Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]

Kai ran through the streets of Veyrhold like the city itself was trying to swallow him.

Adventurers and merchants jumped out of his way with curses and startled shouts. His lungs burned. His legs screamed. The temporary lightness from earlier was long gone, and every step felt heavier than the last. None of it mattered.

[Both Candidates are approximately four minutes from Warehouse 7 at current pace.]

"Faster," Kai muttered under his breath, forcing another burst of speed.

He cut through a narrow alley, vaulted a low stack of crates, and burst out onto the wider road that led into the eastern warehouse district. The buildings here were older, denser, with fewer people and longer shadows. The air felt somewhat different..

Then he saw them.

Elias and Lucien walked side by side ahead of him, both in dark coats, both looking far too calm for men heading toward a ninety-two percent death probability.

"Elias! Lucien!"

Both men stopped and turned. Elias raised an eyebrow. Lucien’s expression barely changed, though his eyes sharpened with mild surprise.

Kai skidded to a halt in front of them, breathing hard, white hair sticking to his forehead.

"What the hell are you two doing?"

Elias looked him up and down.

"Going to a meeting. You were invited too, technically. You just slept in."

"You left without the bracelets."

"well naturally...we don’t want to be caught lacking on a mission lik this "

Kai shook his head, still catching his breath.

"You can’t go in there."

Lucien tilted his head slightly.

"Why not?"

Kai hesitated for half a second. The truth sat on his tongue, heavy and impossible to say. The System. The Auditor. The 92%.

He forced the words into something they would accept.

"I have a bad feeling. A really bad one. I had a terrible dream last night and I can’t shake it. Something about this meeting is wrong."

Elias stared at him for a long moment, then let out a short, disbelieving laugh.

"Never knew you to be someone superstitious."

"I’m not. I just... know when something feels off. And this feels off."

Lucien studied him more carefully.

"Dreams are unreliable. But your instincts have been accurate before."

"Exactly," Kai pressed. "Just postpone it. One day. Let me dig around a little more. Please."

Elias clicked his tongue and glanced toward the row of warehouses further down the street.

"We already made the arrangement. Backing out now makes us look weak or suspicious. The whole point of that forest performance was to get their attention. Walking away after they finally reach out wastes everything."

"I’d rather waste the opportunity than walk into a trap."

"And I’d rather not jump at shadows because you had a nightmare, Sugar."

The nickname landed with its usual mix of irritation and reluctant familiarity. Kai opened his mouth to argue again, but Lucien spoke first.

"Compromise. We approach, assess, and leave at the first sign of genuine danger. No commitment. No deep entry."

Elias shrugged.

"Fine by me."

It wasn’t fine. It wasn’t nearly enough. But Kai could already see he wasn’t going to win a full retreat. The best he could do was stay glued to them and pull them out the second things went wrong.

"I’m coming with you," he said.

Elias smirked.

"Wouldn’t have it any other way."

They walked the remaining distance together. Warehouse 7 sat near the end of the row, larger than the others, with faded numbering and a heavy sliding door that looked recently oiled. No guards. No obvious surveillance. Just a quiet building waiting.

Elias raised a hand to knock.

Before his knuckles connected, the door slid open from the inside.

Two figures stood in the entrance.

The first was familiar.

Ayan Bell.

The cute-faced young man from the clinic looked smaller somehow in the wide doorway, dark hair neat, injured arm still bandaged under a clean sleeve. His eyes locked onto Kai instantly, and guilt flashed across his expression so clearly that Kai felt it like a physical thing.

Kai’s voice came out quieter than he intended.

"Ayan?"

Ayan’s throat worked. He looked away for half a second, then forced himself to meet Kai’s gaze again. The guilt didn’t disappear.

The System confirmed it coldly.

[Confirmed. Candidate 006: Ayan Bell.]

Elias and Lucien both turned their heads toward Kai, then back to the young man in the doorway.

Elias raised an eyebrow.

"You know this guy?"

Kai exhaled.

"Yeah. He’s the one I pulled out of the clearing yesterday. The injured boy I told you about. His name is Ayan."

Lucien’s gaze lingered on Ayan with quiet assessment. Elias looked mildly interested and mildly suspicious at the same time.

Ayan shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable under the combined attention.

Then the second figure stepped fully into view beside him.

A blonde man of average height and build. Ordinary face. Ordinary clothes. No visible weapons. No pressure. No mana signature of any kind. He looked like someone you could pass on the street and forget within ten seconds.

Elias glanced at Kai again.

"You know this one too?"

Kai shook his head.

"No. I don’t."

The System’s voice slammed into his mind with sharp urgency.

[Alert. This is the individual known as Jake Evans, also known as the Auditor.]

Kai’s blood turned to ice.

Every warning from the Astral Interface crashed back at once. Zero mana signature. Targeted rejection. Four minutes. Ninety-two percent.

He took a half-step back without meaning to.

"We have to get out of here," he said, voice low and tight. "Right now."

Elias frowned.

"What?"

"I said we need to leave. This is a bad idea. A really bad idea."

Jake Evans smiled then. It was a polite, mild, completely unthreatening smile.

"Please. You’ve come all this way. It would be a shame to turn back at the door."

His voice was as ordinary as his face. Calm. Pleasant. The kind of voice that belonged to a mid-level clerk or a tired teacher.

Ayan stood slightly behind him, eyes fixed on Kai with something like silent apology.

Lucien’s posture had shifted by a fraction. He had noticed Kai’s reaction even if he didn’t understand it. Elias still looked more annoyed than alarmed.

Jake Evans stepped to the side and gestured into the warehouse with one open hand.

"Come in. We have much to discuss."

Kai’s instincts screamed. Every calculated death flag the System had shown him lined up behind that polite gesture.

He opened his mouth to refuse again.

Elias, however, was already moving forward with that same reckless confidence that had carried him through a decade of impossible jobs.

"We’re here. Might as well hear them out."

Lucien followed after a brief pause, staff nowhere in sight but presence still coiled and ready.

Kai stood frozen on the threshold for one more second.

Then, because leaving them alone inside was somehow worse than going in with them, he stepped through the door.

The heavy sliding panel rolled shut behind the three of them with a low, final sound.

The System’s voice arrived the moment the outside light disappeared.

[Alert. This mission might lead to your demise.]

Kai stared into the dim interior of Warehouse 7, heart hammering, and realized the terminal sequence had already begun.

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