Chapter 101: City Lord Orin (2)
"Why?!" Orin’s expression flared with rage again. "I’ll do it! Who are you to tell me what to do? I am the city lord not you!"
A calm smile spread across Varyn’s face when heard this. He snapped his fingers, and a terrifying aura erupted from him.
Immediately, Orin’s head slammed down onto the table in front of them.
Orin tried to sit back up but, a powerful suppression rendered him unmovable.
"Do you know who you are talking to?" Varyn asked coldly. "I made you. You should always remember that, Orin. You will do as I say."
"Y-yes!" Orin stammered, panic on his face. "Please let me go, Lord Varyn. I was wrong! Wrong!"
He showed the genuine look of fear, he knew what Varyn was capable of doing. Even after going insane, his subconscious mind didn’t dare to defy Varyn.
Varyn waved his hand and released him.
Orin sucked in a deep breath, recovering from the pressure of Varyn’s presence.
"You can personally kill Valeria once we figure out her secrets," Varyn said, sipping his tea calmly. "After that, she will be of no use to the High Order."
Orin’s face brightened at the suggestion.
"Yes! I will kill her! Kill her!" He burst out laughing again.
Then Varyn changed the subject.
"Did you find the person I asked you to find?" he asked Marcius without hurry as Orin continued laughing.
Marcius nodded and produced a chip from his pocket. He plugged it into the table. The tabletop shifted and a holographic projection sprang up.
The projection showed the streets of Sector One. The focus was a single person.
A young teen, about seventeen or eighteen, with long black hair tied into a neat ponytail. An angular, handsome face, deep purple eyes, and a small smile. A white cat perched on his shoulder, looking around curiously.
"Is this the person you were looking for, Sir Varyn?" Marcius asked.
"Indeed." Varyn studied the image. "That is precisely the person."
"Grey Lockhart," Varyn said slowly. "I wonder where you ran off. To think we would meet so soon."
"Our agents discovered he’s been working with Valeria for a while. That is why it took so long to get useful intel. His identity was being anonymously encrypted by Azrael Corporation, they were protecting him all along." Marcius spoke.
"But he walks the streets freely, and that’s how we got his picture. We investigated from there. We believe he’s working with Valeria to bring down the High Order. He also raided the Black Viper Crew’s den. Could he be behind the outer-ring hideout? How else did Valeria find it?"
"Of course he’s the one. No doubt about it," Varyn said. "That guy has a special eye for High Order operations. He managed to find two bases within two days."
"One of our members died under his cyberattack," Varyn added, sipping his tea. "The last time we removed the data, but the next day he remotely accessed our Byteripper’s system and eliminated him. His neural pathways were completely burnt out."
"What?" Marcius was stunned.
"Is he that powerful?" Marcius asked, voice trembling. "He’s the reason the Nova City plan failed, right, Sir Varyn?"
"Powerful?" Varyn snorted. "He’s a small fry. The person he killed was only a late-stage 1st Ranker. What could he do? The Nova City incident was luck."
"Lord Varyn, I’ve checked the list of people entering the secret realm. His name appears on it. he’s under Azrael Corporation."
"WHAT?"
Orin who was laughing stopped and immediately became enraged after hearing this.
"Who gave our enemies access to the secret realm? I’ll kill them!"
Orin was furious beyond words.
"I will kill that brat too! He dares to disrupt our plans! Bastard! I’ll tear him apart inch by inch! Does he even know how much I spent on that hideout?" Orin ground his teeth.
If he had someone to choke, he would.
"W-well, it was you who issued the entrance pass, City Lord Orin," Marcius said awkwardly.
"What did you say?" Orin snapped. "I never did that!"
Orin’s disrupted flow of mind from the experiments made him completely unreliable, he even started having short term memory loss.
This is a direct side effect of forcing law comprehension and attempting to enter a new dimension without proper preparation. Going in unannounced and entering after gaining insight into the Information Layer, like Grey did, are two entirely different things. The dimension will definitely reject the former.
"Calm down," Varyn said. Immediately, Orin’s fury cooled.
Varyn turned back to Marcius. "Eliminate him inside the secret realm. With him gone, Azrael Corporation won’t come snooping around. I will supply some strength-enhancing pills from the Order."
"You did not need to, Lord Varyn," Marcius replied carefully. "Interwire has already prepared for this. He is an enemy of the High Order. A variable like him must die."
Marcius then made a call. Within ten minutes someone entered the office.
"Lord Varyn," the newcomer said.
He turned to Varyn and bowed respectfully as he greeted him.
He was a young man about Grey’s age, with braided hair, slightly tanned skin, and tattoos running along his arm.
"This is Anderson," Marcius introduced. "He is our top genius and is entering the secret realm."
"Don’t worry, Lord Varyn. I will deal with him," Anderson said with a cold smile. "I follow the Martial Evolutionary Path, one of the top three paths. A small fry like him won’t stand a chance. I’ll make sure he’s dealt with for good."
"Good," Varyn said. "Do the work perfectly and I will make sure you have a place in the Order."
"Yes, sir!" Anderson answered.
"Eliminate him, or I’ll eliminate you," Orin suddenly said, pointing at Anderson. "Do you get it?"
"Yes, City Lord!" Anderson replied confidently.
He had noticed the City Lord earlier, but Marcius had briefed him that Varyn was more important. He naturally courted Varyn’s favor first.
"Good! Good! Good!" Orin cackled like a maniac. "Everything is going according to plan! Everything! Ha ha ha!"
Everyone in the room noted Orin’s erratic behavior. He had mood swings and seemed childlike at times, but that was a symptom of exposure to the information layer. He was far gone.
Marcius might have showed some worry, but Varyn had none of that.
To Varyn, Orin was a pawn. Once Orin’s usefulness ended, he would be disposed. The High Order’s plan was far grander.
They intended to corrupt the city, raise the corruption count, and open a portal!
A portal straight to the Abyss, that had always been Varyn’s goal. He had failed in Nova City. While pretending to help the Duskwood family to take control, he actually sought to summon an abyssal being by corrupting an entire city and using its citizens as catalysts.
That was Varyn’s method: twist promises, deceive others, and then stab them in the back. He felt no remorse in doing so, it was all for the sake of the High Order.
For the glory of the High Order and the Abyss, he would continue.
A wide grin spread across Varyn’s face. With the Three Guards Province added to the equation, the portal could summon an even stronger abyssal being without the world consciousness interfering.
"The threshold for the crossover will be met with the vital energy of the citizens and the cosmic energy of the cities." Varyn said, grinning evilly. "The Southern Region will be unified soon!"