What more proof did they need?

After he left, Alice sighed. Death... She had always wondered about the feeling.

It was probably horrible, when it was done horribly, that is.

There was such a thing as a peaceful death, right?

But no matter if it was peaceful or horrible, death was sure to be dark.

Once again, she sighed.

"I want a peaceful death." She muttered and that voice spoke again.

*You won't die*

"Oh, shut it!" She ground her teeth, frustrated at the voice that kept commenting at intervals and was never able to make a complete sentence.

They were always short phrases like their connection with her was being obstructed.

Even if it wanted to retaliate when she cussed at it, she wouldn't hear it because he already used its chance.

'It's all in my head.' she thought to herself. 'So why does it say such annoying things to me? Fuck!'

In the coming days, there were more interrogations and more hunger surges.

But that aside, she had been seeing fewer guards patrolling. Since they were all awakened, they were sent to battle as well to help protect the lives of civilians and ordinary people.

Most of the awakeneds were in the dungeons and unless the boss was killed, the gate wouldn't open. So if more gates spawned, it was up to the remaining awakeneds on land to deal with them.

It was like when they deployed the army when a war broke out. But this was far deadlier than a regular war and it was happening all over the world.

Well, while the world was busy trying to save their lives, she was stuck in a cell that gave her whatever she wanted and interrogated her like a criminal.

She had gotten 25 interrogations in 20 days starting from the first day she was brought in.

And that was also how long the awakeneds had been in the dungeons.

Well, she didn't care about that. She was more concerned about when the government would finally lose its patience and snap.

It looked like the calamity was already coming to an end and the S-class awakeneds would return to the agency.

Then, she would have to face them and she was sure that that included Justin as well. Ugh, that lunatic.

Mark didn't stop trying though. He hoped the government would not resort to such a means and that Alice would finally say something. Anything that could drop her charges.

But she wouldn't say what they wanted to hear, so they resorted in using a truth machine that worked on regular humans, and it said that she was telling the truth.

What more proof did they need?

Even an awakened with lie-detection skills was brought in, but she couldn't get anything.

They were already blaming it on a skill she had. Bah, where did such a skull come from when she didn't even have a system to navigate her abilities and stats?

God knows what they said in that video that made them strongly believe she was awakened. All she did was kill that three-eyed red wolf.

'Should I be glad that I am currently in prison? I mean, there's a huge fortress and if a gate spawns around here, there are C-rank awakeneds and below to fight against them. So I'm practically safe from all the 'calamity' outside.'

Yeah, that was the plan. Let the experts and awakeneds fight while she leisurely spent her time in her cell.

'I do hope a gate doesn't spawn here though.' she thought, squinting her eyes. 'It would only delay my food delivery.'

*Get ready*

The voice just gave her a foreboding feeling.

She sat up right away, her face contorting in fury.

"The heck! What's that supposed to mean?" She asked but silence followed. "Tell me I just misheard that. How the hell can you tell if a gate is gonna spawn here or not? It's like you're praying for it. Hey, are you listening?"

Yeah, she had gone crazy. She was yelling at a voice that was in her head.

But it was so annoying. She clicked her tongue violently and rested back on the bed.

"Forget it." She said and shut her eyes. "I'll just take a nap."

She decided on that but her stomach growled.

"Dammit! Now I'm hungry."

She was so irritated that her tone became more crude than she was on a normal day.

Yeah, she didn't care about death and had prepared her heart for when it would finally knock on her door. But...not when she was able to get her stomach filled with all she could eat.

That was just plain cruel.

Alice got up from her bed and stretched her arms out.

It was wonderful how she had not gained a single weight even after eating all that food. That goes to show that the food was going nowhere in her system.

'It's a bottomless pit I tell ya.' she thought and tittered, getting rid of her irritation.

Then, she turned on the TV to find news about the calamity being overcome.

"Our brave heroes have fought and once again brought safety into our lives. We can now rest knowing that the monsters have no hold on us."

It showed the awakeneds coming out of several gates.

"Oh, they're out." She thought and heard the bars of her cell open. "Oh, is the food here?"

She saw Mark walk in but he did not come with the food

"Huh? Where's the food?" She asked,

"It's on its way. It'll probably be here in five to ten minutes. Please hold on for a little while." He said, and she threw herself on her couch.

"Ugh, I don't know, I just might die before it gets here." She said but he shook his head.

"We both know that won't happen." He said and then her stomach growled really loudly.

"You hear that? Can you still repeat those words after hearing my desperate stomach?" She asked with a mischievous grin and he shook his head.

"I'll tell them to hurry it up." He said and then, the entire foundation shook, followed by a loud growl.

He looked at Alice who immediately shook her head and said,

"That wasn't me."