Chapter 13

When Collin was knocked out, they were immediately sent back to the dark space where a different Collin was waiting for them. This Collin was far more indifferent to them than the others.

"I don't like this one very much," Nathan said.

Collin glanced at him and said, "Well, I could care less whether you like me or not; I don't want to be your guide as much as you don't want me to be your guide, but the world is unfair, and we can't always get what we want, can we, your highness?"

Collin sounded more sarcastic than he usually is. "Wow, I never thought that Collin could be this sarcastic," Jake said with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Nathan growled, earning a glare from Fiona. "I'll shut up," he said almost immediately.

Jake and Beth disguised their laughter with coughs.

"Now, Beth, you can't laugh at the crown prince," Beth secretly scolded herself.

"You don't want Fiona to scold you," Jake said, but in the end, he broke and began to laugh, and Beth couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Enough with the laughing," Fiona said, noticing that Collin was stopping.

The space became bright again, and they found themselves in a white room with about fifty children standing in a straight line. Collin looks at these children blankly and notices when the door opens. Several people stepped into the room; there were seven adults and a silver-haired boy, around nine years old. The boy gave everyone a friendly smile.

"Who's the kid?" Jake asked and looked at Fiona, who was trembling.

"Him," she said, her voice laced with hatred.

"It seems you know him," Nathan said, before becoming worried; his girlfriend has never looked like this before.

"Know him? Yes. Don't be fooled by his innocent face; that guy's heart is darker than his pure face," she warned. "He is responsible for the deaths of around two hundred people, both in the Empire and in Grade."

"T-T-Two hundred?" Jake stammered in fear, and Beth and Nathan's eyes widened in fear when they heard the kill count. Fiona nodded.

"Although he is dead, he died about seven years ago," she explained.

"He died when he was thirteen?"

"Who killed him?" Nathan asked.

Fiona glances at Collin, who is staring at the other children. "Collin did?"

"Yeah, and I heard they were good friends. He had taken an interest in Collin when they first met," she explained.

Beside the boy was a gentle-looking woman in a lab coat. "Hello children," she said in a soothing and gentle voice, making all the children relax their guard.

"My name is Professor Evalyne, and I'm the head scientist in Grade," he introduced himself. "I am in charge of taking care of your set. Nice to meet you," he said.

"Who is the pretty lady?" Jake asked.

"Don't know; I've never met her before."

"I know you all must be confused as to why you are here, I am going to keep this simple. Your parents abandoned you for money," she bluntly said.

"No, Mummy would never do that!" a girl shouted, with tears running from her eyes.

The professor snapped her fingers, and a large bang was heard. The girl dropped dead with blood flowing from her head. A lot of children gasped in horror, many even began to cry.

Everyone except Fiona looked at the dead girl in horror. What do children have to face here?

Collin didn't seem to be scared or frightened. He would almost certainly be killed here. He had a small smile on his face. Good.

~~~~

In the real world...

They'd been unconscious for 36 hours, and David as well as the bodyguards were becoming worried. The bodyguards were worried because Nathan hadn't woken up yet, and when they informed the Emperor about this, he laughed and told them not to worry.

Hansel

Meanwhile, David was worried for a different reason. Collin's aura is not changing, which means that they haven't stopped it yet. After forty-eight hours, the lock might crack even more, and it could be bad, especially with General Jackson's soldiers waiting for the right moment to strike.

If Collin wakes up in this state and General Jackson's soldiers attack, Collin might go into attack mode and create a mass genocide, and then the future would remain unchanged, except this time Collin kills everyone important and saving the world wouldn't be guaranteed.

The doorbell rang, and Hansel saw three people carrying boxes when he opened the door.

"Who are you?" Hansel asked with suspicion.

"Um," one of them said, looking nervous. "We were sent by his majesty because you said his highness hasn't woken up in 36 hours."

"His majesty?" Hansel said in surprise. He thought the Emperor said not to worry about it, but it turns out this is the reason why. "Okay, come in."

They entered, and they immediately saw David sitting beside a boy. The boy had a dark aura around him.

David turns to glare at them. "What are you looking at?" he said, glaring at them.

They turned around quickly in fear. Young Master Levine seems to be overprotective of this boy.

What are these people doing here?

David glanced at them; they looked ordinary enough. None of them are user abilities, and they don't have the fierce auras of combatants.

They'd better not try anything funny.

