"You're right, Curl. But, let's face it. All of us have no idea about our past identities and that could possibly well be our greatest individual weakness. If you were in Blond's shoes and you found a map of something in your pocket, then you should assume that it's connected to the past you." Freckles defended Blond's decision.
"And after discovering that, you can safely assume that the item is either your trump card or your weakness. It also has that risk factor of exposing your identity to everyone, triggering their memory of you if there were any."
"I know most of us have hidden pockets and I'm not forcing you to tell us anything. I don't trust any of you either." Blond tactlessly stated. "But if we're ever going to get out of here alive, then we need everyone's help. Do consider telling us what you have."
With Blond's final words, the meeting was adjourned and they returned to their prospective bunks. Blond was right about everyone having hidden pockets. As to why it was there no one could remember. "It's either the head of this place gave us those things on purpose, or we were able to sneak them in our clothes before we lost our memories. Those are the only possibilities I could think of." Blond said in his mind.
The heavy atmosphere in the room weighed down upon them as they contemplated about Blond's plea. Although it would risk exposing their identity, their main goal is to recover their memories and escape from the facility. If one of these conditions is met, then the other condition would be easier to fulfill.
"Red... "
"... Red!"
"What is it?"
"I'm hungry."
Red concernedly gazed on Curl's face, almost losing his concentration on the task of examining the map. What Curl said bothered him. After all, the group, as a whole, was already suffering from hunger, not just Curl. "Just endure it a little bit more. If you can't then you can eat my arm or whatever."
"... ..." Curl's eyes sparkled as she eyed Red's arm.
"I WAS KIDDING!" Red shivered. For a moment there, Curl looked like she was considering Red's offer.
"I'm just teasing you, but I might just do it if you so willingly offered like that." Curl chuckled.
"Don't even think about it."
Red decided to ignore Curl and her constant ramblings about her hunger. "You're not the only one going through it, you know," Red said to himself, barely hiding the scowl on his face.
The map was carefully laid on Red's bed as he scrutinized every portion of it. He knew perfectly well what the map represented although he never told anyone. It was one of the first things he overheard back when he deliberately snatched the earpiece from Jarxen. Coincidentally, it was the same word written on Gadge's strip of paper.
OUTSIDE.
Red could tell that the place was a magnanimous one, spanning a hundred and eleven kilometers from one end to another. The whereabouts of the territory were unknown, but Red was certain they would encounter the place sooner or later. "They said something about an annual event... what do they mean about that?"
Red played the conversation again and again in his mind but that's the only time the Outside was ever mentioned.
Runners Survivors is happening in a week, make sure you prepare the Outside by then. Those were the exact words Red heard from the person Jarxen was talking to. After that, Jarxen flipped off after realizing his earpiece was missing.
"Runners Survivors... Outside... " Red muttered to himself, trying to piece all the puzzles together. "I don't think it's a simple matter."
Red finally exhausted himself, folding the map and handing it back to Blond. Unsurprisingly, Red could remember every single detail on the map, like a painted picture being displayed in the walls at the back of his mind.
"Any leads?"
"Not much, but I'm certain this map is connected to an annual event here at Nexus Corporation. We should leave Jarxen in the dark and not ask him any questions about it." With a grave look on his face, Red explained to Blond the seriousness of the matter.
Long story short, don't talk to Jarxen about it. He might get suspicious.
Blond returned the map in the depths of his hidden pockets as he sighed in disappointment. Here he was, thinking that Red would finally get a move on on what the map was about, but to no avail.
.....
Back at the Dome, Jarxen was seen stomping profusely as veins popped on his neck. "What is that smart-ass thinking?! Argh~! " He exclaimed.
Just when Jarxen got back to his senses, one of the personnel stopped in his tracks and flinched, reacting to his impulsive scream. "My apologies, please excuse me." The personnel muttered as he quickly skittered away, stopping only a few times to check on Jarxen's reaction.
"Still haven't gotten used to them, I see." Someone commented from his back. "Problem batch this time?"
"More like, a-batch-who-needs-babysitting time." Jarxen rudely remarked. "What brings you all the way here, Ventio."
Ventio cleared her throat. Compared to other women her age, she was a force to be reckoned with. Standing over six-feet with a semi-muscular build, she easily made her way up the corporation, earning her two blocks. If looks could kill, then one glance at her would definitely earn you a right to your grave. Appearance-wise she's above average, and her blond hair and blue eyes were like icing to the cake. Adding to that, Ventio was one of the rare block owners who own two blocks: two Sorting Blocks to be specific.
"I heard what happened from the higher-ups. Apparently, a newly tested server humanoid suddenly got a lot of errors in its program, making the network shut down and disabling hundreds of humanoids in that network. I'm guessing it's due to the batch who needs babysitting, correct?"
Jarxen's jaws dropped. It was his first time hearing about it. His feet felt like jellies and his stomach seemed to lurch up as he almost fell down rear-side first.
A humanoid costs hundreds of millions of dollars at most. Compared to a server humanoid, it is but a small amount. However, it's a different topic compared to a whole network of humanoids. At the maximum, it would probably cost thousands of trillions of dollars.
Jarxen could feel a headache creeping up to him but he held his ground and ignored his flight-response.
All that because of that smart-ass? Ugh... this is getting more troublesome than I thought! He screamed at the back of his mind.
"You alright?" Ventio stepped closer to Jarxen and checked his already flustered face. "You look like you need a trip to the bathroom." She teased.
"Don't joke with me. Just tell me one thing." Jarxen said, his deep voice reverberating around the Dome as if a car engine was warming itself up.
"What?"
"How many days would it take before they can bring the network back online?"
"Mmm... since we don't have programmers here, it would probably take three weeks, give or take. They still need to outsource from our business partners before they could start patching things up." Ventio adjusted her glasses. "I guess... it's too late by then."
"Of course it would be too late!" Jarxen exclaimed. It was a rather weird response since he exclaimed with a deep voice. "The Runners Survivors is happening in a week."
"Don't worry about it, Head Cipher is already working things out for the event."
"I just shudder at the thought of a severe last-second punishment before they get rid of this batch."
"That's to be expected, right?" Ventio rubbed salt in his wounds. Finding her chance to leave, she walked towards the second floor without even a wave of goodbye towards Jarxen.
"And to think that this is just the second day... "
Jarxen kept on sighing as he headed to the second floor of the Dome where the cafeteria was located. It had been a long day and a nice helping of dinner is sure to fill him up.
By the time he reached the place, it was already filled with hundreds of personnel. A brief tension appeared in the room when all of them simultaneously locked eyes with Jarxen. Averting their gaze after a split second, the cafeteria returned back to its normal atmosphere, well, except for Jarxen, of course.
"All of them heard about it, huh." He sighed for the twentieth time.
"One helping of beefsteak and mashed potatoes, coming right up." The cook announced as soon as Jarxen reached his turn. He smiled to himself. At least the cook still treated him the same.
"No need to tell us anything. We know it's not your fault." The cook continued. "The resistance kept pushing us back, and now, with a network of humanoid down, we're expecting severe losses. Things are aggravating due to the Runners Survivors coming up. That might be the reason why they'll brand you as the scapegoat of the incident."
"I'm just surprised the resistance is still alive up to this point. Why won't they give up." Jarxen responded. He desperately tried to redirect the subject away from him.
Suddenly, a huge shriek erupted in the cafeteria.
"LET ME GO!" A woman's voice echoed