Chapter 423 CH 409: DESPAIR AND HOPE
Marlene sighed, wondering what this guy wanted to do with her now. Her situation was as desperate as possible and she had no possible escape in her mind out of this insidious situation.
She had seen some of Adam's powers the last time they clashed, even though it was due to unfortunate reasons, but they were not enough to impress her. Boris was an old and experienced gold-ranked hunter. There was literally no way the two of them could even be compared with one another.
"I would be very angry with you if you were to hang up now."
[I would be very angry with you if you were to hang up now.]
Marlene felt a chill run down her spine as her hand stopped right up as it was about to touch the red button of her mobile.
"Won't you turn around to greet me?"
[Won't you turn around to greet me?]
It was unmistakable now, she had heard right. The sound was indeed coming from both the phone and right behind her at the same time.
But this should be impossible. She was alone in her house and even now she felt not a single sense of presence from anyone behind her.
This made her feel even more fearful of what she was about to witness. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned around and was able to finally realize that a man was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed. He was wearing a cloak as dark as the night and his features were invisible to the naked eyes. When she tried to peer deeper into the darkness all she could sense was a pure form of darkness as if she could lose herself inside a black hole.
"You… Adam?"
Marlene shuddered as she spoke those words. Beyond simply recognizing Adam… This attire, this presence… This reminded her of all the rumors that she had been hearing lately and the information that had been spreading in the underworld.
'No way…'
She immediately chased away this ludicrous notion from her mind. This was even more impossible than Adam somehow being a match for Boris.
The nameless new dangerous individual in Los Angeles was rumored to be a Gold ranked hunter and even possibly somehow close to an Executor on top of that.
Adam most likely had some innate talent related to stealth that was making it hard for her to notice his presence even though she was seeing him before her. She wasn't a fighter after all. So it was normal for her to make these mistakes.
Taking a deep breath to compose herself, Marlene spoke while unconsciously looking away from Adam. Her reasons may make her believe otherwise but her instincts were clearly warning her about how dangerous the young man in front of her was.
"Adam… What are you doing here?"
Silence was all she received in exchange for her question, at least, it went that way for a while, but soon…
"I don't plan to waste too much time. Tell me what happened to Steve."
His voice was light but there was clearly a certain edge mixed into it. While she didn't know how Adam would fare against someone like Boris, she had no doubt that if it was against someone like her, the only possible result would be death… Hers…
"Steve is…"
Marlene opened her mouth but no more words could come out of her lips no matter what she tried. The weight of everything that had been happening one after another was simply too much for her to bear and soon tears began to stream down her eyes like a river as she lost herself in her sorrow…
"I…"
She choked up even as she tried to speak. She felt like everything in the world was unfair at this instant in her life. Her boyfriend and sister were kidnapped by a group of ruthless people while she was given an ultimatum that she knew for a fact that she could not fulfill. There was no way in hell her mother would give up the artifact just to save her sister and an outsider. No matter how useless it looked and even if by some miracle she was able to obtain it, there were sky-high chances of them being killed when all of this ended anyway.
As if all that wasn't enough, now she was being given a scare and threatened by someone from her very own university.
Her tears continued to fall but Adam did not move from his position.
"You should know that for every second you waste now, the chances of actually saving and protecting your loved ones diminish further and further."
His words were in no way warm. He did not try to comfort her in any way possible. But his words, as harsh as they were, had no hint of falsehood in them.
It was indeed true that, for every moment she was wasting right now, the window of action was diminishing in return.
"You have no hope. No matter what you do. No matter how you struggle, the results are already fixed. Your failure is ineluctable. Bad End. Game Over."
The more he spoke the more she looked down, realizing once again how hopeless the current situation was for her.
"But—"
She stopped and looked up at him, the cloak had fallen off, revealing his young handsome face to her eyes. He was smiling, sporting a daring smile on his face as he spoke with confidence in his mesmerizing voice,
"Since you are already sure that you hit rock bottom and that no matter what you do it cannot become worse. Why not… bet on me?"
"You…"
"Giving up makes all chances fall to 0. But as long as you try something, even if it's abyssal, there will be chances of success. Even 0.00001% chances of success is still better than 0 don't you think so?"
Marlene threw a bewildered glance at Adam but her tears had stopped flowing by now. She was a smart, albeit inexperienced young girl and she realized the truth in Adam's words.
They had already reached the worst scenario. Why not gamble then?
If she failed. Then nothing would have actually changed. She would simply be back to square one. But if she succeeded she would save them and perhaps even change the dreadful situation.
"I will tell you everything."
Marlene cast all hesitations aside. Now wasn't the time for her to lose her composure. Taking a deep and shaky breath, Marlene started to explain everything she knew while summarizing things enough for him to understand.
As said many times, mermaids were walking treasures and this was more so because much of the power they brought was related to vitality and longevity.
In the past, Mermaids had been hunted down to near extinction because of the greed of humans who wished to live longer.
This was why many exaggerated rumors and legends were born around their gifts. Like how virgin blood somehow had more vitality. Because of this, many perverts attacked them.
But there was something different about Marlene and her family. They weren't just Mermaids. They were Mermaids who had been created specially by the Binge Eater with the blood of the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue.
Marlene was so focused on giving her story she did not notice how Adam twitched when she mentioned the name of the Binge Eater.
What was even more impressive was that the goddess actually recognized their heritage and bestowed them more blessings as well as the Divine weapon, that supposedly held the power to rule the sea.
As exaggerated as it was. It was indeed true that the wielder of this weapon could use water as a weapon and wield it to his like.
Sadly, all of this was many generations ago. Nowadays, it is hard to say if all of this has even been real. Despite all their efforts, the blood had slowly been diluted until they reached a point where they were nearly no different from the normal mermaids.
"I see. Very well. Then, do you have a picture or something of the artifacts in question?"
She was confused as to why he was asking such a question but she shook her head,
"My mom doesn't believe in the security of a phone so she never keeps any pictures and we did the same."
"Seems like it wasn't enough to stop information from leaking."
Marlene could only give a bitter smile.
"Well, it's not like I need an actual picture of it either."
Adam sighed and stood up.
"Stay here. Don't make a scene. Don't seek anyone out. I will reach out to you in 3 hours at maximum. Though I doubt it will take this long.
Chuckling, he left Marlene no chance of even speaking before he vanished from her sight.
Marlene was startled at the ghost-like way he vanished and began to truly have hope. After all, with those stealth skills, it should be possible to rescue them, right?
Marlene closed her eyes as she prayed. She didn't know what would happen. But she had made her bet. All she could do now was pray and hope that it succeeded.
(AN: This will be an interesting arc as it's tied more to the overachieving goal of the Big first part of this story. Also an occasion to see more actions. Speaking of, it has been some time since the last "action" chapter. perhaps I should bring one soon.)
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