District 42-Chapter 259: The district’s history

From all the things that Casper wanted to discover until then, the history of that district was the most difficult to get. For some reason, there weren’t books, nor articles about that. He could never hear anyone talking about it. Not even Adam told him a thing about it.

The masks didn’t cooperate with a lot of things that the White warrior wanted to know about District 42. One of them was history as well, but it extended to other subjects like the Walls, the outside world, anything related to the world war, the Royal Family, etc.

Now that Casper got the chance to discover more about it, he wouldn’t dare to mess up because of his anger. He could calm himself down and he would keep like this for the time being, even if he needed to strive a little with this. That information would surely be important for him.

They finally arrived at the stairs. Javir got silent when climbing up. Casper heard that his breath was unsteady and he probably wouldn’t be able to speak something even if he tried to. He decided to be patient and wait for their arrival at the end of those stairs.

Because of the bad physical of the old man, they lasted nearly four minutes to climb all those steps, even though there weren’t many to go through.

Once they were on the top, Casper noticed that they were all that time on the basement of a house with a single room, furnished only with a chair, a table, and a bed.

’This place is covered in dust and soil. No one lives here, I suppose. The house might be just a facade for that prison down there, just like the Third Lab was.’

"Yes, it’s quite similar with Halden and the Third Lab. Though we didn’t do it as a way to intimidate you or anything like this, hehe." Javir commented.

At that point, Casper was calmer regarding the structure of that place. His mind wasn’t fearing anymore and the flow of images of his time in the prison stopped coming. His curiosity about the district’s history was getting him distracted and it helped a lot.

’The only thing that gets me cautious is how this man is always talking just like he can read my mind or something. It feels like my privacy is being invaded. I just hope that he doesn’t have the same power as Ragnar had. I feel like it would be troublesome.’

"It’s not the best place to keep a conversation, but what about you take a sit on the bed, so we can talk about something of your interest." He pointed towards the bed, which didn’t have a clean mattress or anything like this, but it was better than most parts of that house.

"I thought we were on one of the main bases of the Frelsi, but I feel like this tiny house isn’t the place..."

"Yes, we indeed are in the base of my friends. You will understand once we get out of this house. For now, let’s focus on one thing at a time."

The White warrior nodded at him while sitting on the bed. His body was a bit achy due to his escape from that siege, and his kamikaze strategy also harmed him a little bit, so it was good to sit somewhere and stretch.

The man sat on the chair, which seemed to be a better place for him to maintain his posture. He thought for a long while before starting to speak.

"It’s been a long time since I don’t talk about this story. So many years had passed since then... I think it was, hmm..." He struggled to remember a specific date, but when it came his eyes became nostalgic. That was the strongest emotion that Casper saw in his face until that point. "Ah! Yes, five decades ago..."

...

Five decades ago, a youth was running through the streets of the South region of District 42. His body was charging forward with all his might. He had a backpack that was getting in his way while he ran for his life.

He crossed the streets while bumping into people and stalls and pushing them out of his way. Those citizens didn’t need to guess to know that the youth was just another robber running away from...

"Hey! Stop there, you shitty bandit!" A man was giving chase on the youth. He couldn’t run as fast as him, though, so it was nearly impossible to catch up. He seemed to be on the ends of his stamina as well, which was making him get behind every second more.

The youth wasn’t just fast, he was skillful as well. Even with those many obstacles on his way, he still could keep up with the same rhythm.

’I hope that these things on the backpack don’t get harmed, otherwise, my buddy will kill me!’

Suddenly, passing by an intersection, he faced some city guards that were walking carefreely there. Once he spotted them, he faltered for a second. He wasn’t someone to get paralyzed by nothing. Guards were just a usual sight for him when he was doing his "job".

He began to run again at full speed and the guards acted right away giving chase on him with the other exhausted man.

’If that was the first time they saw me, then they would just ignore me, but those freaking guards are always spotting me when I am doing shit!’

Since the South region of the district was the one with the highest crime rate, most of the guards would turn a blind eye to the majority of cases of robbery. They would act more when in cases of murdering, raping, and kidnapping, only. For the right price, they would ignore it as well.

Nonetheless, when they saw someone actively robbing in the same region or messing with the place often, they would need to do something because people will have proofs that they aren’t doing their job.

’That damn guy! I should send him to take these pieces of metal scrap instead of me! He stays in that office all day and never moves his ass to do something worth it!’

He kept rushing until he got into a less crowded space.

’This place is a bad spot for me. If they haven’t any human obstacles in their way, they will start to shot at me!’ He was looking to all sides, trying to sort out somewhere to hide on run away to, but even the citizens were closing their doors, shutting their windows, and dispersing. All those guys were robbers at some point in their lives, but they would still try to help the guards in order to lessen the concurrency.

’Suckers! Who do yo--’ Before he could finish his thoughts, a shot came from behind him and scratched his ear.

He ducked and sprinted to the left, avoiding more shots directed towards his body. His heart was beating so fast that he felt like it would just jump out from his throat.

’Today isn’t the day to die or go to jail again! No way I will be stuck behind the bars a third time!’

Just as he avoided the bullets, he turned his body towards the guards, who were still pointing his guns at him. The man from who he stole what was inside the backpack was breathing heavily behind them and prompting them to shot again already.

The youth put his hand on his waist quickly, taking a grenade out of it and putting his finger on its pin. Everyone there, including the guards, held their breaths.

With his free hand, he cleaned his forehead, then spat on the ground.

"Ok, ok, that’s serious now. In twenty seconds this grenade will explode and destroy everything in a ratio of 10 meters. It means that you two pointing guns at me, that annoying sweaty guy, and even some innocent citizens will die and..." He looked at the sky towards something. "And, well, I won’t!"

He threw the grenade towards the guards who faltered for a while. They were split between run or stay still and fight until they die. However, just as they looked towards the youth again, they found that he rushed towards the street, giving a huge jump and stretching his hand. At the same time, an old and messy flying Drakkar was passing by. The youth grabbed support on its worn structure.

"Bye, you idiots! Play a lot with the grenade!" He waved at them, as the Drakkar sped up and started to raise more in the sky.

The guards looked towards the grenade on their feet, then at each other.

"That freaking robber..." One of them cursed, throwing the fake grenade away while looking at him with hatred.

The other just shook his head, kicking a can of food on the ground.

"He fooled us again, that Javir." The guard spoke, gritting his teeth.