.

He quickly wiped it away and heaved a sigh as he stared at the pendant in his hand.

"Grandfather, I wish you were here to see how much I have achieved. You always tried stopping me from building techs, saying it was too dangerous."

His gaze lowered towards the blue gem.

"I wonder what you would have said now, knowing that I’m participating in active battles. I wonder if you would have been proud of me, seeing how far I’ve come with my techs."

Van brought the pendant to his lips and kissed the gem for a moment before letting out a small smile.

"...What am I saying? You would definitely be proud."

His smile faded slightly.

"I’m sorry I wasn’t there when the Aberrants flattened you."

Van clenched his teeth for a moment.

His eyes flashed with a dangerous blue glow.

He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before clutching the pendant tightly in his grasp.

"I promise you, I will make the Aberrants pay for what they did to you. Ray and I will retake Wall Rose soon. Wish me luck, old man."

Van smiled as he handed the pendant over to one of his mechanical limbs.

The limb immediately shot towards a small vault hidden behind a wall.

Recognizing Van’s energy, the wall slid open.

The vault revealed itself.

The hands inputted the code into the vault from Van’s memory.

Once it opened, the mechanical hand carefully placed the pendant inside, storing it safely within the vault before the doors closed again.

Watching as the wall slid back into place, Van let out a breath of air before spinning around in his chair and glancing at the gas mask.

"Come on then, let’s work our ass off, shall we? I’m sure the others aren’t relenting, especially with how close the day comes."

.....

The night sky had already blanketed the whole world in its grasp.

Cool air drifted through the night, creating the perfect weather for a calm, refreshing sleep.

Where normal people could be found sleeping, however, some psychopaths could still be seen wide awake.

In one of the numerous training rooms within the base, a young girl with pale blue hair and matching eyes stood before a dozen mechanical steel humanoid dolls.

She gripped a wooden katana in her hand while standing among them, watching as the dolls began conjuring their abilities—abilities that had been pre-selected by the girl herself.

The room was spacious enough to accommodate dozens of pieces of equipment that could be used for training.

State-of-the-art equipment capable of handling the strength of any Vanguard in the base.

Hundreds of these same dolls stood at the far end of the room, deactivated, while the activated ones stood in the middle with Trisha fearlessly positioned among them.

This was only one of the training rooms in the base, though—fitted with a soundproof mechanism so nobody outside would be disturbed by the sounds that would come from within.

The sword in her hand, though wooden, was much more durable than an ordinary wooden weapon—on the level of steel.

As she breathed in and out, mist seeped from the corners of her lips.

Frost slowly gathered around the soles of her feet, creeping upward as it spread along the wooden sword while her eyes remained fixed on the dolls.

Unhesitatingly, the twelve dolls lunged at her, different abilities activating around their hands.

Trish shifted into a ready battle stance, her cold eyes narrowing into an even firmer gaze.

Her shoulders relaxed, and her grip on the sword loosened slightly.

Then the first doll reached her.

An earth sword descended towards her from above, forcing her to spin around and evade the blade.

The sword crashed into the sturdy floor of the room.

The ground trembled for a second as dust slowly lifted into the air.