MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin



[Wednesday — 27th November 2030 — 11:30 pm]

A little earlier, just after Kang Ho had ended the discussion with Yui, Hacker had been hard at work, unblocking the different protective firewalls that stood in her way as much as she could from decrypting all information of the IP and the subsequent location and traces of the Blue Sharks' boss.

In the past, the possibility of hackers being as shown in the movies was pretty much as impossible as it could get. One couldn't just write dozens of codes at the speed of lightning with no problem whatsoever and easily find solutions for all the problems and even crack into the safest safety nets and firewalls like it were child's play for them.

Being a Hacker was a long time-consuming job and generally came with little to no rewards.

…Well, that was how it was for normal humans, that is…

For people like her, people from the supernatural side of the world, things were vastly different.

Be it through special implementation, contracts to supernatural beings, or any other means, only those who could enter the sea of information inside cyberspace, a virtual realm formed from the connectivity of the Internet and all the devices inside the world that had been forged into reality, and actively manipulate it through their mind had the right to call themselves hackers or best known as Netrunners.

Hacker was one of the best Netrunners that ever existed in the supernatural world and there were very few individuals, such as the legendary and world-renowned armor designer [~S.K~] and [Prometheus] along with a handful of others who could truly best her in this craft.

Even then, even after all the experience and expertise she had accumulated in this field, it took her nearly thirty minutes to break through the firewalls and safety nets that had been put up to encrypt the information she sought to obtain and truly reached her target.

｢Boss. Something's definitely not right here. His defense was way more sturdy than it should have been. It's almost to the point of being too much.｣

Breaking the lollipop that was held inside her mouth, Hacker spoke with a grave tone in her voice as she warned Yui of a deep conspiracy being involved with this scenario before actually sending the information over to her.

Back in the room that Yui was seated inside, a large holographic map of the entirety of the city of Los Angeles appeared on top of them. The map showed the place they were currently located inside LA but it rapidly zoomed out until they were finally able to find the place where Kang Ho currently was.

The result was more than surprising to her.

"How did he manage to go that far in such a short amount of time? It should be impossible by his means alone."

After zooming many times out of the inherent map, it was finally possible to find the actual position of their target and Yui could only furrow her brows when she understood just where that bastard was located. After all, they could only see a red point in the middle of the sea right now.

｢This is either a hidden island that was recorded on no map or some yacht that is traveling in the sea. My gut says the former. Either way… He is really really far away from here.｣

"310 miles to be exact…" [1]

Yui sighed before turning to Adam. He was the one who requested to have this mission assigned to him after all.

"So, what do you think?"

Even though it was pretty far away from their current location, they could just use a helicopter to reach it. But even without taking into account the time to prepare a helicopter that could wield the sufficient capability to infiltrate deep into the enemy lines, they would need around 1 or 2 hours of flight at the minimum to reach the destination of their target.

Adam closed his eyes, trying to think about the distance between here and the place that he needed to go. If the situation was normal, he would have simply decided to wait. But the more time passed and the more worried he became. As if something was nagging at him.

He tapped his communication lens and spoke to Hacker.

"Send me the coordinates and keep me updated about his location in real-time."

"What are you going to do?"

"Me? I guess I will just fly…"

He smiled softly and left a stunned Yui behind as he exited the room to head toward his destination.

———

[Pacific Ocean — Wednesday — 27th November 2030 — 11:59 pm]

Something akin to a shooting star was flying at blazing speeds while remaining at a low altitude close to the sea floor…

Thanks to his domain, Adam was able to move at the full speed, which his ability to control gravity and telekinesis had allowed him to, while being absolutely unhindered by the wind resistance and any other flying animal that might stop him in his tracks or injure his body.

He was not slowed down by the friction and the pulls of laws of physics inside of his domain and could thus accelerate nearly indefinitely as long as his mental capacity could allow him to maintain that speed while incorporating all of his other abilities that helped him to sustain his flight.

