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Chapter 029: Grave Digging

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AG wasn't aware of the Genesis Chamber and his parents, but Baron is depended on RPG: Terroa and Terroa is depended on Janus... or whatever it was that has a "Janus" on its name.

Rex was smart and he knew that as a game, there was something 'physical' that lets Panorama control the game from the real world and according to AG, this control tower for Terroa is a [Janus System].

It should be some kind of console.

If AG can destroy it, then the entire server will fall and with it was Baron's consciousness.

Rex could only grit his teeth and glare at Faust. "I hate you so much that I want to destroy you right now... how could you do this to us!? Why! You've sold my family to Augustus Laniary all for the sake of fake benefits!!"

Perhaps Faust was crazy and his sense of reason was skewed. He lunged at Rex and grabbed his collar, then delivered a punch that only turned his head to the right but did no damage at all.

"How dare you blindly accuse me?!! I am trying to bring your mother back to life!"

"Fool! My mother is dead!"

Knowing that Faust was unaware of the Genesis Chamber, he knew that whoever this fetus was is not his mother but somebody else. This might have his mother's DNA in it but this is just a shell to a soul which is not his mother.

His mother's [soul] is in the Genesis Chamber.

"She's alive! Look! There! That fetus is her! That's Ellie! How can you be blind when she's now being reborn in this world as a new person!"

If it wasn't for the memories and AG's warning, he would have twisted this person's neck long ago.

To Rex, Faust, right now, is not his uncle. He was just an obsessive scientist trapped on his obscene and repulsive delusions.

How can he be blind to not see the signs earlier?

When his parents were still alive, when he was still young, Faust would visit them and would treat his parents differently. He treats his father like a friend but he treats his mother like a queen, contradicting not a single word she says.

Faust and Neth had worked together and Faust is —no, was a family friend and yet deep inside his heart, he harbored malicious lust after his mother.

Detestable!

Faust, right now, was a completely repulsive being that Rex couldn't help trembling in rage. And yet as strong as he was now, Faust is like a solid plate that no matter how strong his rage was, Faust will not burn and would hurt himself in addition to only wasting his time and not solving anything.

This round was his defeat. Faust wins.

"You dishonor my mother." Rex pushed Faust out as he walked to the table and picked up the brush his mother used to brush he hair. There were still strands of hair on it and upon scanning; the result matched on the DNA Signature of the fetus on the cylindrical artificial womb.

"I am her only hope in coming back to life!"

Rex calmly took the brush and put his face to the side, saying: "If you really wanted her to back then you should have prioritized my father. You know it as well. Father specializes in Genetics more than my mother and yet you did not do so."

Faust was taken aback. His obsession was his sole drive and he didn't even think twice in choosing her over Neth who should become more helpful if he does ever succeed with this.

He clenched his teeth, realizing this point. Shame hugged his soul as his breathing shortened. After Rex picked up his father's old backpack and put a few things in there; photos, items, folders, and the personal and professional files and documents of his parents, as well as clothes of the two of them, he proceeded to make a call... disregarding every possibility that those 'people' will follow him.

Only now did Rex realize why there are those four house locations watching over their residence. It was because Faust was actually here.

'Cortana, search all pilots and drivers of the closest government armed forces... make sure not one of them will be able to fly in the sky and spy on us as we move out of this place. Lock all communication towers in the area from this place to the HQ. Hack into all plane and chopper systems and mess up their software. Do all you can to buy us some time.'

[Yes sir.]

One reason why Rex was decisive... those three 'watch towers' he'd eliminated were all UNICORN agents.

After his arrangements, Rex didn't feel like going to the airport now and so also made the call and spent a few minutes explaining a lie to them.

In the end, he ended up promising to follow them after no matter what.

Ten minutes later after the call ended, three trucks had arrived in the house and ten people —not one bit 'movers' in their presences— went to knock on the house and enter it.

Rex, of course, met with them and led them into his parents' room while giving out his orders.

