"She did this, Aiden will definitely be very grateful to her, right." Aerith said again.
"It should be moved…" Tifa corrected Aerith's words, then sighed, "There's a sense of crisis now."
———
On the top platform of the Sector Seven pillar, watching the retreating armed helicopter, Aiden put away the revolver.
The pillar defense battle was considered over.
'Thanks, Scarlet.' Not just Aerith and Tifa, Aiden naturally also guessed who got the recording.
And in fact, just as Aerith and Tifa said, Aiden now not only felt grateful, but more so moved, moved by Scarlet's dedication to him.
Suddenly, Aiden had the urge to go see Scarlet, but quickly suppressed it, because now was not the time to look for Scarlet.
"Let's go." Aiden let out a slight sigh and said to Jessie beside him.
"Mm!" Jessie nodded.
Aiden and Jessie were the last to leave the top platform of the pillar. Because of worry for his daughter's safety, after the armed helicopter left, Barret immediately left, and going with him was Cloud, this guy had been Barret's fighter the whole way.
However, just as he was about to go down, Aiden seemed to sense something. He looked back at Shinra Building. Even though it was very far, he still saw Sephiroth standing on the top of the building… and the Whispers surrounding him.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Aiden actually saw Sephiroth nod at him, as if in approval.
But when Aiden looked carefully again, at the top of the building, Sephiroth's figure had already disappeared.
"Aiden, what are you looking at?" Seeing Aiden stop and look back, Jessie asked in confusion.
Aiden withdrew his gaze, rubbed her head with a smile, and said, "Nothing, let's keep going."
Jessie frowned slightly but didn't ask further. Then she changed to a smiling face, took off her chest armor while walking, hugged Aiden's arm with a smile, and playfully said, "A little benefit, a small token of appreciation!"
"Mm, it really is very small." Feeling the softness on his arm, Aiden said with a double meaning.
"Hmph!" Jessie snorted, but she tried hard to puff up her chest, as if she wanted Aiden to truly feel the greatness in front of her chest.
———
The Sector Seven pillar was protected, but Sector Seven slums still hadn't returned to peace.
Under the attack of the enraged Sector Seven slum people, Shinra's control over the sector completely failed. After suffering some casualties, Shinra soldiers could no longer resist and retreated, and the slum people, after venting their anger, surged like a tide into other sectors.
Although because of the leaked recording, Shinra could no longer demolish the Sector Seven pillar, the panicked slum people didn't care about that, they just wanted to escape.
But because of this, the few available exits were packed full by fleeing people. The scene was chaotic, full of crying and shouting, and even stampedes occurred.
However, this kind of chaos didn't last long, because the surviving Avalanche members regrouped. As an ambitious organization, after a brief discussion, they began to take over command on the scene.
When Aiden and Jessie arrived at the passage entrance, they saw Barret standing on top of a bus, loudly directing Biggs and Wedge to assist the slum people in evacuating in an orderly manner.
"Aiden."
Because there were too many people at the entrance, Aerith and Tifa hadn't left right away. They were protecting Marlene, resting in a less crowded place. Seeing Aiden and Jessie appear, the two women ran over with Marlene.
"Uncle!" Marlene saw Aiden and jumped out of Tifa's arms, opened her arms, and threw herself into Aiden's embrace.
Aiden picked up Marlene, pinched her cute cheeks, and then said to Aerith and Tifa, "Looks like we can't get out anytime soon. Let's go back to Seventh Heaven first. After everyone's gone, we'll leave."
Aerith and Tifa nodded. They had the same thought.
After waving at Barret from afar, the group, three women, one man, and one little girl, headed to Seventh Heaven.
———
[Inside Shinra Building.]
At this time, Heidegger had already brought people into the broadcast control room. But inside the control room, aside from a few corpses, not a single person remained.
Yuffie and Sonon had left after the Shinra employee played the recording. That employee followed them and destroyed the recording and sabotaged some of the equipment in the control room before leaving.
Looking at the mess in the control room, Heidegger felt a headache. After taking a few deep breaths, he coldly ordered, "Investigate all the surveillance footage. I want to know where they came from."
"Yes!" The subordinates saluted and then left with their teams.
Heidegger stayed in the control room for a while, but as the head of Public Safety, he really wasn't good at investigations. So he handed the matter over to the Turks who had come with him and went alone to the President's office.
Soon, he arrived at the office door.
But he didn't knock right away. He took deep breaths, because after the recording was broadcasted, both Shinra's and the President's prestige in Midgar had taken a huge hit.
He could already imagine the fury he'd face.
After finally calming down, Heidegger gently knocked on the door.
But there was no response from inside, only faint conversation that he couldn't quite hear. This made him feel worse, he thought he was done for.
Enduring his unease, Heidegger knocked several more times. Luckily, just as he was drenched in sweat, a reply came from inside.
"You can come in."
But this voice… didn't sound like the President.
Heidegger's unease turned to suspicion. Realizing something was wrong, he didn't care anymore, he pushed the door open… and saw a horrifying scene.
A long katana had pierced through the Shinra President's body.
And the owner of that katana stood behind the President, it was Sephiroth.
The moment Heidegger saw Sephiroth, his memories flashed like a spinning lantern. Since Sephiroth had killed the President, he'd probably kill him too.
But to his surprise, Sephiroth just glanced at him calmly, then pulled out Masamune, turned around, shattered the window, and leapt from the high-rise.
Heidegger couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. But looking at the dead President, sweat burst out all over him again.
Shinra was about to change.
———
The Shinra President's death overshadowed everything. Even the investigation into the traitor was dropped. With many personnel called back, Shinra activated top-level alert.
Then, all the department heads and leaders gathered for an emergency night meeting.
Now that the President was dead, they, who had helped build Shinra, were fully qualified to choose a new leader.
But Shinra controlled almost the entire world. In the face of such power, no one could resist the temptation. Even before the meeting began, all the ministers were secretly plotting.
However, just when everyone was preparing their statements, someone's arrival disrupted their thoughts.
The President's son and Shinra's Vice President, Rufus.
———
So many things happened that night, but besides what had already concluded, the rest had nothing to do with Aiden.
After returning to Seventh Heaven, Aiden and the others stayed for a while, but since there was no place to rest in the bar, they left again and went to Stargazer Heights.
What surprised them was that the landlady, old Marle, hadn't left. When they arrived, the lights on the first floor were still on.
Aiden and Tifa went to greet her and asked why she hadn't left.
Her answer was simple: Old people don't want to move.
Aiden and Tifa didn't try to persuade her. After all, the pillar was safe now. If Shinra still wanted to save face, they wouldn't make a move again.
After saying goodbye, they went upstairs. But then a dispute arose between the three girls about who would stay with who. Now that their feelings were out in the open, none of them hid anything, they all wanted to sleep with Aiden.
And now with Marlene around, someone had to take care of her. They stood at the door, stuck.
Since no one would back down, Aiden decisively opened Tifa's door and pushed everyone inside.
"No more dividing rooms. We sleep together tonight." Aiden made the call.
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