Chapter 178: I have other people to seduce now...

"Well."

Blake looked up at him.

"Why?"

A tiny smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Are you jealous or something?"

"? No."

The answer came so quickly that Blake almost thought Myles hadn’t even processed the question.

Not even enough time to pretend to think about it.

’Look at this punk...’

Blake’s eyebrow twitched.

’Well, better this way, actually.’

He stared blankly at Myles.

’That answer annoys me more than if he’d admitted it, can’t deny, however...’

Then another memory surfaced.

The mission he got a while back, with a penalty that will continue to screw up many of his plans in the future.

The enormous drawback Blake had suffered simply because... Myles hadn’t been jealous in the slightest.

’Right, I would’ve whopped his ass if he decided to get jealous now, instead of when I needed it. Well, anyway, this guy is hopeless so no risk.’

Myles looked back at him.

"Answer."

Blake sighed.

"It was just a handshake, nothing else."

"..."

"If it interests you, it was with my right hand..."

Myles slowly reached forward, taking Blake’s hand into his own.

"...?"

Blake watched curiously.

Instead of letting go, Myles began rubbing Blake’s palm with his thumb quite carefully, as though trying to erase something invisible.

"...What are you doing?"

"Removing it."

"Hey, removing what?"

"Her scent."

Blake frowned.

"...Her... what?"

"Estelle possesses a tracking ability."

Blake looked even more confused.

"Woah what? How?"

Myles continued rubbing Blake’s palm.

"When she touches someone, she leaves behind her scent, if she chooses to. Afterward, she can follow it, even over great distances."

"Ah..."

"Don’t make the same mistake next time."

He instinctively looked down at his own hand.

"So, huh... does rubbing my hand actually help?"

"Yes. If it’s been less than fifteen minutes, it’s relatively easy to remove."

Blake tilted his head.

"And if those fifteen minutes pass?"

"It doesn’t come off."

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"...Ever?"

"It remains."

"Yeah but, forever?"

"Yes."

Blake slowly looked back down at his palm.

"That’s kind of terrifying."

He instinctively rubbed it against the blanket anyway.

"Can only she smell it or... can everyone?"

"Probably only her, or others belonging to the same species."

Blake swallowed.

"Right..."

He hesitated.

"Can I know what species she is?"

Myles quietly shook his head.

"We don’t know."

Blake frowned.

"Really, you don’t?"

"No."

"Then what about yours?"

Myles’ expression remained calm.

"Finding information like that isn’t easy. AL-TECH’s security regarding biological records is extremely strict. Using brute force is ineffective, as they are always ready to destroy it. We only managed to discover that alien’s species, but it’s not related to any of us."

Blake lowered his gaze.

’So... they don’t even fully know their own origins.’

These people had bodies that weren’t entirely human.

Abilities beyond ordinary biology.

Instincts they themselves couldn’t explain.

And yet... none of them even knew what they truly were.

’So cruel.’

Growing up without even knowing the name of your own species.

Without knowing where your traits came from.

Without knowing whether anyone like you still existed somewhere.

His chest tightened.

’But...’

He slowly bit the inside of his cheek.

’I do know some pretty useful things.’

Not everything, still, he had names, two confirmed ones.

Traflens.

Muliertensias.

And several unidentified biological patterns he’d catalogued himself.

It wasn’t much.

But compared to what Myles had, it was an enormous amount, wasn’t it?

’Should I just tell him?’

But if he did, a lot questions would follow.

He would have to explain where he got the samples.

Why he had them.

Why he had researched them in the first place.

It wasn’t something he could casually mention, especially since the system limits him so much.

While Blake remained lost in thought, Myles quietly leaned closer. His forehead came to rest gently against Blake’s chest.

Blake stiffened, a little flustered.

"Myles?"

His voice remained quiet.

"There’s no need to feel sad."

"Huh?"

"This is natural."

His words were muffled slightly against Blake’s shirt.

"They all gave up trying a long time ago."

Blake slowly wrapped his arms around Myles, holding him gently.

"Did you..."

His fingers lightly gripped the back of Myles’ shirt.

"... give up too?"

Myles stayed silent for several seconds.

"I helped the others as much as I could."

His eyes remained lowered.

"I abandoned that path before I ever truly considered following it."

Blake tightened his embrace just slightly.

He felt unexpectedly angry.

Not at Myles.

At whoever had made him believe searching for his own origins wasn’t worth pursuing.

At whoever had convinced all of them to abandon that part of themselves.

Slowly, another thought surfaced.

One far more practical.

The people outside.

Alexis.

Estelle.

Tania.

Even Zlatan.

Every one of them still supported Myles’ goal.

They wanted the same future.

And judging from their earlier conversation... basically all of them were already wary of Blake’s influence.

If Blake wanted any chance of changing Myles’ path... he couldn’t focus only on Myles anymore.

He needed the others too.

If he could earn their trust, if he could make himself useful...

Maybe, just maybe, they would stop encouraging Myles toward destruction.

Maybe they’d begin questioning things themselves.

Maybe they’d even stand beside Blake instead of against him.

It wasn’t much of a plan.

But, it was better than having none.

Myles slowly lifted his head.

"What’s wrong?"

Blake looked back at him.

His heartbeat sped up.

"...I..."

He swallowed.

"...I think I can help."

"What are you talking about?"

Blake hesitated. Then, a nervous smile appeared.

His lips trembled despite it.

"I still have a few things to tell you. They’re... pretty important, I mean it."

His fingers unconsciously tightened around the blanket.

"But."

He looked directly into Myles’ eyes.

"You have to promise me something first."

"What?"

Blake took a slow breath.

"Nobody gets angry, no matter what I say."

He had no idea how anyone would react.

Still, if he was going to reveal what he knew, in a weird roundabout way... there was no point hiding it from the people most directly affected.

He let out one shaky breath.

"I want to explain everything in front of everyone who’s actually involved."