Free Web NovelChapter 12: The Target
Horror.
That’s all the skinny man in glasses felt as he looked at the scene before him, well, rather than looking, it was more accurate to say that he sensed what was happening.
His Factor allowed him to sense anything, even in the darkness.
And what he currently sensed made no sense to him.
The moment he had given the order to kill, he had expected the white-haired kid to be riddled with bullets and quickly disposed of.
Instead, the kid had managed to shoot out the lights in the hallway before the first shot could be fired, plunging them into darkness.
What happened next was a sequence of events that made no sense to him.
His Factor allows him to sense the Pragma within every human in an established zone.
But the moment the corridor went dark, it seemed as if the kid had suddenly split into two.
The guards immediately opened fire, the muzzle flashes illuminating the darkness, but the skinny man sensed that the kid... well, kids... had long moved out of their range.
The next second, what happened could only be described as a bloodbath.
Muzzle flashes lit up from the sides of the men as Zero took a shot, each bullet bringing down one of the men.
The men turned towards that direction and started, but it was too late as Zero was already gone.
The skinny man sensed both Zeros on the blind spots of the guards, which, thanks to the darkness, was everywhere around them.
The shooting continued for a moment before everything went silent as the last man fell with a thud.
The skinny man was backing toward the stairwell now, his hand moving toward his phone —
"Looking for this?"
The voice came from directly beside him, causing him to immediately turn around.
Standing there was Zero, who had a small smile on his face, not that the man would notice, due to the darkness.
In his hand was the man’s phone that he lit up before scrolling through and muttered, "You had no lock screen on, that’s really careless, man."
Zero then looked up at the man and said, "What if it got stolen?"
The man in glasses didn’t answer; instead, he looked around and noticed all the guards lying on the floor.
were they....dead?
"They tried killing me first," Zeros’ voice suddenly pulled the man’s attention towards him again, "so I just responded in kind."
The man in glasses didn’t care about all that, after all, those men lying dead were expendable.
What he was truly curious about was,
"How did you do it?" He asked.
"Well, I just shot the lights and th—" Zero started, but the man cut him off.
"How did you split into two?" He clarified, "Is your factor cloning?"
"Oh, that," Zero muttered, "since your Factor relies on sensing Pragma, I just created a distraction that had Pragma similar to mine."
As if to prove his point, the man noticed a ball of Pragma suddenly appear in Zero’s free hand.
The ball of Pragma was illuminated by the man’s phone, revealing it to only be a simple ball.
"All I had to do was keep moving it around to distract you," he finished with a smile on his face.
The man in glasses was stunned, as far as he knew, the Grey market only knew the surface of his Factor.
No one knew that he tracked Pragma itself, so how the hell did the kid figure it out?
"Now then," Zero interrupted his thoughts as he made the ball disappear, "it’s my turn to ask questions."
***
Zero leaned on the elevator wall, with both hands in his pockets as it continued moving up the floors.
This was his first time killing in this world, but he felt nothing, especially given the fact that he was now used to it.
But that was also a sign that the former Liam’s emotions didn’t affect him unless it involved his siblings.
Which he was fine with.
Ding!
The elevator let out as it finally reached the sixth floor.
"I’m guessing this level’s boss is waiting just outside," he said as the elevator’s door slowly opened and he looked towards the ceiling, "let’s quickly get through him, shall we?"
A long corridor was revealed, and on the far end stood a topless giant of a man who was cracking his knuckles as he looked at the elevator door open with a grin.
But his grin faded as the elevator fully opened, revealing no one inside.
The man, Backlash, slowly walked towards the elevator and peeked inside, realizing that it truly was empty.
Which was strange, after all, he was certain that the mercenary the Grey market sent was already in the building from all the previous shootings.
Or perhaps, he had already been taken care of?
"How disappointing," Backlash said as he turned around, only for a small object to slam into his forehead.
His Factor immediately kicked in, gathering the force and launching the object back with double its force.
The attacker simply leaned to the side, letting it pass him before fully turning to him.
All Backlash felt from the attack was a sting, which barely did anything to him.
"I’m glad you survived those weaklings," Backlash said with a grin, "after all, you present me the pleasure of breaking you myself."
"What a cliché line," Zero said as he lifted his gun again, "shall we quickly end this?"
"Certainly," Backlash said as he continued walking forward.
Zero, in response, continued pulling the trigger, and every time a bullet landed on the giant, it was launched back towards him with double the force. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"You’re wasting your time," Backlash said with a smile, "my factor will render all your attacks useless."
Zero said nothing in response to that; instead, he just continued pulling the trigger again and again until the man was close enough to him.
"That should be enough to take down even an elephant," he said as he calmly watched Backlash extend a hand to grab him.
"What the hell are you—" Backlash didn’t get to finish his words as his hand suddenly stopped a distance away from his attacker’s face.
His body trembled as the stinging left behind by the bullets suddenly worsened.
"W-what d-did you do to me?" He let out as his body refused his command to move.
Instead of an answer, Zero removed the pistol’s magazine and took out a single strange-looking bullet and showed it to him.
The bullet had a transparent glass-like metal, and on the tip was what seemed to be a needle.
Within the bullet was a green liquid that definitely looked unsafe.
"Neuro-Strychnine," Zero finally explained, "a mix of neurotoxin and Strychnine, a poison capable of robbing you of movement as it slowly shuts down your organs before finally putting you to sleep."
"A poison," Backlash realized, still locked in place.
"There were multiple ways of dealing with your factor, but this turned out to be the fastest," Zero said with a smile, "though learning their bonds and chemical composition was a pain, it was all worth it in the end."
"Besides," he added, "I knew you were confident enough in your Factor to not even try and dodge the bullets."
A moment after his words, Backlash suddenly started bleeding from his ears, eyes, nose, and every single opening in his body.
"Y-you l-little b*tch," was the last thing he managed to say before his body suddenly fell to the floor.
His eyes remained open as they continued bleeding, but he felt none of it as the life had been snuffed out of him.
"Now then," Zero turned towards the double doors at the end of the corridor, behind which his target was, "let’s wrap this up."
Surprisingly, it was open, and Richard was sitting behind his work desk without an ounce of fear in his eyes.
By the couch to the side was the third awakened in the files, and she also seemed unbothered by his presence.
Zero was certain that there were no more guards in the building, so their confidence was a bit surprising.
But he soon found out the reason for that as he stepped through the doors.
The gun in his hand suddenly started melting before completely disappearing, and so did whatever little extra Pragma he had.
"I see," he muttered, looking at the lady on the sofa, "I’m guessing your Factor robs others of their ability to use theirs."
"Impressive, isn’t it?" Richard was the one who responded, "I spent quite an amount to acquire her."
"Meh," Zero shrugged, completely unimpressed, "these things stop being impressive when you know what the main villain of this world can do."
"I see," Richard nodded before sitting up straight and pointing towards the chair opposite him,
"Why don’t you take a seat? Let’s have a chat."
