Following the dark tunnel, Ferris eventually stumbled upon a normal-looking door.
But even if it was normal, Ferris still remained cautious because he knew just how dangerous doors can be.
Turning the knob, he opened the door slowly and without breathing.
An apartnt complex? Ferris guessed when he saw the flight of stairs and tight hallways.
Quickly as he entered, he heard a faint noise from above.
There he is.
Chasing the steps and ascending upwards, Ferris found himself on a certain floor that seed to be the most important.
The hallway here was strikingly well-kept, a sharp contrast to the ss that plagued most of the city.
From the outside, the building looked run-down and forgotten, but...
I'm sensing multiple presences in the other rooms, but they're weak.
Could this place be a secret hideout? Ferris began guilty all of a sudden,
maybe I should've closed the secret entrance before entering...
But even so, it seed no one knew Ferris was here. He had to move quickly.
His eyes swept over each door until they stopped on one in particular. Even without direct contact, he could feel the essence of that man lingering behind it.
This one. I'm sure knocking will be fine.
Knock.
Knock.
Ferris rapped his knuckles twice against the door. Almost imdiately, faint shuffling sounded from inside, followed by approaching footsteps.
The door creaked open, spilling the glow of a warmly lit room into the hall.
The man stood there in plain ho clothes, rubbing at his weary eyes. From the looks of it, he had been about to turn in for the night when Ferris interrupted.
Still half-drowsy, he spoke in a dismissive tone. "What do you want? I told you not to bother in my room—
. . .
"Good evening. May I co in? There's sothing important we need to discuss." Ferris smiled politely. But it was only Ferris—Alaric, wasn't smiling at all.
"Shit—
Ferris wasted no ti and covered the man's mouth before dashing forward, softly closing the door behind him at the sa ti.
"I'm a hero, relax!" Ferris said calmly, but for so reason, the situation beca even worse.
The man struggled with all his might but strangely, it was quite pathetic.
That's strange... I thought he'd be stronger than this?
The strength displayed during the man's encounter with a villain was nowhere to be seen. All Ferris was seeing now was a shadow compared to that.
"I'm one of the many kidnapped heroes that ca to this city.
I won't hurt you.
Now, I'm gonna let go. And promise you won't scream."
. . .
Ferris waited for a response, but when there was none he had no choice but to leave his most important asset.
Damnit, Sir Alaric… at this rate, I'll start believing every problem traces back to you!
With a sigh, Ferris squeezed his own face—then pulled it clean off.
It ca away like the delicate shell of a boiled egg. The grotesque sight froze the man in place, his struggles stopping in an instant.
Where an aged and intimidating face had been, now rested a far younger, more approachable one.
"Do you trust now?" Ferris asked, his voice softer and more reassuring.
This ti, under Ferris's firm hold, the man could only nod.
Ferris released his arms slowly, and thankfully, the man didn't plan on doing anything else that would annoy him.
Without hesitation, Ferris began to explain his purpose here. "I ca here as a scout."
"Then what's that got to do with ?!" the man snapped, his voice sharp with frustration.
. . .
"Let's sit sowhere more comfortable," Ferris suggested.
Though still visibly agitated, the man begrudgingly agreed. The two moved to the dining table, where the tense air was much calr.
Once seated, Ferris began to explain—laying out the gist of the man's situation, and recounting his encounter with the man's supposed older brother.
"That's… a bit too much to take in," the man muttered.
"You can't rember anything? Then what's your na?"
"I don't got one, but they do call the hotdog guy."
He doesn't even have a na? Ferris was a bit suspicious. "How did you get here then? Surely you rember that much."
The man thought for a while before replying, "I just grew up and lived here my entire life."
"Your parents?" Ferris asked.
"What's that?"
No recollection of his na and no mories of his past.
Trauma?
...This guy is definitely Zaku, but I have no clue how to piece together his history. Ferris tried to figure out what to do with Zaku now that he found him.
But for now, Ferris needed to do his primary job.
"What's this place?" he asked.
Zaku's blank expression suddenly lit up before trying to go through his mories of living here.