Right now, he was flying at a speed that was near the speed of sound [1] at its base form while one of his minds constantly paid attention to the map to make sure that he was not taking the wrong direction. He was not a sailor after all, so, it was given that he would not be able to navigate his direction in the sea while relying on his sense of direction alone.

All he had in his mind right now was that… he needed to fly fast; he needed to fly fast to reach that place in the least time possible. Something was constantly nagging at him, making him feel restless and it was not just the worry he had for Hae-Won's well-being.

'Her kid…'

Adam remembered the young boy he had seen earlier this morning and couldn't help but feel like he was slowly connecting the dots to a bigger picture that would make everything even more problematic than just the scenario of a small-time criminal making his final stand against their onslaught.

'Fuck… I really hope I am wrong.'

He was praying with all his heart for that possibility. Hoping that his hunch was wrong in this case. That he was just worrying about absolutely nothing and that capturing Kang Ho would just be a walk in the park for him with no particular difficulty or unexpected plot twists in this gang war scenario.

Sadly, the very moment his zone reached the fringe of what he thought was an island in the distance… Adam realized with dismay that he had been right all along.

"Ah…"

His whole body started to violently shudder as a primordial fear seized his mind, body, and soul. Stopping his flight, he looked dumbfounded at the sky as if a hammer had struck his mind.

"Ugh…"

His eyes started to bleed, his ears started to ring, his heart pounded so fast that he felt like it would burst at any second and even floating became impossible for him as he lost all of his senses and control of his mind and body, causing him to plummet straight into the sea like a stone with no strings.

It was at that moment that a golden light started to spread from the belt he had attached to his hips.

As warmth filled his body once again, the sounds filled with madness and violence that had affected his mind seemed to be blocked by an invisible wall and his consciousness returned to him, allowing him to stop himself from falling deeper into the sea and eventually come to the surface.

"Fuck. What the hell was that?"

[You need to run! Now!!]

It was the first time Adam had felt Genesis sound genuinely emotional about something. Its voice was filled with so much anxiety, fear, and a sense of despair that it was hard to believe.

But Adam had no time to answer Genesis as the book appeared in front of him and a list of new ordeals appeared in front of his eyes.

Then… He finally understood why Genesis had reacted like that and showed those emotions…

How could it not be?

『 Mythical Ordeal: Fleeing Knight.

Description: A superior entity is coming to the world. The ritual is already complete. Stopping it is impossible. Your chances of victory are negative. Flee at an even faster speed than you used to come here or you will discover why death is a sweet release.

Reward: Your Freedom. 』

『 Mythical Ordeal: Surrendering Knight.

Description: A superior entity is coming to the world. If fleeing is impossible, consider surrendering yourself to it. As an entity deeply tied to Cain, your chances of not ending up as a slave forever tied down in the depths of hell will massively increase once you decide to surrender and offer yourself. There is no shame in surrendering in front of overwhelming power.

Reward: Your Freedom? 』

Adam could barely keep his mind straight at the messages that kept bombarding him one after another inside of the swiftly turning pages of the book of Genesis.

He could not understand how the simple elimination of a random gangster escalated to an end-of-the-world scenario like the summoning of The Devil in person.

But his surprise did not just stop there.

Just as he was about to follow the advice of Genesis and the ordeal and fly the hell out of this place… something changed in the atmosphere. As though everything had been a lie.

『 Be not afraid 』

A voice that seemed to have come up from the deepest depths of the abyss of no return but at the same time… filled with untold warmth filled the air and the surrounding area.

A flash of golden light that nearly blinded his eyes descended from the skies above and the heavy aura that had been affecting him till now completely vanished into thin air. In the sky, the reverse pentagram with a goat head was cleanly erased, and in its place was another symbol. A simpler circle with no particular signs.

The two Mythical class ordeals that had previously appeared instantly vanished and a new ordeal appeared in their place.

Adam's expression became thoughtful as he read the ordeal and started to wonder…

Was fleeing still necessary?

———

[1]: 500 kilometers. Really the American system confuses the hell out of me since I am used to the metric system.

[2]: 343 meters per second or 767 miles per hour