The Evolution of Genius: Every Night, I Get Smarter!-Chapter 87: Coelus

"Welcome to Hell," Veronica said. Then, she jumped out of her chair and started running in the direction that seemed to lead to the kitchen, exerting all her power in her legs.

She might have been looking for a tool to kill us with.

I made a quick decision and lunged at her, bringing her down to the ground.

While struggling, she suddenly screeched, "This is an experiment, Max! An experiment!"

With swift movements, I incapacitated her, securing her hands and legs together while sitting on top of her. She desperately tried to get away.

"Oliv, quickly bring the bed sheets from upstairs right now!" I shouted with urgency in my voice.

Oliv, who stood on the side, yelled, "What in the fuck happened to her, Max?! What the fuck?!"

"I’ll explain later; just go get the bed sheets!" I hurriedly responded to Oliv’s questions.

As Oliv rushed upstairs to fetch the bed sheets, The Lord, who had left the house earlier, hurriedly entered through the door. He commented, "We aren’t waiting until tomorrow, Max."

Oliv quickly came downstairs and tossed the bedsheets to me.

As I began to bind them around Veronica’s limbs, Oliv turned to The Lord and asked me, "Who the hell is that man?"

The Lord turned his attention to me, "Max, is she going with us?"

"Yes." I nodded affirmatively.

After this, Veronica, who lay beneath me, suddenly shouted, "Max, what the hell are you doing to me?!"

I exchanged a glance with The Lord, and after a brief pause, he asked, "Is she also going with us?"

As Veronica continued to shout, she exclaimed, "Wait, what the heck! I’m not going anywhere with you. What’s happening? Is this your kink, Max, or something?"

I knew it would be hard to convince Veronica of the supernatural events because she did not know much about my strange situation. It seemed like the only way for her to really understand was to go with us and see for herself.

I decided to unbind her. I explained, "This is not what you think, Veronica. If you want to understand why I did that, you’ll need to come with us. But I won’t force you to go; decide for yourself."

In response, Veronica, with a hint of sadness, said, "I didn’t know that you’re mentally ill. Leave me alone..."

"Sure. I will call for a taxi to take you back home."

The Lord spoke up and said, "Do not waste any more time. They jumped back out of that girl, so they can probably do it one person at a time. If they found the counterpart of her, then they can also find the counterpart of your girlfriend."

"Is there a way to stop them from jumping into someone?" I asked The Lord quickly.

The Lord replied, "Of course, once someone has gone through Separation enough times, it gets harder for them to take the Jump into that person. That is why you should follow me to Coelus right now so we can make Olivia go through Separation."

In order to protect our family members, I asked if they could also make my parents and Oliv’s parents go through Separation.

The Lord informed me that he had already sent his people to do that. He then told us to follow him.

Veronica’s voice echoed from behind as we were about to leave, "Wait! I’m going with you."

The Lord said quietly, "I will also send someone to her mother." It was clear that He had a good grasp of what was going on.

In the midst of this, we entered a pink car with The Lord. During the ride, I mostly used the time to tell Oliv who he was.

Even though Veronica looked confused, she chose to follow us into the unknown because she seemed to trust my judgment.

I turned to The Lord and asked, "How did you get here so fast when I was on the call?"

He said, "I was close to an Observer, so it was easy for me to show up here. But to get back, we need to drive to the suburbs of Frankfurt; that is where the closest Observer is."

We parked in front of a house that looked like any other in the neighborhood.

We got out of the car, and I asked, "If they can jump into anyone they want, can’t they jump into someone who can use an atomic bomb or start a war?"

We walked to the house, and The Lord said, "Think about it. Why do you think the first Observer we entered was in a white house? All important people in the world either know about Separation, or we have forced them into it."

As we went inside, The Lord led us to a door that opened into a spandrel, a triangle-shaped room under the stairs.

The Lord looked at me and the girls and said, "Come in." He then pointed to the inside.

The girls exchanged puzzled glances, and I quickly advised, "Don’t ask questions, just get in." I led the way, entering the concealed space.

The Lord closed the door behind us, and a second later, he opened it again.

As we came out of the spandrel, we found ourselves on what I would call a modern skyscraper floor, but there were no walls. It was an open space with a square-shaped gray floor and windows that went all the way around it.

I was able to view a sky that was a bright green color through the windows, which was a unique sight.

Veronica looked shocked and asked, "What the hell just happened?" Oliv, on the other hand, asked, "Where are we exactly?"

The Lord said, "Welcome to Coelus, to the Olaf Tower, to be exact, the second-highest tower in Nexus City. We don’t have time, so follow me. I will explain this place to you on the way..."

After this, The Lord started walking toward the only other object on the floor, a huge transparent bubble. On the way, he began explaining, "Nexus City is the capital of Coelus. The city has multiple levels, each characterized by a grid pattern of towering buildings, each reaching an impressive height of 300 stories."

As we stood next to the bubble, one wall of the bubble opened from the top to the bottom.

We entered, and The Lord continued, "The buildings aren’t physically touching, but each of them is connected to the streets, which are traversed using elevators, just like this bubble. The streets are enclosed by a glass roof and transparent walls."

Strange metallic elements started gathering around our bodies like wisps as the elevator started to fall much faster than elevators on Earth.

The Lord said, "They work like magnets, so we can stop gravity from pulling on your body. Other than that, fusion-powered systems keep the pressure the same at every level."

We reached the bottom of the tower and entered what seemed like a multilevel highway, turning to the left. A plethora of lights came from the skyscrapers. The towers stood so densely that one could barely see the sky.

All around us, hundreds of bubbles just like ours moved to and fro with people inside, above, below, left, and right.

We moved at a speed that barely allowed me to notice the people inside, but I did notice a significant difference in clothing. Some were fully clothed, not showing any skin, while others barely had anything on.

The Lord, noticing my gaze, remarked, "There are only two ideologies left on Coelus, and people find balance even if they don’t agree with each other."

Veronica, who had been looking around in all directions, seemed like she was about to faint. Both she and Oliv were just staring, unable to say a word.

After a brief pause, The Lord pointed to the right, where a massive mirror-like structure could be seen, and said, "Do you see that tower? It has a thousand floors, but no one lives there. It’s the Nexus Tower. It powers the entire city and the neighborhood by catching the discharges from Swarms around a local star."

Swarms? What I thought about were Dyson Swarms. It was a hypothetical vast number of solar-collecting satellites or space habitats that orbited the star at various distances.

After this, The Lord said, "The science tower is located on the floor below us, so we should reach an intersection soon."

A few seconds later, we did in fact come to a crossroads where streets looked to meet, apparently serving as transit hubs to allow easy vertical travel between the city’s levels; it was a 6-way intersection.

After this, the bubble stopped for a moment, waiting for its turn before descending below ground level.

It descended to a lower elevation, and once again, we could see a skyscraper-filled, crowded city from above.

"We will need to get to the 286th floor, so this way will be closer," the Lord stated as the bubble, rather than continuing all the way down, halted around the 200th floor and entered a grid of highways.