Erik woke up some hours later, but exactly like the last time he had been at the hospital, he was initially confused, as he couldn't immediately understand where he was. It was natural since the last thing he remembered was being inside the forest and fighting against one of the five men that attacked him. His final thoughts before passing out were that he had been unable to escape the men and that they would eventually take him. However, two notifications informed him otherwise.
[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETED. STORED ENERGY CONVERTED INTO EXPERIENCE. REWARD ISSUED.]
[LEVEL UP!]
<What the hell happened?> the young man thought.
Apparently, he managed to complete the quest and escape from the guys, and he even gained another level; judging by the quest rewards, he also got five more strength points.
He realized he was in a hospital-like structure and that medical equipment was all around him as his vision started to clear. As he looked around to see where he was, he noticed several beds on his left and right. His friends were lying on a bed.
They all appeared to have recovered thanks to the hospital staff, especially Martha, who had the most severe injury of them all. Amber, on the other side of the room, stood up from her chair and walked toward him.
"Erik..." she said.
The young man observed her for a moment and then asked, "Amber... Are you ok?" His voice sounded very concerned.
"Yes, I am; what about you? How do you feel?" the woman asked.
"I'm fine. It looks like I have been healed," the young man said.
"Indeed, but your wounds weren't that serious. On the other hand, Martha had a deep gash across her chest. You could see her bones..." Amber said.
"How is she now?" Erik asked. He didn't want this to happen, but he couldn't control what the other people did. However, now that the problem was apparent, people knew that his father had given him something he was not supposed to have; maybe he stole it from the Crystal Cross Gang or some influential person, which was why they attacked him. The problem was that Erik did not have enough power to defend himself and was honestly afraid of the Crystal Cross Gang.
He didn't know the extent of the organization's information; however, there was one thing he was sure about: if they attacked him now, under the Red Palace's protection, there was no way they wouldn't do it again if he ever stepped out from the safety of the palace.
"She has been healed, but it will take a little bit more time before she wakes up..." Amber replied.
"And what about the others?"
"They should wake up at any moment; the Red Palace alerted our parents. They are coming here right now," Amber said.
"Ok..." Erik planned on leaving the room before the parents came. He didn't want to hear people say it was his fault that all of this had happened or blame him for things he had no control over in case some of his friends said something they shouldn't have.
"What about the teachers? What did happen? Were they the ones who saved us?" Erik asked. He had many unanswered questions that needed a reply.
"Yeah, it was them," Amber said while looking Erik in the eyes. She was visibly tired, and the amount of fear she felt today was evident.
"They came soon after you all fell unconscious. Initially, those guys tried to fight back," the young woman said while recalling the events of that morning.
"Then, the teachers managed to kill one of them during the confrontation. It seems he was a wanted man going by the name of Greg Oslov; the police suspected he had ties with the Crystal Cross Gang already, but until today they couldn't prove anything," she explained.
"After he died, one of the other men fled and left the other three to fend for themselves. This guy's nickname is Death; he is a master assassin. What a creepy nickname..." Amber said, shuddering. Erik was perplexed as to how she knew who the man was.
"We were pretty lucky to have survived. This guy is one of the most wanted men in New Alexandria..." Then he understood how. Erik decided to research New Alexandria's wanted men and hack into the police server to see who they were investigating, trying to find out who the police believed was tied to the Crystal Cross Gang.
"Ah... but what about the other men? What happened?" Erik asked. Amber looked at her unconscious friends before replying. She then turned to look at Erik again.
"The three remaining fled but were intercepted by a military patrol. One of them used the other two as bait, and he fled through the forest. However, the military lost him. They don't know where he went, but presumably, he is inside the city. Wherever the Crystal Cross Gang members hide..."
Erik didn't know what to say. He felt a little uneasy as he thought about the fact that the members of the Crystal Cross Gang were out there somewhere, possibly hiding in plain sight, and that they were targeting him. He also knew that all of this happened because of him. It wasn't his fault, as it wasn't like he had to stop living because other people targeted him; however, he understood that there was no place to hide inside the city but that he would be safe, at least in the Red Palace. He had no idea if that was true at the military school, which accepted many more people and teachers than the Red Palace.
Besides, everyone knew his face because the newspaper told him he was an awakener, the military probably kept an eye on him, and the Crystal Cross gang was targeting him. The future looked grim for Erik at that moment.
Then the young man recalled something important: Red Palace's competition. Whoever won had to receive a brain or body-stimulating serum, and at the point, he was still conscious, his team was first.
"What happened to the competition? Who won in the end?" Erik asked.
"Nathaniel..." Amber said. When Erik heard that name, his face darkened. <Nathaniel, that mother fucker. It is always him...> Erik thought about it but said nothing to Amber. Because of him, an entire horde of monsters attacked them, almost killing him. Yes, it was true that if he hadn't sent the thaids toward him, the members of the Crystal Cross Gang would have kidnapped him, but this didn't excuse him from the fact that he tried to kill him and Anderson.
Erik didn't care about Robyn, Elena, and Judith at that point, since after everything he had done for them, they decided to run away and leave him alone when the five men reached the students. He could not blame them--if he had been in the same situation, he would have done the same. Besides, they didn't really know each other, and a couple of hours spent hunting together wasn't enough to establish a sense of camaraderie between them. However, thinking about them pissed him off.
"What's the matter?" Amber asked. "Nothing..." The young woman then thought for a few seconds before gaining the courage to ask Erik a fundamental question.
"Erik, you must tell me what happened. Why were those guys trying to kidnap you?" The young man knew his friends would ask him this question soon enough, but he was not ready to answer. However, they almost died to help him, and he owed them at least an explanation.
"I am not sure how to answer that..."
"Erik..." Amber said while looking the young man in the eyes. "You can trust me..."
"I know..." The young man had proof that Amber and the others cared about him, but the thought of telling them about the system and everything else scared him. He didn't want to lie to her, but he knew that he had to do it if he wanted to be safe.
The problem was that he would be in serious trouble if anyone else knew about the biological supercomputer. For a moment, he considered telling the truth to Amber, but the fact that he couldn't predict her reaction, despite her being his closest friend, prevented him from doing so. What if she got a sudden surge of greed for power and wanted to acquire the system?
It was essential to say something believable and to avoid telling her about the biological supercomputer. So he decided to omit some parts of the story and tell what he could.
"Alright, alright... Well, you see..." Erik began explaining. "At the beginning of the last month, my father, Lucius Romano, came back home after two years..." That was the truth; he wasn't lying about that. The young woman looked at Erik with a surprised look. Something serious happened if someone as legendary as Erik's father returned home, and there wasn't even a parade for him.
"He didn't actually tell me what happened, where he had been, or anything like that for all that matter. He..." The young man stopped talking; he had to make it look like his following statement would be true, even though he would lie. He looked around the room with emphasis and faked to check for hidden cameras and microphones.
Erik felt a little guilty lying to her, but there was no alternative. There was no way he would talk about the system or what his father brought him home.
For purely theatrical purposes, the young man jumped off the bed and walked toward Amber; he hugged her tightly, making the young woman blush as she misunderstood him.
He then whispered something into her ears. "He brought something home, something he claimed was related to the identity of the real leader of the Crystal Cross Gang..." At that moment, Amber's face changed, and it started showing a look of pure shock. If what Erik or his father claimed was true, what happened during this hunt could be easily explained.
No one knew who controlled the Crystal Cross Gang. Their members would have said it was boss Howell, but this was far from the truth. The bullshits that Erik just spouted were scarily close to the truth.
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