The next day, the entire section of the city where the fight happened was completely sealed off from the public. The official explanation was a "massive electronic malfunction" that caused several explosions.
Naturally, Jack now understood that this and probably many more others in the past labeled as accidents by the news was nothing more than a carefully constructed lie.
It was the first time he truly witnessed the full extent of the government's power… and the terrifying influence the awakened held over society.
Everything—every trace of the incident—was erased with frightening efficiency.
Men in black suits appeared, some wielding bizarre abilities, restoring the area to how it was before, down to the smallest crack in the pavement had appeared.
What should've taken weeks happened in a few hours.
CCTVs were rewritten. Data was scrubbed. Entire systems were overwritten. Just like the movie Men in Black, even the memories of ordinary people who witnessed the incident were altered by the strange powers of a certain division of the Association.
There were at least fifty to eighty civilians within the vicinity last night, but every single one of them had their minds quietly "corrected" by that specialized squad.
There was no panic. No witnesses. No truth.
Everything was covered up. Completely.
On the other hand, his home was now marked as a protected zone by both the Company and the Association. Even his parents—and their dogs—were under constant watch and security.
Jack was honestly stunned. He looked through the windows from time to time, unable to shake the uneasy prickle at the back of his neck.
"It's insane that they are really watching us…?" he murmured unconsciously.
The map in his head confirmed it. Also, his appraisal skill let him have a personal notification of the awakened individuals stationed in the neighborhood.
This was the true state of the world—hidden, manipulated, engineered. Everything he once believed as a normal human felt like a lie now.
'If the world is really this fake… then what am I even supposed to believe in?' he thought, but just put the thought in the back of his mind.
But he was already too deep in this world to be surprised anymore.
In a way, he had expected this.
What unsettled him far more were the changes happening inside him, the subtle evolution of the system after he leveled up and what its true nature really was.
'I thought it was just a normal system that gave me video-game like powers but it also has a concept.' He thought while lying in his bed and looking at the system interface. 'It seems to be connected to electronics… or certain types of machines.'
'There were the reinforced doors in the underground facility, David's phone, the ATM machines, and even Lucy's gun.'
Jack touched the laptop the Company issued him and every detail within it has flowed into his mind little by little.
Apps, files, system functions, everything.
It became part of him, absorbed like software that has installed itself in the system.
'Piece by piece… it feels like I'm turning into something else. Now that I think about it, even back then my basic combat technique,' Jack remembered and almost instantly, he was able to unleash attacks like a trained martial artist.
Then when he tried to use Lucy's gun like he had been using a gun all his life.
'I shouldn't be able to do any of that,' he whispered. 'What am I turning into? Am I still human… or a machine?'
Jack couldn't shake these questions.
Five days had passed since the incident.
Checking his bank account, he saw a few thousand credits, rewards from another minor case.
This time, there were no awakened involved.
They merely caught and stopped operations of small-time gangs dealing illegal substances in nightlife districts.
It was easy work, mostly because of Jack's appraisal skill.
His job was simple. Stay in a safe area with a good overview and point out through their earpieces who among the crowds had criminal tendencies or intoxication levels that flagged them as targets.
He would just stand there, eyes scanning, while his teammates quietly handled the actual takedowns in secrets.
Thankfully, since leveling up, his appraisal had evolved drastically showing now more information.
[Name: Ria Zane]
[Age: 31]
[Level: 7]
[Race: 33% Gnome, 15% Beastfolk, 13% Human (Unawakened)]
[Status: Intoxicated with Substance 333]
[Kill Count: 2]
[Note: Involved in illegal substance trade; murdered parents—lack of evidence resulted in case dismissal.]
On top of that, his mind was sharper, even his fixed 6 hours of sleep lessened by a minute, and his body felt stronger.
Meanwhile, the shadow cat was taken in for scientific study—apparently, surviving Substance 56 made it invaluable. Jack had to visit occasionally, since he was the only one who could calm it down.
Life had suddenly become very busy—missions, police coordination, Association duties, Company involvement—yet none of their involvement appeared in public records.
The credit always went to the government.
Surprisingly, Jack never skipped a single class at night either and his professors had noticeably started to change their opinion of him.
"Very good, Mr. Crawluster," the professor said. "You almost recited the provision in verbatim. Impressive."
'Almost in verbatim?' Jack nearly laughed while standing. 'I intentionally fumbled a little bit. If I recited it word-for-word, that would just make it more suspicious.'
"Thank you, professor," Jack replied politely before sitting down beside Cindy—his seatmate for the past three years.
He enjoyed the confusion on her face more than he cared to admit.
"You're so different now," she whispered with the same narrowed eyes she had for the whole week. "You used to hate memorizing anything, but now you've memorized the entire chapter."
Jack blinked. "Huh?"
Then he thought. 'I thought she wouldn't ask me at all.'
It had been more than a week since he began using the system to "cheat," in class and this was the first time she asked about it.
"It should've surprised me a week ago," Cindy muttered. "I knew you were lazy and thought you got possessed by a hardworking ghost, but now…"
Stifling a smile, Jack then answered with the same line he told everyone else.
"I still hate it," he said shamelessly with a shrug. "But I realized I was wasting my life. I'm not a genius, but if I try hard enough, I can pull it off. So why not do it? I was dumb for not trying this hard the whole time."
Cindy narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"…What are you hiding?" she hummed and suddenly said.
Jack laughed jokingly, even getting the professor's attention.
"But hey, weird or not, I'm doing better now, right?" he then whispered.
After that, he made sure his eyes reflected what a look of resolve looked like.
x--x
Please use your power stones to vote this book hehe. I would really appreciate it.