CHAPTER 37: STORIES ARE MYTHS

"There’s something I need to tell you."

Aven’s voice cracked. He bit his lip hard, trying his best not to look at Elian’s eyes.

Elian blinked at him, confused. "...What?"

"It’s about what that giant eye said earlier— I want to tell... say that... um," Aven fidgeted. "Your s—"

"Ah-ah!" Crix clapped his hands loud enough to make everyone flinch. "As much as I’d love to hear confessions... we need to check the whole Sector first. I’m going to unwrap my... our new property!"

Aven frowned, but he didn’t argue back. What Crix said was true.

But Elian caught the guilt buried in Aven’s tone and the way he kept avoiding his gaze, but for now, he let it go.

Who wouldn’t want to see the place they’d just fought their asses for?

The Advertiser’s tale can wait. It’s not like he can go anywhere else.

The team moved out together, leaving the Casino behind. Aven had bought himself a new set of clothes that looked exactly like his previous one.

Elian couldn’t help but wonder just how wide the man’s inventory was. To be able to stick a pile of clothes along with a convertible car. I’m jealous.

Outside, the West Sector was massive. Impressive as it should be. Golden lights from the dome above flickered faintly over the ruined buildings. It looked like a city that once tried to mimic Las Vegas—neon lights still hanging dead on cracked signboards, empty glitching billboards with the streets littered with poker chips and half-burnt cards.

A perfect Post-apocalyptic glamour.

Some buildings were melted halfway, others still intact but covered in thick dust. The stench of blood clung to everything, mixed with the burnt rubber smell of destroyed vehicles.

And then they found a club.

It stood nearly untouched, a massive structure with mirrored walls and a post sign that still read "SLOT HEAVEN" in half-lit letters.

Weirdly, it caught everyone’s attention. And they all went inside.

However, inside wasn’t what they expected.

Dead bodies laid scattered everywhere—some dried, some fresh enough to make Moon gag and cover her nose.

There was splattered blood on the bar counter, and despite it all, a faint calm melodious sound still echoed through the building.

The tune was off, a slight discomforting sound creaked through the sound track. And with the current atmosphere of dead bodies... It’s more eerie than comforting.

Aven sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "This place is a massacre."

"Yeah, but—" Crix pushed open a door behind the counter, grin spreading wide, "—look what we have here!"

A storage room stacked with snacks, canned food, and boxes of instant noodles. Like someone had stacked it there as a means of survival.

Whoever stacked this mini mart... Thank you.

Moon screamed first, ogling some chips for herself. Sun immediately followed, running past everyone to grab a bag of chips too. "Oh my god, it’s actual food!"

Aven blinked, his mouth agape. Elian just stood there watching as the twins tore open a bag each like they hadn’t eaten in years.

Crix popped open a can of soda, gulped it down with a satisfied sigh. "Mmm. Victory tastes sweet."

Elian leaned on the counter, a small smile slipping out. For a moment, it felt normal. Like the war outside didn’t exist. Just people eating cheap snacks and breathing for once.

They deserved it.

After a few minutes, wrappers littered the floor. Moon slumped against a wall, groaning, "I think I’m full... I could die happy now..."

Sun burped loudly.

"Disgusting," Moon muttered.

His face flushed red but then he grinned like a child. "Mistress wouldn’t let us eat snacks like this. I should burp in peace."

[Cute.]

Elian sighed, pushing himself to his feet, brushing crumbs off his clothes. "Alright. Fun’s over."

Everyone turned toward him.

"We’ve got a territory now," he crushed a bag of chips. "But it means nothing if we don’t have direction. We need a plan—how to find the Black King piece... and how to capture the White one."

"Crushing a potato chips doesn’t make you tough, Elian. Now look, it’s all on the floor... and on me," Aven wiped the crumbled bits of chips off his new pair of pants.

Elian frowned at him, before turning his gaze back to the people who now mattered to him. "My head hurts from brainstorming all by myself, so someone else should do the talking." He then slumped into the nearest plastic chair.

[What the heck? You got nothing up there?]

Up where?

[Your brain. Empty.]

Elian’s face twitched. He grabbed another pack of chips to munch, ignoring the System’s remark.

It wasn’t his fault to not have any solid plan on how to actually secure the Black King piece and kill the other one before anyone else does.

Not to talk of how to even unlock the quest.

[All Stats Must Be Maxed To Unlock This Quest.]

