Chapter 253: Chapter 128: Black Jack, Old Jack?
Miss Zombie got up as well. She glanced at the two of them and lowered her head. "Goodbye, Wei’en."
"Father, what about me?"
"You can go to the Mechanical Gate, but you’re not to be idle while you’re there."
"I know! I’ll be sure to study hard!" Zero promised, patting his chest.
"Mm."
After Zero went into the Mechanical Gate, Wei’en gave Miss Zombie a few instructions and then pulled Tina out of the residence.
He wasn’t worried about leaving Shawa at the residence. In an emergency, he could summon her directly through the Undead Summoning Array.
"Good morning, Wei’en."
"Morning, Tina."
Kali seemed to have been waiting for him at the clinic entrance. Seeing him come out, she greeted him with a smile.
"Morning."
Hm?
Wei’en’s gaze went past Kali to the clinic behind her. ’Vasquez?’
[You have been scanned by Nicole Vazquez’s Spirit Perception. Reward: Survival Points +1.]
[You have been locked onto by Nicole Vazquez’s killing intent. Evaluation: Combining with her would likely optimize your Extraordinary Bloodline. Reward: Survival Points +5.]
’Combining? Optimize my bloodline?’
’What the hell is this? The panel’s sense of humor is getting more depraved by the day...’
’Still, Wei’en was more curious about why a Vasquez was in the clinic.’
’And the moment she realized it was him, she’d hit him with a wave of killing intent. Was she from the Black Pearl?’
’Could it be...’
"Kali, is Uncle Yuan in?"
"He is. Are you looking for him?" Kali puffed out her cheeks. "Yuan has a visitor. They arrived bright and early."
"A visitor?" Wei’en asked nonchalantly. "So early? Is someone sick?"
"No, I don’t really know. They said they’re an old friend of Yuan’s... but I have no memory of them."
Just then, Yuan walked out of the clinic. "Kali, you should get going to work."
Perhaps having overheard their conversation, he gestured to Wei’en, signaling for him to help convince her.
Wei’en gave a slight nod, his gaze drifting toward the clinic as if by chance. He was far more concerned with the person hiding inside than with this minor father-daughter spat.
But obviously, now wasn’t the right time.
At the same time, a sliver of suspicion toward Yuan formed in Wei’en’s mind. ’Could he be in league with the people from the Black Pearl?’
"I get it. Shall we go?" Kali shot her father a look, then went to stand with Wei’en and Tina.
"Goodbye, Uncle Yuan."
"Be safe, Kali. And Wei’en, don’t be a drag," Yuan said, waving at them with a broad smile.
Wei’en: "..."
He just pursed his lips without responding. The moment he turned, he extended his Spirit Perception toward the clinic, only to be blocked by a barrier.
’Tsk. So secretive?’
A bad feeling started to grow in Wei’en’s heart. ’The people from the Black Pearl have left the Basil District... Does this mean they’re about to make their move?’
As he watched the trio leave Golden Street, the smile on Yuan’s face slowly faded. "You shouldn’t have come here this early."
A tall figure emerged from behind the clinic, looking in the direction Wei’en’s group had gone. "I just came to say hello while I had the time. And speaking of which..."
"I’ve already done what I promised!" Yuan cut him off, raising a hand. "As for anything else, I don’t care."
"Oh? You don’t even care about a major crisis involving the entire Caster City State?"
Yuan turned to look at him, his voice flat. "Are you sure you want to provoke me, Black Jack?"
"Of course not... Oh, don’t be angry, I was just joking."
Black Jack glanced inside the clinic, cursing inwardly. ’She can’t even handle a single Skeleton Warrior, yet she dreams of advancing the Vazquez Race?’
"Don’t show your face in Caster again, or else—I’ll kill you!"
"Of course, of course."
Black Jack grinned. ’You probably want to kill me right now, never mind the future.’
"But, just a reminder..."
After Wei’en and his two companions left Golden Street, he noticed something unusual about the pedestrians.
Most of them were holding newspapers, gathered in small groups. They were discussing something, some worried, others excited.
This couldn’t help but pique Wei’en’s curiosity.
"...I didn’t expect the Council to have done so many bad things all these years. No wonder the previously released data showed that the number of contaminated people in the City-State is higher year after year."
"You can’t blame only the Council, can you?"
"What? After reading this newspaper, you still believe those lords on the Council are busy protecting us?"
"Exactly! Look what it says here!"
"During Governor Samir’s first year in office, there were only 322 contaminated individuals. But this year, they’ve already disposed of 4,533 mutants..."
"And this bit here—some high-ranking members of the Council unilaterally decided to alter the Core Array, which will cause the Array to shut down..."
’The City-State Array is shutting down?’
’Wei’en didn’t care what the City-State Governor and the Council had done. But if the Array was shutting down, it was probably related to the people from Nocturnal City.’
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but buy a newspaper and started to read.
"A Detailed Account of Governor Samir’s Ten Deadly Sins!"
"The Council, Murderers!"
"We Demand Samir’s Resignation and the Appointment of a New Governor!"
"..."
Wei’en flipped through the articles. Each one was filled with scathing reports on the Caster City State Council, the rhetoric so sharp it felt as if Caster itself would be destroyed if the Council wasn’t eliminated.
He checked other papers. The Qi Yue Newspaper, the Trade Union Newspaper, the Church Weekly... even the Council’s own Parliament Bulletin was running similar stories.
’What are they trying to do?’
’Are they planning to replace the Governor?’
’Is it the nobility...’
"What is it?" Kali asked, having also heard the surrounding chatter.
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