Transcendent Gene-Chapter 283: Escalating Conflict [1]

Gio’s party split up for the rest of the day and half of the next. They only stayed in the same room for a few hours as they got some rest overnight. As newcomers, they couldn’t guarantee their safety alone.

They didn’t part ways without reason. Each member of the team was given a different task to accomplish in the bunker so they didn’t waste their time.

Gio had the least active task. He stayed near Fabian whenever he could and established a friendly relationship with the man. It wasn’t just to expedite their freedom, but also to cover them with some sort of backing if they needed it.

Fabian was well-connected. Though he didn’t gather much information, Gio met many people through him.

’Even if they’re djinns, they could become useful at some point. Unless they die here, this might not be the last time I see them.’

Serene was in charge of finding out about the Old Duke and his faction. Shiro was investigating the people in the rebel force, and Neriah was trying to find out more about the conflict as a whole.

"We’re good. Fabian seems to like me, and the people he introduced me to honestly didn’t seem like terrible human beings. I don’t think we’ll run into any intense conflicts with people on this side any time soon," Gio said.

The four of them were seated at a table on the fourth floor of the bunker. From their position, they could see out onto almost the entire space.

They looked like they were out in public for anyone to see or hear them, but they were covered by a barrier that hid the sound coming from their mouths.

"How have your searches been going?" He asked.

Shiro was the first one to answer.

"There are a few names I learned from snooping around. There’s almost a thousand people here, but luckily, only around ten of them are real problems. The rest aren’t anything to laugh at, but they’re also not dangerous enough to be extra wary of."

Shiro’s duty was to make use of some of his best skills: gossiping and eavesdropping.

"Some of them are out right now. I’ll start with them. You see that big bald guy over there with the tattoos on his head?"

Shiro didn’t point to him and allowed them to find him on their own to avoid suspicion.

"That’s Garrick the Butcher. His title is self-explanatory. If he catches you, he’ll chop you up and sell your best cuts off to the highest bidder. There are apparently a lot of people who want human meat or organs."

Such an explanation made it difficult to feel secure inside the temporary compromise the rebels had formed.

"They call the short one over there with the black and blue hair Johnny. Apparently, he’s an arsonist. He’ll burn anything and everything he can get his hands on."

The first thing Gio noticed was the cuffs on the man’s wrists.

"His...habits make it hard for him to obey the ceasefire, so his Sequence has to be suppressed while he’s at base, but that hasn’t stopped him from causing trouble. They say he’s gotten worse and that he’s ready to snap on anyone for any reason."

When those cuffs were taken off, the threat he posed was more than just significant. It could leave Gio’s party as candles that had no choice but to be burned into puddles of wax.

There was a woman near him named Rena who was called the Nightblade. Another woman a distance away named Gemma was also mentioned due to her ability to control radioactive substances.

Among the ten most concerning individuals, five were present in view of the party and the other five were not.

Shiro explained them each in detail along with what he’d been able to learn about them.

It was good information. It was great, even.

"...they won’t be able to touch us in here, but we should take special care not to set any of them off unless we really have to when we leave."

Neriah took a similar path, other than the fact that she focused on machines and information rather than people.

She didn’t have any plans of hiding her past anymore. It was too late to act like she came from ordinary origins. That didn’t mean she was going to tell them how she grew up, but she wasn’t going to hide her abilities to protect that secret anymore.

"They aren’t planning anything major that I could find, at least. Their paper trail is weak because this isn’t a real organized group, and their plans are mostly just learned through word-of-mouth. These people are almost dangerously unorganized," she said with a slight scowl.

But if that was all she found, she wouldn’t have said anything about it.

"That guy Fabian told us pretty much everything we need to know. The man they captured is vital to the Old Duke’s operations. The rebellion was never able to get close to him because of that guy."

However, the "guy" in question was hanging in the center of the bunker and bleeding from everywhere one could imagine blood. His body was limp and his eyes were hollow. He was barely holding onto the very verge of life itself.

"Now that he looks like that, the Old Duke is fair game. From what I’ve overheard and learned, their entire plan at this point is to find the Old Duke, rush him, celebrate, and then start reveling in their victory."

"The Old Duke lives in a mansion in the center of the city that looks like it really shouldn’t be there," Serene added.

"It looks old on the outside, like it’s been broken down for centuries. Everything is falling apart, but the slivers of the inside that people have seen through the front door look pristine. The windows don’t lie either. It sounds a bit strange, but isn’t it similar to..."

"The City Hall," said Gio as he nodded. The mansion being pristine on the inside would make it somewhat different, but the concept was the same.

"Right. It’s just like the City Hall, and it’s where these people think the Old Duke’s fortune is. That’s our main priority and the point of interest I think we should hit first."

It was ironic that this conversation ended up as their last in the bunker. As Gio listened to Serene’s points, he noticed Fabian signaling to him from a distance away.

"Guys..."

He quickly alerted his team members. They ceased conversing and took down the barrier hiding their words from the public just in time for his arrival at their table.

"It’s been a day. How are you feeling?" He asked with an amiable smile on his face.

"I won’t say the bunker is too comfortable..." Gio responded with a smile.

"But if you’re here, then we should be able to leave soon, right?"

"That’s right."

Fabian didn’t wait to confirm Gio’s thoughts.

"You guys have been vetted. There’s no more concern about you having negative intentions towards us. You can start taking missions whenever you want, and in a few days...well, you know what’s coming."

"We do, and we’ll be ready for it when the time comes. By the way, you said everything we find belongs to us, didn’t you?"

"I did, but that only applies for now. Once the ceasefire is over, it’s anyone’s game."

"I see..."

They had to protect their own spoils well, but it also gave them some leeway in a certain sense.

’If someone else gets something we want, we can just take it from them later.’

Fabian stayed for a bit longer, telling the party everything they needed to know as new members who joined at such a crucial point in the war. Once he was done, he showed them to the mission board where they could choose their tasks before leaving them alone.

There was a lot to do, and without unity or a real chain of command, it wasn’t easy to govern or command so many people. The mission board was a solution to that problem. Any task that needed to be done was left as a card on the board, and completing the tasks would result in rewards.

"Is it finally time for us to do something?" Shiro asked.

"Why?" Gio responded with a smile.

"We’ve only been sitting around for a day. There’s no way you’re already restless."

"Actually, I’m the same. That week we spent before leaving for Riverene...it changed us," Serene added a bit sheepishly.

Neither she nor Shiro wanted to admit it, but rapid growth was an amazing feeling. They, who were newbies who were somewhat afraid of the world a few weeks ago, had been completely won over by that experience.

They didn’t realize how easy growth could come. They, especially Serene, had experienced fast growth before, but it meant something else when the resources were gained through one’s own efforts.

Gio’s smile widened into a grin when he saw the expressions on their faces.

"I see, so that’s how it is," he said.

His eyes only scanned the mission board for a few moments before he found the right one. He grabbed a card and held it up in front of his party members.

"If you really can’t wait, then let’s skip the stretching and get straight into the workout. None of you have problems with that, right?"

The other three didn’t need to respond. They answered the question before it was ever asked.

Within the hour, they were being taught a path back to the surface that wouldn’t alert any unwanted eyes.

’Let’s get to work.’