Chapter 20: Underneath the Façade

Eliza Howlett watched as Theo turned the corner. She shook her head and helplessly smiled, before she quietly returned to the infirmary.

The moment the door closed shut, her expression suddenly chilled. Her entire demeanor changed, the atmosphere around her morphing into something icy and rigid. She scanned the room with narrowed eyes.

She walked across the room, her heels clicking against the tiled floor. Eliza stopped at the teacher’s table. Her gaze landed on a particular object. A metal meter stick, the very same one that Theo was using. She stared at it for a moment, before picking it up. She felt the weight in her hands; light, nothing too noteworthy. She then brought the stick close to her face and thoroughly inspected. Flat, perfectly straight. No curves, abnormalities, nor indentations in sight. What’s more, there was no blood.

This surprised her.

A metal meter stick, used with enough force, was no different from a blunted blade. In fact, sharpen the edges with a whetstone and attach a handle to one end, and you’d have a fully functioning sword, albeit several times less durable.

She saw the way Theo used the stick. Sharp, forceful strokes. Each strike contained with it a power that originated not from brute strength, but rather, technique. Normally, going by the way that he had swung the stick, the delinquent’s flesh should have been riddled in cuts, while the meter stick should have been dyed in red. Surprisingly, no such thing occurred. Instead, the thug’s entire body was covered in ugly discolorations. Bruises, as if he had been struck by a baseball bat, and not something as skinny and blade-like as a meter stick.

The only question was, how? How had he managed to pull off such a feat?

Most normal people wouldn’t find it impossible to replicate such a thing. She was no exception. No matter how much pride she had for herself, Eliza knew where her limits lay.

Did he strike with the flat side of the stick? But if he had done that, then it wouldn’t have had enough strength to leave such bruises behind… Was there truly a sword technique within this world capable of turning blades into blunt objects?

Theo, that youth, he possessed a far scarier level of proficiency than she first anticipated.

After a few more seconds of thought, she gently placed the ruler back on the table and walked over towards the unconscious student. She looked down at him with a cold stare.

The boy’s name was Anthony Varess. His father did business in real estate, and after twenty years of work, he had managed to build himself quite a fortune selling plots of land around the area. Of course, the only reason for his success was due to the backing of the Pit Cobras.

Eliza knew all of this. How could she not? She already thoroughly investigated this slimy scumbag. From his family, the people he hung out with, his past relationships, even the number of warts on his back, she knew it all.

Originally, she was planning to deal with him sometime in the near future, but to her surprise, someone already beat her to the punch. Thanks to Theo’s actions, her own desire for revenge had diminished, cut by almost half.

Still, Eliza was a finicky woman. She was not one to be so easily pleased.

She thought for a moment, before she suddenly stomped down on his crotch.

A high-pitched squeal reverberated through the air. It lasted for ten seconds, before it transformed into a sobbing whimper. Still, Eliza wasn’t satisfied. She ground her heels against his crotch, driving it deeper and deeper, as far as she could manage.

The cries of a desperate dying animal. No, it was the sound of something that wanted nothing more than death. A long while passed, before Eliza eventually stopped. She lifted her foot up and used his pants leg to wipe clean her heel.

She looked down at the youth one last time. His eyes had gone white, while foam bubbled in the corners of his mouth. A yellow liquid slowly seeped out onto the floor.

She sneered.

The youth was already unconscious. There was no better opportunity than now for her revenge. In truth, Theo had saved her numerous hours of tedious planning and maneuvering.

What worried her the most was the amount of attention that she might attract. Some attention was good, but too much would be detrimental to her original goal. In order to do things as covertly as possible, she needed time to prepare. Fortunately, Theo acted on his own. Since the youth had already been dealt with by someone, then any other damages that he incurs during this brief time period would naturally be pinned back to the first assailant.

She was essentially using Theo as a scapegoat, but that was alright. She was sure that he wouldn’t mind.

Eliza was a woman that knew how to hold grudges. She did not like the idea of some nobody scheming behind her back. If it was anybody else, then she might have hesitated, but Anthony Varess was someone that deserved no mercy. This thug was a dangerous individual with no prospects in life. What’s more, he had already ruined countless numbers of girls.

She had no qualms with destroying any chances for this guy to ruin another girl ever again.

After thoroughly handling the problem that had been bugging her for the past few months, she turned around and sat in front of her computer.

Without hesitation, she pulled up an unfinished report. This one was completely different from the one that she had been working on while Theo was in the room. In fact, it was a completely different type of file from all of her other school-related documents.

The document had no title and every time she typed, the words that appeared on the screen were already encrypted. Rather than a report, it looked as if she was typing down a very long password.

