Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

A middle-aged man wearing a cloak with a badge on his chest that read: Criminal Intelligence Agency.

He was wearing a dark robe under his cloak. He teleported and appeared inside the hospital, two men followed him from behind.

They had the same dress code and a bulky build. When the man started walking, his bodyguards drew their wands and followed him.

Two hospital guards appeared from the lightly lit corridors. It was early morning, quarter to seven, and the sun was halfway over the horizon.

The leader guard bowed first, and the people from Criminal Intelligence bowed, too.

The leader marched towards the middle-aged man. He looked into his eyes, the leader looked at the third floor's corridor then at the middle-aged man.

The man from Criminal Intelligence nodded and took the stairs to the first floor.

The leader followed him. They entered the first corridor where the panels were pushed down again. The middle-aged man asked, "Did he say something?"

The leader replied, "Nothing. We found him in the room, he would not say anything about the scientists and his relationship with them."

"And what happened to your interrogation team?"

"Yes, they are missing."

He stopped in the middle of the staircase, he turned at the leader with a frown. "Missing?" the leader nodded. "How can they just disappear?" He turned and continued climbing.

"We believe it was the work of the scientists," the leader said.

"Where is Ona?"

"Ah, he is... in the conference room. It is on the other side of the building---"

"We will meet the witness first," he said and stored across the second floor's corridor. "What room is he in?"

"303. His sister has been here for nearly a year."

"A year? What is her problem?"

The leader hesitated. "You may speak to her healer, Ona-san."

The man paused to glance at the leader, then he continued climbing the third staircase. "Then you may want to call Ona to room 303."

The man reached the room and knocked, he received no response. He glanced at the leader. He moved forward and knocked. "Could you please open it? You have a visitor."

No response. They both exchanged glances. "Just open it," said the middle-aged man.

"Sorry, Hanzai-san, but we can not invade their privacy. Besides, we have been trying to interrogate them since four-thirty, they were awake all night, they need rest and breakfast."

The man rubbed his forehead and pushed his hood over his shoulders. "I left my freaking breakfast for this. If we are going to wait for their breakfast, forget about this. I will report to the Mage Minister the witness were busy eating their breakfast and hence they told me nothing about the scientists."

"Alright!" he sighed, "I will open it." The leader pulled out a card and was about to touch it when Kamiya called:

"Is the visitor a teenager?"

The leader and the middle-aged man glanced around them. They were surrounded by only men in their late twenties. "Uh... no, only an old man."

The door unlocked and slid open. They both sighed and entered the room, the other guard and the bodyguards waited outside.

Kamiya was sitting next to Akemi, holding her hand, with a blanket over his shoulder, shuddering due to fear or cold.

The man studied the situation before conjuring a stool and sitting in front of Kamiya. He pulled on a slight smile on his face. Kamiya stared into his eyes.

"Uh..." the Criminal Intelligence man started, "I am Hanzai Chino, the Minister of Criminal Intelligence." He bowed, Kamiya waited but then bowed his head, too.

Hanzai stretched his hand and a card appeared in his hand, his face was moving in the passport size port, his description was written on the side, and on the top was his title.

"And I am Meishu, the leader of Hospital Guards." He showed his ID.

"Can I trust you?" Kamiya asked, he glanced at Akemi who was fast asleep.

"Or... do you want me to call that teenager? The one you trust?" Hanzai asked.

Kamiya hesitated, he looked down. "They were scientists."

"Now we are talking."

"To kill us and the teenager."

"Why?"

"...Because we messed with him in the game."

"The game?"

"Mokushiroku no Tennou, a popular VRMMORPG."

"...and? No scientist will come to the mage prefecture, armed, to kill someone because of a virtual reality game."

Kamiya lifted his eyes. "He used to bully me. He and his boss are the reasons why my sister is like this. It has been nearly a year since she had walked."

Hanzai glanced at Akemi. She is a pretty girl, just what happened to her? He wondered.

"I rebelled," Kamiya said, "I could not... I just... could not---"

"Bullies. I know." He nodded. "But what led things to this edge?"

"Determination? Sheer will." Kamiya inhaled. "Our determination to defeat the scientists in the game while their sheer will to kill us at any cost."

Hanzai's eyes widened. "This is an unusual case. By 'we' you else do you mean?"

"My gaming partner-- the teenager."

"What is his name?"

"Saibai Hitori."

