Chapter 73: Little Lan
"There are limits to lying. Blowing up the train? We are students from Star University. Would we have any reason to do so?" One of those lorly youth retorted.
Alex looked at the instructor and pointed towards a corner. "You can easily check the recordings in the camera. The passengers here were sitting calmly. This cabin is completely occupied. These people barged in threatening to throw everyone out. When I pointed out that this space was not reserved for card users, that guy went crazy and activated a fireball train."
When a youth from the student group heard that he was tongue tied. He then looked at his fallen friend. Alex didn't give them any chance to retort and continued making his case. "What exactly was that person intending to do by activating the fireball? It could easily have exploded the cabin and killed people. Surprised by his move, I slapped him in a desperate attempt to stop him. How could I have known a simple slap would make him look like he had just left a war zone?"
The investigator ordered for a recording of the video to verify the occurrence. A Star University student got angry. "A simple slap? My friend here lost a dozen teeth and his face seems to have suffered internal injuries. Do you think you can escape our retribution, you lying scum?"
Alex shrugged and simply replied. "I simply acted in self defense with physical force in face of an activated card. I have nothing more to add."
At that moment an investigative officer found the recording and saw that indeed this group had entered and threatened everyone and even activated a fireball card. The investigative leader flared up when he saw this.
"Your Star University students really think you own the sky? The five of you will be detained for upsetting public decorum and attempting to initiate a terrorist attack!" The lead investigator thundered in rage.
"What the ...?" The students were dismayed, but when they saw the recording, they could not reply. They looked at the still unconscious leader in hatred. They didn't even do anything, but this guy had to lord his Card User status..
After a few minutes, the youth had been thrown out and Alex returned to sleeping in the corner. The little girl quietly crawled to the seat beside him and poked him again.
"What is it little girl? Want to call for the FBI again?" Alex asked.
The girl shook her head. "Big Brother, you are so strong and mean. I want to become strong like you!"
"You are just a little girl. You should be playing with toys now. Why are you in a hurry to become strong?" He smiled and rubbed the little girl's head.
"If I don't become strong then I can't save my daddy." Little Lan said.
When the mother heard that, she sighed. "Little Lan, don't disturb that mister." Alex, who had also heard what the innocent girl said was surprised.
"What happened to your daddy, little girl?" Alex said.
"Some bad people beat my daddy and took him away." Little Lan said. "I want to become strong and slap them like you did just now."
Alex raised his eyes. He turned to the woman with a questioning look. The woman sighed. "Little Lan!" She yelled angrily as she pulled her back onto her lap. But seeing the questioning look of the young man she sighed. "We owned a little trading company, however, Little Lan's father became a competitor to a very big conglomerate and they pressured his business into debt using underhanded techniques, eventually the debtors took him away."
Alex sighed. He too felt like slapping people like Little Lan said. But such things can't be solved by violence. He asked the mother. "Which conglomeration was it?"
"Triple Moon Industries. Later we investigated that even the debtors who kidnapped my husband were their subsidiary." The woman sighed, she knew there was nothing anybody could do in this case.
"Triple Moon Industries?" Alex was stunned. Since coming to this world, he had tried to investigate the scale of his family, since they seemed to be very different from his own world.
Triple Moon Industries was a flagship industry owned by the Lune Family, a powerful Card family.
When Alex processed the information, he felt gutted. He didn't understand how his ordinary and loving parents who had small dreams and taught him to be a good person had turned in this way....
"Does power really change people so much?" Alex wondered... He rubbed Little Lan's head. "Little Girl, I am very sorry."
Alex felt an impactful guilt hit his heart. He wasn't a Lune, at least not a Lune in this world. But he couldn't help but assign some self blame. He felt helpless as he knew he couldn't change what happened to Little Lan's father, at least not now.
"I need to become stronger. Only by becoming stronger can I get the influence to make a realistic impact on this world." Alex thought to himself.
Alex wrote down his Adventure House ID on a card and handed it to the mother. "If you ever need any help from the Adventure House, I can help you out. This is my ID."
The mother tensed up in awkwardness. Just now she had revealed more than she ever intended to, but seeing the sincerity of the boy, she just nodded amd took the card, even if she didn't know what the adventure house was.
After a couple of hours, the train arrived at Pond City amd Alex disembarked, making his way back to the dojo.
It had been almost three months, since the old man had left the dojo and there were no signs of him even when Alex returned this time. The Dojo seemed to have remained untouched since the last moment Alex left. He was beginning to get worried about the old man.
Alex entered the dojo and began cleaning the place up. He saw the bell hanging over the podium and smiled. This time, he had reaped so many benefits from Painful Vibrations ancient art. He was enamored by this art, especially by the fact that the scroll made no mention of the limit to the number of chimes that could be induced
Alex was curious about his own personal limit as well. For this period, his work was cut out for him. Practicing Painful Vibrations to the limit. As far as cards went, he had unlocked all three of them and needed special items to improve their grade at the moment as well as train with them.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone