Chapter 239: 239 | Lost on the Road of Life
My brain went completely blank.
Play dumb!
"Who’s Monroe?"
Not that dumb!
Vale threw back his head and released a full-belly laugh that bounced off the vault walls. The sound carried genuine amusement, like he’d just witnessed the punchline to the world’s best setup.
I’m so cooked. The Midnight Heist quest was supposed to be about stealth and precision, not getting caught red-handed by the strongest hunter on faculty while holding stolen property in my goddamn backpack. My System was probably rolling around in digital laughter at this exact moment.
"Thanks for locating the dummy stone for me, Monroe." Vale spun the crystal between his fingers like he was showing off a basketball trick. "Must have gotten lost on the road of life."
Wait.
Dummy stone?
My backpack felt suddenly lighter against my spine. The crystal inside stopped its incessant humming.
"Mind handing it over?" Vale extended his free hand toward me. "Pedestal’s looking lonely."
I pulled the backpack around and fumbled with the zipper. The crystal inside looked identical to the one he held. Same size. Same color. Same gold threading through the purple core. But now that I actually focused on it, something felt wrong. The purple veins pulsed at the wrong rhythm. The gold threading looked dull, almost fake. Like spray paint instead of actual precious metal.
A fake.
I’d stolen a goddamn fake.
I handed it over without saying a word. Vale placed both crystals on the pedestal and reactivated the containment field with a casual gesture. The real one resumed its slow rotation like nothing had happened. The fake one just sat there like an expensive paperweight someone might buy at a museum gift shop.
"Misato." Vale’s tone shifted to pure authority. "I’ve got it from here. Get some rest."
Misato’s posture straightened. I could see her wanting to disagree, to argue, to demand answers. Then Vale turned toward her and those heterochromatic eyes focused on her face.
"Yes sir." She bolted from the vault like her ass was on fire.
Traitor.
"Walk with me, Monroe."
This was it. The moment I got expelled, arrested, and probably fed to whatever nightmare creatures they kept in the basement for disposal purposes. At least Belle and the others were safe. Misato would cover for them.
Vale strolled out of the vault like he owned the place. Which, considering his position and apparent involvement in whatever the hell just happened, he probably did.
We walked in silence through the restricted area. Past the trees. Past the guards who nodded respectfully as we passed. Nobody questioned why a faculty member was escorting a student through high-security zones at one in the morning.
The silence stretched. And stretched. And stretched some more.
Vale just walked with his hands in his jacket pockets, looking like he was enjoying a casual midnight stroll instead of dealing with a federal crime in progress. His silver hair caught the moonlight, and those stupid designer sunglasses made him look like a model for some high-end fashion magazine.
My brain went into overdrive. Was he waiting for me to confess? Break down crying? Beg for mercy? Run for it?
Every step felt like walking toward my own execution. The man could probably kill me with a thought, and here I was trudging alongside him like a lamb to slaughter.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
"Look, if you’re gonna expel me, just get it over with." The words burst out louder than I intended. "It was my idea. Solely mine. Nobody else did anything wrong. Belle just helped with the technical stuff, but I forced her into it. Naomi and Jordan barely participated. Misato had no clue what we were planning."
Vale stopped walking. Turned to face me.
"Expelled? For what?"
I blinked. "For... stealing the crystal? Breaking into the restricted area? Federal crimes?"
"All you did was return a crystal that got lost on the road of life." Vale’s smile was genuinely warm. "That should be celebrated."
My brain did a full system restart. "I’m sorry, what?"
"The dummy crystal. It was supposed to be in my office for student demonstrations, but somehow it ended up in the vault. Bureaucratic mix-up, really. Happens all the time." Vale resumed walking. "Good thing you noticed the error and returned it to its proper place."
We crossed back into Zone Four. The familiar campus buildings rose around us, looking normal and non-threatening instead of like a federal prison.
"You knew," I said. Not a question.
"I know lots of things, Monroe. Your squad planning a heist was fairly obvious once Belle started asking very specific questions about ward frequencies during after office hours."
"Then why didn’t you stop us?"
"Where’s the fun in that?" Vale chuckled. "Besides, you needed to learn some lessons. About teamwork. About consequences. About the difference between being desperate and being stupid."
We stopped at a bench near the library. Vale sat down and patted the spot beside him. I remained standing because sitting next to him felt too much like accepting whatever twisted mentorship he was offering.
"You’ve got potential, Monroe. More than you realize. But potential without wisdom is just a fancy way of getting yourself killed."
"So this was all a setup?"
"A teaching moment." Vale leaned back on the bench. "Your squad has been making waves. Beating Blair’s team, clearing gates ahead of schedule, showing actual coordination instead of just individual talent. People are starting to notice."
"People like who?"
"People who matter. Guild recruiters. IHC administrators. Someone’s father."
I went cold. "Someone’s father?"
"Johnathan Davenport has been asking questions about the lottery kid who’s been embarrassing his daughter. Questions about your background, your abilities, your mysterious improvement." Vale’s smile disappeared. "Blair isn’t the only one who thinks something doesn’t add up about you."
The weight of his words hit me like a truck. I’d been so focused on surviving day to day, on extracting essence and upgrading abilities, that I hadn’t considered the bigger picture. People with real power were watching me now.
"What kind of questions?"
"The dangerous kind. The kind that lead to private testing facilities and experimental programs." Vale stood up.
"The kind that make people disappear."
