Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

015.2 | The Foster's Manor

Adrian snapped his fingers to rouse some people up.

He wasn't assured what kind of image his friends had imagined upon sighting him but he is sure that it is something very absurd. He unceremoniously hauled them back from dreamland without any warning. Everyone jerked from the snap that claimed half of their life.

"My god," Alexander exclaimed. He placed his hand on his chest that is clearly pounding loudly. He drank his tea to ease the nervousness, but it merely made him choke from drinking fast. Damian relieved him by patting on his back with force.

"H-hey, coughs, hey stop tha-, coughs," Alexander held Damian's hand. "You're giving so much force!"

"I'm sorry," are the words that he could only say since his eyes are busy observing Adrian. He didn't have enough time to adjust his strength.

Adrian conveniently ignored their reaction and finds himself an area to sit.

It is first for everyone in the room to see him in person so they were feeling some slight awkwardness. If only Adrian is an ordinary person, they could just simply talk it off with some short conversation to ease the atmosphere. But he isn't and the social distance between their status is way too far.

They are simply a pauper compared to a venerable prince.

Adrian already expected such reaction. His childhood is spent differently compared to the norm, so he is quite sensitive when it comes to social interaction. It is typical for people to group by ranks and likes. And he, as someone that is considered as genuine elite, will be excluded instantly.

It wasn't a conscious isolation.

It's human nature.

He did not want this unpleasant feeling so Adrian broke the ice. He motioned towards the twins that are issuing him admiring looks. A smile appeared on his gentle face that somehow produced a halo on his outline. His charisma matched the essence of the manor - elegant and noble.

"I called you many days ago to stay here. I'm sorry I wasn't able to accompany you," Adrian said.

"Don't worry, older brother. Your family is very kind! They take good care of very well," Marlene praised.

"That's good to hear." It is apparent from his eyes that he's spoiling them. He turned around to look at Damian and Alexander. "How about you? Doing all fine?"

Alexander hugged himself and shivered. He presented Damian an anxious look. "Is it true? Am I not dreaming? The ever-so- silent guild leader of the Cassaianne asked me if I am alright?"

"Would you like me to pinch you to see if you're dreaming?" Damian suggested.

"I am awake, very awake," Alexander immediately refused the offer.

He knows the strength of Damian and pinching is almost equivalent to having their bones c***k. Alexander straightened his posture and gave Adrian an overall look. There's no way that he won't be allured to such beauty. Only a blind person could not appreciate his appearance.

"To be honest, you're so different from the game," Alexander announced. "You look more mature in real life."

"What are you expecting?" Adrian blinked his eyes. "Should I also act like someone having some high school syndrome in real life and started discussing about how youth is such a wonderful thing?"

"See?" Alexander showed his palms up to highlight Adrian's existence. "That's the longest word I heard from him. He wasn't this talkative!"

"He is usually this talkative," Leon blocked him. The twins nodded to agree.

Aries dealt the fatal blow. "He just didn't want to talk with you."

Alexander wilted. Damian could only sympathize with his cousin. Adrian, once again, ignored the comedic duo and shifted his head to scrutinize Lexa and Jase. Lexa quite have quick adaptability skill that she wasn't nervous when facing Adrian. She even greeted him with a smile.

On the other hand, Jase seems to be frozen to his seat. However, his eyes would follow Adrian's movements. He looks like a fan boy who wanted to get their album signed but hesitant to speak out fearing they will embarrassed themselves. Someone thought Jase was looking at Adrian inappropriately so they nudged him to pull him back to Earth.

"What are you spacing about?" Aries asked haughtily. "Your guild leader is in front of you. Greet him properly."

"I... hello, I am Ja-Jacob Seville, sir," Jase anxiously introduced himself then bowed. "You can call me Jase, sir."

Adrian unhesitatingly slapped Aries' shoulder. "Stop bullying the members."

"I am not," Aries voiced out as if he's wronged. "I am just informing him to introduce himself. Isn't that the basic etiquette?"

Jase sided with Aries. "Y-yes, sir! It is my negligence to not greet the guild leader!"

His panicked expression made Alexander laugh. The heavy atmosphere has been lifted, and everyone become comfortable. Adrian then started talking about the purpose of the gathering. They are planning to visit the main office and needed to get some approval for that.

