Soul Digger-Chapter 73: ANALYSING PERCEPTIVE

Velonica pressed her lips together; she concurred with Rolan's words—after all, he had mentioned it in their agreement. Then again, that wasn't what bothered her. More accurately, it was how they would go against the force manipulating events from behind the scenes.

Rolan smoothed his hair back, glaring at the creature's remains as the scattered flesh shattered into the blowing winds until it vanished. He wore a troubled look, adequately hidden by his playful smirk and relaxed eyes. Velonica stared at him while Rolan gazed at the snow—a rather awkward exchange.

In his mind, Rolan was hesitant to reveal any of his theories and suspicions to Velonica. Despite their alliance, he couldn't risk exposing all the thoughts he harbored about the trial. Also, a strange tug made him feel as though pieces of Velonica's story had been left out.

Trust issues or simple precaution? Either way, Rolan wasn't willing to fully involve Velonica in all his actions. He was willing to help her exact revenge and overcome the obstacles blocking her from awakening; apart from that, to him, she was a useful tool that would make his trial easier, even by an inch.

"Should we head back?" Rolan asked in a calm voice, as though everything they discovered about the hybrid had blown past him.

Velonica nodded, her neck movements somewhat stiff. Obedient as she was, small doubts about Rolan lingered within her. She was willing to follow Rolan's orders to the letter, but that didn't mean she had become a puppet to be pulled by strings.

Velonica stretched a bit, easing some of the tension in her body and mind. The icy wind forced its way against their features; Rolan bore the larger brunt of the sensation, the frosty air biting his skin thinner with each collision. He didn't shiver; instead, he tucked his hands away and began walking in the opposite direction.

Like a shadow, Velonica followed behind him with firm steps. Beneath the snow, the red ooze seeped out like smoke from a lit flame.

Meanwhile...

In the city at the North Pole, Caesar sat freely as he introspected on his group's next steps. The people were acting strange, as usual. Caesar tried his luck asking more people to see if anyone was still normal. Out of all fifty people he asked, none of them were any different.

It was a huge strain on his mental health; it felt like his head was being pressed from both sides, and a nagging sensation reoccurred at the center of his mind. Caesar rubbed the area between his forehead, eyes, and nose, trying to piece things together. The lone survivor of the fire was also at risk; whatever lurked beneath the guise of the trial would surely try to eradicate any loose ends.

Fortunately, beforehand, Caesar instructed Snider and four other members of his group to act as bodyguards. At first, Caesar didn't want to reveal her location to reduce the danger that would befall her, but there was only so much he could handle.

The tepid warmth of the false sun radiated throughout the set, a minuscule yet pleasant advantage of the city. The smell of a nice warm latte blew past his nose; the piping hot scent of steamed milk and delightful espresso made him breathe in with excitement.

"You want one?" Nagita asked kindly, two steaming cups of latte firmly clasped in her hands.

Caesar was in a bit of awe. The scent was tempting, but more importantly... "Where did you get the money to buy this? We don't have their currency."

"There might not be an exchange rate for our currency right now, but the same can't be said for a good deed," she said, proudly swaying her head.

"Huh?"

"I helped an old woman carry groceries. In the end, I discovered she owned a café. To cut the story short, she gave me two lattes as a thank you." A gleeful smile spanned across her face.

"That's pretty convenient." Caesar leaned back.

Accepting the latte Nagita offered, Caesar adjusted to the side to create space for her on the bench. Once she sat down, Nagita dusted her outfit and whispered while sipping the drink.

"Any luck?" She used the tilted cup to hide her moving lips.

Caesar did the same; with a pained squeeze, he denied it. The closest link and only witness was the lone survivor, and even then, she was unconscious in a private clinic. According to the doctor, she had suffered a mental breakdown. How much time would pass before she recovered was still unknown.

Caesar greased the cup with his saliva, exhaling the steam along with a heavy sigh. Nagita tapped her cup, drumming on the plastic material as though vibing to a song. Caesar observed her with intrigue oozing from his stare; a few questions came to his mind.

He took another sip of the latte. "While Rolan and I exchanged heated words, you were quiet. Do you mind sharing what you noticed with me?" His voice gurgled slightly.

