The Author's POV
chapter-266

Exchanging glances with each other, two guards at the front of the car laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, who would've thought that you were the lucky bastard that got to catch the escapee, huh, Jerome?"

"Yeah, I'm fucking envious of you."

'So his name is Jerome.'

Listening to their conversation, I made a mental note to myself of every little detail. This was so that I could blend in better.

With my head still in between my legs, I responded.

"...mhm, you're absolutely right."

There were a total of ten people in the car, including 'my unit'. From the brief conversations, I was having with them, the name of the 19th unit captain was Jerome, he was 28 years old, and judging from how friendly they were being to me, I figured that he was someone popular.

The layout of the car was two seats at the front of the car, with five more seats leaning by the side of the vehicle.

Switching the conversation, one of the guards next to me spoke up.

"Man, who would've thought that the commander himself showed up."

"Yeah, just his aura alone almost made me piss my pants."

"Tell me about it...just imagine what Jerome must've gone through when questioned by him."

With my head still lowered, I made small talk as well. This was so that I didn't look too suspicious.

"Yeah, it was really nerve-wracking. I thought that I was in front of a tiger...just look at me, I'm so exhausted just from that exchange."

"Hahaha, You indeed look tired."

"Hahahahaha."

Laughter erupted in the car. I too laughed, but it was a fake one.

My mind was too preoccupied with other thoughts to care about whether it sounded genuine or not.

'...Six bombs, eight serum dosages, four health recovery potions, and eighteen mana recovery potions.'

If I had to count how many people I killed the past few hours or so, the headcount would be around the twenties.

Every time I killed someone, I would never forget to collect their dimensional space. In it, were many resources that could become extremely useful for me. Bombs and serum being prime examples.

Without them, I would've never have made it as far as I did.

'That aside, I'm still not in the clear though.'

A bitter smile appeared on my face.

My mana was currently at around 1/9 of what it should be.

Having depleted all of my mana from the stunt I pulled in order to escape the lab, I had a hard time recovering it to what it was before.

Despite the multiple mana recovery potions I chugged in, they were only the lowest grade, and thus I barely recovered anything. This was also the reason why I was only able to hold out for a couple of minutes when the commander came.

To make matters worse, with my mask now off, I had to be in this awkward position where I had my face in between my legs and arms. Fortunately, I was wearing a hat and thus they did not notice the fact that I wasn't bald like the 19th unit captain was.

Had I not thought of this beforehand, they would've realized that I wasn't him just because of the fact that I wasn't bald.

"Man, how long do we still have till we arrive?"

"20 more minutes. The road is a bit rough here so it'll take that much."

"Ahhh, I'm hungry."

'...20 minutes'

Listening to the conversation the other guards were having, it became even more apparent to me just how big the Monolith domain was. Just the distance between the lab and the actual headquarters was 20 minutes.

Just how much land did they cover? And how did they manage to keep it hidden for so long, I wondered as the car sped.

'It'd be best to act before I arrive.'

Realizing that it would take twenty more minutes to arrive, I opted to wait till my mana recovered a bit more before making move.

Though the main reason was I was choosing to act late was because of my mana, it wasn't the only reason.

Peeking from the corner of my eyes, and looking in the direction of where the other cars were, I knew that things were not as easy as they seemed to be.

I just had a hunch.

***

At the same time, in a different vehicle.

Glancing at Commander Luther next to him and noticing a small smirk at the edge of his lips, the 7th unit captain, Isaac Lon, curiously asked.

"Commander, is something wrong?"

"Hm?" Lowering his head, Commander Luther looked at Isaac and flashed his teeth. "Oh, I just thought of something funny."

"Something funny?"

Secretly glancing at his unit members in the vehicle, Isaac noticed that each of them had a confused look on their face.

"...hur hur."

Reading the mood, a chuckle escaped from Commander Luther's lips. Lowering his head and looking at 'subject 876' who was passed out on the ground, with an amused smile, Commander Luther traced his thick fingers around his scars.

Startled by the commander's weird behavior, Isaac involuntarily raised his voice.

"Sir!? what are you doing?"

Instead of answering, Commander Luther continued to trace his finger all over subject 876.

Scratching the side of his chin, he muttered out loud.

"I wonder how he managed to give him scars? Is there a mask...or was he someone that he had he killed long ago and stored in his dimensional space...no that wouldn't work since he's alive? There also doesn't seem to be a mask, how peculiar."

"Excuse me? What?!" The captain's eyes opened widely. Pointing at the scarred man on the ground, he frustratedly asked. "A-re you suggesting that he isn't the one we are looking for?"

"Yes."

The commander nodded his head.

A chill ran down every guard present in the room. Not once did they doubt the identity of the scarred man before them. If not for their commander pointing it out, would they have ever found out?

Just the thought took their breath away.

Weakly looking at the scarred man, Isaac asked.

"T-then who is the one responsible?"

"It's the 19th unit captain, Jerome."

Luther replied without the slightest bit of hesitation in his voice.

"Jerome!?" Glancing at his unit members, Isaac struggled to find the right words to say. "b-ut how is that possible? I saw him just moments ago. He looked identical!"

