Novels2Search

Chapter 9

'We apologize for the sudden loss of connection. Please wait while we resolve the issue. If the problem still persists after 10 minutes, please visit the URL provided below.' The TV repeated in the background.

Pacing around the room, the phone held close to the ear kept ringing. A its final ring, a familiar electronic sound apologized, indicating that the person was unreachable. Pulling the phone in front of my sight, a finger hit the 'call bestie <3' button again before restarting the pacing. Not long after, it apologized in the same electronic voice.

Fingers clenched hard and my vision whirled. The left arm hoisted the phone and threw it on the couch. It plopped, bouncing a bit before lying still. Eyes closed, and and my vision darkened. I felt the chest expand, taking in some air.

Be angry and do not sin, the lips mumbled.

After a few more breaths, the eyelids opened and I saw the same 'call bestie <3' button on the screen.

"You better be safe."

Glancing over at the top right corner of the desk, I read the time, 10:17 pm. An hour had passed since Fascion announced the bombs and the sudden loss of connections. Raising the left hand, a finger tapped the deskscreen, refreshing the browser. Almost all District C related videos for District C were deleted.

Another glance towards the window. A massive white dome of metal stood outside. It dwarfs the surrounding buildings. In case the glass dome was in danger of being broken, a lockdown would be called, and with five T12 bombs scattered around District Central, it was warranted.

My vision turned back and retrieved the phone lying on the couch. There was a momentary stop as I read the 'call bestie <3' before a thumb hit the cancel button. Fingers navigated towards an app and checked a note. The riddles before the disconnection.

1. Numbers, numbers, oh numbers, why can't I eat you instead? 6300 - 28b - 3360c + 42a

2. For three days, you walked eastward. Then, for five days, you rode your horse northward. Over there, you found nothing but the scorching sky and the earth beneath your feet.

3. Peasants must pay their tribute before entering my domain.

4. Sitting at the top of the mountain, I peered through the valley, admiring the meadow below. Particularly, a bird caught my attention, as the sight of it flying with four wings as it carries a cattle was a ridiculous spectacle to behold. It seems to be heading to its nest.

5. ?????????

With a long pause, another note was added, 'I need information.'

The body stood up and headed straight for the bookshelves. Behind the books, the left hand pulled out an old phone, 12 versions behind the one I had. Another turn and went for the computer, pushing its power button.

The computer played its soothing, familiar music as it booted up and displayed the company logo, Teltron. It then switched to a login screen, offering a choice of login between owner or guest. The mouse went for the guest and clicked it. The screen then asks for credentials.

I felt a thumb swipe up, unlocking the old phone. It then went to the settings and enabled the Bluetooth. A confirmation popped up and a finger just pressed the yes button.

'Welcome, [Error: missing user_name tag]!' The screen then switched to a standard desktop with a beautiful shot of the hexagonal glass dome against the night sky as its wallpaper. The cursor moved to an application designed to mask the location to the alternate Earth, Heta, before opening the Veil browser, short for Virtual Encryption and Internet Labyrinth. Fingers began to type in the URL of the most popular forum site, where most Hetans congregated. It began its long loading time.

Eyes returned to the time, 10:27 pm, and I grimaced at how close the bombs would explode.

When the site loaded, the cursor automatically moved to a text box and typed 'The Irregulars,' redirecting to a subcommunity page. This page, created by Hetans, serves as a space for discussion about heroes and villains here on Earth Kepler. The cursor then moved to filters and set it to Area 24 and District C only.

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Welcome to DiscussSphere, where anything and everything can be freely discussed within our circle.

There are currently 5,229,387 people in attendance.

The Irregulars

A subforum dedicated to discussing all things related to the Irregulars of Earth Kepler, be they heroes or villains. Whether you're a fan, enthusiast, or simply a passerby, you can join the discussion and share your thoughts with fellow enthusiasts, as long as you keep things on topic and moderate your replies. All snippets, videos, images, documentaries, and history can be found in the archives.

