26 Company

I decided to take another short nap before leaving. When I woke up I found Vetala next to me.

"What's up?" I asked.

He looked at the date and time on the clock. "I've been gone for some time and the only thing you can say is 'what's up'?" he asked.

"I figured you went to sleep again since you seem to do that frequently now" I responded.

"One time isn't frequently. And fyi I wasn't sleeping. I blinked my eyes and here I am in front of you. One thing is that there's a huge gap in my memory. I didn't time skip I forgot what happened when I was away from you." he said.

"But how's that possible? You're bound to me." I said. "Unless you were taken by whoever's responsible for this whole thing."

"That's what I think. They were able to erase my memory too." he said.

'But when did they get the time?' I thought.

I thought back to when I last saw him and when he disappeared. I then made a connection.

"I got into Maya's car and fell asleep when you were there and then when I woke up you were nowhere to be found" I said.

"So, it's Meridian who's behind this" Vetala said.

"Well, that's the most likely option but there's also a chance that she could be working for some other group. Of course first option is meridian" I said.

I continued. "Whatever the case, Maya is linked to this for sure. Luckily she's showing me around the company today so maybe I can sneak around and see whether I can find anything."

"We could just use our abilities to make her talk" Vetala said.

"No" I responded. "Since she's connected to this, there's always a chance that she has a system too. They wouldn't be that stupid to be completely defenceless."

Vetala thought about it for a while and then shrugged. "Yeah you're right" he said simply.

I then took a bath and left the house.

Maya was right on time. It seemed like punctuality was her second nature. As I got into the car we exchanged greetings and she asked me a few questions as usual. I filtered those out and memory responded for me.

I was thinking of a way to find out whether she had a system or not. If she didn't then either she wasn't related to the whole thing or she had backup. If she did... then I would have to be cautious around her.

As I was thinking what to do to find out, Vetala looked at me and simply asked, "Why don't you just check her level?"

I thought about it and it made sense. If she was average low level or at the most level 5 then I could dismiss it. However beyond that.

I used analyse and what came up shocked me.

Everything was replaced with question marks including her level. In the game what that meant was the player was too high level for a low level to view their stats.

Meaning she had a system and was incredibly dangerous.

I decided that staying out of her way and observing was the best thing to do. If they had wanted to harm me in any way they had countless opportunities to do so.

We finally reached our destination and in the process of taking in her level, I had neglected seeing what was outside.

We were in the best parts of the city. The complete opposite of the slums. Advancement was everywhere. The people wore the best clothes and high class hover-vehicles which were extremely costly were everywhere. The smell of food and the culture and colours truly were amazing.

As I looked around y eyes turned to the front which was the main destination. A huge tower stood before me with 'Meridian' at the top. This was the central hub of the city. I had read about it. The tower somehow provided power to the entire city as well.

We entered it and there were many people around. Students, engineer's, businessmen.

We went up to the receptionist and Maya spoke with her for some time. While that was going on a magazine happened to catch my eye. Usually it wouldn't have in this situation as there were much more interesting things happening right around me.

However the magazine had a photo of the lady I had saved the previous night.

I took the magazine.

"Do you know her?" Vetala asked.

I nodded my head and took out my phone. I turned away from Maya and pretended to be on a phone call.

"I actually went to do some levelling up the night before. I kind of saved her in a way from these thugs." I said. "I'll tell you the full story later"

I opened the magazine and read the story.

The woman I had saved had been in many criminal businesses and was accused of human trafficking and many other crimes. She had been arrested and sentenced to a lifetime in jail.

I looked at it and felt frustrated.

'It doesn't matter' I thought. 'It's not like I wanted to save her. She was just exp. Plus she got the justice she deserved'

'But she's rich. She could easily get out at anytime' a part of me said.

I kept the magazine back and by that time Maya was finished.