Adventure in the World of Crimes

1.1 Two-Faced University

A white Toyota stopped right in front of a huge steel gate with a big letter U and E carved in the center with two guards on both sides who were both seemingly lived in a gym by their rocky body and muscly arms. They were wearing a black polo shirt with UE imprinted with red color right above the small pocket on the side, black pants and a pair of shoes, black glasses, a white earpiece, and a g*n on its carry bag clinging on their pants' side.

"Is this the school or are we somewhere like a Mafia's den?" Laura asked in confusion as she watched the two scary guys walked towards their car.

"Stop with your nonsense inquiries and run over your plan, do not ever forget what we've talked about. Your fate lies in your hands now and no one in the agency would be able to help you inside. Finish this task as fast as you--" A knock on the window cut Dale's one last reminder to Laura before she comes inside the 'prison' disguised as a school, "Get ready."

"Excuse me, what do you need?" A deep manly voice coming from the guard on the left spoke, hand on the hood of the car as his back was bent a little to see the girls inside.

Dale picked the envelope at the back seat where the important documents were neatly compiled including the slip signed by her benefactor, previous record of her grades, result of her entrance examination that she passed miraculously, certificate of enrollment, and other personal papers they were asked to bring which they all faked, to hide the truth.

She gave it to the guard which he immediately scanned, "She was approved as a scholar of Mr. Robert Hudson. Passed the entrance exam and enrolled accordingly."

"And you?"

"I just drove her here," Dale answered enthusiastically, of course, as a part of her act.

"Only the scholar is allowed inside, and before we let you go home, I'll check your car, Madame. At the same time, the scholar will now be guided inside for further process, please get out of the car and follow B2," The guard on the left whom Laura supposed was B1, instructed.

Dale nodded at her, not able to open her mouth because of the guards watching them closely. Laura stepped out of the car, bringing her baggage with her as the guard which is B2 started walking ahead of her. The cold breeze of the early morning air hit her face and blew her blonde hair backward, she looked back to where Dale was and found her looking back at her while the guard was looking through her car's compartment.

Dale mouthed a bit of 'good luck' which she returned with a smirk and a nod.

The guard placed his ID on the scanner in the middle of the gate, it made a loud clanging of metal sound as it slowly opened, revealing a, like what they expected, dark tunnel in front of her.

The guard withdrew a white handkerchief from his pocket and folded it three times, he then turned to look at her, "We have to cover your eyes, Miss."

"Why?" she asked, feigning innocence and confusion though she already knew the process.

"This tunnel consists of machines and apparatus solely for science experiments purposes. Some types of machinery could blind you so we have to be careful," he explained patiently, walking behind her as he started blindfolding her.

"Why was it placed here though? Right at the entrance, I mean." she followed up, subtly trying to gather information.

But B2 wasn't like Laura expected to be, he was a bit hard to get as he did not answer and just guided her inside with his hand holding her left arm. Laura groaned internally, if she could just roll her eyes while they're close, she already did.

The only thing she could hear was the echoes of their steps and the rolling of her baggage's wheel. She could feel the coldness of the fully covered tunnel, she thought even if she's not blindfolded, she wouldn't be able to see a thing likewise.

It was somewhat nerve-racking knowing that she was about to enter a place close enough to be a jail and possibly hid a crime scene full of potential criminals but that does not bother her as much, she had overthrown a whole g**g of criminals before all by herself without breaking a sweat but what annoyed her the most was the thought of she's about to be back in the school— lectures, quizzes, monthly examinations, recitations, activities, and other school-related agendas.

"Why did we stop?" Laura asked in confusion, the hand holding her arm has gone but she could hear a beeping sound like what she heard when the guard scanned his ID. Soon after, she heard a door opening and she was being pulled again.

Now, she could hear chatters, more beeping sounds, a lot of people's steps, she could even feel their presence passing by her. What's odd was the smell of the entire room, she could remember the antiseptic smell exactly like the distinct smell of hospitals, it made her scrunched her nose.

She felt something solid hit the back of her knee, then the guard places both of his hands on her shoulder, pushing her down to sit. "Someone's going to come to you. Just wait here."

