Under The Veil of Night

’Weird, it’s really strong in this place.’

The way the wind flew made her suspect that this place was designed so no one would be able to sneak out. Slowly moving to the side, Kanae looked up. A grim smile appeared on her lips. It was truly far.

She had experience from climbing out her mansion countless time in the past because she wanted to sneak out from the lesson. However, the height was not this tall. Besides, the wind was not this strong.

’Let’s go up.’

Slowly, Kanae climbed up. She made sure that her body stayed as close as possible to the wall. The farther she was from the wall, the more power she would need to climb.

One, two, three...

Thanks to the uneven wall, she could find place to grab here and there. Inside her mind, she thought that this should be the world poorest wall for wall climbing. The gaps were too narrow at times that she couldn’t grip properly.

TWACK!

The stone broke, making her hand fell to the side. Hanging by only one hand, Kanae’s expression was serene. Swinging her body once more, she grabbed the nearby rock. After making sure that her grip was firm, she proceeded to secure her feet before climbing up once again.

Before long, another series of rocks fell for they were unable to support her weight.

"Rei, are you alright?" Shiro’s concerned voice travelled out from the communication device.

Hearing that familiar voice, Kanae smiled wryly. "You should know that my situation is really bad, Shin."

"How’s your finger?"

Kanae didn’t answer right away. Even without her looking towards them, she knew that they were bleeding profusely. There were some sharp stones that she had to grip along the way, making her fingers bled.

Shiro sighed. "They’re bleeding, right?"

"You know it very well," Kanae moved her body once more, firming her grip before climbing up slowly but surely. She dared not to be panic for even the slightest bit of panic might lead her to make fatal mistake.

"How many more should you climb?"

"I don’t know," Kanae answered helplessly. She started to move again, her finger found another hole she could grip. The blood caused her grip to loosen slightly, but she forcefully held on.

Moving her feet up, she noticed that there was a window not far from her. The window was heading towards a small room. She didn’t see this room before, so she moved her arm up and swung her body out before kicking the window.

PRANG!

"What’s that sound?" Tommy asked cautiously.

Swinging her body once more, Kanae jumped into the room. She landed on the ground safely as her eyes watched the surroundings.

"I’m inside a room," Kanae replied. The room was filled with blood on the ground, painting it completely red. Due to the dim light, she could barely see her surrounding, but her senses were telling her that it was dangerous.

In the next moment, she ducked down and slashed her sword. Feeling the weight from the one she attacked, her eyes widened in surprise. The flesh has become harder to cut through compared with before.

Side stepping, she launched another attack and finished the monster.

"Rei, are you fighting?" Jason’s voice was also surprised.

Kanae nodded. "Yeah, there’s a monster here. Wait, I’ll try to find the lamp. It’s a bit too dark here."

Her hand finally found the one she has been looking for. The blinding light caused her to be surprised, but her eyes adapted rather quickly. Seeing the scene in the room, her brows furrowed. Any ordinary person would have scream by now if they saw how this place was filled with corpses and blood.

"There’s a large tube here," she said in surprised tone.

"Is it a tube placed horizontally?" Jason asked.

"How do you know?"

Jason smiled wryly. His eyes were scanning the room before him with dark expression. "That’s because there’s one in the room in the tenth floor too."

"You found it?"

"You can say so."

Jason moved to the other side of the room. This place reeked blood, but he paid no heed. Right now, he wanted to confirm something, which was the identity of the monster they have been fighting so far.

Moving towards the tube, he could see a small bottle was placed by the side. It was already empty, but there was a rubber tube that connected it with the large tube. At the point of it was a needled, seemingly used to inject something.

"Rei, are you thinking what I’m thinking right now?" Jason looked towards the large tube with dark expression.

Kanae didn’t know what Jason was thinking, but she has her own thought when she was looking at the one near her. After all, there was still one person inside the large tube, but he was no longer breathing.

"This is the experiment place for them?"

"Yup," Jason replied. "Those monsters should be the missing students so far and also the others."

As the school was rather famous, the number of people was a lot. However, many of them disappeared not long after that. It has been months since their disappearance. No one could say for sure where they disappear. It could be in the school or rather in the other place.

"The experiment should have failed, which is why they want to erase this place alongside many others," Kanae heaved a sigh.

"They didn’t call the groups because they want to take care of the failed experiment. But rather, they want to erase the evidence of this experiment ever exist in the first place."

Jason knew that it was illegal to conduct experiment on human. No matter what the reason was, doing experiment on them shouldn’t have been allowed. With the number of monsters, they had to face so far, he didn’t know just how many of them fell victim for this heartless experiment.

"Since when did things turn out this way?" Kanae’s tone was filled with sadness.

"I don’t know, Rei. But it shouldn’t have been that long because the balance of power has only broken around a decade or so ago," Jason replied. He picked up the tube and inspected it for a second. It was empty, but he could sense that there was something warm from the tube.

Whatever kind of medicine they used in this experiment, it must be something extremely dangerous.

Kanae sighed. "We’ll need to review the history of this city once again."

"Let’s talk about that when we have time again."

"Yea...." Kanae’s words stopped in the middle. She could sense an impending danger for a moment. Her gaze hardened.

"Rei, where are you right now?"

"Let me check," moving toward the window, she could see the rubbles not far from her. However, from the position, she could guess that she was already in the fourteenth floor. "I’m in fourteenth floor."

"Can you go up from the room, or you should use the way outside again?"

"I’m not sure," Kanae moved around the room. She moved to the side as she saw that the floor was slightly broken. It seemed that the explosion caused this room to not be fully stable. Stepping on the table, she reached the side of the wall. Using her hand to prop herself up, she found a different room above the one below.

This place also has a large tube located not far from her. However, the place was also far messier.

"I can go up," Kanae replied. This place should have experienced an explosion not long ago. The blood was still rather warm, but the place was a complete mess. Moving toward the door, she could see the cracked floor from fights.

"I’ll be going now."

The man was located near the stairs towards the sixteenth floor. It was also the same place where the rubbles were gathered to make way.

"Still want to try again?" he mocked the people below.

At this time, Kanae was already moving with high speed towards the man. Sensing the incoming person, the man was startled. He raised his gun and shot rapidly.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

But not a single one reached Kanae.

SLASH!

Kanae reached his sight in mere seconds, attacking him and killed him in one move. The man’s eyes were opened wide in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that someone has just killed him right away like that.

Standing near the top of the rubbles, Kanae smiled. "What are you waiting for? Let’s go up!"