novelraw Chapter 106: Ignite
Chapter 106: Ignite
"I can’t believe I paid her 500 Midbucks just to enhance the device!"
Jamie whined as he walked back toward the surface, staring at the newly modified teleportation device in his hand like it had personally betrayed him.
The remote-like device had changed completely.
Deep cuts ran across its body, showing it had been forcefully opened and tampered with in a way that looked far from gentle. But at least there was tape holding it together now, so that was... somehow the bright side of the situation.
The engineer had taken approximately one whole hour to modify it.
An awful amount of time to spend working on a teleportation device.
But when Jamie really thought about it, it made sense.
What he had asked her to do was borderline impossible.
In fact, it was already surprising enough that she had managed to alter it at all, especially considering the thing was demon technology built with demon knowledge.
The memory of what she had told him after handing it back was still fresh in his mind.
"Took me some time, but I managed to reprogram it. The teleportation will be unstable now, so make sure you go in immediately after you open it. And before I forget—it’ll send you to a good dimension near Earth."
She had lectured him on the new complications his request had caused, holding the device in both hands as she spoke.
Jamie couldn’t do much besides nod along while listening to the instructions, his identity still hidden behind the scarf covering his face.
Then after a few more exchanges, the engineer finally brought up the price.
500 Midbucks.
An amount Jamie paid on the spot without even hesitating.
The happiness of success —had completely blinded him to the truth that the amount was insane.
And the look on the engineer’s face after he paid proved it too.
She had clearly raised the price that high only to leave room for negotiation.
She never actually expected him to pay it.The woman had simply stayed silent while her insides probably danced with joy.
After that, Jamie had started walking toward the door. Their transaction was over after all.
But just before leaving, he had stopped and turned back to face her.
"You could come with me if you wanted to. Free of charge, of course."
Jamie had thrown out the offer casually, his voice so calm it almost sounded like it had come out of pure sympathy.
The engineer’s face had twitched slightly.
She could feel it.
The offer was real.
But the look on her face said the complete opposite.
She looked completely unimpressed.
Which was strange, because there were probably a lot of people in Midworld who would’ve killed for an offer like that.
"I like the way things are here. To me, it’s better to live here than anywhere else. Midworld is like my heaven."
She had replied with a kind of determination that left no room for argument.
The sort of answer that made it obvious there was no point trying to convince her otherwise.
So Jamie hadn’t pushed.
He had simply respected her choice.
Then left the shop the same way he had entered.
And now he was finally on his way to the Grid Lions HQ.
The real destination of this entire little journey.
All while mentally beating himself up for paying such a ridiculous amount.
The currency of Midworld was actually insanely strong for a place that existed between life and death.
If his math was correct, 500 Midbucks was equivalent to around 50,000 US dollars.
Not exactly pocket change.
But luckily for him, thanks to Castor’s computer system that he had hijacked earlier to broadcast everything, he had managed to transfer 2,000 Midbucks into his possession.
Something he had instinctively known would be useful later.
"Oh well... that’s a lesson for another day."
He groaned as he walked through the streets of Midworld in secret.
To his advantage, the morale behind the search for him had already started dying down. Clan members were now only stationed in a few areas instead of flooding every corner like before.
Maybe they had finally started believing he had escaped Midworld already.
That was when it hit him.
He hadn’t actually walked away from the engineer with just a modified device.
She had also given him something way more useful.
Information.
"A back way into the Grid Lions HQ, huh..."
She muttered under her breath, recalling his exact words.
"There has to be an opening somewhere," she had said, one hand touching her chin while her eyes rolled upward in thought like she was solving some kind of equation. "A passage they used when bringing the time capsules into the building. It should be somewhere at the back side of the base. If you find it, then you’ll have a way inside. But I don’t know how far it’ll actually take you."
That information was vital for his plan to reach the underground section of the HQ and destroy the energy ball.
But it was much easier said than done.
In the condition his body was in right now, he couldn’t just casually stroll into the backside of the Grid Lions base and risk getting caught by dozens of people at once.
If that happened, the odds would be heavily against him.
