Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

012.3 | Discrepancy

“Anyway, has anyone of you heard from Clover?” Aries asked.

Both people shook their head that inadvertently made Aries frown. The impression he portrayed displayed him massaging his temples as if he had encountered something tedious. Leon inquired why Aries would ask them about Clover.

“Of course, you guys are the closest people to him,” Aries had a proper glance at Leon. "Notably, you. If I didn’t know you, I would assume that you guys are together.”

Leon had gone mute. What part of him and Clover is close? Though they are with Clover most of the time, it was all about taking up some proposals and innovative tactics in handily defeating game bosses. If not, they won’t typically talk.

“Isn’t it odd?” Shin suddenly murmured. “Clover hasn’t contacted us yet.”

Clover might not be enthusiastic in most of the game tournaments, but he is always hands-on when it comes to dire emergencies. Thinking further, the only acceptable officer present in their guild is Aries. Xavier and Frass are surprisingly absent.

"Could something had happened..." Leon did not want to pursue.

He didn’t want to jinx his careless remarks. Aries had previously been anxious since waking up, so this reasonable speculation coming from Leon did not encourage him to feel at ease. He once again contacted Clover’s personal terminal, but the call never went through. Aries only ceased when Frass came in for the appearance.

“He is alright, just sleeping,” Frass nonchalantly answered.

“Still sleeping?” Aries did not believe it. “That guy almost doesn’t sleep. How is he sleeping now?”

“What? Is there something wrong with sleeping?”Frass suddenly started scolding. "That brat had been living in an extremely unhealthy lifestyle. You claimed he wasn't sleeping, right? Then, he needs to do it now!”

It is unlikely for Frass to get angry. And if he did, it means that it’s a terrible deal. Aries did not feel any better. He wished to inquire more about Clover, but Frass lash him to it. He sternly warned Aries to not disturb Clover anymore or else he would do some drastic methods to break them off.

“What’s wrong with you?” Aries could not figure out. “I don’t see what is my fault in here. Why are you getting angry?”

Frass did not respond. He wasn’t able to since Xavier suddenly went back. He seized the person’s arms and hauled him elsewhere. Xavier only apologized to them before he forcefully pulled Frass out of the conference. Alexander (Allen) saw Frass and Xavier and wanted to discuss something with them when they abruptly vanished in the air.

Alexander glanced cautiously at the group that was left behind with a bewildered expression. He pointed at them and promptly asked, “They’re gone?”

They nodded in unison. There’s nothing he could do, so he designated Aries and handed him the crown to carefully review the status of their guild members. Presumably, after the beta test players were contrived out, the other players playing DTO and VR were also forced to withdraw.

DTO players can be readily sorted out since they were predominantly playing in PCs. But the VR players needed to be reviewed. Even though the developers claimed that the game is safe, there should be some repercussions. Nobody suffered any reaction - or at least nobody tattled about it yet.

Alexander adequately disclosed the fail-safe plan in case the sudden eviction takes place. They only needed to wait for the developers to contact them.

Many days had passed, yet nobody contacted the players.

It has been a week since the incident.

Leon is treading the pathways along the university campus bordered with mophead hydrangeas and boxwood hedges. The whiff of sodden earth because of the automatic sprinklers watering the artificial grass and plants permeated the air, cordially greeting the students with cool intentions. Leon could not help but look across the grass filled land.

Shin is walking beside him. He was busy chatting with their colleagues at his terminal and would occasionally show Leon bits of their discussion. Leon would nod noncommittally, telling Shin that he wasn’t interested. It didn't bother him but Shin can see that Leon’s mine is occupied.

“What’s wrong?” Shin closed his terminal. He nudged Leon, that is watching at the adjacent plants. “Something in there?”

Leon swayed his head. Shin took a stride forward to take a proper view of the plant. The weather on this present Earth wasn’t stable. The seasons also arrive randomly. The plants will thrive all over the year that clearly conformed to the immediate transitions. That is why the ornamental plants would bloom their best despite being out of season.

Plucking flowers is f*******n by law, so all they could do is to look at it. Shin knows Leon was particularly interested in plants so he didn’t mock the person for dropping over to solely look at a flower. He even accompanied him to show that he would listen.

“It has been a week,” Leon stated.

Shin immediately understood.

After the conference, Alexander dispersed the players. He already issued mandates to the authorized personnel in each guild, so it is now their duty to compile statistics. Aries did as what he was instructed and completed the task in just two days.