After five minutes, her phone suddenly rang. Eliza paused for a moment, before she answered the call.

“How is he?” A muffled voice asked. The voice had been filtered through a voice changer, making it impossible to tell who the person on the other side of the line was. Even their gender was a complete unknown. “Is he like what we suspected?”

Eliza frowned. She looked over towards a specific corner of the ceiling. “Have you been watching me again?”

The person on the other end of the line scoffed. “That’s my job, genius. If I wasn’t watching you, what the hell else would I be doing?” The muffled voice irritably asked again, “Anyway, how is he?”

She hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know yet. I… I didn’t expect him to actually come to me, so I was a bit surprised.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Eliza my dear, how reckless.”

“Don’t use my name.” She coldly responded.

“You should have known better.” The voice ignored her words and playfully spoke. “Contact with our targets is bound to be inevitable. Even if you are new to fieldwork, this is still something that you should familiarize yourself with.”

Eliza twitched her brow. Getting lectured was okay, but getting lectured by this person really didn’t sit well with her.

“I may be younger than you, but technically, I’m still your senior at work.” The voice continued. “Look how I do it. I’m constantly around my target, but she doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“I got it.”

“yeah, so follow my example loyally, okay junior?” The muffled voice laughed. “Otherwise, you might just get booted again~”

That was the final straw. Eliza derisively chuckled. “I’ll try to follow your example, but it might be a bit hard for me. It’s because you’re so dumb looking that nobody suspects you even if you run up to them. I don’t know how I’d be able to replicate such a dumb looking face.”

“Heh, that’s insubordination. You really think I won’t demote you?”

She scoffed. “Go ahead and try. You’ve been on fieldwork for three years now, yet showed no signs of promotion. You really think anybody will listen to a washed up has-been like you?”

“Old hag, my connections number more than the hairs on your head.” The muffled voice growled back.

“Old ha—You!”

“That’s enough.” The muffled voice abruptly interrupted. “Just continue with your damn report already. My target’s about to go mobile, I don’t have the time to be chatting with you.”

Eliza gritted her teeth. Her earlier mood was completely ruined by this person. She sighed tiredly, before stating, “I was unprepared, but I did manage to gather some sufficient information.”

“So, he’s not connected?”

“Inconclusive data, but…” she hesitated. “… but I don’t think we should remove him from our list of possible targets. The circumstantial data alone makes him too valuable of an asset to ignore.”

Eliza briefly recalled the information that her team had gathered on Theo. He suddenly disappeared seven months ago, at almost the exact same time as when Incident 1 occurred. At first, nothing much happened regarding this missing target, but then, three days ago, approximately seven months after the first event, he suddenly returned. Coincidentally, his return happened on the same day as when Incidents 2 and 3 took place.

Such a chain of events was simply too much of a coincidence. Surely he had to be connected with whatever it was they were dealing with here.

“So, team leader’s predictions were on the money?” the muffled voice asked. “He is the one responsible for all the anomalies happening in Harwick city? Or at least, he’s somehow involved?”

“Are you not listening to anything I’m saying?” Eliza irritably said. “I said inconclusive. Aside from circumstantial evidence, he hasn’t done anything that might point to him being responsible… although, I do agree he is somewhat unusual. Still, further surveillance is necessary.”

Eliza remembered back to all the things that she had observed from Theo. Even when he was sick and in such a weakened state, he still managed to showcase such a high degree of skill and proficiency. Even for a fit and healthy high schooler, replicating his actions would have been immensely difficult to do.

Although the delinquent he faced off against wasn’t much to brag about, for someone of Theo’s fitness level to handle him as if he was playing with a child, it was definitely more than just a little bit impressive… but then again, her target this time around did possess a few abnormalities that she would much rather he didn’t. For example, he was a major world-class pervert.

Eliza was somewhat worried about her future.

“…Alright. Continue observing him.” The muffled voice commented. “Out of all the people of interest on our list, he’s the only one that’s been here since before the seven months. The rest of the targets moved into the city shortly after, around the same time as us. They may have similar goals.”

Eliza nodded. She paused for a moment, before a small smile surfaced on her face. She suddenly remembered a bit of the data that she had read earlier today. “Well, I think you’ll be seeing him soon enough. So, prepare yourself.”

The muffled voice grunted, before they hung up.

She turned back towards her screen.

Displayed on the white monitor was a string of black dots. She recalled back to the way that Theo had fought.

Fighting prowess like that was definitely unusual. No, it wasn’t just his skill, but also his ruthlessness and efficiency. Short of crippling him, he had utilized everything at his disposal to take out the thug. No fear, no hesitation.

Eliza shook her head, before she continued typing up her document.