"Since the incident five days ago, the federation had f*******n people from gathering in public places especially on the areas marked with the portals. I checked the office district and found out that it has a first level restriction," Adrian said.

The federation had refreshed the rules and added restrictions. The first restriction is most basic warning. The scope is the outer area of the alarm radius. Civilians could not enter the area without any permit. With their status, they are highly to be thrown out upon stepping on the borderline.

"Fortunately, we have Rod (Rios-72) and Jung (Jung-55) in our side. I asked them the specifics and informed me that soldier reserves could enter the area. They handed me a form to the permit and have my butler file it."

"Did it get approved?" Damian asked.

"Naturally," Adrian affirmed. "It is my father's company, so I am very legible to enter if I wish."

He is also a Foster, so nobody really dared to not give him some face. The area is safe too since it is on the outer range. If anything happens, many personnel will help them. Needless to say, it is expected that they won't be coming without any adult supervision.

"There will be a marshal overseeing our visit," Adrian said almost apologetically. "My grandfather did not seem to be at ease when I proposed the idea."

"Of course, who would leave you going alone?" A voice coming from the door sounded.

Everyone bobbed their heads and detected three people entering. Frass is walking in front, bearing his typical stern expression. He looked at the other people with neutral expression. It only changed when he is looking at Adrian.

"There is no need for you to come. We can handle everything by ourselves," he suggested. One can easily see he is opposed to the plan going out.

Shin and Xavier followed behind him. The three met on the gate and decided to just come together. Shin sneaked behind the two and hurriedly sat nearby Leon's position. He has an exasperated expression, looking like a rabbit that has been scared by a wolf.

"What happened to you?" Leon asked in a hushed voice.

"Nothing," Shin lied. But he instantly added, "I think I've aged a hundred years by just riding inside Frass' car. I feel like I am suffocating terribly."

Leon instantly understood his meaning. It is indeed a bit stifling around Frass. He didn't possess this kind of oppressive aura in the game, maybe there is a little, but not the extent where people will thwart him. People in real life are indeed different.

He looked around and found that the people in real life are more tense than they are in the game. Even though they are slowly getting comfortable with each other, there is still that small wariness when it comes to encountering a stranger. After all, this is the real life.

Mistakes can never be corrected.

There is no resurrection.

Leon observed how Adrian just ignored Frass' ramblings. Xavier walked in the middle to appease the two. He chatted Frass to enable him to understand the situation. Frass shifted his attention to Xavier and bestowed him a mocking smile.

"Why do you always side with him? He doesn't even give a little care to you?" Frass asked sarcastically. "He's only grasping everything for granted yet you will always indulge it."

Frass wasn't shouting but the severity of his words hit someone's sore spot. Xavier did not reply quickly, but he looked at Frass as if he's prepared to pick a fight. Everyone remained silent as they tried lessening their presence. They did not want to join in. By simply listening they could tell there's some conflict between them.

The Sora party is the most surprised. The two people are quite harmonious in the game. They never thought this was how they interacted in real life.

The main reason of the argument did not seem to be affected. He just stood up while brushing his hands from the imaginary dust. He looked at his group and clearly uttered them a lazy expression. The look of getting fed up is obvious from his eyes.

"It's getting noisy here. Let's just go ahead, shall we? I will explain the other details in the car," Adrian suggested.

Frass and Xavier jerked their heads to look at Adrian. Their eyes are glaring at him like some fierce animal. The other people shivered and thought that they entered a f*******n den of the beasts. Just by getting stared at by those frosty eyes are enough to stiffen them to death.

Yet, Adrian just stood there like a mighty mountain! He undoubtedly has the strong guts to confront them without worries!

"Go on, just continue. It seems like you two have many things to talk about. We will just go first since we don't have enough time to quibble around."

Fuck, Adrian is really admirable about courting death!

The said person only told them his plan and went ahead to walk away. The other people hastily followed, afraid that they will be lectured if they are any time slower. A twenty-seater hover car has already been parked outside so they just went in saving themselves. They preferred a seat farther from the front where Frass and Xavier would obviously sit.

