Only I Am A Reader-Chapter 545: Sides Of The Same Coin

'I know though.'

As someone who still kept appearing throughout the novel after the Ability Eraser chase arc, Leo was naturally aware of the girl's name.

Although the crazy Ability Eraser found it poetic to use names from a messed up fairy tale, Gene immediately discarded that name.

'But why?'

What Leo was rather curious about was why the girl presented her name or even followed him this easily.

He was indeed trying to keep this part of the story on track, but Leo really planned to let the girl go if he couldn't convince her using words.

The fact that she appeared so eager to follow him was totally out of script. After all, while Leo could understand Mac's ignorant enthusiasm, he knew that Gene was far smarter than that.

Most likely, she had already figured out his identity based on the name and the abilities that he showed, yet, with the very first bait that Leo handed her, she discarded her only chance to escape safely and walked away from the police station…

'Is she still recovering?'

The only thing that Leo could think of was that his Shadow Cleansing wasn't as effective as Aurora's healing, making Gene more compliant, but all of his senses told him that it had to have worked.

"So where are we going?"

The fact that she was capable of normal speech, her face and body language… Everything screamed normal.

"Nowhere special. You seem to hate the orphanage enough to follow a suspicious man into who knows where, and the orphanage doesn't care about you either, so we are finding you a new home."

In the end, Leo decided to just ignore the unexpected changes and deal with the matter at hand. If he kept getting surprised at every single discrepancy he found after finding so many, the day would never end.

Since they were still casually walking away, he didn't mind making small talk with the kid.

"I don't hate-"

"You know they didn't put out a single missing person's report over all these months? Your friend Mac had only been missing for less than a month, and there are posters everywhere in their area."

This time, the information wasn't something that Leo read about in the novel, it was the result of his expedited investigation into the Ability Eraser's location.

"I… wouldn't say I don't dislike them."

Naturally, there was a reason why Aurora chose to keep Gene with her. Although she did it in the reverse order, she also investigated the kid's situation because she felt sorry for what she had been through for years.

Despite being an institution supported by the city, the orphanage Gene belonged to treated children like renters. They did give them a ceiling above their head, and a very basic meal, but it came at a cost.

Since they didn't want to deal with any annoyance, they kept them running around Enigma City doing short deliveries, and small errands, a service they provided to people at a cost, and naturally, the kids got nothing out of it.

In more direct words, the kids basically earned their living costs and a little… More than a little extra money that went to the managers' pockets.

And in the case someone didn't come back from any errand, they immediately treated them as runaways, acting as if they didn't exist in the first place.

"Then I would say you aren't being honest."

In comparison, Mac's parents weren't well off, especially after sinking most of their savings into buying that Enigma Stone for their son, but they still didn't spare any money or effort on finding him.

"Alright. I do hate it. In fact, I detest it."

As for Gene specifically, her orphanage life was even worse than the rest.

'It's a distasteful story.'

A few years back, the orphanage's head manager was on a very lucky streak with his gambling that he wanted to do something big.

In the end, under his friend's advice, he decided to try a very unorthodox method, Enigma Stone gambling!

He told him that at some extreme parts of the City, people enjoyed feeding little kids with precious Enigma Stone and betting on whether they would awaken, stay the same, or whether their awakened ability would be strong or not.

The first thought he thought about after hearing this was turning the orphanage into this kind of facility on the down low, but he was still smart enough to decide against it, knowing how sensitive the City Management was about Special Abilities.

However, he was still inspired to make a bet of his own. After putting his recent winnings as a downpayment for an Enigma Stone, he hired a 'luck reader' to pick a kid from the orphanage to bet everything on.

As long as the chosen kid awakened something useful, he could promote them as the pride of the orphanage and obtain sponsorship! Most importantly, he could exploit the kid's ability to directly earn money through their ability!

Unfortunately for him, it was a bust, but the most unfortunate one was still the chosen Gene. After she awakened such a 'useless' ability, she was treated with utmost harshness. Sometimes even receiving beatings, as for getting the hardest errands, that was a matter of course.

"I would have left that place a long time ago if I had any other choice!"

At that point, Gene wanted to leave even if she had to live on the streets, but the head manager threatened her that he would sell her out to some underground research institute if she even thought about mentioning anything that happened.

"I endured it all just to stay safe and keep on living, yet it turned out all I had to escape was get taken away by some sicko."

Against his threats, the head manager obviously didn't care enough. Rather, it seemed that he was happy to get rid of such a burden.

However, the reality that Leo chose not to reveal was that the head manager practically sold her to the Ability Eraser at the same cost he bought that Enigma Stone a long time ago.

"I'm the stupid one for not trying to run away from the beginning."

Just a few seconds ago, Gene was ready to scream and let everything out, but recalling everything made her feel empty.

After losing her mother and being raised in that place, she was already stuck in a situation not so different from her kidnapping. She wasn't so suggestable to the crazy man's brainwashing from nothing.

"It's okay, it's not your fault. We all have our circumstances."

In his case, Cassian was in a position to put out blood and sweat to grow up and take revenge, while the little girl from back then knew nothing but obedience. In the end, however, they were both sides of the same coin.

"What would a Villain doing charity work know about that?"

With the hate rising in her heart, Gene tried to say something hurtful, but Leo only smiled as he snapped his fingers once more.

"Don't worry, it's going to get better."

Under the shadow coming from the closed alley, a dark blanket rose to cover both Leo and Gene, it was about time to rush to their next and final destination.