Conflux System: I Can Merge Anything

Chapter 56: The Raid That Birthed Death

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Zane told Milo he got powers from the Citadel and had to move there.

Milo had agreed but as soon as she heard who else would be present in the Citadel, she couldn’t control her shuddering.

She was excited that her brother got powers but she killed her excitement and asked Zane to return the powers he got just because she didn’t want to go to a place where the bad soldiers were present as well.

By bad soldiers she meant Discipline Sentinels, higher and stronger than Enforcers and she didn’t wanted them mostly because:

"They killed mumma papa."

Zane embraced her inside his chest as she shivered thinking about the time.

She was only 3 years old when she witnessed the raid and saw her parents dying.

She and Zane had hid inside that same hole where she stays in Zane’s absence and if not for Zane, Milo would be killed as well that day.

He had wrapped her palm around her mouth to muffle her screams and Zane had punctured his lips with his teeth in order to remain silent.

Both of them watched their parents’ heads rolling, their eyes wide open.

And they weren’t alone.

That day, half of the slum population—Gutterborns—were wiped out in that raid, especially children under eighteen.

All by the hands of the Discipline Sentinels who worked for the Halocrats or someone lower than them.

From then on, Zane had tried to figure out the reason for the raid.

Such raids kept happening randomly and no one dared to question it.

They just came out of nowhere and started killing the residents. Be it Cinder Row or Ashen. No one knew why and Zane gave up trying to find the answer in the slums. If he wanted to know, he had to reach higher.

Nevertheless, since that day, Milo had developed terminal fear of uniforms and especially red uniforms worn by the Sentinels.

If those guards were in the Citadel, then she was ready to stay in filth forever.

Zane would have done the same but he had already made promises to his legion and more than that, he had a burning reason to go there.

"We have to go there, Milo. There’s no other way."

"Why? Just cancel your name. Say you are sick. Say you don’t want it."

"Look at me."

Milo raised her head, her watery eyes stared at Zane.

Zane wiped her tears and explained calmly.

"I can’t do that. There are some rules. If I cancel now, then they will surely hurt me. Do you want that?"

Milo shook her head.

Zane smiled. "Besides, that place also has some strong people. There must be some kind teachers and students who might know how to cure your illness. You will become strong too if you come with me. You will be healthy again."

"But.. but they will be there. They will kill us too."

Zane’s smile vanished.

"No one will kill us. Not me. Not you. We are alive till now. We will stay alive later as well. As long as I am breathing, you are immune to death."

He embraced her again and Milo went silent.

She remained silent in his chest, hearing his heartbeat and in the lowest voice possible, fighting her fears, with trembling lips, she said:

"Okay. I will go."

Zane sighed in relief.

"We will also get to eat food three times a day."

Milo pulled her head back.

"You should have said that from the start."

"Haha." Zane laughed and Milo hid her face again.

He wasn’t wearing anything on his upper body as he gave his only tunic to that woman.

Good thing I had two pants.

Zane had taken a bath. No blood was on him at the moment. He had washed his previous pants and it was now drying above the bathroom curtain as it had less chance of getting stolen from there.

I can’t go to the Citadel like this. I’ll have to borrow a shirt from someone. Come to think of it, I can ask the lady to return it.

Zane thought but then quickly shook his head.

All his bravado would go down the drain if he asked for return. And he had seen how those women were. She would pull him inside her shack.

They might not get treated well but they were always looking for new customers for consistent money. Zane didn’t blame them as the slums weren’t kind to anyone.

I’ll figure something out.

Zane put the thought at the back of the mind and looked at Milo.

She was fast asleep and now that he was free and had time, he would finally see the fruits of today.

And as if hearing his thoughts...

[ Ding! ]

[ Critical Quest ⊳ Homecoming ⊳ Concluded! ]

[ 5 Merge Points Rewarded! ]

Right. There was this Quest too. Took you long enough. And why only five? I should get bigger rewards. Coming home was really the hardest today.

[ The Quest was already Critical, implying the difficulty of it. So no extra rewards will be given. ]

Zane gave up arguing and did what he wanted to do.

Show me the rewards I got from earlier. The one where I set an example.

[ Rewards for completing the Major Quest ⊳ Declaration! ]

[ 1. Host’s Interface Unlocked! ]

[ 2. Shop Unlocked! ]

[ 3. Synchronization Increased By 5% ]

[ 4. Eligibility Criteria to generate Quests to increase Convergence Met! ]

Zane read all four of the rewards and he wasn’t expecting them at all.

Heck, he didn’t even know there was a shop in Conflux.

Can I buy salt from it?

[ Conflux is not a grocery store. ]

Fair enough. But what kind of example did I set for me to get such rewards?

[ You showed the people that it is important to fight for freedom. And you showed that survival is possible even after sinning in front of powerful people. ]

I showed all this? Strange.

[ If you don’t agree then I can take back the rewards. ]

No. I agree. I definitely set such examples for them. It was all according to plan.

Zane changed his statement right away but he also smiled.

Synchronization made you more talkative though. Like a real person.

Zane waited and this time, no windows appeared.

Now you decide to go silent on me?

He shook his head and let it be.

Now that he knew the rewards, he saw no reason to wait for them later.

He rubbed his hands and with a smile, demanded the first one:

Show me my interface.

The system obliged and presented a lengthy window in front of Zane’s eyes.

And as he looked at it from top to bottom...

He figured Conflux knew him more than he knew himself.