9 The Forbidden Zone (1)

[Where are we going, Master?] The system asked with a slight tinge of curiosity.

Instead of answering the system, Daniel simply ignored it and proceeded to speak to something else within his mind.

"Minerva, give me the latest news about the recent celestial event that happened the previous evening."

<Acknowledged. Please wait a moment.>

In less than a few seconds, multiple news articles popped out in front of Daniel's eyes that only he could see. After reading several articles, Daniel turned off the function, letting him see clearly again before speaking to Minerva, "Plot the fastest route towards District X-23."

[Master? Why are you ignoring me again? Did I make you mad? I'm sorry, but even I can't control the missions of the Assassin System, so I really didn't expect that it would just drop a bombshell on your like that.]

Daniel continued to ignore the other system within his head and simply followed the route plotted by Minerva. He simply stayed silent during the entire trip, even as the system continued to nag inside his mind.

***

Daniel had initially wanted to ask Minerva to directly plot a course towards the nearest impact site that he found from one of the news articles that he read. However, from what he had gathered after hearing about this mystical material called 'adamantine' from the system, he knew that the government would not allow any civilians to go near the site after discovering such a strange material at the impact sites across the Earth.

"They must have cordoned off the entire block by now. If I even so much as mention about wanting to go to the impact site near X-23, Minerva would have directly noted such peculiar behavior on my part and informed the relevant government departments, getting me flagged in their system." Daniel thought to himself. "Luckily, the subway station at X-23 is quite close to the impact site, so I could just walk there after getting off the subway, acting like one of the many curious onlookers that wanted to gossip about the latest news."

As he had suspected, after turning the corner from the nearest subway exit, Daniel found the entire area in front of him blocked off by makeshift force fields that were generated from a portable power generator placed on either side of the street, blocking off pedestrians from passing through. However, this still didn't stop the many local onlookers and the press from swarming themselves towards the shields, trying to look past it to see what was inside.

Some of the brave reporters even tried and yell towards one of the policemen from beyond the force field to try and get some answers out of him.

"Why are you cordoning off the entire place, Mr. Policeman? Are you hiding something? The people have a right to know if they are going to encounter something dangerous as a result of the meteor shower!" One of the reporters yelled from afar.

Seeing such a commotion before him, Daniel thought it might have been a waste of time to come here, seeing that he wasn't even to see anything past the swarm of people in front of him. The only thing that he can see from afar are the multiple damaged windows from the skyscrapers located within the cordoned off zone. Otherwise, there was nothing that he could gain from just standing there.

Fortunately, just when he was about to leave, he found several trucks gliding through the automated road, which looked to be from the Federation Army. Since all roads are automated, the automated driving function of all cars without clearance would directly detour from this area, making it quite easy for the army trucks to get through, since there is literally no traffic around here for more than half a day now, if you discount the pedestrians in front of him.

Due to the massive number of pedestrians blocking the way, the multiple army trucks were forced to stop as they were not even able to pass through even when reducing the speed of their vehicles. It was at this time that someone from the passenger seat of the truck at the very front opened his window before protruding his head outside while holding a megaphone in front of him.

"This is the Federation Army. We are now heading into the forbidden zone. Would everyone outside please make way." The person said in an amiable tone. Unfortunately, his voice did not appease the public, but instead had the opposite effect.

"WTF is happening inside! Many of us live inside the forbidden zone! How are you going to compensate us for the losses?" A person from deep within the swarm of masses yelled, inciting anger amongst the crowd.

After one person said his piece, more and more people started complaining. Some even started kicking at the Army truck before them, a person even had the guts to climb onto the windshield of the truck.

"Everyone, back off! If you don't, we will charge every single one of you for the obstruction of justice and damaging government property!" The person with the megaphone looked awfully pissed by now and proceeded to yell back in a furious tone.

It was at this time that someone from an army truck located a the very middle came out. Unlike the person at the very front, this man looked as though he was actually the one in charge. There was a solemn look on his face, with his eyes glinting in annoyance. His chiselled jawline along with his neat white hair allowed him to exude a rather mature charm. His neat standard military uniform complements him, giving off the look of a mature commander.

The commander did not even bother trying to say anything. Instead, he abruptly took out a handgun before lifting his arm up all the way to the sky.

"Bang!"

The loud resonating noise of a gun piercing into the atmosphere turned everyone into a complete silence immediately. The pedestrians, who were busy trying to pull the megaphone man out of the car using their numbers to the advantage, almost jumped up in fright. Everyone stared at the commander with a look of fear in their eyes except for a certain teenager observing the entire situation from the side.

It was at this time that the people finally realized the blunder they have made. Not wanting to be riddled with bullets, everyone started backing off to allow the army detail to get through. Giving a look of satisfaction, the commander was bout to return to his seat when someone suddenly tapped on his shoulder lightly.

"Uncle Eric, it's me!" The person behind said with a rather innocent voice.

The commander named Eric initially looked fierce, as though wanting to instantly kill of the person who dared to touch him, abruptly softened his body. Turning around, he faced the familiar teenager before him, giving the other a rather soft look that an adult would give to a naïve kid.

"Daniel? What are you doing here?" Commander Eric gave a slight look of surprise before giving off a rather pleasant smile.

"I was a little curious about what was going on here, so I just wanted to come and take a look!" Daniel tried his best to give off as much of an innocent look as he could, acting like a curious kid who just found a new toy.

Eric gave out an exasperated sigh before helplessly giving Daniel a stern look, "You shouldn't have come here, Daniel. Didn't you see how dangerous it was? What if you get hurt?" As he scolded, Eric still started ruffling Daniel's hair with a helpless smile.

"It's fine, Uncle Eric! I'm already a grown-up!" Daniel puffed out his chest and shouted with a look of indignance. "Uncle, can you let me in as well? I wanna see what's happening inside!"

Daniel gave Eric a look of pure excitement, with his eyes shining towards his uncle, making it look as though he was purely curious about the celestial event without any ulterior motives.

"I'm afraid I can't, Daniel. Only authorized personnel can get in—" Eric was about to decline with a difficult look on his face when someone from within the truck suddenly came out from behind him.

"Commander, what's taking you so long?" The person from behind asked. "Hm? Who's this?"

"Dr. James, this is Daniel, son of Helen and Gabriel." The commander turned around. After realizing who it was that came towards him, he took a step back to allow Daniel and James to meet each other.

"Ah! You are the two heroes' son. Now I get why the commander is taking so long." Dr. James gave the both of them a look of acknowledgement before raising his hand towards Daniel for a handshake.

"Hello, Daniel. My name is Dr. James."

The two people shook hands amiably. Afterwards, Dr. James directly said, "I don't see what's wrong with Daniel having come with us. It's good for youngsters to have a sense of curiosity towards the unknown."

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