"Oh, this? It used to be an abandoned apartnt complex, it got renovated by so people when I was still a kid apparently.
It's sort of like a secret hideout," he answered casually.
"Who are these people?" Ferris said. He only knew of so groups that lived in this city.
The villains, either kidnapped against their own will or arrived voluntarily.
Servants/slaves who worked for the villains in all kinds of ways.
And lastly, the latest two groups to arrive, the heroes and civilians.
"I guess it's probably the people who didn't escape this place when it fell, that's what I heard from my friends.
There's only 8 of us left.
All the adults died a long ti ago."
I see... I guess these people weren't raised properly. Even if Zaku is around my age, would he really be considered an adult?
Ferris knew that living here was difficult for them. Unlike servants, who were protected by Lilith's curse, these people weren't given such treatnt.
Most likely at the beginning, the only way for them to find sustenance would be to go out and scavenge for materials or steal them.
But as the city evolved due to ti, a micro economy appeared, so doing sothing like selling hotdogs would be a viable way of living in this cesspit town of villains.
But isn't this city locked away from the outside, then how could Zaku maintain such a business?
"How are you able to find fresh ingredients?" Ferris asked, knowing that there was a hole in the hotdog stand business.
"…The villains managed to convince the proctors to lower the barrier last year. Since then, a market pops up every now and then."
Zaku's voice dipped as he continued, "I managed to buy so ingredients… but we didn't have the money for actual hotdogs."
"I've got a friend in the apartnt across from mine. She has a duplicating blessing, so she pushes herself every day just so I can keep earning.
And for the hotdog, it's thanks to my friend's self-regeneration blessing."
. . .
Ferris pressed a hand to his mouth and focused on his stomach, forcing down the churn that threatened to rise.
Zaku leaned back with a faint smile. "The business is doing fine though. With the money we've saved, we can afford to rest for a month next week."
"T-that's nice to hear . . ." Ferris spoke under his palm. No, it won't be a month, I'll make sure it last forever.
After that, Zaku went back to his blank expression.
"So, is that enough? Thanks to you, I don't feel like sleeping anymore." Zaku slamd his head down on the table, which startled Ferris a little.
He then pulled out a phone and began to watch so short videos of the outside world.
"You've been to the outside before right? What's it really like out there? I heard that you could get food delivered by a thing called a drone... That's fucking sick..."
Ferris nodded, "you can get it delivered that way, but I never tried it before because it's too expen... sive..."
"!!!
Wait, how the hell do you have a signal?!"
Snatch!
"Dude, that's my phone" Zaku exclaid.
How did they get access to the internet? Ferris wondered in disbelief, but most important of all—
Why didn't they call the hero association?
Ferris closed out whatever app Zaku had been using and switched over to the call app, dialing the Hero Association.
However—
[Hero services in this region are blocked. Please try again at a later date.]
Snatch!
"Don't bother. They already tried everything," Zaku muttered as he yanked the phone back. Without hesitation, he reopened his video app and started scrolling like nothing happened.
"Back then, the adults hooked up a cable all the way to the TV tower and managed to get a signal.
They tried the sa thing you did and failed.
Then they reached out to their friends. At first, they answered, then the replies stopped coming.
After that, they tried to contact different sites, but every attempt got blocked for so reason."
Zaku's eyes never left the screen. "So don't be stupid and get banned from my favorite app, idiot. This thing's basically my lifeblood."
Hearing those mysterious reasons, Ferris beca suspicious of the whole situation.
Why would they block it? And why did people stop communicating?
Wait.
Ferris traced back to the beginning.
Is it even possible?
For the villain clan to kidnap that many hero examinees, and even official heroes?
Is it really that easy for them?
But the hero association is one of the most powerful entities in the world, is it not?
. . .
Traitors were the kind of people Ferris could never forgive, but now wasn't the ti to drown in old grudges.
It can't hurt to try. If I can't reach the Hero Association, then…
…I'll go straight to the hero.
There was only one hero he could trust right now.
Prodigy Prince.
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