At the university entrance, Noah stood alone after Livia and Lou Yan had parted ways due to their quarrel. He looked in the direction Livia had gone.
"So they're leaving because of a trivial disagreement, and I stay here? …Are we really going to wait here until nightfall? Standing around doing nothing isn't really my style… This is going to be a long wait… If only I had something to pass the time with, like a book or something…" Noah thought to himself, sighing in frustration and annoyance. Then, the system screen appeared before him.
[Push-ups: 0/100 (Incomplete)]
[Squats: 0/100 (Incomplete)]
[Curl-ups: 0/100 (Incomplete)]
[Running: 10 km/10 km (complete)]
"Right… I haven't finished the system's mission yet," Noah thought as he looked at the screen, then smiled faintly and pushed himself away from leaning on the wall.
"I think I have a way to entertain myself now."
———————
In the "Open district" of Sector 3, hidden among the back alleys, inside a garage, Sirius and Neriah were sitting with Andrew Batira in front of them, wearing a professional friendly smile.
"Won't it take a long time to tell you everything? It's almost a waste of time. Isn't there something else to do?" Neriah asked nervously—they obviously didn't have time to tell him everything.
"If the university boundaries weren't closed, I'd ask you to do something outside for me, but unfortunately, all I want is to know what you went through. Isn't that an easy request to fulfill?" Andrew said, his smile growing warmer and more radiant.
"Well then," Sirius said, agreeing to Andrew's offer, which shocked Neriah.
"Hey, are you serious?" Neriah asked, surprised, his eyes widening in shock. Sirius was the type who wouldn't agree to something that meddles in your personal life.
"Is he conceding for Noah? Or is he doing this so he has the right to kill someone?" Neriah thought anxiously but didn't dwell much on it.
"A wise choice, amigo. Now, come on, tell me—did anything interesting happen outside? I heard more students died and that one of the elders of the Council of four revealed himself. Is all that true?" Andrew asked excitedly and happily with a wide innocent smile, as if thanking someone who just saved his life.
"This will take a while."
———————
Meanwhile, Noah was isolated among the trees practicing alone to finish the daily mission. When he finally finished doing push-ups then he collapsed and lay on the ground, breathing heavily.
[Push-ups: 100/100 (complete)]
[Squats: 100/100 (complete)]
[Curl-ups: 100/100 (complete)]
[Running: 10 km/10 km (complete)]
[Does the host want to receive the rewards?]
"Yes," Noah said, nodding his head, his voice dry and tired from the mission. Then a green aura enveloped his body, and Noah felt relief as the fatigue quickly vanished; the heat in his muscles cooled and the pain disappeared. His dry throat was moistened, the sweat evaporated as if it never existed, and his energy was restored again.
[One stat point received]
[Relationship between host and system increased by 1%]
"What's this? Relationship?" Noah asked, tilting his head in curiosity and confusion.
[Aside from the vague info given by the system: The higher the relationship percentage between host and system, the more ability the host has to ask the system any question he wants.]
"Really? That's great, but… will you know the answer if I ask you?" Noah asked, puzzled. His confusion was reasonable—how could the system answer any question he might ask?
[The system is the all-knowing machine: "N.O.U.S.: Noetic Omniscient Unbound Singularity"]
"That sounds serious… if the system is all-knowing, then improving my relationship with it will be in my favor, which will make me… all-knowing myself," Noah thought excitedly, so much so it scared him. His heartbeat quickened, and even his hands began shaking from excitement and fear at the idea. He clenched his fists tightly and took a deep breath, realizing he needed to calm down.
"The idea is exciting but I'm sure the system won't make it easy. Most likely it will humiliate me while trying to build this relationship… but I have to endure it… it's not every day one gets to be omniscient anyway," Noah thought, then stood up, dusted off his clothes, and walked back to the front of the campus building entrance with a happy smile on his face.
"Looks like luck is on my side."
———————
While Noah felt lucky and bright, others' fortunes were not as prosperous. In the garage, Sirius and Neriah kept explaining in detail everything Andrew asked, to the point it became ridiculous, as if his questions would never end.