Aside from that, the game also becomes unplayable. Nobody can access the game. They could hardly get past the opening of the game and leave it on a loading cursor. It says that the servers are down and the developers are fixing whatever issues there are.

It means that they have not been playing the game for days now.

The two of them merely had paused for a moment to sincerely appreciate the landscape before they continued walking ahead. The bell for the first class rang, so they scurried over. Students flooded the corridors as usual, assembling a somewhat chaotic picture. It didn’t last long as the classes started simultaneously.

There are many students taking business studies, so the classroom is almost overcrowded when they entered. The two of them are quite famous because of their family lineage, so people would always greet them whenever they pass them on the road. Leon nodded with his customary courteous smile while Shin would verbally respond.

The seats weren’t marked, so students will randomly sit whenever they want. They arrived later than usual so the seats they frequently occupy are already been filled with people. There’s nothing they could do but to go look some free spaces on the back.

Fortunately, there are more seats than students in every classroom, so they were able to get to their places without separating. The seats were constructed to have long connected tables bearing a staircase leveling scheme, while two pathways were created at equal intervals, separating the joined tables into three. Leon surveyed the area and found vacant seats in the remote corner near the window.

The professor entered the class and officially started the lecture. Leon listened attentively to the class while Shin already KO-ed and fell asleep at the ten-minute mark. Leon just smiled at the sight of his best friend falling asleep and concentrated in the lecture. There is no use waking up Shin. He could still get perfect marks anyway, so he no longer troubled.

Though it hadn’t been an hour when Leon’s mind also strayed elsewhere.

It could be one of those rare days where the weather was just too comfortable that could lull someone to reverie. Leon faced the window with his hand supporting his cheeks. His eyes were rather hazy, staring over the plants and flower blooming outside the expansive window, revealing the unique charm of nature. Colorful butterflies and familiar birds came into view too, adding liveliness to the silent plants.

He is closely observing the figures when he spotted something amiss. At one edge of the wide glass window, a tiny object seems to move. It is smaller than a fingernail, so small, that if not from the help of numbers, Leon might not detect it.

The object stood still for a while, then it started moving again. Leon curiously moved closer to the window to examine and found out that it was a baby spider. Blood immediately drained out of his face as he hastily opened his terminal to issue a report.

It has been revealed before that most of the creatures of the world had gone extinct. The species that persisted to evolve over the time had developed into a dangerous existence of the current generations - and spiders are one of them. They may look small and harmless, but their venom is enough to kill someone in thirty seconds.

Leon wondered how the little spider could enter the classroom. The glass window has been embedded in the walls, so there are no gaps for smaller insects to crawl in. It is equally impossible for these insects to drill a hole in the wall with no one noticing since most of the walls possess monitoring devices.

He thought of many possibilities, and the most plausible of them was that someone brought in the spider from outside. The insect must have attached to someone’s clothes when they were strolling outside and flicked the little creature inside the campus. The spider is tiny too, so it must have gone past the inspection devices installed on the entrance gate.

The thought of spiders freely crawling around will make anyone shiver, yet Leon is just calmly looking at it. He had distanced himself to avoid being implicated and carefully monitored the movements of the spider. He didn’t want to cause alarm and just simply made sure that the spider won’t leave his sight.

He had addressed the report to his butler that will be sent to the federation. He captured the spider into a photo and sent it together with the report. It will take time before the assigned team to clean the insects arrives. And since this is an academic institution, the cleaning team has to request entrance before they could enter the premises without worries. It is part of the law that not even the people sent by the federation can disrupt classes.

Leon pretended he was listening to the class by writing random stuff in his notebook. Fortunately, even if he did not pretend, the professor won’t be able to notice them since they are almost hidden in the corner. And if the professor really notice them, they wouldn’t call out the students for sleeping. They’re aware of the couple’s identity. Who would dare to reprimand them?

Leon and Shin are smart students anyway, so a small sleeping intermission won’t affect their grades.

The little spider’s movements were small. It would walk to cover an inch, then would rest idle again. Its legs were still short and soft, so it could not hastily jump and scuttle around. Even after an hour of observing it, the area it traversed is only a few inches away from the starting point.

