Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 27 This is so sad. Victoria, please play D***acito

Alex found it hard to believe that the afro guy in front of him was such a big deal.

The afro guy's demeanor and appearance just show that he looks like a creepy pushover, someone who can be disregarded.

But Alex knew that it was people who look like this that are the most dangerous.

After all, even when Alina told him that this afro guy is dangerous, Alex's danger sense did not detect any hint of danger from this afro guy at all!

If this afro guy really is dangerous, then he's doing a very good job of hiding how dangerous he is.

Alex was extremely wary of this kind of people, as they are the type that can attack Alex when he had least expected it.

"You chose to come at a very bad day, Alina…" The afro guy drawled as he walked forward, with Alina and Alex struggling to follow him.

"Bad day?" Alina tilted her head as she remembered the white-clothed guards that she and Alex saw earlier. "Is the appearance of the guards related to this 'bad day'?"

"Well, the World Diagram predicted that a very unfortunate event will happen at the WEO today…." The afro guy said as his eyes narrowed into slits.

Alex tried to not make his gulp sound audible as he somehow felt more awed by the capabilities of the World Diagram.

According to what Alex knew, the whole World Diagram was related to a network of quantum computers.

There's a total of 1,024 fully functional quantum computers in the whole world, and each one of them are located in Esper Cities.

Individually, these quantum computers are powerful, but a certain Esper decided to link all these quantum computers together.

Of course linking them normally is just impossible so an object must be used to administer these links.

All the needed inputs and desired outputs all pass through this object. Without this object, the whole quantum network will not work at all.

This object which houses the links between the 1,024 quantum computers is the World Diagram.

By combining 1,024 powerful quantum computers, the calculative prowess of the World Diagram was raised at an extremely high level.

Its calculative power was so high that the World Diagram can create its own simulations, that lets it predict to a certain extent, some future events.

It can also use these simulations to guide the current generation of Espers.

The World Diagram can create a training manual for a certain Esper, which lets that Esper reach his/her peak strength at the most efficient way there is.

This insane calculation prowess also allows the World Diagram to vaguely perceive a threat for WEO or even humanity as a whole.

But this threat predictions were not wholly accurate.

These threat predictions usually only hover 20-40%, which is already impressive for a machine.

Of course weather prediction is the staple contribution of the World Diagram, something that everyone in the Esper World have somewhat taken for granted already.

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These mind-boggling abilities of the World Diagram are somehow making some people fear that it might gain sentience.

This fear is not that unfounded, given that the calculation power of the World Diagram was already way beyond the capacity of a normal human brain.

Of course the WEO had denied the claims of the World Diagram gaining sentience. And even if the World Diagram did gain sentience, Alex was sure that the WEO will immediately cull this sentience.

But Alex knew that he should not be thinking about these things right now.

"From the way the afro guy is talking, it seems like the World Diagram does not know that it is my real target…" Ales thought to himself as he looked around discreetly. "The World Diagram must have only predicted that something bad will happen today. If it predicted that it will be in danger, then this afro guy should have not allowed anyone to get near it…"

This hypothesis managed to make Alex's footsteps feel lighter.

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"You really love your sister… Well, I still could not fathom why you are still resorting to these actions..." The afro guy said to Alina as he watched her with his hollow eyes.

"I think that the Esteemed President will surely understand it in the future…" Lord Gallius commented as he gave the afro guy a fawning gaze.

"Whether I understand it or not is none of your concern, Gallius." The afro guy said, as he seemed to not care about the 'Lord' in Lord Gallius. "Just do your job right now instead of yapping like a dog in heat."

"Although," The afro guy gave Alina a sideway glance as he sneered. "You are literally a dog in heat right now, Gallius."

"Mff…." Alex had to cup his mouth to stop himself from snickering while Alina let out a snort of derision. As for Lord Gallius, his whole face was twitching as his fists closed and opened sporadically.

"I actually like this guy…" Alex thought to himself as he saw that even though the Afro guy looked and sounded scary, he still has some sense of humor right where it matters.

"President." A formal-looking woman suddenly approached the afro guy, with her face wearing a tight expression.

"We just caught some of the Espers that was involved in the jailbreak last month." The woman said as she tried to catch her breath. "What should we do about them, President?"

"Cut off their heads, stick them into pikes, then display them in front of the prison." The afro guy nonchalantly said. "Those d**ned prisoners will surely learn their lessons from now on."

"...…" Alex retracted his thoughts earlier. This afro guy is scary af.