Faust who was slumped in the salas clutching his head was surprised by these people and he tried to stop them only to be kicked back to the sofa by Rex himself.

"Stay there or I'll cripple you."

"No... don't take away Ellie... my work... my life..."

"You betrayed my family for this. Now you reap the hatred that you sowed in me."

After Rex spoke, he grabbed Faust by the jaw as his forehead lit up with a golden eye. Colors were reflected on Faust's face in a flashing rhythm and soon, Faust's face became blank... hypnotized. He became what Matt had been once before.

When he woke up, it was already night. The house was quiet and he felt fear. He ran back to the room but as soon as he did, what he saw there was just emptiness. The apparatuses, his computer, the HD and the folder files, the props, everything that had to do with his [Cradle of Life] has been taken away.

Faust then rushed on the other rooms and he also found them empty. Even Baron's room was empty, including his Car-bed and toys.

Even the bathroom was empty!

Rex took everything he could use to restart his work away!

It was as if the house owners had moved out of it and only Faust was left there standing like an idiot for many hours. Only when he collapsed on the floor did he feel the tiredness of his leg muscles.

He roared, cried, and howled... but no matter how much he tried to convince himself that this was just a dream, nothing changed and no one came to tell him that this was reality.

—at least, only until he heard footsteps came from the front door.

Faust, as if his arse was lit in fire, jumped to his feet and ran towards the door... and saw there the familiar face of the large brute, Graham.

"Graham... the boss..."

"Boss AG is sleeping. I am currently employed as an extra muscle for the Lord of Goldwyn City."

"Lord Goldwyn? AG's father?"

"Yes. And you are hereby being employed on his Lord's commands. If you agree, you will be given an even more advanced facility to continue your work... as you toil on his Lord's purpose. But if you choose to decline, then I will break your legs and then drag you back, give you said advanced facility but not give you a chance to continue your work as you will. If you choose to flee, however, I will make sure to put you in the experiments table as the lab specimen and not as the scientist. So what would be your choice, Doctor?"

Faust had just been out of the fire but now he was put into another oven to be cooked.

Is this retribution?

He couldn't help but cry inside. Of course he can only choose the first option. And so with it, he was employed by another boss with an even deeper goal. He could only do his job.

He couldn't help thinking about Rex and what he'd recalled his eyes were before he blacked out.

Faust felt scared, angry, and most of all, wronged.

He was doing this for Ellie, why is Rex mad at him?

Unknowingly, he began to hate Rex like an enemy as he thought then... Rex was trying to take away Ellie from him.

"Ellie is alive. I will bring her back to life. I swear."

He repeated this thought as he fueled his hate of Rex and his family.

"Just you wait... just you wait..."

Faust was lost to his thoughts.

*****

The trip back home wasn't smooth but it was easy.

He had to hitch a ride in the truck and followed the convoy with his bike at the rear. He paid attention to the vehicles behind them. Of the four houses in the subdivision, only one followed them and so he had to use the traffic lights to mislead the follower around the city until it totally lost track of them.

Still, he made sure to use the cameras to take a look at the face of the person following them.

And NOT to his surprise, the public profile records say the man was already dead for ten years now. A thought flashed on his mind, these people are all dedicated and are thereby dangerous.

The UNICORN was really good at forcing people to follow their bidding.

'Cortana, make sure to cover your tracks in the Net to avoid someone with your level of AI tracking it back to us. If possible, use prompt-induce external programs from computers worldwide.'

In other words, to avoid being traced back to them, building sets of spider web-like reactive programs on publicly-connected console systems to create a series of domains that serve as independent cored mazes, is the best way to leave tracers hanging.

Rex Kingsley may not be a top-ranked programmer but his experience on the field plus his Immortal life inside Terroa, as well as his experience in all of those years, have all become his foundation.

There is nothing wrong for being overly cautious.

