It was the next day that Cade opened his eyes.
He saw a white ceiling, and his nose stung from the odor of disinfectants. He also felt the sensation of a hard mattress against his back.
It didn't take that long for Cade to recognize where he was.
'The hospital?'
Ever since his parents went missing, Cade had forgone all the thoughts of entering a hospital. His body might be pained, hurt, or even bruised hard, but the cost of entering a Hospital was not something that their little household, which only consisted of him and Elsa, could take.
It pained Cade a bit as he imagined the huge amount of money that he would need to pay to the hospital. Nonetheless, things had been done, and he could only accept the reality. At least he was able to get back with his life intact, he thought.
Cade raised his upper torso up. He then placed his hand on his chest and felt the vibrations coming from there. His heart was beating without a problem.
Just as Cade was stuck in a daze, a heavy voice came from the side.
" You have woken up, huh?"
Cade was surprised by the weighty voice coming from the corner of the hospital room and hurriedly turned his head to look.
"I apologize if we took you by surprise."
"Unfortunately, we are a bit pressed in time. Last night, there was another report of a disappearance case. Bit different from before, there was a survivor this time."
Two men with the Luminous City Police badge on their chest approached Cade's bed. Cade tilted his head as he was still pretty much confused about the situation.
" Well, sorry for the late introduction. We are from the Luminous City Police station. And we are here to investigate the disappearance case. I know this might be a bit too rushed as you also have just woken up from your comma. However, please realize our situation too."
One of the guys, one with a much more approachable look, presents his identity card, which much to Cade's relief.
Cad looked at the identity card and read what was written on it.
'Jalen Stark, member of Luminous City special Police guard?'
The Special Police Guard, just like its name suggested is pretty much different from regular police. They were a department in the police with many strong arcane, specialized in managing and controlling all the Arcane Card user in Luminous city. And now two of its member was dispatched here. It seemed the Luminous City major had indeed taken this case seriously.
"What does the Special Police Guard want from me?"
Jalen Stark smiled as he heard these questions. He instructed the one who looked like his subordinate to stay back a bit as he dragged a chair closer to the bed and sat down.
The other man had a pretty intimidating face, and Cade felt relieved when he knew Jalen was the one that came to talk to him.
As Jalen took a seat, he began to convey their meaning to Cade. The story he conveyed was rather surprising, though.
"I am the only survivor of the disappearance case?!"
" Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case. By any chance, do you remember what happened before you blacked out?"
"Yes…."
Cade looked a bit uncertain as he answered Jalen's question. Still, after some persuasion, he decided to tell the story to Jalen.
"Please tell us everything you can remember."
Cade told them everything truthfully, but it was only up to the point where Grigory appeared. After that, he just said that he all of a sudden lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he had already arrived at the hospital.
"And that's when you lost your consciousness… Is that all?"
"Yes. I open my eyes next, and I'm in a hospital."
Jalen and his lackey exchanged meaningful glances. It was clear that they didn't fully believe Cade's story, and thought there might be something deeper than this.
Nonetheless, they couldn't do anything as all their moves needed to follow the regulation.
As Cade saw the situation was going the wrong way, he tried to change the direction of the topic.
"Just how did I get to this hospital? Did you guys catch the culprit?"
"Well, actually…."
Jalen awkwardly opened his mouth.
"By the time we arrived, we didn't see anything other than the unconscious you. Therefore, we are a bit sorry, but we also don't know about the condition of the culprit…."
The two continued to chat about the disappearance case, but as time passed, Jalen soon noticed that Cade didn't really have the intention to answer his questions.
Jalen rapidly realized that being here was a waste of time, so he got up from his seat.
"Well, that's enough for now. Mr. Cade, thank you for your cooperation. Let's go."
"Yes, sir."
Jalen and his lackey quickly packed up to leave.
As if they had lost their interest in Cade, two men-in-Ploce Uniform left the room as soon as they put away the device.
The hospital room that felt rather small suddenly became quiet and lonely.
"…"
Cade could scratch his cheek.
'I guess I am still pretty suspicious, aren't I.'
Well, if he thought about it, there's every reason for the guys to get suspicious.
There was a lot of disappearance case, but he was the only survivor. Adding to the fact that he looked as if he tried to hide something, only idiots would believe that he didn't know anything at all about this disappearance case.
It could not be blamed on him, though. He was just a normal civilians before, and no matter how hard he tried to hide it, he was still a novice in the eyes of professionals.
Nonetheless, Cade could only care less about this. After all, he lived in a world where the rule was pretty strict, and there's almost little to no chance that they would ambush him in the dark.
Cade continued to lay on the bed. But if you look closely, Cade who previously didn't like any ornament on his body now had a pendant hanging on his neck.