Birth Of The Crafts-God-Chapter 418: Escaping

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Lucas wasn't in a rush to accept the rewards as he intended to inspect them physically once he did.

'The event is basically done with. Altimo and the rest can handle everything else. It shouldn't be a problem for me to leave now.'

Lucas decided to leave right away. He turned on his communicator and contacted Vienna since that was a faster way of reaching out to her than looking for her in the crowd.

The call connected and Lucas informed her of his plans as well as their meeting point.

Two minutes later, the trio were gathered near the exit of the exhibition hall.

"What's the hurry?" Vienna stared at Lucas.

"Staying here is basically a waste of time since I don't really have to do anything myself. I might as well spend the night working on some vestiges." Lucas gave what he felt to be a reasonable excuse.

Vienna didn't say anything else; in fact, she was actually glad they were leaving early since that would mean Giselle won't have any opportunity to spend time with Lucas again. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Where are you off to? I've been looking for you everywhere." A voice interrupted the trio.

Lucas paused and turned to face the speaker as he felt the voice to be familiar.

It was Russell Mertens, the head of the Mertens family and basically his biggest sponsor.

Standing right beside the old man was a middle-aged man with jet-black hair and a goatee. He had a cold face and a fit body that was noticeable thanks to his slim-fitted suit. He was Henrik Ross, the head of the Ross family and chairman of both the Silverine Factory and Esko Technology, the two major corporations controlled by the Ross family.

On the other side of Russell was Noah Bergs, the (former) city lord of Baylands city-state and a familiar figure to Lucas. Although the two had never really met face-to-face before, they had crossed arms more than once.

Lucas was exasperated seeing the trio walk towards him. He could already guess that this would be another lengthy conversation session but he wasn't in the mood for it. Usually, Lucas wouldn't mind, but the temptation of the rewards from the system was great.

'I've persisted for more than half a year now. What would a few extra minutes cost?'

Lucas thought it through and decided to entertain them for a while.

This all happened under a second, so the trio didn't notice anything strange once they arrived before Lucas.

"Is anything the matter?" Lucas asked.

"Nothing really. I just wanted to introduce you to some people who wanted to meet you." Russell said.

"It's a nice finally meeting you in person. My little couz always talked about you in good spirit." Henrik said calmly with his stone-cold expression, but Lucas had already dealt with people like this before so he didn't take him to be rude.

As for the 'little couz' Henrik spoke about, it was probably Maessen —the Silverine Factory's CEO— who was said to be Henrik's younger cousin.

"It's nice to meet you." Lucas shook hands with Henrik.

"It's my pleasure to meet the famous young man who's had the city on its heels." Noah smiled as he greeted Lucas.

Lucas briefly glanced at Russell and noticed the other giving him a signal with his eyes.

Lucas didn't mind meeting with Henrik as the man could be said to be one of his sponsors just like Russell. The Silverine Factory played a strategic and important role in creating the new stellar processors which led to Lucas reaching level 5. So in a way, one could say that Lucas owed Henrik, albeit it wasn't something serious.

On the other hand, Noah was different. Not only did the former put his life at risk, but Noah had, at some point, wanted to control Lucas just like the other two top four families. Although Lucas didn't have any intense feelings towards Noah, he didn't look positively at him.

"It's nice meeting the city lord too." Lucas shook hands with him out of formality.

"You seem to be in a hurry." Russell said as he stared at Lucas.

"The occasion is basically done and I was hoping to get some work done tonight." Lucas replied.

"Oh, no problem. We can't keep you held down here then. Let's meet again some other time." Henrik said as he smiled at Lucas.

"Yes. That's true. We can just schedule a meeting some other time and get to know each other better." Russell laughed.

Noah stared suspiciously at the two. With them having already said that, it would be somewhat rude for him to try to hold Lucas back even though he was really interested in talking with the latter.

"That's fine with me too." Noah nodded.

"Alright then. Until next time."

Lucas then turned to leave.

However, at that moment, a loud explosion rocked the venue.

*Boom*

"Ah."

"What was that?"

"What's going on?"

The crowd of guests were shocked by the explosion as varying expressions appeared on people's faces. There was a mix of fear, apprehension and nervousness in the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please be calm." A staff member rose onto the stage and spoke.

"The explosion wasn't within the premises and is quite some distance away, so please do not be worried. Security operatives are hurrying towards the scene so for the meantime, let us all remain call and within the building. Thank you."

