16 Clash With The Special Force (2)

"Is it only me, or it's getting cold all of a sudden?" Zaen mumbled, pulling his hoodie close to him for warmth.

He looked around him and it was definitely getting a bit chilly. People around him were just as confused as he was, the only difference was that he could see their reactions they, however, could not. Lizan rarely ever faced frigid weather as it was a coastal city, and it never happened in June.

"Something is wrong here... wait a minute! Could this be an indication that Mr Nishimiya is around here somewhere?" He looked around as the temperature continued to drop consistently, "No, it'll be absurd if a ghoul could change the weather. But then again, what part of ghoul's existence isn't absurd in itself... I should look around here. But first..."

Zaen first checked if there were any members of the special force around him or not. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case. There were only civilians around him.

[You seem to feel the presence of a ghoul around you. Search for any abnormalities. Kill the ghoul

as fast as you can, or the temperature would keep falling.]

'Bish, I already figured it out. What were you even doing, eh?' Zaen thought as he dashed forward.

He no longer cared about bumping into people although he tried no to get too much attention. But he forgot that while he was hidden, his footsteps could be heard loud and clear. People were already tensed when the temperature suddenly dropped and when people started hearing footsteps around them, the crowd went into a frenzy.

"Ahh! A g-ghost!" A woman shrieked as Zaen brushed off her arm while running past her.

Zaen didn't pay any attention to the crowd and kept running, hitting more and more people. Soon it was pandemonium. People panicked and were now running all around like a flock of sheep without a shepherd.

'For crying out loud! We're supposed to be the most advanced nation and these people still believe in stupid things like ghosts?' Zaen thought as he jumped over an old lady to save her from getting injured, 'Well... I think they aren't wrong. After all, ghouls exist, don't they? Who knows what else exists in this accursed world. Dang it! The special force would now know something is wrong here.'

Zaen wasn't wrong. The special force soon noticed the panic-stricken crowd running all over the streets. But rather than calming them down, the officers immediately rushed towards the source of the chaos.

"ST-14 to headquarters, we might have a lead on subject G-017. I repeat. We might have a lead on subject G-017." Markus yelled over his radio as Miranda and Hugo followed him.

"Got it, Strider team 14, pursue the lead and report back as soon as you find the subject." A feminine voice crackled through their radios, "Do not engage the subject in combat! I repeat, DO NOT engage! It's more precious than all of your lives, understand? Wait for the Impounders to be deployed. Do not let the subject get out of sight."

"Roger that, command." Marcus then disconnected the link.

"Yo... lead... mind if... I take... a break?" Hugo asked Marcus. Someone like him clearly wasn't suited for this job and Marcus knew it well.

"Fck fatso, why did you even join the force!?" Marcus yelled back, pushing a bystander out of his way.

"I thought... special force... just sat on... their butts... all day and... earn money... hehe!" Hugo smiled.

"Fine! Get back to the vehicle and wait for the Impounders." Marcus said pushing yet another woman out of his way.

"Aye Aye... captain!"

None of the men seemed to care about the people around them, but Miranda stopped to check on the woman Marcus had pushed away. She gave her hand to the woman but she slapped it away.

"I don't need help from a useless special officer like you!" Woman bitterly got up by herself and started murmuring, "First they'll push innocent taxpayers around and then try to act like heroes. Damned hypocrites!"

Miranda just stood there as more people joined in to bash the force. She knew it very well that people detest them. So much so, that they'll rather die than ask for their help. But not everyone in special force was like that. It was obvious there were a lot of officers like Marcus but there were also officers like her who truly desire to help the citizens. But there were only a few of them and even they gave up on helping the people because of how they were treated by their colleagues as well as the civilians.

So they changed their stance and began mistreating the common people as well, since, to them, it was better to mistreat others than to get mistreated by them. This resulted in an endless circle of hate with both the parties blaming each other for the current situation.

"Miranda!" Marcus's voice echoed through her radio, "Where the fck are you? Don't tell me you went off to kiss that fatso? Get your ass out here, right now!"

"On my way, captain!" She rushed away, wiping her tears.

***

Zaen stood inside an isolated alley, sweating profusely. The cold weather didn't affect him anymore as his body had gotten warm due to all that running. He had just walked inside the alleyway when the temperature rose back to its normal level. The air around him wasn't cold anymore but warm and humid like before.

The temperature change made him doubt if he was going in the right direction or not. But the artifact confirmed he was heading in the right direction. So as usual, he walked further ahead placing his trust in the artifact.

In the alleyway, he could've stretched his arms and easily touched the walls on both sides. The walls looked like they were built very long ago. Unlike the rest of the area. The walls didn't have the straight perfection of the modern buildings in the newer areas, hence were kind of hidden from the eyes of most people. As he walked deeper into the alley, he saw a large block of glass... or at least that's what he thought.

At first glance he would have sworn it was chunks of clear glass, and given the temperature, it was the most likely guess. But when he bent to touch it, he almost screamed.

It was cold, ice-cold, and slippery and wet on touch. What the hell was such a large piece of ice doing way out here? And why so large and irregular? While he was looking at the ice, his eyes fell on something weird.

Next to the ice was some kind of broken piece of machinery. It was almost like a feral wolf had attacked the machine as if its life depended on it. Sadly Zaen didn't have enough brain cells to make the head or toe of the machine. But he knew someone who could. So he stored the device in his inventory to show it to Aeron when he got back.

But as he was leaving, a thought entered his mind. What if this machine caused the temperature to drop? Was it even possible?

He could only imagine the machine being used as weapons of some sort, maybe to distract the target? Like him?

All of a sudden, Zaen heard footsteps behind him. He spun around on his heels casting wild eyes behind him. No one was there. The alley was empty. He pulled out his dagger regardless, this was a surprise and he didn't like them, not even on birthdays.

But before he could take a step, something came crashing on him from above. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he managed to get away unscathed.

"I knew I heard something. Hello Mr Nishimiya." Zaen smiled looking above himself, "Can't say death has treated you well, can you?"

The ghoul snarled at him, before throwing another brick at Zaen.

"Are you still not over the fact I broke your daughter's heart? I already apologized for it, damn it! Even though she was the one to dump me."