Discussions | Rules | FAQ | Archives | Areas | Heroes | Villains

Hot Discussion.

| [Event] Y2114 Liberation Day discussions and compilations 400k+ likes

| [Participate] Fascion's 5 Riddles for the Bomb's Location (3 solved). 24k+ likes

| [Irregulars] #A54-c Fascion started with a bomb threat. District is now on lockdown 15k+ likes

| [Question] Will Fascion be liable for a kill order or will she be safe like most jokesters or theatrical villains? 10k+ likes

| [Rant] Prank or not, Fascion shouldn't get away with this. Hostage-taking is fine but T12 is going way too far. 5k+ likes

Discussion: #A54-c Fascion started with a bomb threat. District is now on lockdown

Initiated by Raine_bow 24 minutes ago | tags: Hostage-Taking, Irregulars, Lockdown, Supervillain

It's your boy again here as always I will be posting updates for #A54 whenever I can.

Here is the full video starting from Fascion's entrance.

Edit: Participate in riddle solving here.

Here is the top-view image of District C

| Unable to load the image: y21130326#a54-c_map.png

At exactly 9 pm, smoke covered the whole stadium in white and when the smoke was blown away, Fascion appeared in the center. When the heroes tried to detain her, she openly announced that she scattered 5 t12 bombs across the district. After that announcement, the live session was cut off and the district was on lockdown. All information was being intercepted.

Fascion established 3 rules and 5 riddles in total.

Rules:

1. There are 5 bombs scattered all across the district c

2. The heroes have 2 hours to disarm the bomb, each protected by a group of villain

3. If any villains are captured at this moment, the bombs will explode. Villains that are not part of the game are still included.

Riddles:

1. Numbers, numbers, oh numbers, why can't I eat you instead? 6300 - 28b - 3360c + 42a

2. For three days, you walked eastward. Then, for five days, you rode your horse northward. Over there, you found nothing but the scorching sky and the earth beneath your feet.

3. Peasants must pay their tribute before entering my domain.

4. Sitting at the top of the mountain, I peered through the valley, admiring the meadow below. Particularly, a bird caught my attention, as the sight of it flying with four wings as it carries a cattle was a ridiculous spectacle to behold. It seems to be heading for its nest.

5. ?????????

(Edit: 2:00) After that, the countdown started roughly around 9:15 pm. The heroes were split up into 3, Jet-run would lead the protection and evacuation of the citizens, Phalanx would lead the search team to disarm the bombs, and Bastion would lead the fight with the mooks because, unfortunately, the third rule made the villains more aggressive

First bomb found on the stadium's drone, seems to fit well with the 4th riddle. Fascion is just a projector and drone morphed into a robot. Easily destroyed though, lol.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

approx 1:50) Bastion and Iron fist fought at C540-35, northern part of the stadium. You can see the two buildings toppled down by Iron Fist

| Unable to load the image: r:aeWR2+g02T8+82jE0.png

approx 1:40) Villains asked for a ceasefire.

approx 1:30) Bastion and Iron ceased fire and talked. They seemed to reach an agreement as the villains walked away.

Edit: I will now include countdowns, anything posted before 1:23 is just an approximation.

1:11) Gang members of Sewage Rat blocked the western tunnels towards the Districts A and D. Bastion went to help clear the path towards A while Selene went for D. (unintended joke aside)

0:57) After @mathane solved the second riddle and received the anonymous tip, heroes were now heading to the abandoned underground railway station at C150-48

(Riddle)For three days, you walked eastward. Then, for five days, you rode your horse northward. Over there, you found nothing but the scorching sky and the earth beneath your feet.

(Answer) The abandoned underground railway station at C150-48

(Solution) 3x + 5y = 0, get the linear equation and you will see a line that matches the underground railway connecting District C to A and E

| Unable to load the image: graphit_234jwar1.png

| Unable to load the image: y2112a54-c_underground_rails(2).png

Edit: Before everyone starts demanding for Fascion's head, taking hostages is part of her identity. All of her encounters had hostage threats one way or another, and not one has been killed or injured so far. And with her love for witty banters, dramatic entrance, and ridiculous flirty persona, she is a theatrical villain to the tee, no doubts about it. We can therefore conclude that those t12 bombs are fakes to create an illusion that heroes can't touch the villains and the heroes are just playing their part which is well, be a hero and save the district.

