Laughs

"What dreams could someone like me have? I'm not young anymore." Liman shook his head.

The metal cup in his hands was overturned, pouring liquid that could literally be described as single-celled fungus piss, into the middle-aged man's throat. The bitter taste of alcohol filled the doctor's mouth.

Liman cleaned his throat before continuing to speak. "I just want to live the rest of my life in peace, in the comfort of my home together with my dear wife. Oh, maybe having a pet would be interesting too."

Emona bulged her eyes slightly, denoting that such a response was not within her expectations. The lad who was opposite her, however, didn't even blink and continued staring at the small puddle of water.

'Hm, there it is again, this brazen shameless. I think at least at that point, he looks kinda similar to my dad.' Trevor's index finger moved forward and touched the small puddle of water, sliding it to the side.

The friction between the wet finger and the dry glass created a noise that caught the attention of the other two in the room. Soon, the person responsible for such distraction ceased his actions and looked at the couple in front of him.

"Look, I understand that it is necessary to explain in a general way the process of how the research on superpowers culminated until it got to where it is. However, so far you have told me things that I could have spent my entire life without the need to know."

Trevor looked at the clock hand on the right wall that kept ticking off the passage of time with precision. "What's the point of this conversation if I'm not even sure if I'm a person with superpowers? My patience has limits. Every second that passes on that clock is one second less than I have to look for my father."

Since going through that nightmare, Trevor has gained more than one memorable moment in his life: he's gained a renewed determination. If the old Trevor was comparable to small sailing boats, the Trevor of now was like a heavy cargo ship wanting at all costs to get enough fuel to power its engine in order to endure the arduous journey ahead.

"You're being too rushed, Trevor. It hasn't even been a day since you woke up, not to mention the fact that you broke your arm and were as hungry as a Ridamia in the winter." Emona knew she was playing the annoying aunt, but she didn't care.

Her 'nephew' didn't listen. "How much longer are you all going to delay me? Just answer me honestly: do I have superpowers or not?"

The pair of doctors frowned. Liman preferred to keep quiet, but Emona didn't feel the same way. "Look, what you call a delay is mere 9 hours, 8 of which were you sleeping. We gave you food and somewhere to sleep, the least you should have is consideration and respect for the people who treated you so well."

Hearing them, Trevor nodded and made up his mind.

He got up from his chair and walked out of the room suddenly.

"Wait!" Emona yelled loud enough for the couple's neighbors to hear.

"Why? I don't have anything else to talk to you two. Don't worry, I won't get in the way of your happiness." Those words made Emonar want to vomit blood. Why did this discussion make it seem like she was an unfaithful woman who cheated on her husband with another man?

The Trevor from before would have been indecisive in his actions, wasting too much time talking to these two idiots. 'Since when will relying on others get me anywhere? Only my individual power can change things. In fact, I should have left when I realized Liman wasn't manipulable.'

Manipulate Liman? Was there any more ironic joke in this fucked-up world? Trevor's limited knowledge said there might be, but it was undoubtedly among one of the most ironic jokes possible as far as he was concerned.

'Tying me to them will delay me, and that is unacceptable. I won't accept that nothing comes between me and my father. The first step is to get out of this place, and then look for a reliable database that will allow me to complement my fragmented knowledge about this world.'

To do all this, he needed to get something else first. A sinister smile broke across his face as Trevor thought about his next steps. Trevor was gone as fast as the mutant horses of the Southwest's Ice Plains.

Trevor disappeared just like that.

Behind him, the medical couple was speechless.

"Who was the idiot who thought this guy's head was working right?" Emona muttered, upset. Beside her, Liman kept his expression calm until he chuckled uncontrollably.

The Eastern Asian woman stopped mumbling when she heard that laugh. "What we do now?" She asked without stopping looking her future husband in the eye.

"What can we do? Eventually he would discover the truth: we don't know how the supernaturals arise, nor how to confirm whether they have powers or not." Liman stopped laughing, but the smile was still plastered across his face.

Emona's expression turned cold as she noticed something sinister gripping her heart.

"You said you had a method to find out if he had awakened superpowers, that this was our chance to get out of this shithole together. The fact that you spoke with such enthusiasm and conviction made me believe in your words."

In her entire life, her gaze has never been so cold and somber as it is now.

"Ultimately, this research project was born with you and your dear friend. After all the sad moments we spent together in the laboratory late into the night researching, something made me want to believe in your impeccable professional nature."

At that moment, the air seemed to have grown heavier. Her breathing became ragged.

"You approached me after you put Trevor to sleep, saying that the fact that he survived the experiment was a clear sign that our research had finally shown concrete results: that we would be rich, leading me to believe that I was only going to be safe being your wife."

Another long pause followed, giving rise to small bright spots at the corners of her eyes.

"For all that, and for another series of things I don't even remember now, I agreed with you, with all your ridiculous requests. Including marrying you and wearing these nasty things in front of that idiot brat."

As soon as those bright spots started to trickle down her face, her expression changed.

