Lucian was still confused by how strangely deia was acting, but he chose not to question it for now. Instead, he focused on her question.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I think the barrier has so kind of anti-mutant ability. That’s why I can’t get through it."
He frowned slightly. "It’s not a good sign."
deia stared at him in silence. In her mind, sothing didn’t add up.
An anti-mutant barrier shouldn’t work on Lucian, not if he really was truly a system.
But then again, he had been affected by anti-mutant ability before, back when they fought the Warstock leader.
Maybe those two abilities of his weren’t his true abilities.
Maybe they were just mutant abilities inherited from his human body.
And if his human body alone had abilities that strong ... then what about his real power as System 00?
There were still so many things she wanted to know about Lucian. So many things she wanted to understand about him.
But since she couldn’t ask the system, and it was even more impossible to ask Lucian directly, she stayed quiet.
Besides, she needed to think of a way to get out of this place. For so reason, the longer they stayed, the more uneasy she felt, like the air itself was pressing on her chest.
Even breathing felt a little harder.
"If the barrier can suppress our mutant abilities," she muttered, "then there’s a good chance the one who created it also has the sa power."
deia clicked her tongue. "Should we just jump into the pit and et the King of Worm?"
There was no proof that the creature underground really was the King of Worm. But at this point, it felt like the only lead they had.
Waiting around wasn’t helping. Maybe it was better to face the danger head-on.
"As much as that sounds like the best idea for our situation," Lucian admitted. "I’m not sure we should do that. If I’m not careful, my abilities might disappear, just like last ti."
And if that happened, his cancer would flare up again, making him too weak to fight, too weak to protect her.
He’d beco a burden and Lucian didn’t want that to happen.
His cancer ...
The system had told her that cancer was a sign the fragnt core was no longer needed inside his body.
After System 00 fully synchronized with the human body, his body started treating the fragnt core as a foreign object, sothing dangerous, so it began fighting back and trying to destroy it.
Unfortunately, that reaction led to cancer.
If Lucian hadn’t gained mutant abilities, he would’ve died long ago from it.
That’s why deia still didn’t understand, what was the point of rging with a human body if it would end up killing him anyway?
But maybe Lucian didn’t know either. Maybe the answer was still locked sowhere deep inside him.
The only way to find out ... was to wait.
Wait until Lucian finally regained his mories as System 00.
"You’re right," deia finally said, sighing deeply. "We need to be more careful."
To make things worse, there were so many people trapped inside the church.
deia was confident she could save Lucian if he lost his mutant ability, but she wasn’t so sure about the others.
Before she could talk more about what they should do next, a loud voice echoed from across the room.
"I want to go out! Let out of this place!"
Finn started acting like a madman. He even threw a chair at the window, but instead of breaking the glass, the chair bounced right back and nearly hit him.
The Rubik’s Cube Naomi had given him was lying forgotten on the floor.
It seed like the situation they were facing was just too terrifying, too overwhelming, so no puzzle in the world could calm his nerves now.
And honestly, the situation really was that bad, especially for soone like Finn.
They were stuck inside a crumbling old building, standing above a giant pit that could collapse at any mont.
Even worse, no one knew what kind of monsters were lurking down there.
So yeah, Finn wasn’t exactly overreacting. If anything, he was just the first one to crack.
"Alright, calm down," Naomi said, quickly moving to stop him from throwing another chair. "Co on, sit down before you hurt yourself."
Now that she thought about it, deia hadn’t talked to the scientists about the chip in his head again.
There had just been too many problems thrown at her inside this cursed place. She even had nearly forgotten why they ca here in the first place.
"Sora." deia stood up and walked toward her. "I don’t think we finished our conversation earlier."
Sora turned to look at her. She didn’t say anything, just waited for deia to continue.
"So ... about what we talked about earlier, would you be willing to help my brother?" She gestured toward Finn. "You can see how dramatic he is. It’s only a matter of ti before he becos the Lost."
The mont deia ntioned "the Lost," Finn stiffened and took a deep breath because deep down, he truly didn’t want to turn into a monster.
Sora replied, "We won’t know whether we can help him or not until we examine him properly." She let out a tired sigh. "We need more dical equipnt."
deia tilted her head. "Like I said, our base has everything you need. Please, Sora. There are many soldiers just like my brother, and all of them need your help."
"T-That’s right!" Finn stamred. "E-even if you say you never ant to create sothing like this ... the blueprint ca from you, didn’t it? So like it or not ... you have to take responsibility for us!"
Sora paused for a mont and exchanged glances with the other scientists.
Even if it was subtle, deia could see the guilt on their faces, the regret in their eyes.
"Alright," Eldon was the first to speak. "Take us to your base, and we’ll examine them."
"But ...," Gideon added, "We’re going there only to help, not to stay. Once we’ve done everything we can, we’ll leave the base imdiately."
deia nodded. "That’s not a problem." She continued, "You’re coming as scientists, not as prisoners. You’re free to leave anyti and no one will stop you."
Sora leaned in closer, her voice dropping low enough that only deia could hear it. "Maybe you should co with us, little snow. A base with that many people ... it might bring you trouble soday."
deia smiled gently and replied, "Thank you. But the Red Star base is my ho now."
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