Freak!!!

Escaping from his pursuers, Uche continued running without looking back, not even sparing a glance at his savior. In fact, he was more wary of the mysterious figure than his pursuers, so all he wanted was to get away. But to his surprise, the figure was suddenly beside him again, even after they had escaped from view.

The figure abruptly stopped in front of Uche, covering his mouth and dragging him to the left, where a stairway leading downwards appeared. They hid behind it while the figure held Uche tightly. Moments later, several men came running past, heading in the direction Uche and the figure had just come from.

Once the men were completely out of sight, the figure released Uche, giving him room to breathe. Slowly, the black helmet on the figure's head was removed, revealing the delicate face of a beautiful young woman. Her long black hair fluttered as she swung her head, and she smiled pleasantly.

"Ah, I didn't think that would work."

She said.

Uche was stunned. His savior was a woman, and a strikingly beautiful one at that. He wasn't sure what to say. For this person to come to his aid, she had to know something about him, specifically that he was a Connect. But how?

"What do you want from me?"

Uche asked, stepping back cautiously.

"What do you mean?"

She replied.

"Aren't you one of them? Why did you save me? How do you know about me? Isn't it obvious you're working for them?"

Uche demanded, his voice tinged with suspicion.

Before the woman could answer, voices echoed from the hallway, followed by several footsteps.

"They went this way. How did you not see them?"

"They must have hidden in one of the rooms or gone down to the basement."

"Go block the exit!"

Hearing this, the woman peeked out before turning back to Uche.

"Follow those stairs down. There's an underground basement below with an exit leading to the main road. You can escape through it."

"But they're blocking the exit."

Uche protested.

"With your speed, you should get there before they do. Now go!"

She urged, hastily putting her helmet back on and rolling into the hallway before sprinting off.

Now, Uche was even more convinced that she was working with them. How else would she know about the underground basement and the exit? She was definitely one of them. But why she had chosen to help him was what bothers him. Regardless, he wasted no time and rushed down the stairway.

The men spotted the woman in black sprinting down the hallway, some chasing after her while a few followed Uche down the stairway into the basement.

Just as the woman had said, Uche outran his pursuers with ease, reaching the exit before they could block it. He escaped successfully.

---

That night, Uche couldn't sleep. He lay in bed for hours, contemplating his next move. Now that the organ traffickers knew about him, he realized he only had a short time before the world discovered his existence. And when that happened, he'd be turned into a lab rat.

He couldn't let that happen, but after a sleepless night of thinking, he still couldn't come up with a solution. The idea of leaving the city didn't sit well with him either. Not only did he lack the funds to sponsor his escape, but he also couldn't leave without finding the person who had received his eye. He had to get it back.

But staying in the city would only bring more trouble. He was somewhat relieved that his identity hadn't been revealed to the world yet. However, that also meant those people wouldn't stop chasing him until they captured him. If the world found out who he was, he'd have nowhere to hide.

"Arghhh!" Uche shouted in frustration.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, he got out of bed, showered, dressed in a black top, jeans, and a black cap, and stepped outside.

A few minutes later, Uche arrived at a small workshop surrounded by heaps of metal junk. The workshop, located on the outskirts of the city, looked more like an abandoned inn than a functioning workspace. However, the interior was surprisingly spacious.

As Uche approached, he saw an old woman standing at the entrance, hands on her head, throwing anxious glances to the side as if expecting someone.

"Ma'am, what's wrong?" Uche asked as he drew near.

"Oh my, Uche, you came just in time. Mr. Kim left an hour ago to get a new hammer from the city, but he hasn't returned. I was about to go look for him."

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'll find him. Nothing will happen to him."

Uche assured her, turning and walking away.

He wandered through the junk-filled streets, making several turns, passing from street to street in search of his boss. After traversing three different streets, Uche found a narrow alley between two buildings, a shortcut that led to the next street.

Peering down the alley, he spotted three schoolboys in brown uniforms surrounding someone lying on the ground, begging for mercy. Uche couldn't see the person clearly, but the glimpse of white hair suggested it was an elderly man or woman.

'That can't be my boss,' Uche thought, 'but I should check.'

He quickened his pace and reached the scene within seconds. To his shock, the person being harassed was indeed his boss, Mr. Kim.

"What are you doing, beating an old man?" Uche shouted, stepping between the boys and the old man.

"Looks like we got lucky."

One of the boys sneered.

"Yeah, the old man's too fragile. We couldn't beat him properly, but now you've saved us the trouble. Just hand over your money and leave."

Another boy threatened.

Ignoring them, Uche knelt by his boss.

"Mr. Kim, are you okay?"

"They're after my money... these brats followed me here from the city."

The old man croaked.

"Don't worry, I'll handle them. Go on, madam is waiting for you and she's worried," Uche said, helping the old man up and guiding him out of the alley. The boys let Mr. Kim leave but stepped forward to block Uche.

"What, you think you'll just walk away now?" One of the boys scoffed.

"What do you want?"

Uche asked calmly, standing with his hands in his pockets.

"Just give us your money and we'll leave,"

One of them said.

Uche said nothing. Instead, he turned and began to walk away. One of the boys grabbed him and pinned him against the wall.

"Bastard, that man had a whole bundle of dollars with but you let our him escape, so now you'll pay for it!"

The boy shouted, his fist flying toward Uche's head.

Uche calmly tilted his head, letting the boy punch the wall instead, peeling his knuckles. With a swift kick, Uche sent him stumbling back into the others.

"Oh, you want to fight?"

Another boy yelled, pulling out a jackknife and pointing it at Uche.

Uche remained still, watching the boy approach. The boy swung the knife down, intending to scare Uche, but instead, the blade sliced clean through Uche's left ear.

The boy froze in horror, dropping the knife as Uche's ear fell to the ground.

"Bastard! Why didn't you avoid it?"

The boy shouted, panicking. He hadn't meant to actually hurt him, expecting Uche to dodge like he had dodged the punch, but he didn't know the bastard won't dodge.

'What do I do, I need to run, i don't mean to injure him.'

The boy thought.

But what happened next terrified them all.

Uche remained calm, his eye patch slipping off now that his ear was gone, revealing his empty eye socket, making the boys stepped back.

"What the hell?!"

"Freak!"

"Monster!"

The boys screamed and bolted down the alley in fear.

After they had gone, Uche bent down to pick up his severed ear.

"Pathetic. They couldn't handle seeing an empty eye socket. What would they have done if they'd seen this?"

As Uche held his ear, blood tendrils emerged from it, reconnecting it to his head.