While waiting idly just like most passengers who weren't busy looking at their tablets, I took a few moments to scan the neon skyscrapers filled with blue and pink light from afar through the window situated behind the seats that faced me, this seat didn't occupy by passengers yet, allowing me to see the view more clearly.
At the same time, I also noticed the sun rise behind one of the skyscrapers reflecting its hue on that white carbon skyscraper in a spiral upward shape.
I only looked at the view briefly before taking out my tablet to read the web novel I paused last night, it was about the reincarnator who failed to save her nation no matter how many lives she was reborn to break the generation curse.
Surprisingly, as soon I took out the tablet from my bag pack, it started to project a display into the air with a strange message right away. From the world of dawn, an unknown avatar sent it to me, I thought the server across the world was temporarily shut down right?
[Observer From The Absolute Reality: Do you want to know the truth of everything?]
I raised an eyebrow out of curiosity about the messages and dismissed them as a prank from someone, however, there was still uneasiness deep within me.
The truth? Does this message imply the birth of my origin or my parents? If this was true, then I was not interested in it.
Or perhaps they wanted to invite me to join their party in search of the tower of truth in TWOD, that sounds likely to be true, that being said the server was already shut down so I didn't get what the messenger tried to accomplish. Moreover, I couldn't trust anyone anymore after experiencing that bizarre experience in the VR world.
Therefore I decided to ignore the message since it might just be from a scammer as the server was shut down.
I used my pointed finger to lightly slide away the message projected in the air that only I could read clearly, and about to open the novel app but then I heard a footstep approaching me out of nowhere that caught my attention.
As soon as I lifted my head to look at the owner of the footsteps, I saw three creepy figures dressed in black with a mask and halo above their head soaked with blood getting closer to me with a stiff moment almost like a doll.
The two passengers sitting next to me also looked shocked, and startled like someone was choking them and immediately started to stand up, and change their seats one by one further away from me.
Meanwhile, I heard a bell chimp two times in a row resonate throughout the bus indicating there were 2 minutes left until the bus departure.
[Informing all passengers, please be aware that you have 2 minutes left before the line 5 bus departure.]
Immediately, one of the creepy masked men stood tall towering over me with a shrouded whisper slithered from beneath the mask, tinged with an eerie, unsettling cadence that sent shivers down spines.
"I can sense magic from you." The mysterious man said while I could see a glimpse of his green eyes under the mask staring at me intensely.
Not to look timid, I put up tough looks and stood up to confront them "I don't know what are you talking about, but can you please mind your business? You are creeping people out."
At that moment, I saw the mysterious man who stood before me look at the two other guys with a nod then another mysterious figure with a red cross emblem on his mask walked from behind the other three creepy masked men and instantly they made their way for this mysterious figure that seems like their leader.
The man with a creepy angel mask and golden cross emblem on his forehead pushed his right hand with black gloves into his robe, this action caught me off guard. Is he going to murder me in public?
I became startled and immediately rushed to push away the two creepy masked men before me causing them to launch onto nearby seats, I took this opportunity to leap from the flying bus across the entrance to leave the bus onto the platform.
Then just before they tried to pursue me, the door immediately slid closed and the bus gradually levitated into the sky.
[Please be on your seat as the flying bus is taking off.]
I looked at the flying bus flying higher into the sky as the four men with masks looked down upon me without moving an inch giving me a mysterious and creepy vibe from them.
At the same time, I could see the eyes of people in the bus station immediately directed at me with amazement and curiosity, they probably wondered what the fuck is this idiot doing, but I didn't care since my life was more important. Who knows what stuff he might pulled out underneath his rope, it might even be a laser gun or knife.
Upon reflection, I realized I had blonde hair and those individuals wore masks. The passenger likely mistook me for one of them, part of a group of weirdos trying to stand out. I need to stop overthinking this situation....what other think didn't matter, I needed to be cautious.
After my successful attempt to leave the flying bus, two of the security guys who guarded the landing platform sprinted through the opening fence toward me with a serious and concerned expression before the fence slid close.
The security guards wore a black leather suit with a vest armor and a black helmet that was equipped with a scanning system.
One of the security guards said as his voice projected through a stereo equipped on his helmet making him sound like a robot "I scan his heart rate, it seems like he didn't do it for fun. He is trying to escape from something."
another security guard shouted at me as his voice distorted from within the helmet stereo "Hey kid! It is dangerous for you to do something reckless like that!"
It was not illegal to commit such an act but I knew my action would cause chaos in the station and the security guard disliked chaos or anyone trying to gain attention after all many streamers did something stupid many times in this station and they got a really heavy fine for inappropriate action charge.