Laura nodded though in a daze, and the guard left. When your sense of sight couldn't function, your other senses heighten. She could smell a sweet scent of a particular shampoo and something moving and shifting on her left side so someone was seated beside her, she's sure of that, she supposed that there are also other students getting admitted with her.

"You cannot peek." Someone spoke beside her. She wasn't the one who's trying to peek, she assumed it was the one beside her who cannot stay still.

"You're next. One more try, you'll get kicked out."

"Y-yes, I'm sorry." A female voice answered shakily, she felt them stood and walked away from her.

So she's next.

She tried to calm herself by tapping her foot on the floor. Usually, their practice of calming themselves was through a breathing exercise, but with the smell of the room, she couldn't do that. This added annoyance inside her, what else could make this school the worst?

"No! Don't do this!"

She almost jumped on her seat when a loud cry boomed in the whole room with a violent banging of something like a metal door and breaking glasses. She heard another round of violent noise like something has been kicked or someone fell on it and another cry from the man.

"Don't touch me! I'm healthy! I'm not sick!"

Laura perked her ear more, she could hear hurried steps and commotion saying 'Profosol! Profosol!' everywhere. She creased her forehead, as far as she could remember Profosol was used to sedate patients usually for surgery, and she's right, she confirmed it when the noise suddenly dissipated, as nothing had happened.

The room was back from being normal again except for the sound of a vacuum. She leaned back again, curious as to why there were such happenings there and if it's normal or what. Was it because of too much studying to the point that they became sick or what? If she was right, she doesn't want to be like them, and if not, she'll make sure to find out.

She was still thinking of the possibilities of the reason behind what happened and counting how many years she has been sitting on that chair since she came when someone finally picked her up.

"Ms. Laura Simpson. You're next." The same voice earlier spoke, she felt her hold her arm as she guided her to stand up. "I'll take your baggage for further checking. It's good that you have no accessories with you."

"I'm not fond of them," she reasoned out innocently, not wanting to earn suspicions.

The woman opened a door and led her in, she immediately felt the cold room probably from the air conditioner, as she now wondered how many rooms are there in this huge mysterious tunnel.

But that's a later to think of as she felt a capsule against her lips, "Drink this, Miss. We have to make sure that everyone coming here is healthy."

Laura wanted to taunt them for their lies but then stopped herself, instead proceed to the first step of her plan. She shook her head dramatically, "N-no. I don't drink medicines. It can cause me dizziness."

A short silence. "This is easy to swallow. This is not the same medicine you've tried."

She rolled her eyes mentally, of course, it's not, there's something inside that will stick on her organ forever.

She bit her lip and hesitated for a while, then decided to slowly open her mouth. The woman shoved the capsule in her mouth and immediately gives her a glass of water. She grimaced at the taste and the feeling of something traveling down her stomach but then felt a hot sensation somewhere inside that made her clutched her tummy.

"This will be the last process and you can go to your dorm now." The woman said, guiding her somewhere.

Laura heard the beeping sound of something, and she knew by then that she'll get scanned now, she heard a man on the side instructing the woman where exactly to place her.

She remembered what Dale had told her about this scanner, as soon as the woman let go of her grip, she has to count on the three beeps then the code will show, and that's what she needed

to see.

The woman let go of her arm.

The first beep came.

She started her act by holding her head as if she's feeling something.

Then the second beep came in her ear.

She breathed heavily. both hands now on her head, wiggling purposely.

The third beep echoed in her ear.

The two people inside gasped when

Laura fell on the floor, handkerchief in her hand and hardly looking at her surroundings. They came running towards her, "Are you okay, Miss?"

Laura squinted her eyes, looking around. "I-I can't see anything. Everything's black." She lied, holding her head still. "I-I told you not to make me drink the meds." She cried.

She wanted to applaud herself for being a good actress right now and wanted to thank the founder for teaching them in controlling their emotions before.

"It's needed. Can you stand up?" The guy asked, pulling her arm up.

Laura clumsily stood up, her hair was curtaining her face so she got the opportunity to peep at the red code flashed on the computer screen.

UOE 27634

"I'm okay now. Thank you," she said weakly, closing her eyes to make them believe that she's closing her eyes the whole time.

"Okay? We'll send you to your dorm room now." the man announced, walking back to his computer, tapping something there, and then her code vanished.

Laura nodded and smiled victoriously in her mind.