Chương 48: The past
[A few years earlier, Blanche HQ]
Holding something in their hands, two men were walking along a dark and narrow corridor. Suddenly, the one on the left said,
"Ne, brother Yang. I heard that the boss was appreciated a lot by the higher ups for the goods we brought this time- but he hasn't shared anything with us. Don't you think that's unfair?"
"Shut up Chen. We don't talk about the boss. Remember what happened to Gou? You want that to happen to you too? Just be glad we even got paid," replied Yang, with a grim expression on his face.
"Oh come on brother Yang, it's not like the boss can hear us down here. Look around, we're literally hundreds of metres below ground, surrounded on all sides. Nobody can hear us," said Chen, scoffing.
" Chen! I told you to shut up. Even the walls have ears here. Let's just give them their food and leave," said Yang, not wanting to bicker more.
"Fine, fine."
And so, the duo continued walking along in silence. After a few minutes of walking, the corridor opened up into a wider corridor, the only difference - this one was between two rows of cells. Nearly 20 metres long, this corridor was lined with 2m x 2m cells on both sides. The only lighting it had was a limited amount of sunlight through holes in the ceiling. For a toilet, each cell just had a hole in the ground, which resulted in the corridor being filled with the stench; one of excrement, decay and sweat-a result of the sweltering heat that plagued this area.
The duo, having prepared for this, immediately put on air filtering masks and then moved forward towards the last few cells. Contrary to what one might believe, most of the cells were empty, the only signs of someone occupying it being the decaying bodies that were far beyond recognition. Ignoring them, the duo kept moving forward. Reaching the last cell on the left, Yang stepped forward and took out a key from his pocket. Opening the lock, he slid open the cell door and motioned for Chen to enter. Entering, Chen placed the box he was holding down in the middle, and then went around waking up the inhabitants of the cell. Looking around, he noticed that all of them were huddled in the only clean corner of the cell. Walking straight towards them, he gave each of them a kick in their stomach, not caring whether he would hurt them or not. However, he stopped before hitting the final one, a small girl who was squeezed into the corner. Instead of kicking her, he slapped her a few times before making his way back.
Feeling the sudden pain, the three boys and one girl immediately opened their eyes and quickly crawled to the centre of the cell, as if already used to the pain. They all crowded around the box Chen brought, yet none of them dared to open it. All they did was stare at it greedily, while glancing at Chen multiple times. They looked like loyal dogs, not daring to take the food by themselves, and instead waiting for their master to give it to them. Seeing this, Chen gave a wide smile and then opened the box, inside which was a slimy, yellowish … liquid. However, before the children could take any of it, he immediately closed it, all the while smiling like a madman. Noticing this, Yang walked in and smacked Chen on the head lightly,
"Why're you playing with the materials? Just give them their food and let's get out of here. This place is horrible," he said, as he wrenched open the lid of the box and once again left the cell, all the while making sure his feet didn't touch anything that was not the floor.
Seeing this, Chen sighed and got up, motioning the kids that they can eat now. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he hit his palm with his fist,
"Brother Yang! I just remembered something! The Boss told us to bring the girl upstairs. Apparently, the Big Boss is interested in her powers!"
Hearing this, Yang immediately turned around to look at Chen,
"Fool! You should've told me sooner! What if you had forgotten it?" he screamed,
"You know you have a difficult time remembering stuff like this!"
"Teehee," said Chen, poking out his tongue a bit, "I didn't forget it this time, did I?"
"Gah, fine. But remember to tell me stuff like this sooner all right? Now, the girl right? It's true that this girl has interesting powers, but why would the higher ups want to meet her? It's not like we haven't seen other magicians like her. Well, it's not our call anyways. Just bring her with us once they're done eating alright?"
"Yes, yes," replied Chen, his eyes once again staring at the children, who were eating the gruel like food with their bare, unclean hands - all the while having a smile on his face. And so, after a few minutes, when all the food was over, Chen walked over and closed the lid of the box, and as he picked it up, he pointed to the little girl, and said,
"You, come with me."
However, it seemed like the little girl didn't understand him, and just stood there, alternating her gaze between Chen and the other three boys.
"I think he wants you to follow him, Divya," said one of the boys in a hoarse and hushed tone, "Look, he's pointing his fingers at you and then rolling them in, as if calling you."
"Bu-but, why?" whispered the girl, her voice similarly hoarse, as if she hadn't drunk water in a long time.
"We don't know, but it's best you follow them Divya," said another one, not even daring to look up at Chen, as he continued, "You know what will happen if you don't listen to them," he said as he rubbed left forearm, a clear scar visible on it.
Hearing what the boy said, Divya immediately got up from the floor and walked behind Chen as fast as she could.
Seeing that she had understood what he was trying to say, Chen smiled and then walked out, while Yang locked the cell behind them. Continuing on, the trio slowly disappeared from the sight of the boys.
"What do you think will happen to Divya?" asked the first one.
"Who knows? All I know is that she definitely won't be treated any better here…" said the second one, while the third one had already laid down on the ground, going back to sleep.
Walking down the corridor again, Chen looked at the girl and then at Yang,
"What do you think is going to happen to this girl, brother Yang?"
"You know as well as I do Chen. Out of all the young materials the higher ups have taken an interest in, not one of them has ever returned. As for what happened to them, nobody knows. I guess that is what will happen to this girl, it'll be like she never existed…"
"Aww, and here I was hoping I could have her .. it's been a while since I had some fun," said Chen, a wistful smile on his face.
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[About half an hour later, the leader's room]
Sitting on his chair, the leader looked much older than when Alaukik met him. With grey streaks in his hair, and a hunched back, he sat there in his office, staring at the man sitting opposite him.