On the corner of his periphery, while still watching the little spider, Leon captured an infinitesimal movement. It is so small that anyone who caught it would assume that it is just their eyes playing tricks on them. But Leon’s ability presented a new set of numbers suggesting its existence. He looked over to check what it was and was surprised to see another spider.

The spider is larger than the ones on the window - this one had complete hardened limbs with prominent brown skin layer spotted with dark blots. It actively hopped around without worries and even dared to spit web on the close corner of the table. Leon froze on the spot, feeling more fearful than usual.

It must be him thinking too much but he couldn't just neglect it and merely watch by. Seeing two baby spiders in a close proximity suggested something. The first idea that they were brought in is possible, as to when they're brought in is the question. Could there be a nest resting nearby?

Isn't it more precarious if that is true?

Like how seeing one star in the night sky would lead to observing the other stars, this one spider made Leon aware of another group of baby spiders crawling around. They completely camouflage to the surrounding wall and since they're static they are more undetectable.

His hair stood by that sent shiver to his spine. He reacted heavily that the sleeping seatmate was awoken by his movements. Shin irritatingly opened his one eye and looked at Leon with frowned brows. Leon had his back into him, so he wasn't able to see the pale face Leon is sporting.

Shin reached out and caught Leon's palm to obtain his attention yet he is surprised by the sweaty coldness it carried. He clenched the hand to warm it up then grabbed Leon's sleeve by force. It caused Leon turn around, fully showing his almost dead-like state. Shin did not know what happened, but he could tell that Leon is scared witless.

"Hey, are you alright? You look terribly pale. Do you feel sick?"

Shin touched his forehead and felt Leon's abnormal perspiration. His hair is moist with sweat while his clothes shows prominent soaking. They were doing fine earlier, what happened to him now.

"Can you speak?" Shin stroked Leon's back to soothe him down. "Do you want me to bring you to the infirmary?"

Leon shook his head. He is still composed despite his condition. He motioned Shin to lean closer then pointed to the side of the wall where the spiders are crowded. Shin followed the line of sight and found the terrible cluster of venomous insects. Shin almost rattled out but Leon immediately covered his mouth with his hand tightly. He gestured a 'shhh' sound to express his intention to remain silent.

"But we can't let that thing be here," Shin whispered after calming down. "Those are dangerous. They will surely close the University for a couple of weeks to carry out disinfection."

"I know," Leon said. His voice is a bit hoarse from being parched. "But didn't you think that it is odd?"

"What is weird?" Shin peered at the spiders and shivered. "I can only feel fear."

"Have you never thought why such a large nest left unattended without people detecting it?"

This is not their usual seat, so this is the first time they saw it. At least, someone from the class would've noticed such a massive cluster. The monitors installed along the walls did not seem to have any reaction too. All these unusual stuffs caused Leon think that something is amiss.

The federation regarded all the academic institutions with immense importance. There are more check ups done on the school facilities than there are earthquake drills. The monitors are replaced yearly too to make sure that all the occupants are protected from any external harm. It would be odd if these things suddenly go awry.

"What do you think is happening?" Shin asked.

"I don't know. I already reported the-"

Leon's terminal blinked notifying him of a recent message. Shin gestured him to see the message first and they'll continue speaking after he is done. Leon wasn't shy and instantly opened the message. He silently read it for a while with an increasing deepening of his brows. It went to an overall frown when he looked up to Shin.

"What it is?"

"I've addressed a report regarding this issue and have my butler file it. But they say they didn't see anything on the wall."

"What?" Shin looked over to the picture Leon sent. Indeed, there is no spider on the picture. "How is that possible? There is clearly a spider in there-"

The two of them are huddled together looking at the message. They are near the window, so you could tell that their position must be extremely bright. It caused the shadow that suddenly loom over obvious. The two of them looked up and found a familiar creature walking over the windows.

It possesses eight long, skinny legs that easily traversed the area in few steps. It crawled going upwards very nimbly, ignoring the barricaded decorations of the building. Such sight must have caused a commotion, yet nobody seems to notice the gigantic spider scurrying across the wall.

A more considerable feeling of dread swelled in their hearts. The fear it accompanied caused their breathing to hitch. Leon watched the monster wide eyed, calculating the fluctuating number into possibilities. Shin shook his head with a forced grin in his lips. The brain that will remember everything he sees for the first time confirmed a conjecture.

"This one," Shin pointed the spider with certainty."Isn't this boss of that we fought on the 200th floor in the Hal's Grand Dungeon."