System Mission: Seduce the Final Boss [BL]

Zlatan rested his forearms on the table, his smile remaining as calm as ever.

"Then let’s go ahead with something simple."

He looked directly at Blake.

"Where are the alien body parts?"

Blake rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don’t have them with me."

Alexis frowned immediately, crossing his arms.

"What? You left something that important just somewhere?"

Blake nodded.

"I hid them, and only I can retrieve them. So before anyone asks..."

He awkwardly laughed.

"...No, I won’t tell you where to find any of them."

Nobody looked offended, at least.

If anything, they seemed to find that answer reasonable.

’Ah well, that makes it a little weird. Isn’t it basically their right to see them anyway? Not like I’m about to complain about it but...’

Blake took another breath.

"Actually, there was something else I never mentioned."

Everyone’s attention returned to him.

"When I infiltrated a-exp, I met an alien."

Estelle’s eyebrows rose.

"Under a-exp?"

Blake nodded.

"Yeah."

She immediately shook her head.

"That can’t be right, the underground level is only maintenance corridors, there isn’t anything else... just look here!"

She pointed up at the holographic blueprints, with a raised eyebrow.

"You’re not wrong, but remember what I said earlier... the problem with these blueprints isn’t that they don’t show everything, they’re outdated no joke."

"Still... I never thought it would be something of that scale. If they’re hiding them underground, it has to be extremely big space."

He slowly looked up.

"Yeah, there’s another massive facility, bigger than anything I saw above ground, it was truly astonishing."

Everyone became noticeably more attentive.

"It took me a while to even realize I’d left the mapped area. I found a random door around here, see?"

Blake pointed at the end of the fourth floor, but in the blueprints, there was nothing suggesting there was one.

"There was a super long staircase, and the moment I got to the underground level, it was immediately extremely big, all out in the open."

He hesitated.

"...that’s where I met it."

Silence filled the room.

"It was an extremely small room, and it was chained inside, only able to stand up, basically. I don’t know what species it belonged to. It looked..."

He searched for words.

"...nothing like humans, for sure. I tried talking to it, but it didn’t exactly answer."

He frowned, looking down at his hands.

"But it never attacked me. It actually... it almost looked worried."

Blake swallowed.

"Because at some point, it was like it was trying to tell me that the soldiers were near, that I had to go out. He did that by pointing behind me."

He slowly shook his head.

"I don’t know why. But... I had this horrible feeling. As if even it thought staying there any longer would’ve been dangerous."

His fingers unconsciously tightened.

"I really... I can’t describe that place properly, sorry. No matter how hard I try. It was scary."

He closed his eyes for a brief second.

"There were so many capsules."

His voice became noticeably quieter.

"It was an extreme amount, they were lined up in endless rows. I couldn’t even see where they ended. They just kept going. I walked for several minutes and there were still more."

His breathing became uneven.

"Inside... there were people, and they weren’t moving. They looked asleep or just unconscious, I honestly don’t know. I couldn’t tell if they were alive... I couldn’t tell if they were dead! But... they were all floating inside transparent containers."

Blake’s voice got more and more frantic each sentence.

Zlatan’s smile faded slightly.

"How many people would you guess were there?"

Blake froze.

The memory alone made his stomach twist.

"I..."

He looked at the floor.

"...Thousands, for sure."

His voice trembled.

"It had to be at least that much with what I managed to see. And I didn’t even witness half the room. Each capsule contained around forty, maybe fifty people."

Blake slowly looked around.

Nobody seemed shocked.

Nobody even looked surprised.

"You already knew?"

Myles stepped closer, lowering himself slightly, he met Blake’s eyes.

"We’ve seen similar facilities."

"...Really?"

Myles nodded.

"Smaller, but with the same purpose."

Blake leaned forward.

"Then why? Why are they like that? Are they alive? If they are... why keep them unconscious? And if they’re dead... why preserve them? What are they even doing?"

Zlatan quietly answered.

"It shouldn’t be a secret anymore, most governments, AL-TECH and several other corporations. They all want one thing."

He looked Blake straight in the eyes.

"Superhumans. They want to create as many as possible."

Blake frowned.

"Why?"

His voice came out almost childishly confused.