Edit: Yes, I agree that the t12 bombs are way too excessive use of threat. They are off-limits for a good reason, too strong that the shockwave will create a hole in the glass dome and we know how sturdy those glasses are. This is why the district is on lockdown, to protect the dome, shocking isn't it? e:roll_eyes

Edit: Please keep your damn views to yourself. note that the people of Earth Kepler are different from us. The domes are what keep them alive. People can repopulate, but glass domes can't and there were like only 78 left, with 22 destroyed PERMANENTLY

0:39) A bomb was found and defused at JC Pizzery C240-450. A vigilante group known as Prismageek was able to crack down the riddle and manage to drive away the villains guarding the bomb. Red shared the solution to the first riddle.

* Move the term with c and the constant term to the other side.

42a - 28b = 3360c - 6300

* Factor out the greatest common factor (GCF) from both sides. The GCF is 14:

14( 3a − 2b ) = 14( 240c − 450)

* Cancel out the common factor from both sides:

3a − 2b = 240c − 450

* Also, they sell pizza with number nuggets as a topping

Edit5:an ai will now moderate this discussion so pls go rant here instead

0:26) The manager of the King’s Chambers Hotel C21-17 called after hearing a ticking. Fits with the third riddle. Only the 5th riddle left.

14,583 viewed the discussion | 1239 likes

Discussion edited 2 minutes ago

Comments

Sorted by | Hot

« < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 … 28 > »

LaxrSun

└ commented 45 minutes ago:

WHAT THE **** IS THE BITCH THINKING!! Those bombs are no joke, they can shatter a glass dome!

└ EnforcerBOT: Rule #1 no cursing

* SnoopyAmy

└ replied to @LaxrSun:

Tell me you know nothing of Area 54 without telling me you don't

* SpoiledLunatic

└ replied to @SnoopyAmy:

Seriously how come #A54 hasn't become famous yet? They have a lot of unhinged villains. It's not everyday you get to hear a villains that isn't afraid to tread the laws. They are villains like what the ef else do they do, donate to charity?

* RobbieJr *new

└ replied to @SpoiledLunatic:

Whys that a good thing?

* SpoiledLunatic

└ replied to @RobbieJr:

I recommend reading the FAQ for Gentleman's Handshake if you're new here. It's basically an unwritten agreement to ensure that both sides don't **** things up. Though it now became the basis of sucess if villains want to pursue it as a career. Yes, villainy is a career in kepler.

└ EnforcerBOT: Rule #1 no cursing

* SnoopyAmy

└ replied to @RobbieJr:

imagine having a power that can kill people. Now imagine getting cornered by the police, you will resist it with said POWER. That's kind of the reason why the gentleman's handshake was established, though not formally written. it established the basic modicum expected for both the good and the bad sides. though over the years it evolved into entertainment as people realized that villains wouldn't hurt them and all their destroyed properties were either replaced or refunded. It helps that their monetary is purely digital, nothing physical, which is to say, easy to add zeroes.

└ replied to @SpoiledLunatic:

I always find it funny that villains can sue companies for using their image without a contract e:crying_laughter

▼ see 50 replies

SpoiledLunatic

└ commented 36 minutes ago:

ho boy were in for a fascinating ride boys!

* Raine_bow

└ replied to @SpoiledLunatic:

just another day with fascion.

LegendLeghorn

Wow, people in kepler earth are something wtef. Won't those bombs shatter the glass domes?

* Raine_bow

└ replied to @LegendLeghorn:

They can.ITs why T12s are banned for a reason.

* LegendLeghorn

└ replied to @Raine_bow:

I see. Ty for the clarification e:thumbs_up

* Raine_bow

└ replied to @LegendLeghorn:

No prob e:thumbs_up

letho96

└ commented 73 minutes ago:

Join here if you want to participate in decoding the riddles.

* Raine_bow

└ replied to @letho96:

Added the link to the main discussion.

* HehLoL

└ replied to @letho96:

5 is just full of memes |e:laugh |e:laugh |e:laugh

* Purrrfect

└ replied to @HehLoL:

like what wlse can we do other than meme the **** out of it

└ EnforcerBOT: Rule #1 no cursing

* HehLoL

└ replied to @Purrrfect:

?