Both Russell and Henrik frowned as they stared outside of the event centre. Being the true hosts of the event, it would be disastrous to their reputation if the event was interrupted because of an attack. It would be even worse if someone was hurt. Hence, they needed to ensure that whatever had just occurred now would not affect the exhibition.

On the other hand, Noah's face didn't look great either. Although he had stepped down from the city lord position, it was still his city.

"Why would there be an explosion in the city?" Noah grimaced.

Behind him, a middle-aged man appeared. The man whispered a few words into Noah's ears.

At the same time, Russell was also approached by a man who was dressed in an all-black attire.

"Lucas. Remain in the hall for the meantime." Russell suddenly said.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised by this, but he didn't argue. If Russell was saying this, it meant that the explosion outside was definitely not simple.

"I'll be off to handle this." Noah said.

"You aren't the city lord any longer. You should let those responsible handle it." Henrik adviced.

Currently, the Baylands city-state cabinet holds Special Assistant Rights alongside the two deputy city lords. This meant that the cabinet was in charge of the city although official documents and regulations would require the signatures of the deputy city lords.

This was a conclusion that was reached after Noah brokered a deal with the cabinet before stepping down. Since he wasn't the one in power, Henrik couldn't understand why he wanted to take on an unnecessary risk.

"I might not be the city lord, but this is still my city." Noah calmly replied before departing with the middle-aged man escorting him.

"Lucas, please come with me." Russell said before turning around to leave. He didn't head towards the exit like Noah, but walked towards a door on another side of the hall.

"What's the matter?" Lucas asked Russell as soon as he caught up to him.

Vienna and Melissa were also following closely.

"Even though the West Wing district isn't on par with the Central Prefecture district, it is still a part of the city —the capital of the city-state. The security here is top notch and it's even more so for this region, the Amrius Estate. For there to be an explosion, this could mean one thing —a sabotage." Russell explained.

At the same time, Laura and Vergil showed up from another direction, escorted by their guards. At the lead was an individual dressed in a similar black attire as the man who had spoken silently to Russell a while ago.

"Father, what's going on?" Glancing briefly at Vienna and Lucas, Laura turned to question her father.

"We're leaving." Russell replied.

Laura frowned slightly, but she didn't ask why.

"What about the guests?" Vergil was confused.

"They should be safe here." Russell answered.

Lucas immediately understood what was happening.

The explosion had occurred close by, and while it wasn't certain that whatever took place there would reach here, Russell didn't want to take the risk. He preferred to depart right away to a place he would truly feel safe.

The group walked through the door and after taking a few turns and an elevator downwards, they arrived in an isolated corridor.

"Every building of the Ross has a secret underground passage that leads to a safehouse with an exit leading to the surface. We're close allies, so it's only natural that I know of this" Russell explained.

Lucas didn't comment on this but was impressed by the cautious philosophy of the Ross family.

Land was worth its weight in gold within Baylands city-state. This included the land beneath the surface. To be able to build an underground passage, one would need to spend a fortune especially to acquire the government's approval.

While this would make the existence of the structure no longer a complete secret, the interior and layout was unknown even to the government, so it was still useful as an escape route. Also, only those in a specialised department within the ministry of land resources, would be aware of the existence of an underground structure.

A couple of steps away, there were four automobiles parked in one corner. Unlike the usual vehicles above ground, they weren't hover cars but antique automobiles —one Lucas was very familiar with.

Although it was shocking to see a four-wheeler here, Lucas understood the reason. Unlike hover cars, a regular car operated using biofuels or carbon fuels. Due to this, there was no stellar energy radiation, which made these vehicles invisible to stellar energy detectors above the surface.

"Let's go."

The group went into the vehicles. Each of the vehicles was a six seater, so Russell, his two children, his personal guard, Laura's personal guard and Vergil's personal guard were in one. The second vehicle had Lucas, Vienna, Melissa, and the other-black clothed guard.

The two vehicles took off and after a few minutes of driving, the group arrived at another parking lot.

"We should be safe here." Russell said after they exited the vehicles.

There was an elevator at one end of the parking lot which the group took and arrived at a basement. Taking the staircase, they exited into what looked like a private study.

However, Russell frowned slightly.

"Something's wrong. There should have been someone waiting for us."