Infiltration 18

Lia instantly shot up, "You found out?"

"Yes!" Nana was proud of herself but having seen Lia being vulnerable just a minute ago, Nana didn't need Lia to praise her. She was happy to be of help.

Lia excited turned to Nana, "What is it?"

Lia didn't even bother asking how Nana found out, what method she used to make Timo's tongue loose and tell her something that should obviously be a secret.

A few minutes later.

Why? Why? Why?

This relentless word captured Lia's mind, her body and her heart. It feasted on her worries, teared her sanity apart and made her run like a maniac.

Forwards.

Only forwards. In the dark hallway, Lia tripped several times, pushing herself forward using the wall but she still couldn't believe what she's heard, what Nana said.

In a frantic daze, Lia rushed down the stairs, through the hallway until she finally stood before the door to the mysterious room.

What was Min thinking? What did it mean? Was Lia overthinking? Was she dreaming? It was a lie, wasn't it? A complete lie to fool her.

Lia hit against the door, panting and catching her breath. Her trembling fingers glided over the metallic surface many times before they found their way to the keypad.

It could've been anything. Anything! Yet it was this cursed number. Out of all the combinations of digits there could've been, why, just why did Min choose this?

Just why did Timo have to say it in this way? If he only told Nana the numbers, Lia wouldn't be in this state, wouldn't overthink.

So, why? Tears threatened to spill from Lia's eyes as the door clicked after it was indeed true. She didn't want it to be.

What in the world did Min mean by this?

By these words...?

'His fiance's birthday.'

Her birthday. The day Lia was born, the day that should be a joyful celebration everywhere.

So, why did Min use her birthday as the password? Why did Timo say 'his fiance's birthday' instead of just reciting the numbers?

Lia stumbled into the dark room with no light. The only bright source of light came from behind her through the door. The bleak darkness in front of her almost brought her to her knees. It depicted solely his face, everywhere she looked nothing but his face popped up.

Lia took a step forward, breathing heavily, and it echoed back from the walls. The more Lia ventured inside, the faster she realised that this was a round room with nothing. It only led to the middle, to a small glass vitrine on an elevated platform.

Once touched, it lit up in an azure blue light and highlighted the treasured content inside. A ring. Was this the Immortal King's?

Yet, for some reason, Lia found it oddly similar to her engagement ring. She blinked. A self-deprecating laugh rose. Of course not, Min wouldn't care about her ring.

Her birthday was also a coincidence, so Lia decided not to give it any more thought. This ring in front of her was the important thing right now.

Lia didn't care much about the vitrine and just broke it open. No alarm sounded and with ease, she took out the ring, anticipating holding it in her fingers.

It was a thin gold ring. There was nothing on it. It looked like an ordinary ring. She also couldn't feel anything from it. Despite the ordinariness, Lia put the ring on.

After several tries, she couldn't use her power with her life force. Disappointment couldn't even describe what Lia felt.

Maybe this was after all just an ordinary ring but why go to such lengths for a simple ring?

Or perhaps Lia's soul had to be repaired first? Either way, for now, she had to keep the ring with her. Noel or Xavi might know more about it.

There was the possibility that Timo could recognize the ring, so Lia put it in her pocket, making sure she couldn't lose it.

The whole way back, Lia was occupied with the ring, she wanted to tell the others about it but she didn't want to make any hasty decisions.

Her soul could be the problem, so before it was healed, she wouldn't go to them. They also had their own things to do.

And so Lia passed the next days normally as if nothing's happened, until the day of the field trip finally came.

Lia mentally prepared herself for this. It was the deciding factor.

The first-year students of building 3 all assembled on training field 3. Lia joined them and to her surprise, Timo was leading the trip. It wasn't too out of her expectation but she didn't think Timo would agree to it.

As they made their way to the outskirts, Zero sneakily got closer to Lia. She noticed it and smiled at him. Zero instantly turned around.

"Is this your first time purging ghosts?" Timo was the first to start a conversation with Lia.

"It is," Lia answered with a hint of excitement, "I don't have any powers, so I hope I won't become a burden."

"Ah yea, you don't," Timo gave Lia the side eye. She suddenly felt like his view of her lowered. The sad thing was that she wasn't lying. At the moment, she really was powerless. But in this situation, it was a good thing.

They moved to the fourth layer surrounded by the river. There were only 15 students on this field trip. Too many students were hard for one teacher to control. After all, they were purging real vengeful ghosts. If anything went wrong, the students could lose their lives.

One teacher was already too less for a group of 15 but it was Timo and everyone placed their trust in him. Lia who had no capability to save anyone only tagged along.

Timo led them to a quiet place, "There shouldn't be many ghosts here."

Now Lia realised that she might be able to see Timo's power.

Timo had the group split into groups of three and sent each of them to a direction while he and Lia stood in the middle. The students were only around 7 metres away from them, so Timo could watch each of them and come to their aid if anything happened.

As if Timo had planned it, a few ghosts approached the groups. Their hungry mouths opened to swallow the students but they remained strong in the face of this sight. One after another one, they started to fight against the ghosts.

"Have you scouted the place beforehand?" Lia wanted to know why Timo was so relaxed.

"Of course, not going to endanger any student," Timo's eyes swept over the students fighting.

"How long does it take?" Lia watched Zero. When it came to ghosts, his power really wasn't useful.

But he still tried to do his best. More ghosts poured in. The number was easily manageable.

Suddenly Timo raised his voice, "Don't forget you have to defend. Don't let a ghost come to the centre and attack us. If-" Timo paused and yawned, "One team fails to purge ghosts and they break through, you fail the test."

The students got agitated, "Test? No one talked about that!"

"Just decided also Kim here's to supervise."

Was this Lia's excuse for being here? How could Timo be so spontaneous? Was he bored from just watching?

"Yes, indeed," Lia decided to play along.

Zero's ears perked up and his expression changed. He needed to be more serious about this. What no one knew was that Lia had a talisman on her, so ghosts couldn't do much to her.

Yet, Lia had another talisman she had Mika summon for her and this talisman she secretly had put on Zero. Its purpose was different. Completely the opposite.

Once more ghosts came they all crowded Zero's team. In panic, the three of them started to run.

Timo's shout for them to stay here was completely disregarded.