Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 260. Blind Optimism

I came back, looking at the fearful eyes of the woman, and took my finger back from her forehead. Her phone had fallen on the floor, and I looked at it.

Who was on the other side of the phone?

Was it this director? This couldn’t possibly be the case.

If you already knew that four hundred people would appear, did you also know about the first act, Henrietta’s action, that was the start to bring this world into chaos?

And if you knew, why didn’t you stop it?

I straightened up and stepped on the phone, crumpling it.

The supervisor yelped, but I didn’t look at her again as I took Henry’s wrist and walked out of the room.

Inside the corridor were the rest of our group with dry clothes on them. Maybe my expression wasn’t especially nice, but nobody spoke as I made my way to the elevator.

When I boarded it with Henry, the others didn’t step in, but I was too preoccupied with thinking to pay them any attention.

They surely wouldn’t let themselves get coerced into the wet coffins for a second time, so no need to worry.

Henry was also absolutely silent, only staring at me until we reached our room and entered the bathroom after getting rid of the smartwatches.

"What did you see?"

I didn’t answer him, going through the bathroom, towels, bathroom closet with additional toilet paper and stuff, everything.

The good ol’ paranoia clung to me after what I had heard.

Although I was ALWAYS automatically looking for cameras, I didn’t see them inside the changing room adjoining the water tanks.

If I hadn’t noticed, then where else were cameras hidden that I had no knowledge of?

They are watching us; they are watching me—I can feel it.

I can feel all their disgusting eyes, their gazes that make my skin crawl—that they are WATCHING.

"The room is clean; I look through it every morning." Henry came closer and tried to touch me, but I slapped his hand away.

"No, I know they are here." I muttered.

They had seen me teleport away; they had seen us talking; they had seen us kissing; they had seen EVERYTHING!

I ripped away the bathroom closet that was attached to the wall and looked behind it before going to the shower.

I looked into the drainage, gripped it, and ripped it out as well.

"Kenny, calm down."

"Nonononono..." I laughed.

"They have seen everything. They are watching; I can feel it." I put my arm as far inside the pipe as possible before I looked up at the mirror above the faucet.

I stood up and walked to it, avoiding Henry when he tried to grab me, and slammed my fist sideways into the mirror.

A bunch of shards fell from the wall.

"KENNY!" Henry yelled, coming to me, but I pushed him away.

There was nothing behind the mirror, no camera—it had just been a normal mirror.

I looked at the light on the ceiling and conjured up my gun, aiming at it when Henry lunged at me and gripped my wrist so tightly that I let go of my weapon instantly.

He kicked the gun away and pulled me into his arms.

Stunned by his swift movements, I froze for a few moments, but there was still that nagging CERTAINTY that, no matter if it was real or fake, I had been watched and was being watched now.

My most private moments, our most private moments, laid bare before someone and left for them to judge, to laugh at, to spy on, to frown upon.

"Kenny, get me a ladder." Henry whispered after holding me in a death grip for a while; he squeezed me before he let go.

"Okay." I conjured up a small stepping ladder and numbly gave it to Henry.

I watched him step on it and open the light, even pulling out the light bulb and holding both items down for me to see and examine.

I nodded again before looking around and seeing the room in chaos.

Holding my forehead, I saw Henry putting the lighting back in place before coming down from the ladder to hug me again.

Fuck.

"I’m sorry." I mumbled, hugging him back.

"No problem. Next time you get all paranoid, tell me, and we’ll search together."

"Yeah... Sorry."

Fucking hell, get a grip!

"Did I hurt you?" I asked silently, remembering that I pushed him rather hard.

"Are you joking? I have leveled up as well." He patted my back in assurance.

"They knew that four hundred people would pop up from nowhere." I mumbled into Henry’s chest.

"And where did they get that information from?" He went from patting to stroking my back soothingly.

"From the ’Director’."

"Did you see this Director?"

"No, they just talked about him. And inside the water tank is some messed-up drug. The strange tune we heard inside the water tanks is what they call ’Rewart’."

Henry chuckled murderously while tightening his hold on me.

"Reward plus Tune equals ’Rewart’?"

"They are really conditioning us..." I breathed in his scent and sighed.

I had already suspected it, so there was no need to get agitated.

"Why go through the hassle?" He murmured icily, his lips grazing my hair.

"I bet on absolute obedience that a non-brainwashed soldier can’t give them. This is only the start. They’ll take their time to mold the people here."

Henry went quiet for some time.

"So will they just let us refuse the water tanks?"

"Nope. Something else will soon change. Be careful." I leaned back and met his eyes.

"I’m always sticking with you. If we are both careful, then what can happen?" He cupped my face and tried to instill his blind optimism in me.

I flipped the coin, only seeing us taking lessons and stuff yet again.

It felt difficult to channel my ability because it had grown so much. The endless little paths in front of me, changing with each blink, were far too many. I don’t feel secure when I look into the future because it was already so damn inaccurate before leveling up.

Now that my ability has grown, I believe it hasn’t become more accurate; rather, it reveals a greater number of possible paths.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing new, but I’m going to flip the coin when we meet the supervisors and nurses from now on."

Henry nodded.

"Don’t drink that vitamin solution from that blonde doctor." He put my head back against his chest, where I could hear his heart beating, calming me down tremendously.

Yeah. Can’t trust anybody. Fuck that testing.

"Kenny, should we get away from here?" He suddenly asked.

"Should we?" I asked back, not caring about anything anymore, as long as I could have a human-sized dog to hold for a moment.

He had asked me that once, and I said no. But it could have been a mistake. Let’s just run away.

Henry froze at my sudden agreement before he whispered into my ear.

"No, we can’t, can we?"

"You want to be a free man in front of the law again. Don’t you?" He continued.

"It’s just five years. Everything they try, we can deflect." He laughed, the unwavering belief in us, in me, evident in his voice.

"Either five years go by or the real apocalypse starts. Let’s see what comes first." He was anticipating the latter; I could hear it.

"In any case, you will get out of here in no time."

I closed my eyes and listened.

Why have you even asked me when you already know?

It’s true, I don’t want to hide. And even if we run away, what about the dragon? Can we take it with us and remove it from its cave full of gold?

How about my friends who are currently in the military and will probably have official positions in the future? Would I have to call them from burner phones I had to discard the next moment?

Ah. Is that even important? Everything will go down anyway.

But what if it does not?

Maybe they could use Henrietta and find through the DMT testing even more people to close portals. Maybe everything would still be in order in five years.

And when that time came, would I really want to hide myself?

Damn. I got infected by the blind optimism, though I knew they wouldn’t let someone with my power go anyway.

And although I knew that the farther away the future was, the more uncertain it was as well, I still thought about the house with the dark green paint that was peeling off the walls and the harvested cornfields.

"And don’t you know you have a loyal dog by your side, watching and protecting you along the way?"