The silence that followed was heavier than before, almost like a weight pressing down on both their shoulders.
Fai walked quietly beside Johnson, his mind tangled in a mess of questions.
Everything he thought he understood about mutants, mutation pills, and the world's structure had just been thrown into chaos.
The revelation of Random Mutation Pills, items capable of granting completely unpredictable powers, even abilities that weren't documented anywhere, it was both exciting and disturbing at the same time .
"So…" Fai finally broke the silence, his voice low and uncertain, "your power... it wasn't planned? It wasn't selected? You just... rolled the dice and hit the jackpot?"
Johnson nodded, a faint, dry smile forming on his lips.
"Sort of . Though, back then, it didn't feel like luck. When I swallowed that pill, I had no clue what was coming. I was terrified. Most people wouldn't take that kind of gamble unless they had no other choice."
Fai frowned slightly. "So you had no choice?"
Johnson hesitated. For a moment, his voice dropped, and he looked ahead as though lost in memory.
"Let's just say... where I come from, things were rough...
People like me? We were left to rot.. , so When I got the chance to take a Random Mutation Pill, I didn't think twice. It was that or remain weak forever."
Fai could feel the pain and resentment in Johnson's tone. He didn't press further, but he understood. Johnson hadn't simply gotten lucky.
He had clawed his way out of a desperate situation and had taken a dangerous chance most people would run from. That alone was enough to earn Fai's respect.
Fai exhaled, glancing at the path ahead. "You know... the more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know."
"You're not the only one," Johnson replied. "This world keeps evolving faster than anyone can keep up. New mutations show up every year. New technology, new research, new rules and most of the time, those rules completely contradict the ones we already knew."
Fai went silent again. His thoughts circled back to the incident during the assessment.
Something about it still didn't sit right with him.
When he took the pill, just like everyone else, he had expected a surge of power.
A transformation? ... Something... But there had been nothing.
No glow, no internal shift, not even a spark. Instead, his body remained exactly the same... except for the pain and system notification that granted him five additional stat points in his strength attribute.
He remembered the system window that only him could see it. He remembered how it analyzed the pill and concluded, bluntly: "This pill will not create a core in the host." That alone had made him pause and asked himself another question.
What if I consumed a Random Mutation Pill instead? Fai thought. Would it be different? Would I gain a core? Would I finally mutate... or would I gain stas to my attributes ?
But there was also something else, something that had been bothering him more than he wanted to admit.
"Johnson," Fai said slowly, choosing his words carefully, "have you ever heard of someone taking a mutation pill... and nothing happening ,?"
Johnson raised an eyebrow. "You mean... no mutation at all?"
Fai nodded. "No core. No transformation. Just... nothing." He didn't mention the increase in his strength attribute, whatever that was, it felt too personal, too different, to be shared.
Johnson took a deep breath and paused for a moment before responding. "It's rare, but yeah... I've heard of it happening. Most people assume the body just rejected the pill. In a lot of cases, it's fatal.
Either the person gets violently sick or drops dead on the spot. Sometimes, the pill just fails completely. Science still doesn't have an answer for those cases."
Fai looked away, trying to mask the tension in his expression. That had nearly been his exact experience except he didn't die, and he didn't get sick. He just stayed... himself. And grew stronger.
"Why are you asking?" Johnson asked, now looking at him with mild curiosity.
"No reason," Fai answered quickly, his voice a little too sharp. "It was just something I heard one of the scientists mention during the assessment. Got me thinking."
Johnson didn't press further, but the look in his eyes lingered, thoughtful, maybe even suspicious.
They continued down the path, their footsteps crunching softly on the gravel-covered ground.
As they moved deeper into this part of the maze, the environment shifted. The hedges grew taller, thicker, covered in dark green vines that climbed high into the air.
Gaps in the foliage let occasional shafts of golden light from the sun pierce through, but the sky above had already begun to darken into evening.
Then Johnson stopped abruptly.
Fai halted beside him. "What's wrong?"
Johnson didn't respond immediately. He raised a hand, motioning for silence, his body tensing.
Fai's eyes followed his gaze. Just a few meters ahead, through a narrow gap between two walls, faint shadows flickered, shapes moving quietly. Too smooth to be caused by the wind. Too coordinated.
"Looks like we're not alone anymore," Johnson whispered.
Fai's muscles tightened. His eyes narrowed. "Think it's a group?"
"Yeah," Johnson said. "There's too much movement for it to be just one person."
They both crouched low, hugging the wall for cover. Fai reached down, picked up a small stone, and tossed it in the opposite direction. It landed with a soft clatter.
For a second, everything went still. The shadows froze.
Then, slowly, they began to move again, cautiously, towards the direction of the sound.
Figures began to emerge from the shadows. Four people. No four familiar faces .
Fai's heart dropped. His breath caught in his throat. He knew those faces. He remembered those eyes.
Images started flooding back—flashes of pain, fear, and helplessness. These were the people who had made his life a living hell back in high school.
Keal's group.
At the front was Keal himself , by his left stood Leo, and beside them, the twins, Brine and Prime one a girl, the other a boy.
Their expressions hadn't changed. They still looked at Fai like he was nothing.
"Look who it is," Keal sneered, a grin spreading across his face.
"isn't it a pleasure to meet you again... Fai."