Chapter 106 (Fixed)
The Agent stepped forward, slamming his hand onto the metal table in front of Ray with a loud bang that echoed through the room. He leaned in, staring at Ray from only a few inches away with cold, piercing eyes.
"Enough of this bullshit, Ray," he pressed, his voice low and threatening. "Just fess up. We know you aren’t some clueless streamer who just happened to go viral over some weird phenomenon. You have the ability to create those fantastic events. The faster you admit it, the faster you get state protection."
Ray didn’t budge. He just leaned his head back, giving the Agent a lazy, unimpressed sigh. His handcuffs clinked softly again as he shifted in his seat.
"How many times do I have to say this, Officer?" Ray replied, his tone feigning frustration but keeping cool. "At most, I just have this weird sensitivity. I can *feel* or guess weird shit around me—like a gut instinct or hyper-awareness. I can’t summon lightning, shoot fire, or make fireworks happen overnight! That was just a coincidence and some social media trend analysis I capitalized on."
The Agent let out a long breath, pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. His chuckle sounded hollow. "You’re seriously stubborn. But get this, Ray, your situation is looking grim as hell. We don’t know when you’re getting out of here. The accusations against you came straight from Hime Nature—and the public knows that woman’s powers are real. Her roots never lie, and she explicitly stated she felt the source of the evil right there."
Hearing that, Ray’s brain kicked into high gear. Shit. He just realized something sinister behind this whole setup.
"The source of the evil?"
So, Hime and this agency were working together from the jump.
Hime’s initial report to the agency just said her roots felt a "source of evil"—a vague, safe term. But during the live stream in front of the public, Hime intentionally twisted the narrative to frame that "source of evil" as the guy behind last night’s phenomenon hiding in Ray’s room. The agency took that wild pitch and pretended to buy it, using Hime’s accusation as a convenient excuse to raid Ray without an official warrant. Hime got her hero moment, and the agency got leverage to lock Ray up until he cracked and handed over his powers. A perfectly nasty conspiracy.
But instead of calling out the collusion and looking too smart for his own good, Ray chose to play dumb and confused to dismantle their game from the inside.
"Wait... I’m confused, Officer," Ray said with a blank expression and furrowed brows, acting like a normal guy just trying to piece together some simple logic. "So Hime just felt the ’source of evil’ in the building? Why did the narrative get twisted during the live stream and when you guys grabbed me to say I had supernatural powers?"
The Agent flinched slightly. His eyes narrowed, not expecting Ray to pick up on that tiny detail.
"I mean, just look at the logic..." Ray scratched his head with his cuffed hands, acting like a confused citizen. "The term ’source of evil’ is super broad, man. My apartment building isn’t exactly high-end! It could be crawling with scammers, dealers, or petty fugitives. What if Hime’s roots just sensed some random criminal living there? Why would an elite agency like you guys immediately jump to the conclusion that it meant the guy behind the firework show?"
Ray scoffed, pulling a complaining face. "You guys busted me just based on Hime’s accusations, and she’s had a personal beef with me on her podcast for ages. There’s zero physical evidence. Just some woman’s word that she felt ’evil’."
Hearing Ray break down the logic gap with such a clueless vibe, the Agent went dead silent. Serious doubt started gnawing at his brain. The Agent knew damn well their partnership with Hime relied on that ambiguous report. If Ray kept fighting back and brought this illogical mess to the media or court, the public would start questioning their investigation’s credibility. The agency’s bluff to force a confession was starting to backfire.
The Agent stroked his chin, starting to rack his brain for another move now that this bluff had failed miserably.
"If you’re so consistent about trusting Hime’s root detection," Ray muttered quietly, turning his face away and pretending to be resigned and tired of the whole thing, "why not just check every resident in that apartment building one by one? Search every room. If the roots really detect evil, go find the actual criminal there instead of holding me here without a shred of proof."
The Agent clenched his fists tight behind his back. His jaw tightened. That simple logic Ray threw around under the guise of "innocence" had actually backed him into a corner. The initial plan to pressure Ray into begging and voluntarily giving up his powers had flipped into a total double-edged sword that risked blowing up his agency’s reputation if it leaked to the press.
