Code Collector

Chapter 177: Collecting Gossip

After they visited Louis, Sebastian made sure that he never left Allen's side. Even when Allen and his friends went out to eat, he was there, getting all the states and whispers from everyone.

"Ignore them," Sebastian said as he took a sip of his tea while he read something in Braille. He was blind, so whenever he was reading something, it had to be in Braille. In some cases, he would just listen to a narrator.

"How can we ignore them when they're all literally staring at you?" Allen asked. "You are the center of attention right now. Sebastian Lincoln being with the D rankers of the camp. That's news for these media folks."

"It is, but your safety is still of the utmost importance," Sebastian replied. "You cannot just roam around without protection. If Roger Huntsman did try to attack you, at least I am here to let you escape. He can't take anything from me."

"What if they take your life?" Allen suddenly asked, making everyone in their table silent. Jeremy nudged him, trying to calm him down but he was starting to feel guilty. "I don't want more people to die for me. One is enough."

"What happened to miss Alice was an accident," Sebastian said. "If you said one is enough, then I'll be the first. Besides, we have sixty people around the area. They're part of my group."

"They're here to protect me?" Allen asked, slightly impressed. He was about to smile when Sebastian replied.

"No, silly. They're here for me," Sebastian said. "Everyone knows Achroma can't function without me."

Achroma was the group that Sebastian was in. It was like Barandilla which stretched from the board officials, down to the Hunters in Haven. Bernard, Kenneth, Remy, and Louis are their sponsors. Sebastian was the one who led the majority of their members which are the Hunters from Eternity.

"Half of the people are from Eternity," Sebastian continued. "Half are from here. So if Roger Huntsman comes to you, even if he could beat the Bearers, he couldn't possibly beat seventy people."

Allen slolwy understood Sebastian's point. It was also cleared by the Hunters organization that Star Nest would be locked down temporarily. The Bearers are to be escorted by at least ten Hunters from Eternity and forty from Paradise. This would ensure their safety in case they were attacked.

"So, you believe that Roger Huntsman did all these?" Allen asked Sebastian to which the latter answered with a firm nod.

"There's no other person who could par the Bearers like that," Sebastian said. "Plus, they suspected that Roger was someone in Star Nest, meaning he's also a Bearer. This was speculated because nobody else can enter Star Nest except for the Bearers. Both Kenneth and Louis were attacked there."

"Since Kenneth and Louis were attacked, it could be them. Among eight of the Primordial Beast Bearers" Gwen trailed off. "Who's the most suspicious?"

"That would be a mistake if you exclude the two," Sebastian said. "It's not because that they're attacked, they're free of suspicion. They're still potential suspects of the Roger Huntsman plot."

"Ooh," Gwen nodded a couple of times. "So, who's the most suspicious?"

"That would be the Primordial Sheep Bearer, Russel Alfonso," Sebastian said. "For some reason, he's too silent about this crime. He often hides himself in the corner whenever the case is mentioned. I saw the footages from the meetings Bernard sent me.

"Among that, the biggest clue of alle was how Russel fight," Sebastian continued. "I have seen him fight before right before he ascended to Star Nest and we were fairly new to Eternity. Russel was the sixth to ascend even when he had the third rank in combat. That's because he takes his time into killing his prey."

Russel Alfonso was suspected by his peers and by the ones that saw him to have psychopathic tendencies. When he hunts, he made sure that the beast would suffer a painful death before it dies. This was the opposite to what most of the Hunters do, which kills the beasts instantly.

Russel was also seen with an underground room which served as his torture chamber. He would bring barely alive beasts there and torture them to his delight. When everyone thought that the Primordial Sheep Bearer would excel in doing something passive like sewing, they were proven wrong.

"Okay, he's a psycho, but then who's the least one to be the culprit?" Gwen asked. "I bet it's Marco Bennington, the Primordial Boar Bearer. He only wants money and doesn't care about all these."

Sebastian chuckled slightly at this, "You're so right about that part. Marco is clean whichever angle you look at it. Even if you try to torture him, he'll still come out pure when it comes to this cases. He's too busy managing all twelve of his giant businesses."

"Who else is suspicious?" Allen asked. For some reason, there is a name that he wanted to hear. A name that has been floating around him ever since he came to Paradise.

"Miss Lin," Sebastian said, making Allen feel a gush of relief through him. He didn't know what caused this, but it just did. "She's a woman who wanted to have Drake Nelson all for herself. It wouldn't be a shock if she killed him to get him all for herself."

"If that was the case, then why did she have to attack the others?" Jeremy asked.

This made Sebastian nod once, "And that is exactly why she's not the first prime suspect I have on my list. She's too attached to Drake that it would be hard to think of Lin being interested in someone or something else."

They had to agree on everything that Sebastian just said. Lin's character heavily revolves on Drake Nelson. The moment he passed away was the moment that Lin lost her sense of character. Even when she was indeed the one who killed Drake, she had no reason to attack the others.

Allen's head was starting to ache whenever he thinks about who could it be and what could their intentions be. It was too vague for him to have a starting point and now he has to rely on clues which will be given to him by Sebastian in the future.

They continued to discuss about this and Allen was starting to have a perspective on Sebastian's point of view. He was still trying to figure out what will be Sebastian's next step, but he knows his own.

"I heard that they were attacked by the same person who attacked Drake Nelson," a woman said. "Young man, you're a very handsome man who's tall and bulky. Even when you look like that, you could still be a target. This culprit seemed to be interested in handsome men."

"Here you go, Edith, suspecting random things again," another woman rolled her eyes. "Young biy, you only started to gossip here not too long ago, but I trust that you know that Edith has crazy tendencies."

"Yes, I do," Allen said through Vince's body. His original body was back in his room while he left Vince in the market to collect information. The market is a big ground for gossip, if there was anything here that wasn't reported to him by Sebastian, it would be a huge help.

"Do you have an idea on who could have did this to Kenneth and Louis?" Allen asked Edith. The woman pursed her lips and shrugged.

An older man walked up to them. "It was the Snake, there's no other reason for it."

Allen wanted to roll his eyes and lecture the old man, but he stopped himself from doing so. Instead, he turned to the man, looked at him from head to toe and then turned back to Edith.

"Hey," the old man grabbed his collar and pulled him up to look at him. "I'm talking to you, why are you ignoring me? Are you a god?"

Allen rolled his eyes and still forced his gaze to look at Edith. "Do you have like an apple slice? I want to eat apples"

Allen fell back after receiving a blow from the old man. The old man wore a scowl as he growled at Allen while the latter was fixing himself.

Although he didn't have to worry about receiving an attack from an average Hunter since he was in his most durable Body, his pride was still hurt. This could affect his popularity with the players if he fight back.

"I don't hurt old people," Allen replied. "So please, if you have anything against me, don't continue it. I'll apologize for what I did earlier, so please."

Pang.

Allen's cheek collided with a fist. This time, he felt the power of the man. He used a Code to reinforce his punch, making it force Allen to stumble back and fall back to the ground.

Allen smiled and stood. He sighed and then cracked his knuckles. "You really did it this time. I was just holding back earlier, but you fored me do this. Ha!"