After the class, Lucius and the rest went to the cafeteria where they got food. Seeing Lucius with a tray filled with Steak, chicken, and salmon, students were shaken by his appetite, but they couldn't make fun of him. If it was before, when he was a loner and only hung out with Ralph they probably would have made fun of the two, but he was with the God set now, and it was no different from a death wish talking down on him.
"You have lost quite a lot of weight." Lucius said the moment he sat down and saw Ralph walking over with Silver.
Throughout the day, he had been distracted by the events of the night he met Silver as Black Death, to notice Ralph's physical change. Till now, he felt spooked by the fact Silver was actually on his tail, and he couldn't shake the feeling that this next appearance may be his last.
"Well, I train with Silver every day, and boy he is much stronger than you think." Ralph laughed.
Over a month ago, he was fat, but now he had reduced drastically and could be considered chubby at best. His round form had changed considerably, giving him a more masculine/macho body shape. If allowed to continue this for a few more months, Ralph would become a whole new person.
Soon everyone was seated and eating silently when Dean asked a question Lucius wished he never asked.
"I am certain the information you shared with the police on your interaction with Black Death is not accurate. Care to share your findings?" Dean asked.
A mischievous smile spread across Silver's face as he noticed the interested looks on everyone's faces, except for Lucius.
"First things first, I am certain Black Death is a Deviant but a special kind." Silver said, attracting frowns from everyone at the table.
"What do you mean?" Maya asked.
"During our encounter, It felt like I was in the presence of a wild animal desperately trying to restrain itself. It felt like there were two sides to him, the animal side and his human side. Both sides are constantly battling for control." Silver said thoughtfully.
[The amount of information this kid can gain out of little is truly terrifying. I feel like I picked the wrong host.] Lyxor said.
'Hmph! Don't beat yourself, but the mighty Silver Ainsworth would never settle for less.' Lucius retorted.
"The second thing I realized is that we are safe. Black Death is not after us." Silver said.
"Care to explain?" Alex asked with a deep frown.
"His targets are those involved in project power. That's why he killed Ethan and took his power but didn't kill Lucius." Silver shot a glance at Lucius. "That's why he attacked that night in search of Doctor Lisa but killed no one when he didn't find her."
Everyone's eyes traced Silver's gaze, pushing their attention to Lucius, who was about to throw another piece of steak into his mouth.
'The hell?' Lucius cursed as he froze in his tracks and wore a confused expression.
"What about the elderly man and your sidekicks who got murdered by him?" Dean leaned back and folded his arms with a disagreeable look.
"The elderly man was to cover his tracks. As for our sidekicks, I asked him that question, and he said he simply needed their powers." Silver explained.
Buzz!
Alex and Maya frowned upon hearing this, their hands clenching and the mood changing instantly. It would be better if there was a valid reason for the deaths of their sidekicks, so hearing they died for such trivial reasons pissed them off deeply.
"Like I said, he has the side of a wild animal. So the concept of right and wrong doesn't matter to him. He wanted something, so he took it, a true follower of the laws of the jungle." Silver smiled bitterly.
When he approached Black Death and asked questions, he was expecting lies, but to his surprise, the villain was straightforward and honest. It felt like he was speaking the truth simply because he saw nothing wrong with his actions, not because he felt bad about them.
[Did this kid just classify the advanced Xenovian genetics as mere wildlife behavior?] Lyxor was in shock.
A disturbing silence followed, and it felt like everyone was depressed by the news they heard.
"You said he is a Deviant, but he couldn't have approached the shop owner like that." Maya rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Doesn't that mean he has a human form?"
Buzz!
Lucius frowned deeply, and he noticed everyone else was elated by the analogy.
"A human who can transform into a deviant and can gain other people's powers just by eating their hearts." Dean was genuinely shocked.
"Sounds like a product of project power." Ralph nodded.
"Doesn't that mean he must have been one of the young slaves at Fort Aegis?" Alex asked.
"I asked, but they don't have proper documentation of all slaves." Silver sighed heavily. "If they did, it would have been possible for us to find the identity of Black Death through the list of slaves that match the age and physical attributes."
"It is expected they don't have a means of a record of slaves, because the world would be shaken by how many of them die daily," Lucius said, his voice cold and cruel. "In the same way, they don't have a record of all test subjects used for project power. That way, we can't know the number of people who have lost their lives to this evil.
His words caused everyone to frown and fall silent. As much as they wanted to refute this claim, they knew Lucius was right. In a world this advanced, having a comprehensive record of workers was the easiest part of running a mining facility, but somehow no one has such data.
It's definitely not a coincidence!