Nagita tightened her lips and clenched the cup until it nearly bent out of shape, a weird look plastered on her face like the cross between an ugly mask and an irritated scowl. Caesar regretted asking the question upon seeing her expression and tilted forward. In an empathizing tone, he requested Nagita to discard his words as mere snooping and forget the question. A thread of distrust tightly wrapped around their necks; considering all that had occurred and the chance of an imposter, it was an expected outcome.

An outcome Nagita refused to accept. She lowered her head and drew the bent cup closer until it was inches from kissing her soft lips, bending it at the top where the latte poured from, and whispered below her breath, "I had a hypothesis during that time."

Both of Caesar's brows nearly collided as he furrowed them. He wore a plain, uneventful face as he sharpened his hearing, blocking out the crowds of people passing. Nagita coiled her fingers around the cup's waist like a stressed employee. "The people of this North Pole aren't real anymore." Her words tripled the weight of the light breeze.

Like a tough brick, the thought crushed Caesar's mind in a single swoop. He bit his teeth into his lips as he pressed his feet against the ground as if attempting to crush it with the force of his rage. Visible veins drew across his arm all the way to his fingers, yet in an opposingly gentle voice, he gurgled, "What makes you so sure? I believe you understand the gravity of what you're saying."

Her eyes rolled to the side. "It's just speculation for now; don't flame me for it." Her response was a nervous murmur. "It came to me when I added some things together. At first, when the trial began, all the conditions surrounding it and the higher-ups' overly lax attitude towards us freshmen was alarming. When I asked Antadisma, she indirectly confirmed my first assumption, which tormented my mental health..."

Caesar involuntarily gaped, then pulled his composure back together. In a faint shudder, he asked, "What was your first assumption?"

"That passing the trial was impossible. The only way to progress is to become awakened and survive long enough for her to get back. At that time, I underestimated the trial's intensity. I thought it would just be constantly dealing with man-eaters, but I was wrong. It's far beyond that... which gave birth to my second assumption."

Caesar gulped down a heavy batch of his own spit, his bright eyes falling paler than the Antarctic's synthetic sun.

"When Sylzao started acting strangely, I had a hunch he was being manipulated by someone. Normally, I had a split thought that I was being paranoid and it was one of our Indulgers responsible for personal reasons, but the idea of an imposter among us kept bothering me throughout. I'm still unsure of which is which, even now."

"The third aspect puzzling me was the fire—how it started, ended, and the people's reactions to it. At first, when I consoled the crowd, their behavior felt natural; the worry, anxiety, fear, and bewilderment were all genuine. After that time, I tried to question some of them and..."

Caesar widened his eyes in realization; her conjectures coiled around his throat like enclosed palms and strangled him.

"They changed completely. Their actions, emotions, and attitudes were phony. Whenever I mentioned the fire, the conversation declined into an abysmal chat with a brick wall... no, more accurately, a talk with a badly programmed AI. The incident with the fire speaks for itself; the whole BS about the workers' negligence causing the flames wasn't deceiving anyone. I think... though it's just a thought, the main aim was to annihilate YOU, the strongest link among us rookies. The regrouping was plotted to divide us into weaker portions and strategically take us out simultaneously. And..."

"Stop..." Caesar's head bulged intensely; his mind nearly exploded trying to compact the information flooding in. "What's your overall point?" His composure cracked.

"This trial is a trap. All the Indulgers are chess pieces, and the people involved are just guinea pigs. I don't know what the overall gain is, but... considering how sly and cunning whatever is behind these incidents acts, it's nothing small."

"How... rather, why did you keep all this to yourself?"

Nagita took her drink down, its contents half empty. "I don't know. I had no evidence to back anything up, and it sounds kind of delusional." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"You shouldn't have done it anyway." Caesar did the same, his cup on the brink of being empty. "Next time, try to share your burdens. I couldn't believe you'd been keeping this much to yourself for so long."

"It was psychologically draining, honestly, but I'm happy I shared this with you." A stunning gleam flashed on her pinkish lips as a wide smile visibly drew across her cheeks, resonating with the joyous tears sliding down her face. "Then again, you can't really blame me. If an imposter was in our midst, I couldn't differentiate who is who. One could say I was playing it safe."

"True." The tension passed his skin with the flowing breeze. "By the way. Do you think an Indulger is orchestrating these events?"