"You said that person called Rami is one of the Elder's men?"
After waking up, Noah checked his body and found nothing unusual.
The pain he had just experienced seemed like a hallucination, having no lasting impact on him.
However, Noah couldn't shake the feeling that his body was undergoing unpredictable changes.
Learning from the others that Rami, who claimed that Noah was an experiment subject, was one of the Elder's men, Noah was in deep thought.
"Noah, are you really okay?" Wood asked with some concern.
Wood's words interrupted Noah's thoughts, and he subconsciously looked up, taking a second to realize that Wood had just spoken to him.
"I'm fine, don't worry," Noah shook his head and smiled.
"What happened just now? Did that monster attack you? We saw that monster suddenly turn into blood, and then you screamed in pain and collapsed. It really scared us," Jerl added.
"Is it your ability? And is this a side effect?" Ashu asked, expressing his guess.
"No, I don't actually know what happened. I need to go check something," Noah shook his head again and stood up.
"Ashu, I leave the recruitment to you. I'll come back to meet with you later," Noah said as he was about to leave the stone hut.
A small hand grabbed Noah's clothes, and when he turned around, he saw Shizuku holding his gaze, looking at him expressionlessly.
"Can't I go with you?"
Noah turned around, crouched down, and said gently, "Not this time, be a good girl and stay with Ashu and the others. I promise I'll keep my word when I come back."
After hearing Noah's words, Shizuku blinked her eyes and let go of his hand.
"Promise."
"Yes, I promise," Noah nodded firmly.
"What exactly are you going to do? Are you sure you don't need our help?" Ashu's voice came from behind as they walked out of the stone hut.
"I need to deal with something inside my head," Noah replied before disappearing in front of the stone hut.
"Ah, teenagers can be so impulsive," Ashu sighed helplessly as he looked at the empty doorway.
Swiftly navigating through the streets of Meteor City, Noah returned to the street where he had fought with Lami before.
At this moment, that street had been surrounded by many people wearing protective suits and masks. Several individuals were crouching around the puddle of blood left behind by Lami, carefully examining it.
"If I remember correctly, Rami's stability rate should be above 80%, right?" One of the individuals holding a folder said while looking at the information.
One person next to them, holding a silver stick, collected some of the blood in a test tube and replied, "Yes, his stability rate is 84.6%, a rare success case."
"If that's the case, can someone explain to me why there is a phenomenon of breakdown at this stability rate?" The person who had spoken earlier said again, his tone filled with strong dissatisfaction and anger.
"Just by looking at this, we can't determine the cause. We'll have to take it back for analysis. I'm curious too." The guy collecting samples was proficient and soon had over a dozen test tubes filled with blood.
He stood up nonchalantly and walked towards a truck parked nearby.
"Always causing trouble for me, first it was the escape of the experiment core, and now the breakdown of the experiment subject. Can't I have some peace? How am I going to explain this to the Elder?" The person continued to complain, following his companion.
Not far away, on the rooftop of the house where Shizuku had hidden before, Noah stood silently.
Although he couldn't hear their conversation, he could see them comparing data and collecting blood samples.
"Experiment subject, 'Zero' cells," Noah muttered to himself, a hint of hatred flashing deep in his eyes.
Ever since he had obtained those fragmented memories, Noah had realized that the origin of his body was not as simple as he had originally thought.
Those memory fragments constantly stimulated his brain, giving rise to emotions he had never experienced before.
Noah was determined to figure out what was going on. That's why he had separated from Ashu and returned here alone.
As he saw the truck start and drive away, Noah's figure moved and disappeared from the spot.
Various tracking techniques he had learned from the Zoldyck Family proved useful at this moment. With the help of stealth, Noah followed the truck closely without anyone noticing.
The truck continued to drive toward the inner ring of Meteor City, passing through several checkpoints, and finally stopped in a yard surrounded by several small buildings.
Two individuals in protective suits and masks got out of the truck, carrying a metal box towards one of the small buildings.
Noah's body slowly peeked out from the corner of another small building, watching the two disappear behind the door of the building.
Noah was well aware that what he wanted was inside that building.
However, he also knew that this building was no hotel or restaurant.
In Noah's perception, there were at least five aura users inside the building who were not weaker than him.
Reason told him that entering the building was not a wise choice, but the increasingly strong emotions in his heart compelled Noah to take a step toward the building.
He emitted his aura outward from himself.
This was a technique known as 'En,' which allowed him to sense everything within the range enveloped by his aura.
Although Noah's 'En' radius was only seven meters, it should be sufficient for the current situation.
Taking a deep breath, Noah reached the entrance of the small building. With his 'En' perception, he could easily determine if there were any enemies within seven meters.
Gently pushing open the door and seeing an empty corridor inside, Noah didn't hesitate and stepped in.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Ashu and the others had also left the stone house. Since Noah had left so casually, Ashu had to take on the primary responsibility of recruiting people.
"Hey, do any of you know where to find someone skilled in taking care of children?" Remembering the employment requirements Gatoh had mentioned earlier, Ashu scratched his head and asked.
In response to his question, Jerl and the others exchanged puzzled looks.
"Maybe the church could help?" Yan suggested uncertainly. In his understanding, members of the church who could heal might have such an experience.
"I know the kind of person you're talking about." Just then, Shizuku, who had been silent since Noah's departure, spoke up slowly.