"You even invented nonsense like obstinacy, willpower and things like that. Those tests that aimed to test the limits of the human mind on our volunteers were just deadly games, so you could set your plan. How many reports have you falsified? How many search results did you destroy?"

Her nostrils flared, her brows twitched, her face was crept by desperate sneering.

"Why? Why do all this? Fool everyone for so long? You lied to me, to our coworkers and even to your own shadow?!"

Emona's vocal cords burned like iron in ember.

"YOU LIAR!"

The reality was cruel.

"Why... you ask me?"

The middle-aged man smiled.

"Well... because it's funny, of course! Hahahahaha!"

Liman couldn't take it anymore and laughed like a maniac.

Tears of joy running down his cheeks like the ice that trickled down from the Eastern Mountains during the summer. Liman had not only made several deals in the shadows to ensure that this woman would belong to him, but he had also taken the opportunity to record videos of him and her having romantic relationships.

The last part, in particular, he recorded in secret.

Although Emona wasn't an idiot, she still underestimated Liman.

With those footages in hand, the middle-aged man gained much more control over Emona.

'Trevor Anirth… Thank you so much for making things a little bit more exciting in the end. Hope we can meet again in the future...' His smile widened when he thought of that beautiful name.

.

.

.

A few moments ago, at the reception in dorm HF-12.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Sarina's voice reverberated through the room.

Trevor didn't listen to this annoying woman. He continued rummaging through drawers full of papers, making Sarina's hard work of organizing all that paperwork go down the drain.

"Stop, you crazy bastard!" There was no way she could allow this to keep happening. Sarina lunged forward, throwing herself against Trevor's lean body. The latter responded with a move she hadn't expected at all.

He moved his fingers with extreme nimbleness, not giving her time to react.

In the next instant, her eyes exploded into a bloody mess!

Pain assaulted her mind, making her cry out in pain.

Sarina went blind!

Trevor retracted his bloodied fingers calmly, as if he had just slipped his fingers into a fluffy birthday cake, not into the eyes of someone living and breathing.

'What a deplorable person.'

Despite that, he didn't end his victim's suffering.

For the actual him, killing was just a method to accomplish his goals.

'Excellent! I finally found what I was looking for.' In Trevor's hands, one of several folded colored papers that were stored in the geography section appeared. Each one of these items tried by different means to compose paintings that illustrated the Central Plateau and its complex political environment.

He stored them inside his new backpack, which already held many supplies relevant to a long walk: lighters, pots and so on. Luckily, among the items Trevor obtained while rummaging through the reception there was this wonderful backpack. His fortune was so good that there was water and dry rations among the items in the backpack.

'Luck? What kind of asshole would believe something so erratic? It seems that Liman never intended to prevent me from leaving. It's like he left it here to give me at the right time. I just don't understand what he gained by preparing all this…'

Even though he wanted to stop and take a closer look at the situation, Trevor didn't have time. The situation with his father aside, the fact was that the more time he spent there, the greater the risk of falling into someone else's scheme.

'Against people like that, the best thing to do when I lack information is to attack full force and act quickly.' The last of the maps on the shelf was sent into the backpack, leaving behind nothing but dust and a lone spider's web.

Sarina was stretched out on the floor as if she was dead, the only thing that contradicted that statement was the fact the air around her nose moved from time to time, the same being true for her pulse, which also throbbed with vitality.

'I think it's time to say goodbye to this place.'

Trevor opened the doors of the reddish building for the second time in his life, which allowed him to see the scenery of the Central Plateau in its nocturnal configuration, free from direct sunlight and counting only on the stars in the sky that shone from an infinite distance.

The wind howled like a fierce beast, greeting all adventurers bold enough to walk these hilly mountains with fervor.

The lack of illumination both masked the lack of life in the surroundings and created dangerous deadly natural traps.

Yet, Trevor didn't fear the absence of light.

In fact, he was happy about it.

'In the absence of vegetable covers, this is the best gift I could ask for during my outing.' Trevor didn't want to have to walk a full kilometer just to look back and notice he was being followed by someone suspicious.

Smart, scheming people like Liman were scarier than a lot of colossal monsters put together, especially in relation to those who had no moral restraints.

Getting the attention of these individuals was like being under the effect of quantum Schrodinger superposition: in the sense that being alive was as good as being dead.

Trevor marched forward again. This time, the black shoes he was wearing allowed him to navigate the environment in comfort. Unlike last time, Trevor's goal wasn't clear.

Because of the night scenery, the maps he picked up were of little use. It wasn't like there were recognizable landmarks glowing in the middle of the night, and even if there were, Trevor would avoid them like a plague.

He continued to walk for several hours, the stars in the sky were always above his head, acting as immortal guards in the sky: guiding him through this irregular environment. Everything was fine.

Suddenly, Trevor tripped over a smooth stone and hit the ground.

His beautiful black hair that moved with the wind was now as dirty as shit.

A hysterical laugh then greeted Trevor's ears, as if he were laughing at his misfortune.