I had no choice but to run away and when I successfully escaped I rented a hovered bike that cost 200 coins instead, even though it cost a lot I had a mid-term exam that I had to attend. Moreover, it was better to rent a hovered bike than get caught the security would charge me around 3000 coins and I couldn't afford to have a bad record in society as an orphan.
As soon as I made up my mind, I sprinted toward their direction heading to the opening fence since I had no other route to escape from this platform. Seeing me heading toward them with incredible speed, the security guard took out their tasers and immediately shot at me without a warning.
Damn, they didn't even hesitate to knock me out unconscious. That being said, it wasn't my fault, but those creepy guys on the bus who tried to attack me.
Nonetheless, as a gold ranker, I could activate my biochips to gave me boost my speed and sense to a slightly higher degree resulting in me seeing everything in slightly slow motion and dodging the two electric bullets from their taser, despite it seeming like a laser, but the electric bullets didn't create to pierce the skin and caused harm to the vital organ so even if it hits me, in the worst case I just got electrified and stunt.
I narrowly dodged the bullet by leaping to the right side at incredible speed and once I landed both feet on the ground, I continued to sprint as fast as I could until I hit one guard into the ground.
The guard who fell shouted in surprise "We need more reinforcement, this kid must be a gold or diamond ranker."
Fortunately, the bus station security guards didn't have the authority to deactivate and track my bio-chips since my action wasn't even considered a crime.
When I sprinted passed through the opened fence, I arrived at a pristine floor that stretched for a hundred meters in all directions with a heavy atmosphere as now most of the passengers halted to look at me.
Some looked at me with a judgemental eye, and others probably questioned why the security guard shot their taser laser gun toward me, I had the same question in my mind. In the worst case, my action only put me under trespassing or abnormal behavior. However the punishment was only fine in cash regarding trespassing, but these security guards used their weapon on me!
I gazed around to find the least busy area that led to the exit which also acted as an entrance, at that moment I saw an average-height girl with a slender yet firm body running toward me as her silky blue hair flowed in the air, she was none other than Stella.
She pushed through the crowd and leaped over the cleaning robot that moved in front of her, after she reached me, she extended her left hand to tightly grab my hand.
She said in a concerned tone "Follow me, they are trying to silence you."
As I was forcefully dragged by her hand, I went with the flow and ran after her back. But what does she mean when she mentions that these security guards are suspicious?
While I was escaping with the help of Stella, suddenly I heard a loud explosion coming beyond the landing platform causing everyone to turn their gazes from me and into the distance opened sky between the bus station on this floating island and the skyscrapers beyond, in the middle of it was a bright red flame like a firework that draw people attention and scattered debris of the remained of the flying bus.
From all over within the bus station, a shout and scream of confusion emerge.
"Shit, the bus is exploding!" One man around his thirty amongst the crowd shouted in shock as he hugged a child with his right hand, most probably his son who now buried his face under his father's long black coat.
"What the fuck is wrong in this world? First the explosion in the VR world and now even in the real world! Let's not go to work today." A young man in a red jacket shouted at his nearby friends.
Then I looked to my right side as I mindlessly followed Stella and noticed a girl in despair looks like the entire world was falling around her.
"W-Why does this happen? Aren't we supposed to live in a utopian society?" An orange-haired girl around her eighteenth in a neat dress gazed down at the ground with stunt tears as she covered her face and said in a stuttered voice.
Then all of suddenly I heard an alarming sound, a ringing bell that could deafen someone's ears and cause people to be more alert, followed by hundreds of holographic displays all over the bus station with a warning sign and even the roof above my head turned into a screen that showing a route toward the evacuation exit.
At that moment, a group of security guards came from all directions to lead the people toward the exit and into a nearby bunker on the island that was built to sustain at least two thousand people. So, they probably split the civilians into two groups.
There were more than two thousand people in this station, meaning the cathedral would open its gates to welcome these civilians into the central bunker of this floating island.
Additionally, there were four bunkers in each direction and another large bunker stretching for many kilometers at the center of the island, beneath the cathedral. Therefore, there were a total of five bunkers. With this arrangement, overcrowding was not a concern on this floating island.
However, what was crucial at that moment was that I was heading in the opposite direction from them.
I asked, "Shouldn't we go to the bunker?"
Stella responded angrily, "Idiot, they will capture you and thrust you into their survival game with no chance of winning. The only way to survive is to reunite you with Setsuna and Shan."
Survival game?
I didn't grasp the full meaning behind her words, but I stayed quiet and followed her lead, assuming she knew more about the situation than I did. My life seemed like a joke; first saved by Lasiv and now by another girl—Stella this time. I resolved not to involve any more girls in my life going forward. While I appreciated their help, I wanted to save myself. This realization was frustrating, realizing that I was still just a powerless boy.