"So, the new deceased is Elliot Winters. Did his family come to claim his body then?" Andrew asked curiously, waiting eagerly for an answer.
"No, I don't think the Winters family will come or send anyone to claim Elliot's body. They live in the north, plus the state at the university entrance where you lose your memory about the path, so I doubt anyone will come," Neriah explained, pinching the bridge of his nose in exhaustion and annoyance, unaware that the Winters family had actually come since yesterday.
"How cruel. What about one of the elders from the Council of four? Did one of them really appear?" Andrew asked, more curious and unsatisfied.
"As for that, we really don't know. It might just be a rumor, but we haven't seen anything. Also, it's only been three days or less since Elliot Winters' death, anything could happen in this period," Neriah further explained, ignorant of what was really going on at the university simply because he and Sirius preferred sleeping over going out.
"I see. That's disappointing… What about exams, have they started?" Andrew asked excited to know more.
"What exams? It hasn't even been a week since the semester started," Neriah said nervously and truly tired. All these questions felt repetitive, like talking to a wall.
While Neriah was finishing his answer to Andrew, Sirius sat silently staring at them with empty eyes, his awareness elsewhere.
"The incident happened on the day we all went to Sector 3. Since the graffiti wasn't dry when we arrived, the culprit did his act shortly before we got there… Jarod must have seen someone then! The culprit took the elevator to the 7th floor, then went to Noey-kun's room and did that graffiti. When he realized we might come back soon, he left quickly. Jarod must have seen a suspicious person; maybe if I ask him, I might get something… No, Neriah must have thought of this before but didn't act on it. Jarod won't tell us anything because he doesn't care about his job… think, you have to find this person no matter what," Sirius thought to himself, feeling a headache from intense thinking and the use of his ability.
A strong memory is one of Sirius's advantages from his "Open Book" ability; it's not an effect or a sub-ability but a skill Sirius developed himself because his mind might not otherwise handle enough information. Now, he was trying to remember something, anything, when he noticed something new.
"The day we were in sector 8, when I used that game as a cover to search for the culprit, when Noah was with us at first, the info my ability showed was the same as the day I told him about my ability. But after the game ended, some information disappeared, and when some disappears, it means Noah is trying to hide something from me… Could it be he knows evidence about this but didn't tell me? Or maybe… he knows the culprit… No, no, that's impossible. Why would Noah hide the culprit who vandalized his door and even cover for him? Also, there's a possibility that Noah did something he wanted to hide, like something embarrassing… That's if he want to use this opportunity to do something else…" Sirius thought nervously, biting his lip with worry and briefly losing focus, but he convinced himself this was unlikely.
"Noah wouldn't do something like that. What he said about wanting to pass time with me, Neriah, and Enel was real, his laughter with us was real… It's impossible he faked all that, I would have known, I would have known—" Sirius thought, trying to convince himself. The last thing he wanted was for their friendship to be destroyed by such thoughts.
"Anyway, thank you both, amigos, I can live longer with this information!" Andrew said after finishing questioning Neriah. His sudden loud voice woke Sirius from his thoughts, and he returned to awareness.
"Finally… will you give us the list then?" Neriah asked, sighing in relief as if all the information had been squeezed from him.
"Yes, I owe you both after all. I'll bring it right now," Andrew said, throwing a mysterious glance at Sirius and Neriah, then got up from his chair, went to his desk, opened his notebook, pulled out a short list, and returned to Neriah and Sirius, handing the list to Sirius.
Neriah approached Sirius and looked at the list with him. To their surprise, the list was short, containing only five names.
"Actually, this list is for all the people in the university who bought paint sprayers since I started my project at the university. As you know, your friend Andrew doesn't put purchase dates, you heard!" Andrew said, changing his tone to a hostile one fitting gang members.
"Looks like paint sprayers aren't that popular after all," Neriah said sarcastically but retracted his words when he felt Andrew's hostility behind him.
The list contained five students who were potential suspects—no, one of them was the culprit: Gareth Cole, Mira Kavik, Torin Vex, Renzo Dray, and Derek Miller.
"One of these is the one who did his vile act and hurt my friend… One of these deserves death for disturbing Nory-kun… One of these will be the victim to satisfy the darkness inside me!"