Chapter 179: Untouched City (2)
Nobody around her paid much attention to the remark.
Ashmoor residents walked beneath the enormous projection as casually as commuters passing a billboard. Some glanced upward, checked the Floor number, and continued toward wherever they were going.
Apparently watching strangers risk violent death had become background entertainment, or public safety information. It was probably both.
Misha tugged her hood lower, shadowing as much of her masked face as possible. Apparently, that still was not enough.
Elyes had given her another mask to wear over the Stray Cat Mask, which sounded ridiculous until the moment she put it on. The second mask softened, melted into the first, and reshaped the entire design as though the two had always been one piece.
๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ท๐๐ฟ๐๐ต.๐๐๐
The result looked nothing like the mask people had already learned to associate with her. It was insane.
It was also, according to Elyes, the entire point. If anyone recognized her after that, then she had apparently offended fate on a personal level.
"Shana."
Carlโs voice came from several paces ahead.
Misha looked away from the projection.
The twelve-year-old stood beside one of the glowing markers running through the avenue, both hands tucked into the pockets of a jacket the Faust household had provided. He looked back at her with the patient suspicion of someone already convinced she had forgotten where they were supposed to be going.
Misha smiled faintly. "I know."
Carlโs eyes narrowed. "You said that ten minutes ago."
"And yet I continue to possess the information."
"You also keep stopping."
"That is a separate problem."
Carl stared at her for another second, then he turned around.
Misha quietly followed him.
Behind them, the Floor Twelve projection continued playing. If the group cleared the quest, the feed would rotate to another active Floor. If everyone died, it would do exactly the same thing.
===
"Shana."
Carl had stopped again.
Misha looked down and saw him pointing toward the intersection ahead.
"Weโre turning there."
"I know."
"You were walking straight."
Misha glanced toward the road. She had, in fact, been walking straight.
"Iโm just testing you."
Carl stared at her with the weary disapproval of a much older person trapped in a young boyโs body. "Thatโs a lie."
"Good. You passed."
He released a long sigh and turned down the correct street.
Misha followed him while a floating advertisement drifted overhead, promising enchanted skincare capable of restoring vitality after curse exposure.
She decided to ignore it. Her attention shifted toward a translucent blue window only she could see. She had been checking it too often lately.
Caleb had interfered with her rewards before, Misha knew that. She could not always prove exactly where his fingers had touched the System, but certain quest payouts had been too convenient, too generous, or too perfectly suited to whatever deficiency she had been complaining about an hour earlier.
Nothing screamed impartial cosmic progression system quite like having an Administrator for a brother who apparently treated loot tables as family benefits.
ใ ใSTATUS WINDOWใ
Tower Name: Misha Apocalypse
Name: Misha Reyes
Level: 32 (EXP: 760 | 19,860 )
Rank: โโโโ
Class: Soulbinder
Affiliation: Tower of Hellfire
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