"I don’t understand. What would they even gain?"

Alexis scoffed.

"What else? Control. The more powerful people they possess, the easier it becomes to decide how everyone else lives. The world already obeys, but they simply want tighter control."

Blake lowered his head.

’Control...?’

He couldn’t understand.

Money.

Influence.

Power.

Were those things really enough to justify all that suffering?

"But... why would anyone even want that much power?"

Tania answered softly.

"Because people always do, it really is that simple, so don’t overcomplicate it."

Estelle nodded.

"And besides..."

She smiled gently.

"It isn’t something you need to carry."

Blake slowly looked around.

Five people.

Just five.

Suddenly... something became painfully obvious.

These five had accepted carrying everything alone.

They never expected anyone else to understand.

Never expected anyone to ask.

Never expected someone outside their group to genuinely care.

It wasn’t arrogance.

It was resignation.

As though they had long since stopped hoping someone would stand beside them.

Blake frowned.

"Of course it concerns me."

Everyone looked toward him.

His expression had become unexpectedly serious.

"I’m part of this world too. So why wouldn’t it concern me? What do you think, that I should just pretend none of this exists?"

His breathing became shaky.

"I saw what they did in AFE, they were torturing innocent people! They are complete monsters!"

His fists tightened.

"They all screamed in pain."

Tania’s eyes widened.

"You infiltrated AFE?"

For the first time... her calm voice rose, it startled him a little.

"I did."

His own voice gradually became quieter.

"I didn’t see everyone. But, the people I saw... they looked so broken. They barely reacted when I walked in. But as soon as they thought I was going to do something, they started panicking so much."

He stared at the floor.

"The screams, I don’t think I’ll ever forget them."

His vision blurred. Quickly, he rubbed one eye.

Those memories were pressuring him into lookiny further down, not even realizing he was tearing up a little.

He completely failed to notice everyone else exchanging uneasy glances.

Even Alexis looked uncomfortable.

None of them... had ever seen someone tear up over complete strangers.

Estelle immediately cleared her throat.

"O-Okay, so, how exactly do you bypass security? That red mask can only work under very specific circumstances."

"Oh. Well, I have other masks."

Everyone leaned in again.

"They’re specialized for different facilities. For example, I have one that turns me into an AFE security officer, with everything changing accordingly. So depending on where I’m infiltrating, I am given different masks."

Naturally, he carefully avoided mentioning the Blank Mask.

That crossed far too deeply into the impossible.

Alexis frowned.

"Even then. How does nobody question the mask itself? Nobody else is wearing one but you."

Blake froze.

’Too many questions...’

His brain desperately searched for something believable.

"He has successfully infiltrated numerous facilities."

Myles calmly interrupted.

"So whatever method he uses, it clearly works. There is little point questioning every technical detail."

Blake looked up at him, a smile escaped before he could stop it.

’Seriously, this is why I love you.’

Alexis scoffed.

"Fine, but one thing still bothers me."

He looked directly at Blake.

"How did you bypass his hearing?"

The room became quiet once more.

Blake scratched his cheek.

"The masks aren’t just disguises, they contain layered vibration-dampening materials."

Everyone listened carefully.

"They don’t eliminate sounds, it’s like they scatter them. So my heartbeat, my breathing... the tiny sounds muscles make while moving, they all become much harder to distinguish from surrounding ambient noise."

He tapped the inside of the mask.

"It was originally explained to me as something made to interfere with highly sensitive biological detection equipment."

He shrugged.

"So... I figured exceptionally sensitive hearing would also have trouble identifying me."

Estelle thought for a moment.

"Like an acoustic diffusion layer."

Blake nodded quickly.

"Exactly, it doesn’t make me silent. It just makes my body’s sounds blend into everything else. Myles still noticed something. He just couldn’t pinpoint who I was."

Alexis still looked skeptical.

"That’s ridiculously advanced."

Blake smiled awkwardly.

"I didn’t invent it, I just use it."

Alexis clicked his tongue.

"I guess I’ll accept it, for now."

Finally, Zlatan leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.

"Speaking of infiltrators."

His smile returned.

"I’ve been wondering."

He tilted his head.

"Are you, by any chance working with Anthony Rinstok?"

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"...What?"

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