Chapter 425: Speed Things Up.
Cain was truly surprised, "Really?"
To think the man sitting in a puddle of his own piss and blood had once occupied such an exalted position. Although most low caste jobs were handled by automated machines, administrative positions, especially in educational institutions were still occupied by humans.
Cain frowned at the man, "I don't care about what you were. I have a few questions to ask you, Mister Ghea. Is that okay?"
The absolutely terrified man swallowed a mouthful of saliva,
"O-of Course!"
Cain nodded, "Then..."
Cain proceeded to ask him various questions with the papers Evangeline provided him with in hand.
'So his name is Guy, and judging from all this, he's a complete madman.' Cain glanced through the papers while listening to Ghea answer his questions.
A few minutes later, the questions finally stopped...
Steve turned to Cain, "I don't think we can pull any more information out of this guy. Let's get rid of him."
Cain held up his hands, "Wait... There's something I'd like to ask him first."
Cain turned his attention back to Ghea,
"I'll ask you one last question. If you lie, I'll know." Although Cain had absolutely no way of knowing if the terrified Ghea would lie, it didn't hurt to bluff a bit. After all, for all he knew, Cain could very well be an all-powerful demon.
"Have you killed any human yet?" Cain's question was truly unexpected.
Ghea Martins, as well as everyone else was taken aback. The question came out of nowhere.
"Y-yes..."
"How many?"
"Just t-two..."
Cain nodded, "Why? Remember, don't lie to me."
Sweat poured down his brows as tears began appearing at the corners of his eyes,
"The first time, I was just trying to get him to back off. It escaleted, and before I knew it, my hands were stained with blood. I-I truly didn't want to kill him!" His pupils dilated violently as he bent his head.
From his reaction, it was obvious the event had stuck with him. It was going to be very hard to forget about the first life one snuffed out after all...
Cain was silent for a few seconds before asking,
"What about the other one?"
The man froze. He looked like he absolutely didn't want to answer. However, Cain and Hunter's cold eyes forced him to vomit the words stuck at the back of his throat,
"It was a woman. She... She struggled too hard when I wanted to..."
Susan's eyes narrowed as a dangerously air began floating around her,
"Bastard..." She cursed.
Steve guffawed, "See? I told you! Let's just get rid of him!"
Cain stared at Ghea Martins for a while. He was finally starting to understand what exactly what the world was becoming.
When the evils in a man's heart were repressed, they would become incredibly violent should they find a way to climb to the surface.
Cain began to become suspicious. How was it that for so many years, the vile nature of man was surpressed so much? It made no sense. Getting rid of crime was not a simple thing.
A person could get angry one day and feel the need to kill another human to appease his anger. How was something like that supposed to be preemptively managed?
'So suspicious...' However, his suspicions would remain like that for a while. At least until he found more answers.
Cain shook his head. Eventually he sighed. Light flashed in his hand, and his empty palm was immediately filled with an item.
It was a handgun. A {GT-01 Magnum}. The handgun had improved thanks to him making a few modifications. It was not as bulky as it used to be. It was also a lot lighter.
Ghea Martins' face was filled with terror,
"No... Please! No, don't..."
He and everyone else was shocked to see Cain hand the gun over to the man instead of point it at his head.
"You might have done some shotty things. However, I don't feel like being a judge today. As such, let's do this... If you feel the things you have done are undeserving of death, then you are free to drop the weapon and leave. If you think you deserve death, pull the trigger.X
Hunter's eyes flashed as he stared at Cain with his mouth slightly agape,
"Cain! What are you doing?"
Cain glanced at him, but didn't say anything. Instead, he turned his eyes back to the man that held onto the weapon with trembling hands.
"W-what do you want? I don't understand?"
"You want me to repeat my words?"
"N-no... It's just..."
Cain shrugged, "What, you can't decide? If you can't, then pass the gun to someone else. I don't particularly feel like killing someone today."
The man threw the gun away with lightning speed,
"I... I don't want to die! No... I don't deserve to die! All I've ever done is to survive! I haven't done anything wrong!"
Cain's eyes flashed with a sinister, chilling light as he silently listened to the Ghea Martins.
When he was done with his senseless rambles, Cain nodded,
"In that case, you are free to go."
Everyone was shocked. They hadn't expected the situation to change so drastically and rapidly in just a few seconds.
Cain personally removed the chains that bound the man.
"Find your way back..." Cain said dismissively.
The man sat there in shock for a few seconds before he finally got up to his feet, slowly, he walked towards the door. Once he saw that no one was going to chase after him, he sprinted with all his might.
"You... You have a lot of explaining to do!" Steve gritted his teeth as he stared at Cain like he couldn't believe what he had just seen.
