Intrigue

Benjamin sounded very happy as he started to converse with the person on the other side of the phone call. "Nathan!" He shouted gleefully. Although he knew that he was still in his house and the person he was speaking to was not standing in front of him, he still could not help but feel excited inside his heart.

"Ben! Are you finally back?" A youthful voice resonated on the other side of the call. The voice sounded quite cheerful, as if he was glad that Benjamin was back.

"Yeah! It's all thanks to that guy I told to you about on the radio transmitter a few days back!" Benjamin explained while unconsciously smiling.

"Wait a minute, I'll come over to your house now!" The voice answered.

"Okay." Benjamin soke in acknowledgement and stopped the call. He paced around in excitement, unable to sit down and relax. The rather large living room was filled with his footprints. Due to the fact that nobody have been here for the past 2 weeks, the floor was quite dusty. However, Benjamin was used to it and did not mind getting his foot filled with dirt. His father, who spoke to him just now, wore standard leather shoes when he was in their house, so unlike Benjamin, he did not have a problem.

After around 15 minutes, someone rang the dorbell. Benjamin immediately ran to the front door and opened it. He found a rather hansome boy standing in front of him, smiling. The smile was filled with youthful vitality, and helped the boy exhibit a nice charming demeanor. His hair is snow white, his eyes were quite large, along with his curved eyebrows, exuded more of a androgynous appeal. His looks were completely different than Eli's, whose face exuded a strong masculinity.

The boy was well-dressed, wearing a snow white robe that went along with his hair, and wearing a pair of scandals with white rims and soles. "You look a slightly skinnier than the last time I came, Ben." The boy said with slight compassion.

Benjamin let him come in. The boy passed by Benjamin, giving him a nod, before getting seated on the sofa of the living room. Benjamin then followed and sat next to him.

"So, what exactly happened after the last time we had contact?" Nathan asked in a calm tone, as if he was indifferent as to whether or not Benjamin would answer.

Benjamin, who wanted to please his good friend, answered, "Well, we got caught in the zombie tide a day after we left base S-4! I was so scared at the time! But Eli was so nice that he allowed me to piggyback on him all the way to base S-3, but he got heavily injured along the way though."

While Benjamin was busy narrating happily, he was too engrossed to notice that Nathan's eyes seemed to have darkened. His golden eyes slightly lost their luster and became more amber in color. "Oh? What kind of injury was it?"

"A zombie penetrated a hand directly through his abdomen!" Benjamin exclaimed, making a stabbing motion with his palm and arm. "When I was finally able to help him, he was bleeding so much that the hole within his abdomen was completely filled with his blood."

"Oh? And how was he able to survive then?" Nathan asked, feigning curiosity.

"I stabbed two syringes of stem cell medication right into his heart." Benjamin said, making a stabbing motion with his hand, trying to illustrate how he did it.

Nathan nodded and furrowed his brows. "And where is this savior of yours now? I need to thank him for risking his life and bringing you back safe and sound in one piece."

"He said he is a surface dweller." Benjamin explained, completely ignorant of the implications of that statement.

"Pfft!" Nathan tried his best to swallow his laughter, but still let out a slight giggle. "Do you really believe someone who have the money or connections to get two stem cell medications be a surface dweller? At least tell a better lie!"

"I wasn't joking! I saw him walk into the direction of the slums before heading to the military barracks!" Benjamin raised his hand in protest, feeling a bit frustrated that both his father and his best friend did not believe him.

"That doesn't mean he lives in the slums, Benny boy." Nathan smiled with sympathy, as if facing a child, and ruffled Benjamin's hair. "There are multiple entrances to the subterranean levels, he must just have taken another elevator or flight of stairs and lied to you."

Benjamin scratched his head and did not know what to say.

"Well enough said about this Eli person." Nathan's face turned serious, his entire body shifted towards Benjamin, making him slightly nervous and uncomfortable. "Benjamin, the heirs of the Seven Clans are going to have a Round Table discussion soon, under the direct supervision of the Head of the Clans."

Benjamin's face immediately paled. "D-do I have to go as well?" He asked, fiddling with his index fingers with nervousness.

"Of course! You are the heir apparent to the Young Family after all, it is your responsibility to attend every Round Table conference that is mandatory for heirs to attend. Besides, do you want your father to get disappointed with you again?"

Benjamin shook his head and bowed in shame. "But the only thing that happens in those conferences are people trying to embarass and humiliate me!" He protested in fear.

Nathan gave a reassuring smile and patted on Benjamin's shoulder. "Don't worry! If anything goes wrong, I'll back you up!"

Benjamin rolled his eyes. "You are not even in the Round Table conference, how can you back me up?"

"I'll be your moral support." Nathan stuck out his tongue as a joke. The mood within the living room softened a little after Nathan's reassurances.

"So... do you think Eli will be there too?" Benjamin asked with curiosity.

Nathan shook his head. "The heirs of the Seven Families have mostly been decided, so there should not be any drastic change of personnel in the next conference. Besides, although only the Seven Clans have access to stem cell medication, it doesn't mean that people would not be able to get it at the black market."

Benjamin nodded.

"Well I need to go back to work now, I'll see you sometime later?" Nathan gave out a question he already knew the answer to.

Benjamin nodded again. "I'll show you out." Benjamin, still barefoot, walked along the hallway and opened the front door, allowing Nathan to leave. When Nathan went past him, he whispered something next to Benjamin's ear. "Don't trust anyone. Especially not that Eli person." Before Benjamin could even contemplate what he meant, Nathan was already gone.

Benjamin closed the door and thought in puzzlement, "What did he mean by that?" He shrugged and decided to go vacuum his whole house.

*

Nathan took a deep breath of air. Although the air in Level 4 was still as artificial as it was in Benjamin's room, at least it was not as stuffy or dusty as it was there. As Nathan walked down the wide main road that did not have many pedestrians walking by, he gave a deep smile. "Interesting, It seems that some other Clan wants to interfere with my plans. I am now at a disadvantage by being out in the open while the enemy is in the dark."

He reached into his pocket and took out a photo. It was one of Eli (Arnold) that was taken by a security camera. As main members of the Seven Clans rule the whole city, they can easily gain access to a mere camera in the surface level. "Stem cell medication, and based on Benjamin's description of his style of combat, a melee type with a strengthening ability? Is he part of the Takamatsu Clan? No, that would be too obvious... it seems I need to investigate this further..."

Nathan arrived at the main elevator located in the middle of Level 4. As a VIP, he did not have to line up and wait for the elevator like the others. Instead, he was given priority access and allowed to enter a private elevator only used by residing members of Level 7.

*

Benjamin was lucky since he did not need to clean up the aftermath of the zombie tide, unlike other rookies of his level within the military. He was given a week of from the military as a result of the incident causing his entire platoon to be slaughtered. Until now, Benjamin was the only member of the platoon that returned, the others were still missing. Benjamin's mood was a little heavy. "If what Father said was true, then all the people died because of me." He thought to himself. Although, he did not dare believe it, he still could not help but feel guilty for being indirectly responsible for the disaster. However, he did not dwell on this feeling, since he needed to prepare himself mentally and emotionally for the dreaded conference that is about to arrive.