* Raine_bow

└ replied to @HehLoL:

¿¿¿

▼ see 12 replies

Mathane

└ commented 28 minutes ago:

I cracked the riddle 2! its the abandoned underground railway station at C150-48. If you turn the riddle into an equation you will get '3x + 5y = 0', which is a linear equation. Graph it and the line matches the underground rails passing through Districts A, C, and E. At C150-48 there is an abandoned station there.

Here are the images for better comparison

| Unable to load the image: graphit_234jwar1.png

| Unable to load the image: y2112a54-c_underground_rails(2).png

* Raine_bow

└ replied to @Mathane:

nice!

* MoBro

└ replied to @Mathane:

phd coming in clutch

* letho96

└ replied to @Mathane:

Post your solution here. You'll recieve a lot of upvotes there

* CertifiedStalker

└ replied to @Mathane:

sending an anonymous email to their hq. Hopefully, they read it.

« < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 … 28 > »

As I was reading through the comments, a static noise caught my attention. My vision slowly shifted toward the television, where a woman in a masquerade mask and purple dress lounged regally on a gilded throne with her legs crossed.

"Welcome, my dear guest. I see you've cracked the last riddle," Fascion smirked.

Thick, solid walls surrounded a large room with black and white chequered tiles on the floor. The sound of footsteps echoed as the screen shifted to a person in bronze armor approaching.

"Wasn't too hard to solve the puzzle," Phalanx smiled as he took a stance, pointing his spear and shield at Fascion. "A good old-fashioned split and search the entire area did the trick."

Fascion stared still for a while, before chuckling genuinely. "So you brute-forced this location? Pity you're not as witty as your mouth."

Phalanx grinned, "Witty lines aren't the only thing this mouth good at ." He then raised his eyes, landing on the screen on top of the seat, the numbers ticking down quickly.

00:21:48.16

00:21:48.05

00:21:47.57

He followed the meshed wires protruding from the side and went down until they connected to a box that Fascion used as a footstool.

"What a naughty boy." Fascion chuckled as she snapped her fingers. The iron walls hissed and parted to reveal a myriad of robots. Their clattering footsteps had the rhythm of a soldier's march. "Too bad, you're not the only suitor attending the party."

Phalanx scanned the area before shrugging. "Meh, I can't stand your type anyways, hard to satisfy." He taunted back before leaping at a nearby Spiderbot. With a loud yell, he swung his shield, sending the bot flying and crashing into the wall. All hell broke loose as the machines rushed at Phalanx, rockets and lasers flashing across the screen.

With inhuman acrobatic speed and dexterity, he leaped from a downed bipedal bot to spearing a canine-like bot. It pierced through metal like butter, scattering the scraps and wires all over the place.

"Don't take too long, we still have 20 minutes before the fireworks," Fascion said. Standing beside her, a maid-like robot poured a drink, most likely tea, and Fascion picked up the cup and took a sip.

"Heh, 20 minutes is more than enough time to clean the house!" He shouted back as he speared an insectoid bot, which made a loud thud as it fell to the tiled floor. Then he jumped straight at Fascion, spear ready to stab.

"So it seems," Fascion simply raised her cup, and sipped.

Phalanx snapped his head to the side and noticed a lance being hurled at him. "Whoa!" He bent his body and spun through the air before landing. The lance dug into the floor, sending tiles and cement flying across the room. A certain bipedal bot, mounted on a mechanical horse, ignored the shower of debris pelting its armor as it moved to pick up the lance.

With a lowered stance, poised spear, and shield upfront, Phalanx eyed the newcomer, "So, a white knight in shining armor? Classic."

"I do love the classics. Always wanted to have a prince carry me."

"Not to bash your taste, but they're boring." Phalanx retorted as his eyes went back to the box at Fascion's feet. "How about a story where the hero must thwart a witch's world-ending spell? I'll definitely check that out."

"Ah, another classic tale," Fascion stared up with a thoughtful look, "But unfortunately, writing wicked villains seems to be a lost art these days. Everything's just shades of gray and sympathetic motivations. Quite dull, really." She sighed dramatically before a broad grin stretched across her face. "That said, make your next move, hero. Time's ticking fast," she said before taking another sip.

00:18:03.43

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