Staring at the 7th unit captain by the side of his eyes, Luther asked.

"Did he though?"

"Yes!"

Firmly replied Issac. Though they only met briefly, Isaac did not find anything strange about him.

"Naive..." A smirk appeared on Luther's face before he turned his attention back to 'subject 876'. "Though he may have fooled you guys, he couldn't have fooled me. I've met Jerome a couple of times in the past, and I can tell you that it's not him. His face maybe, but..." Pausing and looking at everyone, Luther said. "His frame was completely different."

Listening to the commander's point, Isaac's brows knit as he muttered out loud.

"Now that you mention it he did look a lot more skinny than the last time I saw him."

All the unit captains knew each other. This was a given. All of the squads worked with each other most of the time, so everyone knew who Jerome was.

He was a tanned muscular man with a bald head. That was how everyone knew him for.

Recalling the meeting they had not too long ago, a shocked looked appeared on Isaac's face as he lifted his head up.

"B-but how is it possible for him to have the same face as Jerome?"

It usually took weeks for a face mask to be prepared. For subject 876 to actually have a mask identical to that of Jerome in that short period of time made no sense. That was unless someone was actively helping him.

"Mhhh, that's what I'm wondering as well," Luther replied with a solemn look. "The only thing that comes to mind is that this is the work of an artifact or that someone is helping him, but I'm not too sure..."

"An artifact?!"

"Yes."

As of right now, the second possibility was the one that made more sense, but if it was the first option...

A look of greed flashed past his eyes.

"If it really is an artifact, I really want to get my hands on it."

Pretending to not have heard the commander's last words, Isaac hesitatingly asked. "...sir, but what if there is no artifact and this was actually Jerome?"

"Impossible."

Luther firmly replied.

"But what makes you so sure?"

"At first I wasn't," Luther raised his finger. "...but right before entering the vehicle, I asked him what happened to his last member."

"...and?"

"And his story checked out. There really was someone dead in the distance."

Taken aback, Isaac asked.

"So what made you think that he was an impostor?"

If the story checked out, what made him so sure about the fact that the man before them wasn't a fake subject 876.

"Simple really..." Pausing, Luther teasingly smiled and looked at Isaac dead in the eyes. "his unit members. The moment Jerome turned his head, they turned their heads as well."

"What!?"

"Odd, right?"

"...could this have been a coincidence?"

Leaning back, Luther nodded his head. "Mhm, true...but once I looked at them closely and noticed their unfocused eyes, I realized that something wasn't right."

"But I recalled reading something before the mission started." Taking out a few documents from his dimensional space, Luther flashed them before Isaac. "It was then that everything clicked."

"Unfocused eyes?...and what's this?"

"Yes, they were under the effect of a drug."

"A dru—"

"It's the same drug that subject 876 was being injected with. I know because I've read the reports."

Being a commander in a high position, unlike the other captains, Luther had access to more confidential information. Being the one in charge of capturing him, he obviously also had some information about subject 876.

It wasn't strange for him to know the effects of the drug.

"Ah." Realizing this, a small sound escaped from the captain's mouth before as he wondered. Taking the documents and reading through the report, Isaac lifted his head and wondered.

"Then why didn't you do anything?"

There was enough evidence to take him down, why didn't he?

"Hur, hur, hur." A throaty laugh escaped from Luther's lips before it was replaced by a smirk. "I in fact already did do something."

"You did?"

Isaac was taken aback.

He didn't recall the commander ever moving, what could he have possibly done?

Noticing the confusion in Isaac's eyes, Luther looked at the front of the car. "...aren't we leading him right where the headquarters are?"

"Ah."

A realization suddenly dawned on the captain.

'That's right since we know about the fact that he's an impostor and he doesn't know that we know, by directly leading him to the Monolith and capturing him there, not only do we reduce the risk, but we can also guarantee results faster.'

The more the captain thought about it, the more amazed he was by the commander's planning.

"I see...I understand now commander."

"Hur, hur," Leaning back and interlocking his fingers together, Luther arrogantly smiled. "That little fucker probably thinks that we're completely clueless about his schemes...little does he know that I know everythin—"

"Sir, there seems to be something wrong with the car."

Cutting him off was the drive of the car.

"Hm?"

Turning his head around, and staring at the vehicle behind them, Luther noticed the vehicle swirling left and right a couple of times.

This continued a couple of more times before stopping. Then, just like normal, the vehicle continued following them from behind.

"...Interesting," Luther said, squinting.

Keeping watch of the vehicle behind them, for the next five minutes or so, the car continued to follow them from behind.

Apart from that initial swerving, nothing suggested that there was something wrong with the other car.

But everyone in the car all understood that something had definitely gone down in the car.

Had it been before, they might've thought it was just a small rock, but now they couldn't help but start questioning what truly had happened.

This was especially so after listening to Luther's evaluation.

"Sir, we're close to the headquarters, what should we do?"

Before long, a small gate appeared in the distance.

Behind it was a colossal structure that spammed kilometers in length. Decked with glass windows that reflected the sunlight, and built using high-tech precision cutting technology, was the Monolith.

The main headquarters of the villains.