There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 144

Chapter 144: Chapter 139. Maybe

In a small, highly secured conference room of Mortix Holding, nine people sat around a round table; three researchers, five espers, and one guide--this was the core member of the Deathzone Reclamation Project belonging to Mortix and Trinity.

Of course, there were more people who knew about this project, but the one who had significant voice and decision-making power within the project was the one seating around that table.

Of eight people besides himself, Zein was only familiar with four of them; Selena, Eugene, and two ’founders’ of Trinity. But he knew the other researcher was the one in charge of dissecting the Specter Core, and one of the other three espers was the Chief of Mortix’s intelligence and the boss of the shadow guards. The other esper, who looked like an average businessman, was Mortix’s Chief Secretary, and the last esper, as it turned out, was Bassena’s direct subordinate; a member of [Anzus].

Unlike other squads, the member of [Anzus] acted more like a special task force that only received missions directly from Bassena or Radia, and they were left to do whatever they wanted until the bosses called for them. Since they were scattered around the Federation, they didn’t even use the guild’s guide service, and just got cleansed wherever they ended up in. Thus, Zein hadn’t met anyone from [Anzus] so far.

And of course, the first thing the esper did when she met Zein was to stare. She stared at Zein--who coincidentally wasn’t wearing his mask due to the biometric identification needed to enter the room--and then at Bassena, and then back at Zein again. And the only thing she said after that was; "My condolences," before taking her seat.

Bassena refused to tell Zein her name after that.

"Alright," when Bassena was busy glaring at the esper, Radia tapped the table to turn their attention back to the agenda. "I don’t think I need to explain why we’re having this emergency meeting right now."

Emergency meeting. So urgent the matter was that Radia even pulled out an emergency summon to get that female esper--who Zein finally found out was called Kei--back in Althrea. So urgent it was that Bassena and Zein had to head there immediately before even having any time to rest after handling the outbreak.

Without wasting time, Radia gave a signal to the Chief of Intelligence, a man called Orion, and a screen came up from the projection in the middle of the table. Various recordings and news from the past few hours were on display there. The most notable one would be that of Althrea, with snippets of Bassena’s [Nightfall] and the cleaning process.

But they could also see news about various places in the Eastern Federation, all bearing the same headline; a sudden outbreak. Two green-zones, five yellow-zones, and six in orange-zones all over the region. All happened within the last eleven hours.

"I’m still waiting for reports from my red-zone’s informants," the female esper, Kei, added in. She was apparently in charge of surveilling and communicating with guilds and groups outside of Althrea, along with a small team of three other espers. "But looking at the trend, it probably happened as we thought."

Staring at the few pieces of paper in front of him, Zein suddenly wondered about his old acquaintances in Araka. Were Alma and Zach still there? After Umbra was gone, who took their place as reigning Lord? Perhaps he should try to contact them too, not just the borderland’s unit...

"Althrea received practically no damage other than a ruined riverside, thanks to Sir Vaski and Sir Luzein. But this also means--"

"That they’ll summon me," Radia leaned back with fingers weaved on his lap. "Right now, an emergency assembly is happening in the Capital too, and it’ll be safe to assume that Protocol Aspen will be in effect tomorrow."

Zein leaned to ask Bassena what Protocol Aspen meant, and apparently, it was an emergency assembly involving the top five guilds’ Guildmaster, the Patriarchs of twelve prominent Houses, the representatives of ten top companies, and the Chiefs of critical government bureaus.

"So you’ll be attending it, this time?" Bassena raised his brow.

Trinity, however mighty it was, could not yet be considered as one of the top five guilds. Size-wise, Trinity was still a medium-class guild, and a young one too, since it was established less than five years ago. The Mortix Group and the Mallarc, on the other hand...

"I’ll be there as Mortix’s Chairman and the Mallarc’s representative," Radia replied casually, before sweeping the room with his crimson eyes. "The association will reveal that we requested evacuation before the outbreak even happened, so there will be a lot of questions there. I won’t be able to dodge too much since the entire federation’s security is at stake, which is why we are gathered here today," he paused for a bit to make sure they knew the real agenda of their meeting. "To decide how much we will reveal and how much we should hide."

Zein narrowed his blue eyes for a bit. He tried to keep his expression straight, but he couldn’t help but frown. He felt it; the difference between a layman who only knew what the higher-up decided to tell him, and the one who made the decision. The conflicting interest between upholding justice and keeping benefits.

He caught the crimson gaze, and knew Radia could read him from the man’s subtle smile. "I’m not saying we should lie," Radia said, and Zein felt like it was directed at him. "But we should decide what we can share without jeopardizing our chance of winning the reclamation project."

Of course, Zein understood what Radia was saying. They held so much information that could cause an uproar in the community should people find out. From Bassena’s mission to Zein’s vision. And there was no way they could mention it to anyone outside. It was just...looking at the other zones that got hit by the outbreak made his heart heavy.

The infrastructure damages...the civilian casualties...it brought a lot of unwanted memories that got him a little bit sensitive.