Flowing along with the river of the crowd, Inero-ie slowly approached the residential sub-sector that he had once escaped with much difficulty. He had never come close to this place after that, at first due to the trauma but then to make sure he would receive no simulation that would cause the memories that he had shoved in the dark recesses of his mind to resurge.

Back then it had been the worst thing he had experienced. It had changed the way he had lived, and the things he had wanted to achieve. Now though, that was a small blimp compared to all things he had experienced. After all, could being experimented upon compare to losing most of his body, something that had become a regular occurrence since he started exploring the world outside the Grand Formation? Could being experimented upon compare to the pain that filled his whole being when he was overloading his core? When it felt as though his core and heart were simultaneously exploding and being crushed, his Qi circuits constantly on the verge of being torn to shred despite strengthening.

Just these two things he regularly experienced were more trauma-inducing compared to what he had faced in that facility.

***

This residential sub-sector was located at the most remote corner of this layer, and by the time he had gotten close to this place, the flowing river had been reduced to a brook, and even then, the number of people in the crowd heading towards that residential sub-sector were even lower.

Still mixed within the crowd, the Melding took effect, his body seemingly melting into the darkness and seamlessly disappearing from the senses of all those around him. Inero-ie advanced, eventually arriving in front of the blocky sub-sector that contained a bustling residential area, from what his memories informed him.

The Qi within his core was rapidly consumed, almost draining him fully, and he jumped, emerging on the other side, exhausted but this way there would be no trace of his presence.

***

Just like this sub-sector was in the furthest corner of the layer, located in a place visited by almost none, the same was the case with the orphanage.

The memories wrestle with greater power with each step that he took toward the orphanage. They tried to escape his seal and eventually started to succeed. Memories of a time that had long gone past replayed inside his mind, a time when he had sincerely wanted to keep the oath he had made to his parents and that man. Then he had been brought to this place and placed in this orphanage.

More memories surged, and he let them, the shards of how he had achieved the impossible. How he had escaped the orphanage through these streets that had a physical resemblance to those in his memories but with severe deterioration and almost no people in them. How he had exited the sub-sector, something that should have been completely impossible. How that had led to meeting the sister of that man.

Despite being a stranger, someone she did not know and had never met before, she had protected him. If their paths had crossed just a bit later, he would have been captured and brought back to that facility wearing the skin of an orphanage. Then he would have ended up like many others he had seen being brought to this facility, dead.

He remembered the time when he had wanted revenge for what he had experienced inside that place, for what had happened to his parents, for what had happened to that man but he had changed. With time he had changed.

The sub-sector was almost deserted. What he had remembered as a bustling place filled with tens of thousands of people now had only saw a few moving through its streets. Still, he kept walking, the memories kept unfurling, and he eventually stood before the massive facility that connected to the top of the sub-sector.

As he gazed at the towering facility, the things he had sealed even deeper burst forth, the memories intertwined with the festering emotions broke free and he felt a longer forgotten emotion called anger forcing him into the back seat. He resisted.

Tens of thousands of Threads spread in the surrounding, thoroughly scanning and mapping each and every inch of space, creating a mental model. At this time he found the people that were observing the orphanage.

The mental model was filled with even the most minuted of detail, something achieved only because of the Threads that could gather massive amounts of detailed information in a short time. For a moment he stood still, a plan forming within his mind.

A suction appeared on his hand as he approached the wall, his hand stuck tightly to the surface due to the suction force, then like a lizard, he started crawling on the wall, heading towards his first target.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

The man was smoking while standing next to the open window. A scene that would not bring about any suspicion but since he had come to this place, he had not seen these eyes leave the facility. Though the head would move about, the pupil would remain fixed on the facility.

Inero-ie took out a metal rod from the storage, then accelerated, jumping inside. Legs kicking the observer down, quickly followed by the rod expertly hitting in the head with enough to knock him out. With the Melding still hiding him, the observer had not even known what had happened, his face just starting to change when he lost consciousness.

