Chapter 38 – Murder

Nick's eyes widened. "Right! I totally forgot!"

Then, Nick went over to the side of the warehouse. He had dumped his uniform in this place earlier. After all, it would be a bit awkward to enter the Dreamer's Containment Unit with a stack of clothing in his hands.

"I'll go put it on," Nick shouted as he ran behind the Containment Unit.

Wyntor just shook his head with a sigh.

"He's so different," Wyntor said.

"To whom?" Albert asked.

"The people in the Inner City," Wyntor answered.

Albert chuckled a bit. "Yes, but he's not that much different to how people in the Dregs are. Well, he's a bit more altruistic than the average person, but I've seen my fair share of interesting events while teaching him in the Dregs."

Wyntor didn't seem convinced as he continued looking at the Containment Unit.

"Are you sure? I thought, since resources are so scarce, the people in the Dregs are even more greedy and possessive than the people in the Inner City," Wyntor said.

Albert hummed a bit. "I wouldn't say so."

Wyntor raised an eyebrow as he looked at Albert.

"I think they are more open with their desires than the people of the Inner City. It has a much greater impact when a friendly and nice person suddenly turns out to be a greedy asshole than when an asshole suddenly turns into a greedy asshole."

Wyntor blinked a couple of times.

"Strange metaphor," he stated.

"I mean, I think about the same number of people are selfish assholes in the Inner City than in the Dregs, but the selfish assholes that do exist are much easier to see in the Dregs, making it seem like there are more."

"Makes sense," Wyntor answered.

"However, there are also a lot of people like Nick," Albert added.

"In what way?"

"People that are unhappy with the world but lack the power to change it," Albert said. "Someone that still manages to retain humanity and empathy in a place where having these things is a luxury."

"There is no lack of bad people in this world, but in severe poverty, even the good people are forced to do bad things."

"Naturally, people with a lot of empathy can still see when someone doesn't want to hurt someone else but is forced to in order to survive. That's a tragedy in and of itself."

"If things were different, these people wouldn't be forced into a dark path, and many victims would have never become victims."

"Nick has such a belief," Albert said. "I know for a fact that he has already killed at least one person on purpose, but I also know that it will be very difficult for him to hurt someone who tries to hurt him but doesn't actually want to hurt him, if you get what I mean."

Wyntor raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Nick has killed someone?" he asked.

Nick seemed like a very nice and idealistic teenager to him.

Wyntor couldn't connect this nice teenager to a murder.

Albert nodded. "Nick managed to survive on his own in the Dregs for six years, and he even managed to build quite an impressive and athletic body. If you want such a body, you can't afford to lose two liters of blood per month."

"80% of the people in the Dregs can't pay their taxes every month. Even more, Nick managed to make the gangs his enemies, which would make it even more difficult for him to earn money."

"And yet, he always managed to do it."

"Even more, you can't overlook his enmity with the gangs. The gangs are organized and powerful. Killing a single man is not difficult at all for them."

"But for some reason, they are not willing to kill Nick, even though they don't like him."

"That can only mean that it isn't worth the price in their eyes, which means that they are certain that they will lose people to him, which, in turn, means they are certain that he can and will kill them."

"If the local rulers of the Dregs are sure that Nick has killed someone, I am inclined to believe them."

Wyntor just looked at the Containment Unit with a concerned expression.

Silence.

Eventually, Wyntor just sighed. "Pator said that you have something important to report," he said, changing the subject.

Albert grinned and took out a green flask, which he moved from side to side for a bit.

Wyntor just looked at the flask, not understanding what Albert was trying to convey.

"You don't get it?" Albert asked.

Wyntor looked at the bottle for a couple more seconds.

"Sorry, no, I don't," Wyntor said.

Albert just chuckled a bit. "I used that on the Dreamer about eleven hours ago."

At that moment, Wyntor's eyes shot open in shock.

"I'm not paying for that!" he immediately said.

"I know, I know," Albert said. 

Wyntor still looked warily at Albert.

"Why would you use a grade four healing potion on a level one Specter?" Wyntor asked.

"I didn't use the entire thing," Albert said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I only used a drop."

"Also, because I got bored, and I wanted to teach Nick by actually showing him what to do instead of just telling him."

Wyntor's eyebrows rose in positive surprise. "Oh? So, can we earn money with the Dreamer now?"

Albert just grinned and pointed at the gauge of the Zephyx tank.

Wyntor looked at the gauge, and when he saw it, his eyes widened.

"Five grams?!" he shouted.

"Yep, five whole grams," Albert said with a laugh.

Wyntor looked at the Containment Unit with wonder.

"And I basically had nothing to do with it," Albert said before pointing at the edge of the Containment Unit. "It was all him."

Wyntor followed Albert's finger and looked over, and the next moment, Nick walked around the corner of the Containment Unit.

When Wyntor saw, he was taken aback by Nick's appearance.

Meanwhile, Albert just smiled. "Now, he looks just like a real Extractor."