Man-made?

While following along a throng of Metadomes, the Lonewind City Mayor received an update from the frontlines.

No matter how quickly he responded, it still took minutes before the first wave of Metadomes from the City Hall Guards arrived at the place.

By then, the Rift Monsters that spewed out of the Dimensional Rift had already scattered and killed a lot of civilians who failed to find a safe place or had just panicked upon being aware of the situation.

Despite the drills and reminders, not everyone would be able to react swiftly when the real deal happened. Panic would immediately set in on most of the people and only after a few minutes of chaos would they come to remember that they were prepared to respond to this kind of disaster.

However, when that time comes, it would be too late for most of them.

"Windguards, let's increase our pace and catch up with Commander Yun. Tell the three Corporations and the Refiner's Association to not let the damage spread to the neighboring districts." The Lonewind City Mayor ordered after reading the report.

The population of the Southern District was around 100,000. And the Lonewind City as a whole was 1.2 million. The figures sent to him which listed the confirmed casualties had already reached 40% of the Southern District's population.

In the last two years of his duty as the Mayor of this Secondary City under the Federation, this incident was the one with the highest casualty rate.

With his fist clenched tightly, the Lonewind City Mayor was already lamenting about it being recorded in his list of achievements and failures.

Even if it was considered an unexpected event or accident because of the failure of the Dimensional Disruptor, everything happened under his watch.

He could mend it with his quick response but it would still leave a stain on his record.

"Also, give me a chance to show through the media that I am fighting alongside all of you." The Lonewind City Mayor added as he sped up the flying speed of his 5-meter tall green Metadome that was more sophisticated in design than what the Frostland Corporation provided for their Energy Refiners.

-

-

As Aldrin moved from place to place to close in and watch the happenings towards the near subjugation of the Dimensional Rift, he was carefully treading the streets and ruined structures, making sure not to be detected by the stray Rift Monsters.

Even if he was detected, with his increased physique after becoming an Energy Refiner, he would instantly flee and lose his pursuer.

At this point, he was only following behind Renissa and her fellow Frostland Corporation Energy Refiners, observing how different it would be if an Energy Refiner operated a Metadome.

Compared to how a trained soldier operated a Metadome, Energy Refiner could channel their refined energy and enlightened Concept to it.

Aldrin witnessed how the Metadome that Renissa was piloting exuded her Icy Breeze Concept.

She should be still depleted of her refined energy. However, thinking about it, she wouldn't be sent to the frontlines without letting her recover or that would just be sending her to death.

Despite being inside the tall Metadomes that towered over the winged beasts from the Dimensional Rift, if they received critical damage, especially near where they're located inside it, the Metadome's cockpit, it would be a miracle not to suffer an injury.

From Aldrin's point of view, even if he received or bought his own Metadome, it would take a while for him to learn how to properly operate it based on what he was witnessing.

"Sweet! They're finally here, time to bail out."

After moving from one establishment to another, Aldrin suddenly paused in his steps when he heard that elated voice.

The first thought that entered his mind was that it was a survivor. It was the most plausible possibility.

He was about to approach the source of the voice but stopped when he heard the sound of a clear dial tone reach his ears.

'He's calling someone?' Instead of approaching the source, Aldrin rested his back on the remaining standing wall of one establishment. Truthfully, he had no idea why he suddenly chose to not approach the owner of the voice. Perhaps it was a gut feeling.

To make sure that he was just being paranoid, Aldrin tried peeking from where he was. What he could see was the back of an adult man inside a seemingly obscure house.

The interior was dark. His hands and the lower half of his body were the only parts that were being illuminated by the light coming from outside.

By Aldrin's observation, the man was standing with a straight back confidently and he didn't appear to be a civilian who should be hiding in an Emergency Shelter.

However, he was sure that the man was wearing civilian clothing yet on one of his hands was a handgun.

Even though he's a distance away from it, Aldrin wouldn't mistake it when he was also gripping one.

Due to that, Aldrin trained his eyes to focus on what type of gun it was.

He was aware that it was legal to own one in this day and age. But normal civilians were only allowed those low calibers and non-Dimensional Energy-integrated firearms.

With his eyes that were somehow enhanced after becoming awakened, what he saw from the man's hand wasn't an ordinary handgun.

In fact, it's something he had just seen earlier... in the list of items in the Handgun Section of Idle Shopping.

An Energy Refiner weapon.

'An Energy Refiner?!' Aldrin exclaimed inwardly.

Upon considering what he heard from the man, Aldrin suddenly thought of a grave possibility and it immediately made him freeze in place, not daring to peek again in case the man noticed that he was observing him and was eavesdropping.

At the moment, following Renissa and watching the process of closing the Dimensional Rift was already thrown out of his mind. He somehow felt that he stumbled into something he shouldn't.

Nonetheless, that didn't stop him from doing something. Before the dial tone ended, Aldrin pulled out his phone and opened the recorder app. Without delay, he tapped the record button at the same time as he heard the dial tone stopped.

The place was kind of noisy due to the sound of engines all around.

However, perhaps thinking that there was no one who could hear him, the man's voice was loud enough for the recorder to capture when he began talking to whoever was on the receiving end of his call.

"Hey? Are you hearing this? I need an extraction out of this shithole! The busybodies have arrived. Tell the man from the Council that the trial of the product was a success. It rendered the Dimensional Disruptor null."

Before Aldrin could react to the words the man uttered, his voice continued and this time, it confused or rather it further proved the possibility Aldrin thought of resulting in his heart beating faster from nervousness...

"What? Obviously, I had already taken care of dispatching evidence and eyewitnesses... Make sure? Alright, alright. Stop nagging me. I made sure. Tell them to pick me up outside the wall. No delay. I don't bring my Metadome with me for this trial so it will be bad if someone from either the Federation or the Refiner Association spotted me. I'm not supposed to be here."

As soon as the man ended his words, silence ensued.

However, tension couldn't help but rise in Aldrin's mind.

Because a few seconds later, he heard footsteps approaching his direction.

'Am I detected by him?' With his back remaining prone to the wall, Aldrin held his breath.

As the volume of the footsteps gradually rose, Aldrin believed that if he didn't move, he would be found out.

He recorded what he heard and even if there were background noises, he knew that anyone would be able to dissect the words the man uttered.

He didn't know what he would use the recording for but if this Dimensional Rift was truly man-made according to what he heard, then this needed to reach the necessary authority.

However... the first thing he needed to do was to prevent himself from being found out.

'He mentioned taking care of eyewitnesses. There's no doubt that I will also be another body he will take care of if he finds me here... I need to escape.' Despite the tension, Aldrin looked for a place to run into.

However, before the footsteps reached his position or he decided on a direction, loud sounds of Metadome engines approached from above the sky.

"Crap! That showoff mayor and his cronies!" The voice of the man rang out followed by his footsteps going in the direction of the outer wall of the Southern District.

A few seconds after the sounds of footsteps disappeared into the distance, Aldrin heaved a sigh of relief. 'He escaped... Am I lucky or what?' He then raised his phone and played the recorded audio. 'But what am I to do with this? The Mayor? Right... I better submit this... However, do I need to hide my identity?'

Aldrin still had the stand of not doing anything heroic. But the secret he stumbled upon not only concerned him but... concerned every city. Forget other cities, if the Dimensional Rift was opened in the Southern District where his family was located. Moreover, it was deliberately opened like this... Aldrin suddenly felt a cold feeling passing through his body.

'It's unacceptable!' Aldrin declared in his mind while clutching his phone tightly.