Dislocating the limbs, Inero-ie then tied the man, making sure he could cause no ruckus in the unlikely case he regained consciousness and then made his way toward other observers.

***

After taking care of everyone in the surroundings, he walked towards the towering facility. It was unnecessarily tall, a single building stretching from the ground level, through each subsequent layer of this sub-sector, till its ceiling. In settlements that had limited space, such a massive space being allocated just to an orphanage was suspicious but nobody could do anything about what those that ruled decided.

Inero-ie stopped in front of the door, Threads rushing inside, scanning, processing, and sending him the information of the inside using which he once again created a mental model of the inner layout.

Once again he jumped using the darkness, his weight lightened even further, and he lost sensation throughout his body. A fleeting dread similar to when he had been trapped inside his body, unable to sense anything, left only with his thoughts which too dulled, that similar feeling appeared. Then disappeared and he stood on the other side, without alerting the defensive systems that should have been present in this place.

'Something is wrong,’ he once again thought to himself as he found himself standing in entirely dark, lifeless halls. A thin layer of ice covered everything due to the temperature management systems not working.

His steps took him further inside as he started exploring this building he had decided to first raise to the ground. A memory with each step resurfaced, and he once again felt the control slipping. This would not have happened if he had not met with the white snake, resulting in his seal he had enhanced over tens of cycles being undone.

Suddenly, he was a passenger instead of the driver, he watched as his body rushed through the empty halls filled with pitch-black darkness. He ran through this place that had become completely alien.

***

This facility disguised as an orphanage was empty. Disquietly so. A stark contrast to what was etched in his memories. All the men and women, whose faces were always hidden, were no longer here, nor were the children upon whom the experiments were performed. The surveillance systems were also gone which had made this facility into a fortress, impossible to enter, impossible to leave. Not a trace could be found even with his Threads.

From top to bottom. From hall to hall. From corridor to corridor. From door to door. There was nothing here, just the remains of an orphanage that had been closed. Just the doodles of kids he did not remember creating. From the learning rooms, he did not remember entering, and more and more things he did not remember existing. All the things that should be present in an orphanage were present but that was precisely what caused him so much confusion.

'Why would they do this? There is nothing they dare not do after all.' Then Inero-ie remembered Knrama who had been acting as the Lord Representative in this small settlement. 'Is it because of him?'

With the target no longer present, the anger lost its power and he reasserted his control, once again becoming the driver. Then he sealed all the emotions and memories once again.

***

Threads swarmed outside, inspecting the surroundings. There was nothing there, that same desolate quietness that had enveloped this sub-sector was present outside without any disturbance. The only ones living outside were those observers who had all been rendered unconscious by Inero-ie.

After preparing for a moment, Inero-ie jumped using the everpresent darkness and with that sensation of his core being dried followed by the dread, he was once again outside, with no trace of his presence having remained other than the observers all being knocked out.

After inspecting them, Inero-ie started heading towards the observer with the highest cultivation, the man who had been smoking. As he was going to start crawling up the wall, his Threads alerted him of an incoming man causing him to stop.

The man slowly arrived, stopping in front of the orphanage. Though the level of his stealth technique was commendable, ten of thousands had surrounded him, inspecting his body with a delicate technique that made it impossible for even the specters to sense his Threads much less a human. As his Threads inspected the man, Inero-ie found him familiar, he was the lone harvester he had helped on the order of the princess.

The man’s face twisted, fists clinched with such strength that his skin was cut drawing out blood. The gashing of his teeth was incredibly loud in this silent and abandoned part of the sub-sector. Having experienced the unpleasant emotion just a moment ago, Inero-ie could sense the anger present in the man who eventually did not do anything, instead moving back.

Just when he was going to head towards the knocked-out observers, Inero-ie heard the man muttering something. The voice was so small that it would be difficult for even the most sophisticated sensors would fail to pick it up, something to be expected of the caliber of harvester the man.

After thinking for a moment, Inero-ie decided to follow this man.