"Enough," the Agent cut in with a cold voice, trying to hide the doubt starting to eat at his mind. He grabbed the iPad off the table and slipped it inside his suit jacket. "This interrogation is postponed. Let’s see how long you can keep this act going."
Without waiting for Ray to respond, the Agent called in two beefy guards waiting outside. Without a single word, a thick black cloth was tossed over Ray’s head. He was dragged out of the room, shoved into a vehicle, and driven away.
The feel of the ride was weird as hell for Ray. From the turns, the engine’s vibration, and the trip’s duration, Ray was sure the car hadn’t driven too far from the initial interrogation spot. At most, it took maybe fifteen to twenty minutes. But when the hood came off, Ray was already inside a super unusual isolation cell.
The walls were lined with thick, seamless grey metal with zero windows. No mattress, just a cold cement slab for a bed in the corner of the room. Heavy iron handcuffs were still clamped tight around both his wrists. And right in the top corner of the ceiling, a security camera with a blinking red lens kept running, watching every single move inside that cramped cell.
Ray let out a long breath, slumping his body onto the cold cement floor. In a situation where he was watched 24/7 like this, he couldn’t afford to act reckless. Opening the System screen or pulling out unique powers would only prove their charges right. So, Ray decided to lay back, close his eyes, and just keep his mouth shut.
However, behind his silence, one massive realization suddenly made his chest pound out of control. Something absolutely terrifying.
’Holy shit...’ Ray thought, his eyes snapping wide open at the ceiling. ’I haven’t picked up today’s Daily Mission!’
Cold sweat started dripping down his forehead. This was the second time he’d ignored a Daily Mission from the System ever since he scored that cheap coin slot. The first time he blew it off, the penalty was just the system shutting down for 24 hours. But this time?
Time kept ticking away relentlessly in the dark cell. Ray could only track the imaginary clock ticking in his head until the time hit 00:00 sharp.
*DING!*
A blood-red transparent interface window suddenly popped up right in front of his vision, cutting through the cell’s darkness.
[WARNING: User has failed to complete the ’Daily Mission’ for the second time.]
[Medium-Tier Penalty System Activated.]
Ray held his breath, not daring to make a sound to avoid sparking suspicion from the camera in the corner.
’What the fuck is this? What kind of punishment is it now?’ Ray whispered in his head.
The red panel flashed rapidly, showing a string of numbers suddenly dropping off a cliff.
[Cumulative Penalty Initiated: Deducting 100 Alter Points every hour.]
[Deduction process will continue until User’s Alter Points hit 0.]
’Are you out of your mind?! A hundred points an hour?!’ Ray screamed inside his head. The points he had grinded so hard for were gonna vanish in a flash if he stayed locked up in this cell doing nothing.
But the text on the System screen wasn’t done yet.
[Additional Note: Once Alter Points reach 0, penalty will proceed with periodic EXP deductions.]
[If User’s Level drops to LEVEL 0, the System will be PERMANENTLY DELETED from the User’s soul.]
[The ONLY way to stop this Ongoing Penalty is for the User to accept and complete today’s ’Daily Mission’.]
Ray’s eyes bulged as he read through those terrifying lines of text. His heart was hammering like crazy. Permanently deleted? That meant all his power, dominance, and future would disappear just like that, turning him right back into a useless loser.
’Hey, you bastard System! Don’t screw with me!’ Ray cursed in a panic, grinding his teeth. ’How the hell am I supposed to do a Daily Mission with my hands cuffed and locked up in a room packed with cameras like this?!’
The System didn’t answer. The red panel just displayed the penalty countdown running, draining Ray’s points second by second.
[ -100 Alter Points (First Hour Penalty) ]
[Time remaining until next deduction: 59:59]
Ray squeezed his cuffed fists so hard his knuckles turned white. His cool, confident front crumbled instantly. He wasn’t just dealing with a suspicious government agent anymore—he was now racing against the clock against his own penalty, which could wipe out the only trump card he had.