It took Jarxen a few minutes before he could arrive at Block 16. He had to explain a few things to the management after losing one of his ear-pieces. He expected that punishment would greet him first and foremost as soon as he arrives at his block but as to what it was specifically supposed to be, he was never told. That's why he was especially nervous when he entered his block.
That's when he saw it.
"Wait! What's this Nexus humanoid doing here?!" Jarxen exclaimed, the shocked look on his face was refreshing to see for the teenagers as they whipped their face towards him in surprise. For the first time ever since the teenagers arrived, he showed a hint of worry and pity to the teenagers.
After regaining his composure and clearing his throat twice, he seriously eyed everyone and started explaining things that they already know. But to their surprise, Jarxen told them almost everything regarding the Asterisk."Listen here maggots, the Asterisk is a building owned by Nexus Corporation. This building consists of twelve blocks and each of them has a specific role."
"First, we have the Sorting Block, this is where us workers sort materials and stuff to their separate orders. The Sorting Blocks are probably the easiest out of all the blocks here. Block fifteen happens to be one of the few Sorting Blocks here in Asterisk. It sucks none of you were put there, but hey! You get to be where the action is!" He teased, putting tinder to the fire of apprehension that the teenagers already have.
"Next, we have the Assembly Block. This is where they assemble the Nexus humanoids." Jarxen continued, popping a thumb and pointing it to the humanoid that stood completely still inside the testing room. "Then after that, the humanoid will be sent to the Finishing Block where they get sanded and polished down to perfection. You can see by how shiny that piece of metal is."
"Lastly, it arrives here at the Testing Block. This is where we test the Nexus humanoids if they're ready for combat. Usually, the first humanoids will be sent three days after the new batch of testers arrive. I don't know why they sent it as early as now but it's all water under the bridge. Right now, we have to do our job and fight that humanoid." He gritted his teeth. Due to his incompetence, the new recruits will face the brunt of the punishment for him losing his earpiece. He figured he didn't have to mention that mistake to his new batch of workers since that might cause a riot.
Tsk~! That earpiece! Jarxen thought to himself. He still couldn't recall where he had dropped it. He was too focused on the new recruits that he made such a stupid mistake. Even he couldn't believe it!
Red raised his hand. Jarxen looked like he was about to jump on him but he restrained himself and gestured him to ask his question. "I have a lot of questions in mind but one thing strikes me as odd about this place."
"According to what you said, we have twelve blocks. But why did our block reach the number sixteen? Shouldn't the last block be twelve?" He asked.
"You're a smartass, aren't you? Do you want me to shove your brain into your butt so you won't stop asking stupid questions?" Jarxen bit his lip as if trying to show his compassionate side but he wasn't doing a good job on it.
"It's probably because two of the numbers between one and twelve are unlucky as per belief, and one of them is extremely lucky. So the head of this place went up to fifteen so he wouldn't use those numbers, but the number thirteen would be included in the series so he used up to sixteen to name the blocks. In short, he didn't use the numbers four, seven, nine, and thirteen. I don't know why but that's probably the case." Blond told everyone. He doesn't know why he was so adept at cross-examining and deductions. Even that time when Red stole the ear-piece, he didn't actually see it, he just used deductive reasoning on the unfolding events and arrived at the conclusion.
"Another smart-ass. Why don't you go first? Smart-ass number one." Jarxen disappointingly said. Deep inside, he was sad to see the redhead go, but he knew that one of them had to fight the humanoid or else his block will receive dire penalties from the Head.
Everyone looked at Red expectantly. They knew that their turn would come but they didn't expect one of the smartest of the group to be sacrificed first. Blond gritted his teeth and almost shouted out but he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention to himself. That's why he remained silent; however, he couldn't help but look at Red with grief. They only met today but he felt like he already got along with him for years.
I guess this is what you feel when someone close to you, literally speaking, will die. Blond thought to himself.
Red stood up with a determined look on his face. His personality seemed to turn one-eighty degrees as he silently approached the door to the testing room. No one dared to stop him but everyone felt the tension with every step that he took. Even Jarxen was dumbfounded by how willingly Red approached the testing room.
As for Red, well, he just concluded that he didn't have any choice but to go through it. If there's a divine intervention that's supposed to happen, right now's the time. He prayed but he didn't stop himself from entering the testing room. At the furthest corners of his mind, he had already accepted his death.
The humanoid was nothing but perfection compared to the ones shown in the movies. With its features resembling that of a human and sleek metallic skin, one could see that he looked more human compared to the personnel that runs the place. Even his facial features were incomparable to good-looking celebrities.
The assembly block really did a good job on this one... wait, this is not the time to think about that! I must focus on not dying today! Red clenched his fists, ready to fly at the humanoid.
"Wait!" Somebody shouted from behind him.