Chương 7: Traveling in Secret

Judging from Aster's bewildered expression, Officer Helvetica deduced that Aster had no clue what was going on. However, there was no time to waste. Scanning Aster from head to toe, Helvetica hummed momentarily before groaning in frustration.

"You already stand out because you're human, but dressed like that, you'll draw even more attention."

Aster looked down and noticed that he was still dressed the same as before. He only had a short piece of "skirt" to cover himself up. If he went out walking around like that, he could imagine how he'd become the center of attention. Not in a good way, of course.

"Please follow me," Officer Helvetica ushered, leading Aster out of the interrogation room.

The two immediately turned to the right as they left the room and entered the third door to the left. As they entered, Aster noticed that it was filled with lockers.

"As you've surmised, this is our locker room," Helvetica explained. "We'll be borrowing a few clothes from here for you to use. Please bear with it being used clothes."

"P-Please! I'm just grateful to have normal clothes. I don't mind if they're used," Aster stammered while hoping they wouldn't smell too bad.

"Hearing you say that makes me feel less guilty," the elf officer muttered with a wry smile.

After that, Aster began wearing clothes.

After long deliberation, he borrowed some clothes from another elf officer, one with a smaller build than Officer Helvetica, who was way taller than Aster. Despite it being the "smallest" of them, it was way too big for Aster's skinny body.

"... Well, it's an improvement," Helvetica remarked with a frown.

After he dressed up "appropriately," he was then dragged toward the back entrance. On the way, he saw a few more officers who looked on edge. The S-Class Confidentiality Level alert was something they experienced for the first time, after all. They didn't want to mess it up.

All surveillance cameras were turned off and pointed directly to the ceiling, trying to avoid keeping records of Aster's presence at all costs. Even the previous records where he was caught were already archived and deleted!

Seeing them all line up in the hallway, Helvetica nodded approvingly. "Everyone, you know the drill, right?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good! Then, I will be driving the main vehicle with Mr. Aster. Two others would act as decoys..."

He began giving orders to everyone, each one precise, concise, and clear. After about two minutes of talking, their preparation was finally done. Two officers ran ahead of them, heading to the back door and leaving, while Helvetica watched them with a firm expression.

After about five minutes passed, he then turned to Aster and spoke.

"Then, Mr. Aster, please follow me."

"R-Right," Aster answered despite being slightly confused.

He followed right behind Officer Helvetica, keeping pace with his long strides. And in just a few moments, he was starting to run out of breath, unable to match the elf's walking pace!

Fortunately, the door leading to the back wasn't far.

When the officer opened the door, Aster saw how there were various cars parked here and there. Right outside, another female elf officer wearing a white scarf saluted before relaying some information.

"Officer Helvetica, sir! Trainees Aston and Greed have left as decoys. The press is splitting up to chase them."

"Good." He nodded while saluting the woman. "Stay here and watch over the situation. If there seemed to be someone following us, alert us immediately."

"Affirmative!"

The woman, after lowering her hand for the salute, turned to Aster. She noticed how the clothes he was wearing were too big and baggy and how his collar was slipping down.

"..."

Out of pity, she unwound the dirty-white scarf around her neck, stepped forward, and wrapped it around Aster's neck. "The wind is cold. Keep this," she said with a warm smile.

Aster stared at her before nodding and muttering in a small voice. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She replied with another smile.

As he began to follow behind Officer Helvetica once again, he started to realize something. "All elves are tall!"

The one before him, for example, Helvetica, was standing around 2.2 meters. The woman behind him, who gave him the dirty-white scarf, stood at 1.9 meters! He looked like a kid when standing between the two elves!

As they walked for a few meters, Helvetica stopped before pulling out his keys from his breast pocket. As he pressed a button on it, a black sedan a short distance away released a beeping noise before starting to float.

Then, as if driving itself, the car approached the two and stopped right before them. It looked like it was sliding across since there were no wheels below it at all.

"Come up to the passenger seat." Helvetica offered as he opened the door.

Nervously, Aster climbed into the car. To his surprise, it didn't even shake. "How is this floating but so stable?" he wondered.

Once Aster was seated, Helvetica closed the door, moved to the driver's seat, and leaned over to buckle Aster's seatbelt. "Excuse me," he muttered.

After he put on his seatbelt and adjusted the rearview and side mirrors, he then reached for the key once more and plugged it into the dashboard.

"..."

Aster was confused, however, since he couldn't see any steering wheel anywhere. And with his doubts remaining unresolved, Helvetica tapped something on the dashboard, and the car quickly rose into the sky, entering the "highway's" slow lane.

"Wow!"

Soon enough, he forgot his misgivings and was staring at the window with excitement.

They entered the fast lane, with cars speeding left and right, flying at speeds that would make one wonder if they're not scared of getting into a car accident.

"Don't stick too close to the window, or you might bump your head against the glass," Officer Helvetica whispered with a slight chuckle. "So you really did come from the past, huh? Flying cars had been the standard since, like... 500 years ago."

"Huh? But I can see vehicles running on the ground too?" Aster asked, seeing the bus and trains on the ground, judging from the lights they emitted.

"Ah, public transport is required by law to stay on the ground." His sharp ears twitched a little as he explained. "After all, it's bothersome to ascend the highway and descend whenever they pick up or drop passengers."

"Hmm, makes sense..."

Aster then stared at the handsome elf beside him and asked. "And why does this car not have a steering wheel?"

"Oh, that?" He smiled lightly before tapping the dashboard, with many lights flickering on it. "Modern transport is fully automated and controlled by a single AI. That way, accidents can be avoided since it has control over all vehicles."

A hive-mind AI was in charge of driving the car, or more accurately, all of the cars flying around the speedway. By controlling "all" cars at once, the AI could predict and control trajectories accurately and let all vehicles run at their maximum speed without the danger of crashing.

"Hoooh!" Aster sighed in awe.

He never imagined AI to reach such a level!