21 Weird Night

"See, I told you that they wouldn't find anything wrong about you"

"How is that make sense anyway? Can the neural link of the VR Helmet actually damage me because of the glitch? If so, I'm going to sue the company for more money! Trash design! Trash safety procedure!"

Blake walks out of the nearby hospital down the road from his apartment complex.

Earlier when he got off the game, he passed out when he felt an explicit burning pain inside his body. When he regained consciousness, it was already night, and he decided to visit the hospital to check himself.

Of course, as crazy as always, Salana told him that it was because she lent him her power.

Salana insists that it is a side effect of him using her powers during the fight with Dianis, his body isn't ready yet to handle Persona Harmony, and this results in him vomiting blood like that and passing out.

Even the doctor earlier said that he was completely normal, there were no signs of anomaly.

It was supposed to be fine, but Blake was actually angry in there.

Clearly, there was something wrong with him if he vomited blood and passed out like that, he was very tempted to smash the doctor's head to the table but refrained from doing so lest he would be put to jail for assault.

Along the way, Blake saw a statue of a cat beside the street.

Out of a sudden impulse, he quickly ran at the statue and kick the base with his foot.

"Oww, oww~ why is it so hard?" Blake hisses in pain, his toe throbbing.

Upon seeing his foolish action, Salana could only laugh as she couldn't believe that she was bonded with an idiot, "What do you think will happen, you idiot? Go kick it again with your other foot, maybe you'll damage it the second time"

"No thank you, I'm good" Blake replied with an annoyed tone.

Just as he said that Salana abruptly stopped to see the cat statue. It was then she smiled mischievously when she spotted something, 'Is that because of him? No, can't be, this is only the second day'

Blake was tortured by Salana's nag for the rest of his journey, wanting him to believe her.

"Tell me, what does it take for you to trust me anyway? Am I being here and talking to you not weird enough? I'm telling the truth, you need to take the game more seriously or you'll regret it" Salana said in exasperation.

It's like Blake's brain was made of rock, he didn't listen to her at all.

"Yeah, yeah... I believe you" Blake replied lazily.

Salana can only grind her teeth in anger, "Fine, you'll eventually believe me anyway"

Despite already nearing his apartment complex, Blake stopped in his tracks and inhales the refreshing night air deeply. "Huh... the night feels more refreshing than usual. If it's like this, maybe I'll stop by the park"

Even though it was starting to get late, Blake didn't feel sleepy at all.

But he blamed it on the game which puts him in a state similar to sleeping, playing the game feels like sleeping for real. It'll definitely mess up his sleeping schedule, yet he doesn't really care as he didn't have anything to do.

'Life of unemployment, this is what it feels like huh...'

Taking out his phone from his pocket, he finds that there's a message from Gibran.

<Bro, can I stop by this weekend to meet with you? I still feel bad, and I don't want us to be like this. No matter what, you're my friend and colleague for three years, and you taught me many things. Please reply back>

Upon seeing this, Blake closes the chatroom as he doesn't intend to reply.

Clicking his tongue in displeasure, his mind was brought back to yesterday's event where he was fired unjustly and Gibran didn't say anything, "Friend? What kind of friend didn't stick up for the other anyway"

Blake turns on a junction before his eyes caught sight of an odd scenery.

"Hmmm...? Is there a criminal on the loose? Why are there so many police officers roaming around? Last time I checked, the neighborhood is quite peaceful except for the event yesterday" He uttered inwardly.

Across the street, there are at the very least five police officers beside their cars.

Some of the police officers stopped by the houses and shop around the block, and seems to be asking questions of them. It seems something happened today, and Blake didn't know anything about it.

On top of that, some of the police officers are also players in the Lunaris game.

Knowing how much the VR Helmet actually cost to buy, Blake gave them a judgmental look as even he who is a team leader in one of the big tech companies can't buy it, yet these police officers can.

Not wanting to idle any longer, he picks up his pace toward the park.

Upon entering the park he finds that there were not many people inside, it was already late, and this is already expected. Blake smiled as this is what he wanted, some alone time in a quiet place.

But his mood was ruined almost instantly when he caught sight of a couple.

In the distance of his vision, the couple is walking through the park road under the street light, holding hands and enjoying time together with the woman leaning on the man's shoulder sweetly.

Living their best life, being beside each other, and forgetting about the world.

In contrast, the unemployed loser that was recently became a victim of a criminal act as well as just gotten out of the hospital for a check after passing out and vomiting blood could only watch them and cry in silence with his hand above his aching heart.

Blake regretted coming to the park, he wanted peace but got heartache instead.