Of course, Cortana was aware of his thoughts and this overly cautious Rex Kingsley was the reason why their Echelon Network was frighteningly scary to those 'moths' who were attracted to its fire. For the Echelon Network was designed based on Rex and his near-paranoid sense of insecurities.

The more angles he thought he could be attacked, the more Cortana produced ways to counter it. And when they exchanged ideas, the sturdier the outer shell of the Echelon Network becomes. The Hydra Rex had envisioned is getting bigger each day and more frightening each time that he thought of his enemies' strengths.

As those hackers serving as examples, a syllabus is made and they became the drones following the will of this online [God] of the Echelon Network.

[Leave it to me, boss.]

Using the money he got from trading, Rex bought a few 'expensive things' and covered it up in some official business-matters as the CEO of a company, as if he was going to do a personal experiment for a new product. Under this guise, even suspicious ones will have to go through official channels if an investigation for the items' usage were to even be pulled up from somewhere.

By that time, he trusted, the Echelon Network will be aware of this movement and in turn tip them up to prepare for a counter attack.

Rex didn't dare to buy the exact "things" that will be of help to the [Cradle of Life]. Those things are not only prohibited, but buying and shipping them could be traced back directly to him.

Deep in his heart, no matter how much he hated the ghastly thing, it was still something from his own mother's DNA so he confiscated it instead and decided to be the one to continue and finish the detestable project.

Lastly...

As Rex thought of the future he had yet to fully put a firm plan on, he went straight to the cemetery. It was to visit his parents' grave.

Ever since the accident, he'd only visited this place twice and now was the third time. On the past two visits, Rex was full of pain and suffering. Looking at the names on the gravestone made him feel so suffocated he couldn't last a minute in this place.

He carried a shovel, a bag, and his hands wore a pair of black leather gloves.

Wasting no more time, he stated to dig.

He only spent a short time apologizing to the two names in the gravestone before starting to dig the grave for the next hour. Given his physical abilities and his upgraded endurance, an hour was enough to fully dig up the coffin 6ft below.

"Dad... I will bring you guys back. I promise."

He lifted the coffin and opened it. The still rotting corpse of his father was still there and although it was revolting to some people, to Rex who saw two worlds in different lights, this was nothing.

Rex only needed a sample of his father's DNA. He took a few set of vials and pulled out a few strands of hair on his father's head before keeping it.

After taking what he came for, Rex closed up the coffin and started to dig his mother's grave.

He also did the same.

When he finished taking all samples, he took a ten-layered black plastic bag and put their corpses in it, sealing it off so that there was no smell that would leak out when he drive.

"Mom, Dad, just bear with this for now..."

Two hours later, the grave he had dug was put the same way it was before, except that the grass had been uprooted with a young patch planted anew, and the coffins inside were empty... with a letter he wrote for any grave diggers in the future.

"Mom, Dad... I will save you. I promise." He told his last words before putting two bouquets of flowers he took from somewhere and placed it on the two graves before spending a few minutes in prayer.

In the darkness, the golden eye on his forehead is as eye-catching as a bright moon.

His vision was as clear as day and Rex made sure no one was watching around him.

Then he left with a medium-sized box tied securely behind him. He then went into a different memorial park that he had arranged with the power of money earlier, and then placed the two on a mausoleum with names written in Ancient Mitran Characters.

Only he, someone from Mitra, could read it.

He did the work alone the entire night. The guards of the memorial park only saw him come and leave and didn't pay too much attention to him.

Everything was settled this way.

On his way, Rex still put a few more contingency plans in place before he finally sighed in relief.

Satisfied, only then did he discover that he'd spent an entire night for all of his preparations and so felt tired and decided to rest.

He had so many things to take care of here in the real world...

......and in Terroa.

*****

Siva logged in.

He was still back in the room and two full days had already passed since.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw there the floating armor of the BMA.

Players can log out but Terroa continues to live on.

That said, the BMA —and all the other Puppets in deployment status— have their local-HD. In there were basic instructions that Cortana left through the 'Mini Realm' Central Station.

