OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 328: Investment

Chapter 328: Investment

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Emir saw everything.

He saw how Felix killed, how he struggled, how he feared, how he enjoyed.

It wasn't so at the start but... Felix saw those 'lower' than him only as meals to be eaten, and he enjoyed the hunting, the killing, and especially the eating.

As if he were a man from the time before the old world, hunting for deer in the mountains, except the deer were humans and instead of mountains it was the slums.

Even the way of using leftovers remained similar for both.

That floating bowl was used later to quench his thirst for more meat as he used it to make stew, drink, even perfume, and anything else that would help delay his thirst from taking control.

None of that interested Emir, however.

He wanted to know, to understand what changed in his 'storyline' compared to the novel. Emir needed to use it as a reference so that he could point out when the third player joined the game.

But unfortunately, his mind was useless.

Only highlights, like the death of the girl, the suffering and the like remained.

Subtle beings like the third player were deleted from his broken memories in their entirety.

Letting out a snigger, Emir looked around the empty white void he found himself in after the blink and commanded.

"Return."

Blink.

The virtual world complied, and he returned to the outside world.

"He's back!"

"Hey boss, look."

"Guys-"

"Shush, lower your voices."

Loud screams welcomed his return but Lyra shut them down, wanting to make sure that he was fine first:

"Prince... Are you, alright? You need anything?"

Emir silently looked at her as he was slowly being pushed out of the NCI's soft cushion. He then removed his head, took out the wires from his neck, and stood up, feeling the ground. The real ground.

It was calm... There were no storms, no explosions.

"I am... Just need to orient myself a bit."

His feet pushed the ground a couple of times, feeling the familiar gravity washing over him as he moved around.

'I'm back'

After showing a smile, he returned his attention to Lyra.

"Yall got what I got?"

She nodded and Nathan approached them from the flickering console.

"It's safe to say that we've really involved ourselves in a shitshow of a play."

Lyra glanced back, glaring at him for a moment, then returned her gaze to Emir.

"Involved is the wrong word... We've been forced to act, don't forget."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders and stood to her right.

"Whatever you saw miss vice president."

Chuckling, Emir neared them, acting as if he was about to thank them for their work, but as Nathan reached out for a handshake, he ignored him and headed towards the stairs.

"Enough banter sir manager, we've got to go, take care of a few things..."

And just before he climbed the stairs, he looked around the room with wistful eyes.

"I'm sorry but this was more useless than expected."

It appeared that his mood was dampened by what happened in there so no one took it to heart.

With that as goodbye, Emir and Lyra left Nathan's office and visited the first floor for a few minutes, giving their farewells to the many hunters diving today, making sure that their presence in the hunter group wasn't forgotten.

As the last hunter departed, they went to his room on the fifth floor.

She relaxed on his bed while he sat near his desk, and turned on his terminal, which projected a hologram of a screen right in front of him.

"So why do you think that the third player involved himself with that brat Felix? Him killing 'her' because he was 'turned' early on was strange, sure, but it didn't really change things."

"I don't think we'll ever know... Or maybe we will in the future, but it would already be too late. Whoever they are, they've done a great job at covering their tracks, it's almost as if they deleted them entirely."

Emir turned his gaze away from the hologram and looked back at her, slowly nodding his

head.

"Right... That's exactly right... Deleted. You think they're a Thief?"

Lyra smiled, happy that he picked up on her words.

"Maybe. We can't say for sure, but it's highly likely... Thankfully however, what we are sure of

is that it isn't Isaac Klein, though a bastard, he doesn't have the strength."

"True true, I don't think that it's anything to be thankful about though..." He shook his head as he snapped back to the hologram.

"Blurred dick heads like him are hard to remember, although Mom mentions every time she sees the fucker on the holoscreen, she can't recall how his face looks no matter how many times I ask her. And it's not just her, to anyone else he might seem fine, but to us, the ones in the know, we see, we remember."

She giggled and pushed herself off the bed, joining her prince at the desk and placing her head

atop his.

"Are you alright?"

Emir, without delay, picked up on what she truly wanted, which was to know everything.

"You wish to read my memories?"

"I do."

"Go ahead then."

It took a moment, and Lyra was done, then after another moment or two, she spoke:

"So you really don't care about her anymore?"

'Jealousy over a dead woman, huh...'

Emir read her like an open book, understanding that she was jealous of the one whom he buried, as she influenced him to let out a single tear. It was the only person outside the family who invoked any semblance of sadness within him.

"No, her story is done, I was just surprised that she was mentioned again, that's all, now go do your thing or be quiet for a bit and let me write my letter."

"Hm..."

Lyra, who showed herself to be sulking with puffed cheeks, did as she was told and stepped back, exiting the room soon after.

He didn't react to that as he knew that she was only going out to help Laura, while his partner opened up by a huge margin after they had done the 'deed' she was still a logical person at her

core.

Anyhow, Emir's letter was for Quinn Mercer, the girl whose father he had tortured to death.

While she wished for death to visit him, he wanted her to be his disciple, it was quite the...

play.

And so, to solve that issue, he would manipulate her.

This was only his first step in doing that.

After all, the letter was to announce his sponsoring her.

It wasn't going to be a normal sponsor either, he, while acting anonymous, would pay for all

her student expenses and give her a monthly salary that she desperately needed.

Basically, this letter was a warning that he would be slapping her face with a big wad of

credits.

And yes, she was desperate for money indeed.

When her father died, she was the only one left of the main family.

Now... what did orphans in the jungles and deserts attract the most?

Vultures... Hyenas.

Lo and behold, there came the vultures, there came the hyenas, her own relatives, even those

whom she saw as sweet aunties ate up whatever her dad left behind, not even giving her the

bones.

They stole candy from a baby and that baby let out all its irrational anger on the only target it

could.

Emir.

He, meanwhile, planned to use that anger, shape her into his mad hound, his Aetheric Duelist, and create a situation where she would feel guilty over the emotions she held for him. Her professor would be a man who only saw her as a great disciple, someone worth raising, yet she hated him so? How unfair was she to him? How sad must he feel?

Guilt tripping certainly wasn't on his bucket list of things to do, but it seemed to be the best

method for beings like her who acted only on emotion.

"A mad dog indeed."

Emir laughed... he couldn't help it.

How ironic was it that he, who had his fate decided, 'written,' now played as an unknown

Elite, sponsoring a girl and molding her to his liking?

Truly. The world was a small one... And fate certainly was a bitch.