As the couple walks past Blake who is trying to ignore them so hard, the man gave a polite slight nod to him while the woman held the man's arm tighter, "Eugh... let's go back, it suddenly got colder"

"Yeah, I don't know why the temperature dropped but it was not this cold earlier"

Upon catching what the couple is talking about, Blake could only put on a fake triumphant smile, "Cold? Hah, weaklings! At the very least I'm tougher, I'm not cold even without a woman clutching my damn arm"

"You do know that you sounded petty and pathetic just now, right?" Salana commented.

Listening to Salana's blatant words, he slumped his shoulders as he was trying to make him feel good about himself and it really sounded quite pathetic, "Man, I hope life gets interesting or else I'm going to be in misery all the time"

"What are you talking about? You have a pretty lady beside you" Her eyes fluttered at him.

Blake gave her a side glance and scoffed, "Being pretty is useless if you're a ghost"

Aside from the couple earlier, he didn't meet anyone else in the park.

The park is a public one and is used by people to jog or walk during the morning which makes it quite crowded. Even so, it has become more crowded lately as it was renovated a year ago for increased usage and safety.

It's rarely empty if not for this time of the night when people are in their beds sleeping.

About fifteen minutes later, Blake decided to head back.

But of course, he didn't take the same route as earlier, that would be boring. Even if he got back he has nothing to do anyway, he doesn't feel like sleeping, and he didn't want to get back in the game just yet.

'Maybe I'll buy something in Aunt Poland's restaurant to eat at home'

Now he was currently walking on a path with decorative trees on either side.

Each of the decorative trees looks better at night thanks to the flickering lights beautifying them. Another new part that was not there before the renovation. But as he was walking, the light suddenly flickered even faster before suddenly, they died.

Blitz!

"What the heck? Can't everything just stay normal for once?" Blake grumbled to himself.

Since the lights illuminated the decorative trees go out, casting the road ahead into murky darkness which should be very hard to navigate through since his eyes are already adjusted to the brightness of the lights.

Contrary to what he initially thought, he was surprised that he could see fine in the darkness.

It was weird, he doesn't need to even try to see the road that was swallowed by the darkness, almost as if his eyesight got better. But that's just impossible, his eyesight couldn't have gotten better out of nowhere.

Just as he was confused as to what had happened to him, he suddenly heard a scream.

Whipping his head in the direction of the scream that comes from the distant left, Blake frowns in response, 'A kid...?' he thought, the scream definitely belongs to a child. On top of that, the fear inside the voice was unmistakable, leading him to quickly rush over.

In a moment, he arrived in an open space in the park beside quite a big pond.

Scanning the entire place he finds that there are three young boys running in different directions, their expressions were that of terror, and one of them is being chased by two dogs as he tries to lose them by using the trees.

Realizing what was going on, Blake frowned but he quickly runs over to the boy.

'How in the hell are those kids no older than eight here late at night? Where are their parents? And why are two dogs chasing after them?' Blake thought in confusion, but he saved the questions for a later time.

For now, saving the young boy would be the utmost priority.

Without even stopping his sprint, Blake takes a rock from the ground and picks up his pace. Blake know that he could stall the other dog with the rock, but he really needs to reach the other one before it managed to bite the young boy.

Considering the bite force of a dog, the young boy could lose his fingers or worse.

Swoosh!

Blake threw the rock at one of the dogs that is already leaping at the boy.

It managed to hit the dog right on the head and sent it whimpering to the side. Meanwhile, the other dog barked but it didn't change target, it keep on chasing after the young boy persistently.

Seeing this, Blake feel a surge of energy inside his body and made a last dash.

The gap between him and the young boy was a mere fifteen meters, yet he had only two seconds to reach the little one before the other canine sunk its teeth into his flesh and makes this night a tragedy. It seemed inconceivable, yet Blake needs to try.

All that mattered at this moment was saving the child, nothing else.

Swoosh!

Upon seeing the sight of the dog's fangs about to reach him, the young boy scream in utter terror. But in a miracle, Blake managed to reach the young boy in the nick of time and puts his body in the way of the dog's leap.

Bite!

Blake got bitten on his arm, he felt the dog's teeth trying to pierce his skin.

Not letting the dog bites him freely, he punched the dog and threw it to the side roughly.

Panting heavily with beads of cold sweat trickling down his face, Blake grab the young boy and pull him to stand directly behind, fearing that the dog wouldn't stop coming after him and decided to attack again.

But as it turns out, the two dogs barked a couple of times before scurrying away.

At the sight of the two dogs disappearing in the distance, Blake then blinked his eyes a couple of times before he realized what he had just done, 'Wait a minute, did I actually manage to reach the kid?'

'How did I do that?' he added in utter confusion, he wasn't supposed to be that fast.