"I know I'm not one to talk, but why didn't you just kill him? I can confidently say he is guilty of the swme things as that bastard, Galip, had been." Leah said as well. She was also taken aback by this.
Cain shrugged, "Relax... There is no need to worry about dispatching small fry. There are more important things we need to face. Like becoming Tier 1..."
Almost immediately, the memory of the previous incident was overwritten. The agitated expression on Steve's face melted away,
"Tier 1?"
Cain laughed, "Let's wait a while. This has to be a discussion with everyone present."
***
Ghea Martins' ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
The first thing he needed to worry about, was getting of the freaking island.
'Fuck those guys! They have no idea who I am! Hahaha! That guy was way too arrogant!'
Passing through a crowd of Beastmen hauling bricks in each hand, a savage grin appeared on his face,
'His arrogance will be his death! All I need to do now is get back and inform Boss Guy.'
Ghea Martins was truly an unsavory character. Before the apocalypse, he had tried to maintain his facade of uprightness. However, he was as dirty and black as they came.
Using his position as an administrative staff, he carried out various shady activities in the school. He even had a few connections to the underground world.
Although he was truly frightened back then, he had put up an act as well. He did this so he could find a straw to grasp on. He thought, 'Maybe if I act pathetic enough, maybe they won't kill me.'
And luckily for him, it had actually worked!
He actually managed to make it out alive.
'Now I need to get off this place!'
The Central Island and the Eastern Island were separated by a fairly large distance. There was no way he knew of to leave the Central Island.
'Fuck!'
Suddenly, a voce came from behind him, startling his so badly, he nearly jumped out of his skin,
"You need to get off the island?"
The voice was hoarse to the ear, but it was surprisingly not unpleasant. Rather, it gave off a slightly seductive feel. Turning around, his eyes were greeted with the sight of the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his entire life.
"..." That was all he managed to squeeze out.
Evangeline stared at the dirty man standing before her without a single change in expression. Cain had just asked her for a favor. He had asked her to send his away.
Her eyebrows curled as her lips smiled,
"Yep... This one is going to cost a lot."
Although the man standing before her was nothing more than a stage prop, she didn't actually care. If she did this, she would be able to extort some mana shards from Cain. Since acquiring System Points was getting harder and harder every day, acquiring more mana shards was enver a bad thing.
The shadows beneath their feet suddenly became alive and swallowed them both.
***
When Ghea Martins came to, he realized he was no longer on the bustling Central Island. Instead, he was now on the Eastern Island.
He turned around expecting to see the Goddess he had just encountered. However, the only this behind him was the sploshing dark waves of the harrowing ocean and a chilly wind.
"Just what the hell?" Although he was confused, his goal immediately came back into his mind.
'Right! I need to get to the Boss and inform him.'
With that thought in mind, he began sprinting. Evangeline had dropped him off at the edge of the island, so tehre was quite a bit of distance between there and the base of the followes of the Blood God. Still, Ghea Martins was rather fast.
He arrived about thirty minutes later. Standing before the huge building the Boss had made his base of operations, he yelled at the two guards who seemed shocked to see him. They were also surprised upon noticing his terrible state.
"Ghea.... What the hell?!"
"Fuck, man! Who did you in?"
There were numerous buildings surrounding the central one. These buildings were filled with the thugs. Upon hearing such a loud noisez they all either came out to see what the commotion was about, or they want he'd from the windows.
Francis, who was walking out of the main building frowned deeply,
"What the fuck is going on here?"
Then his eyes caught sight of Ghea Martins,
"Bastard, what the hell are you doing here looking like this?! And why the hell do you smell like piss?!"
Ghea was in a rush, "I need to speak to the Boss!"
Francis snorted, "You? You want to speak to the Boss? What qualifications do you think you have? Get lost before I turn you into mincemeat!"
Francis absolutely disdained the weaklings that didn't have access to the system. Most likely than not, they would never become stronger than they currently were.
Although the pile of dung before him was a bit stronger than the others, that didn't change the fact that he was shit. Just with extra flavor...
Ghea Martins gripped his hair, "This is important! The... The Central Island! There are monsters there!"
Francis fronwed, "Monsters? How do you know what's going on on the Central Island?"
Ghea explained, "I was captured by the bastards!"
Francis let out a laugh, "You were captured by the freaking Mutant ladies?! What a fucking waste!"
Ghea shook his head desperately, "No, it wasn't just the Mutant Ladies! I was captured by a Mutant freaking dude! He was freaking huge! There were also other stringer bastards there! They are monsters, I tell you. We need to inform the-"
BOOM!
It came very unexpectedly...
One moment, Ghea Martins was speaking as fast as he could, the next, he turned into a crimson shower of blood, bodily parts, and bones accompanied by a blossoming flame that exploded from behind him.
Cain was a liar...
He had absolutely no intention of letting Ghea Martins live...