Hanzai stopped his nodding. He stared at Kamiya. "Saibai?" Kamiya nodded.

"Anything wrong?"

Hanzai shook his head. "Tell me the name of these scientists."

"I think... I should not." Kamiya looked down again.

"Do not be afraid, they will not come here again."

"They will." Kamiya licked his lip. "If they can come here once, they can come twice. This time, they have one more reason to come for us."

Hanzai stared in disbelief. Meishu asked, "Because... you petrified one?"

"Sheer will of scientists, the bitter feeling and anger of vengeance."

"If you tell me their names, we will do our job of predicting and preventing the criminal acts in our prefecture."

Kamiya looked at Hanzai, he stared back. His pale gray eyes crept Kamiya but not more than Kuzu's snake-like eyes.

"K-Kuzu E-Erabu." He said and took a deep breath.

"Kuzu?" Hanzai started fearing the worst. A name he did not want to hear-- but had to hear.

"And Onogi Masao."

"What the hell, you..." Meishu glanced around.

He raised his hand, paused, then rubbed his head. "Kid... why did you have to mess with these people from the four million scientists."

Kamiya shook his head with no hope of receiving help from anyone.

"Thanks, Kamiya Jigoku, our talk ends here." Hanzai got up.

"So you are going to ignore this, too, are not you?" Hanzai looked at Kamiya. "Just like other people, you fear them. I knew there was no use revealing their names, now they will come for me quicker than before. Thanks, Hanzai-san."

Hanzai curled his lower lip. "No, kid. I will talk about this with the Mage Minister."

"And keep talking. I know how things are up there, delayed, denied, and fucked." Kamiya shook his head bitterly.

Hanzai sighed. He glanced at Kamiya over his shoulder. "You will see, kid, I am not like others," he muttered and walked towards the door.

"Maybe you can not do anything about them," Kamiya said, Hanzai stopped again. "I want to get this off my shoulders. Since Hitori would not say it, I will say it for him."

Hanzai turned and walked to Kamiya. "Were you hiding something else?"

"You have something else to say?" Meishu asked.

Kamiya glanced at Akemi, she was sleeping peacefully, he said, "I want to file a missing and a murder report."

Hanzai's eyes went wide when he heard the unexpected. He conjured another chair and sat beside Kamiya.

"Tell me."

"I do not think you will do anything, though, but I need to get this off me."

"Leave the action to me, you just speak. Start with the murder."

"Hitori's elder sister was killed. She was killed by a scientist in his own fucking house."

Hanzai nodded. "By? Are you aware?"

Kamiya nodded, he looked at Hanzai. "Tengoku Kakgaku."

Hanzai's mouth dropped, and he went back to his chair. He kept staring at the wall before rubbing his face.

"Wait, Tengoku? The professor?" Meishu sighed. "And a mercenary." He leaned back.

"Why have you only messed with the powerful scientists? And what made him kill her."

"If I would have known, I would not have told you, I would have told him."

"God..." Hanzai sighed. Early in the, he had not even taken his breakfast, yet he was already full. "This is some serious shit."

"And the missing report. His parents are missing."

"Missing? What made you so sure?"

"They are not answering the calls, they are not replying to our text, they were absent on Christmas and New Year without even a notice, and they were not present for Kiku-san's funeral either."

Hanzai narrowed his eyes. "Do you know their names?"

"Saibai Hiro and Kaori."

Hanzair jumped forward, he brought his hands together and stared at Kamiya. "What did you say?" Meishu glanced at Hanzai.

"I said his parents' name." Kamiya felt a chill when Hanzai leaned forward.

"S-Saibai?" he asked.

Kamiya nodded. "Saibai family."

"Ah... shit. Hah. He IS their son." Hanzai leaned back and punched his thumb into his mouth. "Saibai Hitori is his son!"

Kamiya tilted his head. "Do you know them?"

"You know them, Hanzai-san?" Meishu frowned.

Hanzai scoffed. "Your report... will not be filed," he said, "I will investigate both Tengoku and Onogi myself-- I will file a personal case."

"Y-you should not do that, Hanzai-san, it seriously will---"

Kamiya did not know whether to be overjoyed and believe this man or should he accept what he has been expecting.

"Hiro and Kaori... they both were the best students of their batch... till the Apocalypse hit the world and turned. Even in the apocalypse, they were the best fighters we ever had."

