NOVEL NEXT Chapter 184: Angry mob
It wasn't long until the entire City knew about the explosion in the Church. News articles and web journals quickly published pictures and descriptions of the current situation in the Church. They described when it happened, how much destruction it caused, and of course, how incompetent HeadQuarters was by letting it go this far.
They blamed the Vanguards and Operators, saying that they should have prevented this situation from happening in the first place.
This left the entire City divided on opinions.
Some believed that HeadQuarters were competent enough to fix the situation, and others were disillusioned from all the anomalies happening in the last few weeks. They blamed 'Quills' for their incompetence even though they didn't know what they did at all or how hard their job was.
Meanwhile, Atlan and the rest of them sat in silence as their truck ran through a straight road down to the HeadQuarters. Soldiers already closed down this path from civilians to prevent any sort of traffic that delayed their arrival at the meeting.
As they passed by, Atlan saw a lot of people crowding soldiers as they tried to get past the barrier. They wanted to chase after the truck.
Their reason? Atlan didn't know. Perhaps they were just curious, or perhaps they had ulterior motives. The Church was the unifying symbol of Genesis City. The fact that it got desecrated like that left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths.
With their truck going at full speed, it only took them ten minutes before they finally arrived at the City Center. Here, the crowd was even more rowdy. Even with the threat of an electric baton, they didn't hesitate to try and get a close look at the truck.
The vehicle stopped at the empty stairs leading up to the HeadQuarters.
And as soon as Ninth stepped foot off the truck, the crowd immediately went wild. Their shouts were only drowned out by the amount of camera shutters going off from all the journalists hoping to get the perfect photo.
"Look! It's the Specialist Vanguards!"
"Woah…It's Ninth! I can't believe she failed the Church mission…"
"What do you know?! She didn't fail the mission, she made a tactical retreat!"
Ninth and her team weren't a stranger to this type of situation, so they knew not to engage in such chatter. They quietly made their way up the steps to the HeadQuarters.
Meanwhile, there were also some prying comments from journalists hoping to get a better read on the situation. They wanted the scoop.
"Inquisitor Pterina! Please comment on what happened to the mission."
"Is it true that the mission was only rated at the Student level?"
"What are your plans to make sure that the Church doesn't get desecrated any more than this?"
Pterina ignored all the comments as she quickly made her way up the steps just behind Ninth and her team. By answering their questions, she would only delay their planning for the next mission to the Church.
Lizzie and Neumann went up the steps beside Pterina. Even though she knew that it was better to walk up quickly, Lizzie turned around and waited for Atlan.
And as soon as he stepped foot off the truck, there was even more chatter around the crowd. Stay connected with empire
"A black battle suit? Who's this guy?"
"Don't you know? It's the Star Porter? He's the one that advanced to the 3rd stage Student realm in just two weeks after his draft!"
"Why is he there with the Specialist Vanguards? Did he join the mission?!"
Atlan looked around and saw a lot of people chattering amongst themselves. He saw fear and anxiousness in their eyes. It made him realize how important the Church was to the City.
Even when the Masamune district turned into nothing but a hellish landscape, none of the people reacted this way. Even when hundreds of civilians lost their lives in the Heat Wave, nobody batted an eye.
But as soon as they saw the explosion in the Church, they suddenly turned into an angry mob that wanted HeadQuarters to do their job and fix the problem as soon as possible. Even if HeadQuarters assured them that everything would be resolved, their fear of losing the Church made them unreasonably noisy.
Nobody even died in the Church. The Symptom manifested was only minimal, and all the civilians were evacuated long before the explosion even began.
People are suffering even when there's no death…
This was a foreign concept to him. He thought suffering equated to death. The people trapped in the Unclaimed Lands suffered because they yearned for life, but the harsh environment in the gray sands forced them to die early.
Here in Genesis City or any God's Territory for that matter, there was something even more important than life. Living as immortals made the concept of death foreign to them and, therefore useless.
Why is a symbol more important than lives?
That question was stuck in Atlan's mind. It encircled his mind so much that he didn't even notice that he was standing in the steps of the HeadQuarters looking down on everyone.
"Atlan, let's go." Lizzie took his arm and guided him up.
They slowly caught up to Ninth and her team in the HeadQuarter lobby.
As the double doors were closing, he looked back at the crowd gathered in the streets.
CREAK
"Is the Emergency Meeting Room prepared?" Ninth asked the receptionist in the lobby.
Her usually tidy appearance was nowhere to be seen as even receptionists like her were stressed by the current problem in the Church. Dealing with the civilians was hard enough, but even Saviors were complaining to her about the mission.
"Yes. The Heads are already gathered inside."
Ninth nodded and quickly walked over inside the HeadQuarters.
Before she could though, someone took her hand. It was her father, Neumann.
"I know you're in a hurry, but I want you to know that it's not your fault," he said.
Even though she acted stoic and hard, he knew that she was taking the loss of the mission hard.
And even though she was realms above his power, he was still her father.
Ninth looked back and showed a smile. "Thanks, Dad."
Neumann stayed behind as Ninth and the others walked inside the HeadQuarters. He was only a 4th stage Student. He wasn't qualified for such high-level problems.