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"So, do we just walk here?" Alex muttered to himself as he looked around him. "This looks like a really long walk to me…"

"Hmph, something like this is necessary to protect the World Diagram." Lord Gallius said with the same contemptuous expression that he gave to Alex earlier.

"….." By this point, Alex already knew that it was far better for him to just stay silent and let this guy ramble on.

Right now, Alex, Alina, Lord Gallius and the afro guy were walking inside a long tunnel.

The whole tunnel was pitch-black, not allowing Alex to see anything with his eyes.

As such, he can only rely on his EM Sensing to look around him.

He knew that Alina and Lord Gallius had their own ways of sensing things too, so he did not bother calling out to them.

"We will just walk here." The afro guy replied as he seemed to have smiled. "But don't think that this whole tunnel is just a tunnel. There are countless weapons in this tunnel, and they will attack anyone that is not within 5 meters of me. Even if you are a Star Esper, these babies of mine pack some punch that can shoot you down!"

Alex did his best to stick closely to the afro guy by that point.

"…." But aside from the afro guy, Alex was also pretty close with Alina, evidenced by the fact that their shoulders were touching.

Alex paused a little, before he decided to wrap his right hand around Alina's left hand.

Alina obviously stiffened at this, which prompted Alex to say,

"Even with your Space Sensing and my EM Sensing, there is no guarantee that we will not get separated. So, us holding hands together will be for the best." Alex made sure to whisper these words to Alina, so that a certain blonde would not overhear them.

"Ok…" Even without the lights nearby, Alex was sure that Alina was looking extremely embarrassed right now. "Just don't go overboard…"

"…." Alina and Alex spent the rest of the journey with their hands wrapped around each other.

"1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…" Alex started to recite the Fibonacci Sequence in his mind, so that he can ignore Alina's soft hand caressing against his.

Suddenly, lights blazed out inside the tunnel, covering Alex and Alina with a blindening glare.

They immediately leapt away from each other as they massaged their hands.

Alex tried to discreetly smell his right hand, and with that action, he was able to smell Alina's fragrant perfume.

"Ew…." Asteria cringed as she saw what Alex did. "You did not just hold Alina's hands in the darkness. You even sniffed it out now! Ugh, and to think that I am staying with you…"

"Then you are free to leave…" Alex thought sourly to himself as he blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the new level of brightness.

Once he felt that his eyes are fine, Alex slowly opened his eyes, and there he found himself situated in a new place.

With his EM Sensing, Alex was sure that he was inside a cube room right now, with the exact dimensions of 100 meters in length, width and height.

The whole room was white, without any spots of blemish decorating its walls, floors or the ceiling.

The only thing that was 'dirtying' the room was a human-sized capsule located at the center of the room.

The capsule itself was standing upright, and there are countless wires wrapped and attached to the capsule.

With more observation, Alex realized that there are also extremely small machines attached to the surface of the capsule.

Alex had no idea what these small machines can do, but he does not care about that for the moment.

What he was more curious was the fact that his EM Sensing could not probe anything inside the capsule.

It was as if there was an extremely strong barrier inside the capsule which prevented Alex's ability from coming in.

"I cannot sense it with my Space Sensing too." Alina said as she saw Alex's confused and confounded look. Lord Gallius seemed to be at the same predicament, as he nodded after hearing what Alina said.

It was at that moment that the afro guy made his move.

"Out of all us here, only Alex has seen 'her' for the first time." The afro guy said as he started to slowly caress the capsule.

Alex shivered, as he realized that this afro guy was right at the top of Alex's Creeptastic People List.

The way that the afro guy looked at the capsule while tenderly caressing it is just… so weird, disturbing, and creepy.

"Victoria…" The afro guy breathed out as he gazed at the capsule with misty eyes. "Come greet your guests."

"Hello." A more creeptastic voice came out of the coffin, which made Alex's skin crawl. "I am Percentile 50. Nice to meet you."

"That…" Alina muttered as she tried to not look revolted, "Is 50% of the World Diagram, hence the name Percentile 50."

Alex then gave Alina one confused look which conveyed the one question that he was itching to ask right now.

Alina was already sure what that look meant, as she whispered back to Alex,

"The reason why President calls Percentile 50 as Victoria is unknown. We just know that the President had always been treating Percentile 50 like this since he first got it under his ownership."

"....."

"...…"

"Maybe it just me, but don't you think that a body could be inside that capsule?" Alex whispered back, as Alina used her ability to isolate their conversation. "That capsule freaks me out."

Alina's silence and the annoyed glare that she gave Alex was already enough to shut Alex up.

"..."