To max his stats meant he had to gain a lot of contribution points and add it to his basic stats.

Currently, all his stats are no more than 20, apart from his infamy stat which was 25.

And to get contribution points, the easiest way was to kill more monsters. Which now, he can’t spare the time to do that apart from leech off his team. That’s despicable to do, nevertheless.

As much as he would love to, his pride hurts to even think of that.

"I think we should lure the White King out? Maybe a honey trap? Set a juicy trap he can’t overlook or something that would make them be forced out where they hid," Crix spoke, licking his cheeto fingers and dusting his crusty goatee as he stretched his arms.

"Hah... Aren’t we taking too damn long for a plan? I say we rough it. Crack a few jaws, promise the King safety and whatnot. Then bam bam bam! The White King gets scared and runs out then we kill them. It’ll be more fun!"

Yeah, if you want a fast, quick way to ruin your life, Moon.

Especially if they’re White pieces betraying their own world.

"I say we recruit more members into the board first. We have a whole sector to ourselves which is good. But if we eventually find our King that could be in a totally different country, and then protect him—if he’s a male— I’m sure it’ll be announced all over the world and we’ll be targeted. So we need—"

"Decors." Elian finished Aven’s sentence. He finally looked up, his eyes fierce with determination as if he had something they didn’t.

"We need many King-class decors! If eventually, it was announced the Black King piece had been found, and we got targeted, with many members on board disguised as King pieces, it’d be a perfect illusion for the other opponents."

[That was kinda smart?]

Crix raised his arm in protest. "But not one of us knows how to build a fake profile—"

"That’s why we recruit first. Look at the potentials. Let’s search for Jupiter. I didn’t see her back in the Black Guild—" Aven immediately went quiet.

His spark dulled, eyes stinging as he tried his best to stop the lump forming in his throat. And Elian caught on, the beautiful man hadn’t forgotten what happened in the Black Guild’s dome.

Elian straightened his posture, his eyes glancing at Aven time-to-time. "The female Bishop would be a good addition. She’s strong," I’m pretty sure she would have forgotten the Hart’s scenario, yes?

[Bishop-class pieces have a pretty good memory.]

Elian flicked suckerbot’s messages away. I’ll just have to stand my ground. Karma only did her job.

[Sure sure. Whatever you say.]

He glanced back at Aven.

Aven had regained his posture again. Gulping down a can of coke as if it would drown his thoughts.

"Yes. She is strong. We’ll have to look for her. And the Advertiser can look after the Dome."

Oh. Aven’s eyes widened, suddenly realizing what had been missing all these while. "The dome," he slowly repeated after himself, trying to decipher a code he failed to crack. It was like... they didn’t care about the Mission.

"The Black Guild sacrificed a lot of people to trigger Stage 2 of this game," Aven began. His grip tightened against the coke can. His face carried something more than just hate. "They killed a lot of people. And talked about finding the body of Kai.

—"

Sun’s voice cut in from where he sat. "Is that not a bed-time story Mistress always tells us when we were this small, Moon?" He held his thumb and index finger an inch apart, emphasizing how small they were.

Moon tilted her head, her lips streaked with snacks crumbs. "Yes yes. The Tales of Kai! The Wretched Man who lost all his part for the woman he loved!" She smacked her lips, bored as she slouched further down to the bloody floor. "I always hated the story. What does it have to do with finding the King?"

Somehow, Elian found it weird. He hadn’t heard of this ’story’ being told over the years. And everyone had believed, including Crix, that it was nothing but a myth. Nothing but a bed time story to pass time.

His mind flashed back to the time he fought the Colossal Serpent. The Serpent communicated with him, which made sense now since he was an Extension of a Constellation.

However...

Why did they—?

Elian ran a hand through his overgrown dark hair. "The giant snake told me something. He said I have the Heart of Kai. I don’t think this ’story’ is a myth. If the Black Guild is after it," Elian turned to Crix, "and the ’Kai’sCult’ was your first suspect when the Black Guild’s dome broke..."

Crix’s head jerked back.

"This is more than a Kill The King race."

Elian felt like he’d been punched in the gut. "What if it was all a set up to... to distract us from the real Game?!"

Ding!

A screen appeared above Elian.

[Heh. You caught on pretty fast.]

Suckerbot, you knew about this?

[The Mission was ’Kill The King’. It doesn’t mention which King.]

[Neither does a Game focus on just one Mission.]