So that left him with only one quick option.
Create a diversion.
That way, the forces around the city would split apart, creating an opening for him to infiltrate the base.
And if he did end up having to face clan members, at least it would be a small number.
Not the full force of Midworld crashing down on his head.
The plan sounded solid.
But there was still one major problem with it.
It didn’t account for the smarter ones who would immediately realize the disturbance was a diversion.
And with how sharp some of them were, they could piece together a pattern and trace it straight back to the Grid Lions HQ.
Jamie had hit another roadblock.
He needed something extra.
Something that would still protect the plan even if that exact scenario happened.
And after a few more minutes of thinking, he finally found it.
If the diversion was going to work, then he needed to create explosions at several key points all across Midworld.
The Main Hall—where all new participants usually had to pass before Castor blew up the whole Midgard system.
The mall.
The residential area.
The bases of different clans.
The stadium where the games were held.
He needed to blow up enough important structures to create chaos across the entire city.
And yes, the people would immediately assume Jamie was behind it.
That part was unavoidable.
But for the illusion to truly work, he also needed to leave some places untouched.
That way, they would assume Jamie was hiding in one of the areas he didn’t attack and waste time searching there while he slipped into the Grid Lions HQ.
Which led to one final conclusion.
He would also need to create an explosion at the Grid Lions HQ itself.
That way, the HQ would remove itself from the list of "likely places Jamie would try to sneak into."
The plan was now fully formed.
And the fact that it still had a backup layer in case the illusion partially failed only made it stronger.
It wasn’t perfect.
Enough to waste their time.
Now all that remained was choosing the targets carefully—places connected enough to him or to the current situation that his attack would feel believable.
The options lined themselves up inside his head one after another, each one becoming a possible chess piece in the mess he was about to create.
Jamie touched his chin, thinking deeply until he finally started sorting them out.
I’ll have to create explosions in all five clan headquarters. Can’t risk choosing only a few. Need all of them blown.
Blowing up the Main Hall and the stadium would be good too.
That just leaves the residential area, which I’m guessing the shop owner’s family has already left by now. Haven’t sensed their presence for about an hour, so that’s a relief.
The mall and the markets stay untouched too. Some of the people who haven’t fully chosen to join the conflict yet will probably stay there while others rush to battle. Might as well not force them into choosing too early.
Jamie finished mapping it all out in his head.
The plan was solid now.
And all that remained was to start blowing things up.
I’ll use the Kinetic Bomb technique. Since it feeds on the kinetic energy I build up while moving, it won’t drain too much of my actual power.
The moment the thought crossed his mind, seven small kinetic spheres of energy suddenly appeared around him, each one flickering with unstable light as they floated in place.
Seven glowing balls.
For seven targets.
All of them needed to explode at the exact same time.
So Jamie started moving.
Jumping across rooftops and cutting through the city in a sneaky, ninja-like way so the search teams wouldn’t notice him.
As he moved, the seven kinetic bombs gradually absorbed more and more built-up motion, growing denser and sharper.
And after ten full minutes of movement, they were finally ready.
Jamie stopped.
Then released them.
BOOM!!
Seven explosions went off across Midworld almost simultaneously, sending people both on the ground and in the air into complete shock.
Glass burst from buildings and rained down in glittering shards as thick black smoke rose into the sky from all directions.
Jamie had controlled the explosions carefully.
He made them destroy only the upper sections of the infrastructures.
And more importantly, he had set them in a way that wouldn’t leave anyone heavily injured.
Just disoriented enough to create panic.
Enough to drag the whole city into confusion.
And as all of this unfolded, Jamie crouched at a high enough spot where he had a clear view of the Grid Lions HQ.
From there, he watched as Grid Lions members rushed onto the rooftops to put out the fires like some kind of Midworld fire force, while other squads broke off and scattered to help in the different damaged zones around the city.
A slow smile spread across Jamie’s face.
Everything was happening exactly the way he wanted.
"That’s it... need to move now."
He stood up.
And like a cheetah released from a cage, Jamie dashed straight into the Grid Lions HQ premises.