"You were... their classmate."

"It brings back memories. We were sixteen when the apocalypse descended on Tokyo, Japan. They stood and fought the monsters everybody feared."

"I... I can not believe his parents were the part of that time."

"We were not classmates but I knew them, they knew me. We used to compete for the first spot, the smartest person in the school."

Kamiya kept staring at Hanzai.

"But, kid..." he placed his hand on Kamiya's forearm. He looked at Hanzai. "They are not missing... they are dead."

Kamiya's eyes widened, he felt his heart skip a beat, the heat took over his ears, and he couldn't believe what he heard.

"No wonder their news did not come out. Only the Ministers know what really happened to them. The Minister of Dungeon Conquest arrived at the site. He spotted nothing."

"Nothing. How could you prove t-their d-death?"

"They were supposed to hunt the most dangerous monster known to humankind-- they were sent to the Tarrasque's lair, that spanned a good ten acres of land."

"Alone? Who sends two humans to hunt to most dangerous monster---"

"Fifty hand-picked men. They had the best fifty men with them. And we found nothing, not even a single body. The Minister says their communication broke, too, yet they entered the lair and died."

"Fuck..." Kamiya rubbed his forehead. "What the heck is going on?" He gulped.

Ona, with a brown beard and brown hair, and glasses, wearing a white cloak, was waiting for Hanzai outside the room. "You called for me, Chino?"

Hanzai closed the door, he looked at Ona and sighed. "This is serious. This shit might turn to war."

"These fucking teenagers are out of their freaking minds." Meishu shook his head.

"At least," Ona said, "they are not fighting over girls. Hah, do you remember, Chino, how Tsuki and Yaki were fighting for Yuki? That war lasted... what, two semesters?"

"Five months, till the Apocalypse killed them. Yeah," Hanzai scoffed.

"Teens these days fight for passion instead of love, I guess."

Meishu, who was seven years younger than them, frowned.

"Speaking of love... what happened to her?" Hanzai pointed secretly at the door.

"Ah... poor girl. She was raped."

Hanzair was taken aback by the reply. "She would not tell me, nor would her brother. But, man, I know it. Her hip's fractured, and she needs surgery soon. Her Leukemia was just cured. She has HIV-- mixed HIV-- a month later she was brought here, and her periods skipped. I found she was pregnant. There was no way she would have liked to keep it, I killed it. And... she has bruises on her thighs, chest, stomach, and back-- she was beaten with whip, club, chains-- she even has spell wounds on her."

Hanzai lifted his brow.

Ona nodded and confirmed it. "Someone used spells to hurt her. Not deadly ones but surely painful ones."

"Oh god..." Hanzai glanced behind him. "And do you think... Onogi raped her?"

"O-Onogi Masao? Fuck, was he low on whores that he came to a mage?"

Hanzai nodded. "Kamiya says Onogi wants to kill him because he pissed him in a stupid game."

"It must be. It must be..." Ona sighed. "She is in a dangerous situation."

Hanzai clenched his fist. "What has become of this world... scientists play with our women like toys, they enter our prefecture and dare to kill our teens."

Hanzai threw open his fist and aimed at the panel. "Fuck!" He shouted. Psychic energy shattered the panel to pieces.

"Shit, Chino!" Ona jumped away. "We just had it fixed!"

Hanzai lowered his hand. He was breathing heavily, he reached for his hood. "I want Kuzu's wanted posters all over the city. You said he disappeared in the toilet stall? He used a portal. Enchant this hospital with a spell to detect science artifacts."

Hanzai ran towards the corridor.

"We don't have such enchantment."

"Then contact that fucking bastard, the Minister of Law Enforcement, and tell him to create such enchantment!"

He pulled his hood.

Ona's mouth dropped. "What are you thinking? Tell me, Chino, that you will not investigate this case!"

"That kid thinks I will ignore him just like the other men who must have ignored his pleading. I have got this chance, a thrill I was longing for. This conversation gave me the same vibe I got when I decided to become a detective.

"But I forgot my purpose and got lost in your fucking politics. He has made me realize my purpose."

With that, he jumped off the corridor. His bodyguards followed.

Meishu panicked. He ran to the corridor. "T-they jumped!"

Ona sighed. "Oh, he will be alright."

Meishu glanced, he saw the three men from Criminal Intelligence disappear in the mid air. "Damn..."