~~~~

"You guys' childhood is traumatizing," Jake said. "But I never thought of Collin as being this suicidal." Collin had done something wrong intentionally, and he was currently getting punished for it. He is currently 8 years old.

"Entities, this kid is stubborn," one of the trainers said in annoyance.

Collin took a step forward in front of several people, including Evalyne. "It's been two years, and this is the fifty-first time you are being punished," she sighed, pinching her eyebrows. "I didn't know we would get a suicidal child that refuses to die."

"Doctor, please let's make this punishment quick; maybe today's our lucky day," Collin said.

Evalyne became angry and said, "You know what Klaus just do what the boy wants and shoot him."

Klaus, a man in his mid-twenties holding a gun, nodded and stepped forward. He took his aim, and two loud bangs were heard. Then Collin fell to the ground, with blood flowing on the floor.

Normally, everyone would think Collin would be dead, but he is alive and well in the real world.

"Clean this up," Evalyne said, turning around.

Collin stands up and looks at the blood on the floor indifferently. "It didn't work," he said, making Evalyne turn; she didn't look surprised.

"Well, there you have it. You've tried every possible way to kill yourself, including trying to escape. Just give up," she said.

"She right. This is Collin's 200th attempt; one would think he would give up," Fiona said in amazement.

"How is he still alive?"

"But since you haven't died yet, it makes me wonder what your biological component is. You haven't awakened any ability," Evalyne said. "Send him to one of the healers, they should take care of those wounds."

Collin nodded and left.

He went to the medical center and saw Lily, one of the many healers in Grade, waiting for him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was sent here," she replied, motioning for him to lie on one of the beds. "After wasting a lot of our resources on many of your suicide stunts, we were asked not to leave this room unguarded," she said.

Her blue eyes turned gray as she inspected Collin's gun wounds. "The first bullet completely penetrated your skull, and the second bullet penetrated your lungs and heart; this should be very painful, isn't it?" she said.

Collin nodded. "Good," she said. "This procedure would take a few hours, you'll be alright when you wake up tomorrow," she said, and other doctors walked in. "Professor Lyn was too cruel this time."

She gave him an anesthetic injection, and after a minute or so, he felt a familiar feeling before becoming unconscious.

They were sent to dark space. "I think this is Collin's final attempt at suicide," Fiona said.

"What made you say so?" Beth asked.

Fiona smiled. "We were given a day off and asked to do whatever we wanted. Of course, no one dared try to escape or try anything foolish," she said. "That was one of my happiest memories."

"What did you do?" Jake couldn't help but ask.

Fiona smirked and seemed proud of herself. "I made ten bombs and blew up ten labs. I was punished the next day, but it was worth it."

Nathan couldn't help but sweat a bit. By now, they were already used to it.

They were led to another door, and they saw Collin awake and sitting on the bed, looking at a mirror.

Jake and Nathan began to laugh. "Egghead Collin," Jake said.

Fiona shook her head and said, "That's the best you can come up with?"

Gold 001 entered the room and immediately began laughing when she saw Collin. "Stop laughing if you don't want to match with me," he said.

She didn't stop; she knows what he can do. When she was done, she wiped the tear that fell from her eyes. "When are you going to learn that every time you commit suicide, you're only going to end up like this?" she asked, referring to the unhappy look on his face.

"When are you going to tell Vee you like her?" he retorted.

She smiled and squinted her eyes. "Touché, touché," she said. Collin had mistakenly discovered that the blonde girl from that day had a huge crush on his supervisor, Blue 001, or Vanessa, which is her real name.

"Also, I have decided that I'm going to stop; I've tried everything, and I've confirmed that I have a curse that I cannot die," he said.

"I don't think I've ever met someone as messed up as you," she said.

"Look who's talking," Collin replied. "I've made up my mind to never try to kill myself; I don't want to be an egghead anymore," he said, looking at the mirror again and touching his bald head.

He saw light reflecting from his head, and he glared at Gold 001, who was using her ability to make light reflect on Collin's head. "I'm sorry, I can't help myself," she said, pausing.

Then the door opens and the silver-haired boy, whose name is Austin entered. Gold 001 immediately left while Collin looks at him blankly.

"What do you want now?"

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