Blinding light engulfed whole city block for a split second. From top to bottom the entire building obliterated in a matter of milliseconds.
Loud bang blasted windows in a kilometer radius and echoed in the city like a loud thunder, loudest thunder citizens of this city had heard and as the rubble fell down dust cloud of unspeakable measures rose.
Parts of furniture was sent flying around the whole building, creating rain of fire as it fell down to ground, lightening up the dust cloud with their orange flicker.
For a while I couldn't hear anything because my ears were ringing a little. I pulled out my earmuffs and noticed sirens were wailing all over the city.
I turned around and could hear raindrops sizzling when hitting the fires that were yet to extinguish. All I could see before me was a pile of rubble and white flickering lights. I waved my hand and they all flew toward me, feeling them fill me up. It was satiating feeling, felt like embrace of a loved one. That took me down the wrong path in long lost memories. I caught myself glaring at a nearby charred corpse with my fists clenched and a tear running down my cheek.
One of the sirens closed in and quickly my pondering was stopped by scream of one of the paramedics that arrived in the ambulances that had been on their way here.
"Over here! Come quickly there is a man on a pavement here, great system! He has severe trauma, multiple open limb fractures and he has a heartbeat, bring the bag!" unknown man yelled.
Three pairs of hard military boots could be heard clapping on the road until eventually they reached the source of the yelling man.
So he really did survive, was he bathed in Styx or something? Anyways he'll be out of the picture for a while. However there is more pressing matter at hand.
「Progress: 835/836」
「Quest failed, one person escaped」
「Quest: Harvest Dr. Johannes Weber」
「Progress: 0/1」「Reward: 『Soulrend』」
Dr. Johannes Weber, I think I heard that name before. How am I supposed to find him. He must've leaved shortly before me so he cannot be far. I closed my eyes and listened. On my twelfth I could hear 4 calm and one erratic heartbeats. Nothing here. I wouldn't waste my time anymore and I decided to leave.
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Just then I heard someone stumble and fall to the left of me.
I immediately knew he was the guy I was looking for. I ran about 50 meters and then 3 meters ahead I saw a man getting up. He had olive shorts and black shirt, top of his head was bald and his hair had few streaks of silver in it.
"Hello, Dr. Weber," I called him by his name. That time I had no idea who this man is, but that was about to change.
Weber turned and looked me in the eye, of course he knew who I was. He started fidgeting and his breathing increased as I took few more steps towards him. He tried to keep distance but his legs refused to move.
"Y- you- you what do you want? I have money, I can give you anything, just ask," he said with trembling voice.
"Hah, what is money for the likes of me? I am no longer part of this society," I replied.
"Then," he paused, "I can give you information, j-just spare my life," he chirped.
I dashed and appeared before him.
"Watch out old man, I don't want you to die of heart attack before you spill the beans," his heart racing, "Go on, I'm listening why should I even care and not smash your head to the ground," I continued as I smiled at him, I bet hair on his back stood up. I noticed that I'm two heads taller than him.
"I'm head director of local Organ Recycling," as soon as he finished that sentence I grabbed him by the back of his neck and brought him closer.
"OH, AND HOW DO YOU THINK THAT WILL HELP YOU SURVIVE THIS DAY?!" I whispered in his ear.
"Please, I have family," he pleaded.
"Get to the point," I replied coldly.
"We gather organs from deceased and store them in our facility," he breathed in short burst of air, "But we never use them for organ transplants, not in this city at least, every Sunday at 0:00 armed convoy arrives from outside the city and packs up our supplies and drives off somewhere," he paused for a bit and continued as tears come rolling down his cheeks, "Never older than 25, we never had a subjec-" as he said that last word a slap came crushing towards his face.
"They are no subjects you filth, I get the idea, you trick innocent people and then take their organs away from them, for what reason and how come nobody never knows?!"
"Most of the people get 'sick' by the age 23 and are collected," He sniffed, "but they are never sick, the chips release toxin in their brain and trigger autoimmune reaction, fever, headache, nosebleeds, rest is just biology, we collect them in hospitals before they are cold," he sniffed rains now coming down his cheeks in streams.
Could he be feeling guilty for what he had done? Maybe the workers in System facilities are more self-conscious than I thought. I'm glad I had removed that chip, I thought it was a tracking device. He's pretty brave for saying this out loud.
"How does System cover this up?" I asked out of curiosity.
"They usually spot quite quickly that someone has anti-system thoughts. They do routine check-ups and get rid of witnesses. Worst case scenario, they can always start again from ground up, this is the fifth generation after all," he confessed.
"I always wondered why everyone is the same age except authorities, I take it that you're excluded out of this elaborate genocide scheme, no need to reply I already know the answer," I stared at him, "Thanks for cooperation, however, you will not survive today, I couldn't possibly sleep tonight if I left you alive, " I continued as I punched a hole in his chest.
He wheezed a bit and then his body rolled to the ground, his mouth grasping for air, second later he was dead.