—and when Siva saw the BMA in the corner of his room, he thought of an idea.

'Cortana, let's design an item that can integrate the Mini Realm's functionalities in it.'

[Sir, just a reminder; 70% of the materials we have in stock have been dedicated to Asgard in support of the Dragon Revitalization Project. You have put all of our Cryogenic Elements and 90% of the big actuators and metal resource on them, sir. Your blueprint design of the Power Core had 90% of all the Tesla Coils and other Resource Mega Crates we had. What we have here is only the resources to create the existing projects in the Task Palette.]

'Let me see the Task Palette.'

Current Processes:

1) SS-Generator 1000pcs: (29.67%)

2) 4th Dáinsleif: (23.71%)

3) Dáinsleif Ammunition: 51 (next: 44%)

4) Rewloola (retrofit part number 17 of 23): 9.5%

5) Rewloola (retrofit part number 18 of 23): 8.1%

6) Rewloola (retrofit part number 19 of 23): 7.9%

7) Rewloola (retrofit part number 20 of 23): 6.6%

8) Rewloola (retrofit part number 21 of 23): 5.7%

9) BM-Puppet "Maxima": 90.02%

10) BM-Puppet "Tai Long": 89.91%

11) BM-Puppet repairs: (97.12%)

12) Cortana [Nano Body] modifications: 48.17%

13) ------

14) ------

15) ------

16) ------

17) ------

18) ------

19) ------

20) ------

21) PNF (LV6) Synchronization: 7.42%

22) PNF (LV6) Synchronization: 7.42%

23) PNF (LV6) Synchronization: 7.42%

24) PNF (LV6) Synchronization: 7.42%

25) PNF (LV6) Synchronization: 7.42%

Dáinsleif needed a day to finish. This was the 4th and its unique ammunition was also a challenge so for the past few days, he only has 51 bullets made.

Siva glanced over another corner and saw the set of the circular Portable Nano Furnace, complete with the Design Table and Assembly Area.

For Engineers, this was a marvelous sight.

The Portable Nano Furnace continued to hum and hiss as it made the items. This was Invention but its creation was unique because while it was a Human Technology in origins, it was made through the use of a Memory Crystal —it's qualified to be ranked as a pseudo-Divine Artifact.

In fact, every item from the Terran-Human Alliance agreement was pseudo-Divine Artifact by the mere fact that it was made by Terra's treasure's Mana as a catalyst to create its magical effects.

—using that fact as an anchor, Siva thought he can modify the Mini Realm into a more convenient item with a more convenient way to using it.

As such, he immediately put himself into a deep brainstorming session that lasted for a few hours.

"No choice about it. I need to hunt for resources."

[Should we visit Terrafirma to ask resources from the Terran Alliance?]

"That's suicide. What more, I also need to finish my business here before we continue with the Soul-Body Research Experiment before beginning that weaponization project for the Mini Realm."

Siva pulled his player window and tapped on the space above his name.

With a prompting sound, the EXP panel appeared.

EXP: 7,898

He knew he killed at least over 7,000,000 people in Alexandria, bringing him to a conclusion of every innocent life counting as 0.001 EXP.

He unlocked [] and [] of the Inventory Plus Ultra with it, along with his guilt.

«» (LVL-6)

Type: Accessory

Rarity: Unique

Weight Units: 5 we

Inventory Slots: 10 slots

Durability: 100/100%

Materials: *Unknown*

Manufacturer: *Unknown*

Blessing from an Ascension Candidate who took the path of Space and Time. Forced by circumstances or given by will, the Immortal had extracted his essence and injected his spirit to create an item unique in both existence and essence across the eons.

*Inventory Slots +9,999,600 (Upgradable)

*Weight Limits Expansion (+2000 units to MAXwe)

>Enable Upgrade [UNLOCKED]

>Enable Time-Space Cabinet [UNLOCKED]

>Enable World Realm Utility [UNLOCKED]

>Enable Split Dimension [LOCKED]