"Hu, are you sure of what you are saying? You realise that if what you said turns out to be a lie, you will suffer a lot," the leader said in a stern tone.
"I am sure, leader. In fact, I experienced it myself. If it were not for her still being a child and not knowing about her powers, I wouldn't have been able to escape her spell," replied Hu, shuddering at the thought of what could have happened.
Hearing this, the leader narrowed his eyes,
'If she was powerful enough to nearly trap Hu in her spell, she would be an immense asset to us if used right,' he thought. 'It would be best to send her to them immediately. No matter what, we must get her under our control.'
"So, where is she?" the leader asked.
"My subordinates are bringing her as we speak, leader," Hu replied. And as he finished speaking, there was a slight knock on the door. Hearing this, the leader spoke first,
"Come in."
Opening the door, in stepped Yang and Chen, with Divya between them.
"Here boss," said Chen, pointing to Divya, "It took some effort, but we were able to bring her."
"Effort?" asked the leader in a confused tone.
"Leader?" said Chen in a surprised voice, before immediately bowing down. Glancing at Yang for a second, he realised that Yang had already bowed long ago.
"I'm sorry for my rudeness, Leader. To answer your question, indeed, it took effort for us to bring her here. In fact, if not for the fact that we are two people and that she is extremely tired and hungry, I don't think we would have been able to bring her at all," hurriedly said Chen.
"Oh? Do explain," replied the leader, curiosity evident in his tone.
"Yes. Many times along the way, we would suddenly lose track of her, or willingly take her down a different path. It took us a while before noticing it was her powers at work, and we realised that she can easily influence us when we are in direct contact with her," said Chen. "Brother Yang here can vouch for me, Leader."
Nodding his head, Yang agreed to what Chen was saying.
"Is that so… Very well, you both may leave. Your efforts will not go unnoticed," the leader said, waving his hands towards the door. Seeing the two leave, the leader got off his chair and walked towards Divya. Bending down to her level, he said,
"Little girl, do you understand me?"
However, seeing the confusion and fear on her face, the leader paused for a while before speaking in a broken hindi,
"Girl - you - understand - me?"
Hearing a familiar language being spoken, Divya replied immediately,
"I do! Grandfather, do you know where I am? Those two uncles that left are very bad people! They kidnapped me! We need to call the police quickly! We need t-"
However, before she could finish her sentence, the leader interrupted,
"Use-magic-me," he said, pointing to Divya first and then himself, before holding Divya by her upper arm. Feeling the tight grip on her arm, Divya suddenly felt very scared and confused.
"Magic? What do you mean grandfather? And let me go," she said, as she tried to pry open the leader's fingers.
"Your-magic-use," the leader said once again, while increasing his grip strength. Now feeling more pain, young Divya suddenly felt something inside her pulse and then
/whoosh/
Suddenly, it was like she appeared in another world. Looking around her, she saw a very big city, like the ones that were shown on TV. With big silver buildings all around, and many cars on the road, it felt to Divya like another world. However, before she could make sense of her situation, she felt a sudden pull in her mind before appearing back in the leader's room, a far cry from the free and open city she saw just a second ago.
"She, she's amazing!" cried out the leader, "Even though I relaxed my defences quite a bit, she was able to penetrate into my mind and look into my memories! She's so much better than me! It takes me so much effort to look into people's memories, and she did it in an instant, and that too on instinc-" suddenly, the leader stopped. Realising that Hu was still in the room, he coughed once and then returned to his chair as if nothing happened. Looking at Hu, he said,
"You've done the organisation a great favour, Hu. Don't worry, you will be rewarded just as greatly. You may leave."
Watching Hu leave, the leader thought,
'Now, as for what to do with her, I believe it would be best to give her to them. They can shape her into what we want the fastest.'
"Very well then," he said in a tone that left no space for argument. Looking at the little girl, he thought,
'This will be painful girl, but don't worry. After this, I promise you won't feel anything,' with a smile on his face that betrayed his happiness.
[A few hours later, on the opposite side of the island, underground]
Inside a room filled with the stench of rotting blood, a man laid on a table, his eyes staring at the ceiling in what could only be recognised as despair. Suddenly, he heard a pair of footsteps walking towards him. Hearing them, he suddenly started trembling wildly, trying to shout through the collar around his mouth and escape his binds. However, it was to no avail, as they restricted him to this table. Not even being able to turn his head, the man slowly gave up, as he laid there in wait for what was going to happen.
"Ooh? Looks like you still have quite the fight left in you dear. It seems I still have a lot of work to do, came the sound of an adult man, before a huge white haired man came into the view of the man on the table. Picking up a cable cutter hanging on the wall, the white haired man spoke,
"Apparently, the boss has found a job for me! /Creepy laugh/ I'm so excited! I can finally use my skills," he said, before sighing, "unfortunately dear, that means that I have no more use for you. After all, you were just a pet project anyways. Now, let's have one final game before I leave, shall we?" as he proceeded to snap off one of the man's fingers, resulting in a muffled scream from the man.
"Tell me, what's 1000 - 7?"
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A/N:
* The conversation between Yang and Chen was entirely in Mandarin, and that as what they spoke to Divya in.
** The Boss and Hu were also speaking in Mandarin. To somebody who might question how Alaukik conversed with the leader without knowing Mandarin, the leader and Alaukik both knew English, which worked out nicely.
Here is 1st of the promised chapters! The second is on it's way! Yes, this is a bit dark, and yes, it might seem like I'm going back to my previous self, but don't worry! This will be the only chapter featuring tragedy for a while! So enjoy while you can! Cause the next few will just be normal, slice of life! As normal as you can get in my novels, that is. (Smile)
And as always, thank you for reading and have a great day!
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