The inside of the hover car resembled a train wagon with chairs facing parallel to each other. There are handle bars in each chair corner and even a support beam in the case where people have to stand up. There is even a portable restroom, narrow kitchen, and two bunk bends on one corner. It looks like a mini moving house than a car.

Each chair can accommodate a maximum of ten people so if they decided to sit in one side, they won't feel stuffed. Thus, everyone aside from Frass, Xavier, Andrew, and Aries, occupied the other side of the car. Even the twins did not dare to cross and stayed with the other adults.

Adrian did not mind the arrangement. As long as he could see everyone he cared, it doesn't matter. He urged the driver to head out early so they could go home early. The ride went very smoothly. They did not even feel the car starting and thought that they are still stationed at the house. If not from the changing sceneries outside, they will assume they are not moving.

They are once again passing the breathtaking sceneries inside the Foster's backyard, but nobody seems to appreciate the beauty. They thought that once they're outside, the tension will ease. But it seems that it only becomes heavier now that they are barred in an enclosed space.

Adrian is sitting in the center with Frass on his one side and Aries on the other. Xavier is sitting beside Aries. The occupants on the other side looked at Aries as if they are seeing some foolish god. He really dared to sit together with them?

Even Alexander decided to become smart this time and did not dare to provoke the devil.

"So, what is the plan that you want to talk about?" Aries asked.

The car is silent so his voice got amplified. Adrian crossed his arm and haughtily gives Aries a look. It seems like this person also likes pitting themselves in danger. He approved his silly choice and started talking about the situation.

"Alright, so we are talking about visiting the office. I told you five days ago that I have been contacting the administrators but received no message or call. I tried it again within these past days but I could still not reach them."

Jase extended his hand up. There's a question that he has been wanting to ask since the conference days ago, but he is timid to call out. He seized this chance to clarify it.

"Um... well," he is still anxious being surrounded by high ranking people but at least he is getting used to it. "Well, you say we are in a different world, right? So, are the ones you are contacting are the people in this world or from our world?"

When he asked it, the other people also wondered. Aren't they in the other world?

"I'm not really wrong, you are indeed clever," Adrian smiled in delight. "I already assumed the possibility that they are not in this world."

They all exclaimed from his answer. He already assumed they weren't here?

"Why didn't you mention anything about it in the conference?" Alexander frowned. He just realized things were no longer under their control.

"Initially, I thought I could make a connection with them. The nerve gear that we are wearing is connected to our world. To establish a contact, I decided to pry the nerve gear open. It's just that-"

"He did not only failed the operation, he also caused himself to almost die," Frass continued his words with a sneer. "If I am not there safeguarding him and delivering him to the ER, none of you would be talking with him now."

"It is that serious?" Alexander gulped down. Cold sweat trickled down from his forehead, making him shiver.

Humanity had become indifferent with Death. They presently have extended lifespans and no longer worried about dying after a few decades. The recent deaths that they would frequently encounter in the news are some four hundred or five hundred years old people seeking death. It has become unusual for someone to die before barely reaching thirty.

It is already a miracle that Adrian reached the age of twenty-five.

He is too young to die.

"Anyways, that is just an assumption. After all, if this world is in a much advanced dimension could even hold the residents of the game, then there should also be a point where it can connect to our world," Adrian said.

"So, you're guessing it is on the office?" Damian pointed out.

Adrian nodded. "The information is locked within the top floor of the building. We could use that to understand this matter. In any case, we could make a portal of our own to cross worlds."

There is not much hope but at least everyone is trying their best. While they are chatting about their plan, the hover car reached their destination. The twins did not linger to what the older people are discussing so they looked out to see the scenery.

However, the expected streets filled with skyscrapers and neon lights were not present. Instead, old-aged buildings came into view. A large root clutching a building captured Marlene's attention. She followed it to distinguish the source just to see the proceeding building contain the deteriorating state.

Setting her eyes to the origin, she could not help but to gasp. She reached out the person next person to her, which is Jase and forced him to look out. Jase followed her intention and saw the similar scenery that made him exclaim vehemently. The other people were surprised by his sudden outburst.

"What's wrong?" Damian is sitting beside him, so he also looked out. Alexander followed suit.

"What is tha-"

Instead of seeing a towering building, a massive tree with a lush foliage stood in place.