11 Acting at its best
The two guards moved aside immediately and one of them even opened the door for Hecathe.
The man who had brought him here gestured for Hecathe to go in first and since it wasn't Hecathe's first time dealing with guards and bodyguards, he would naturally know exactly how to act.
If they wanted to mistake him for someone else, why would he be nice enough to correct them?
He would rather just go along with it and play the role of this guy who was supposed to be their Captain.
Since this was an office, there ought to be a phone somewhere inside and with a phone, he could contact the police to come here and save him from these weird people who lived underground.
However, if he could get a signal inside here or not was still a question that he was yet to figure out the answer to.
As soon as he entered the building, Hecathe's eyes widened ever so slightly. The inside was a lot more eye-catching than the outside.
The ground had beautiful white tiles with a hint of golden mixed along with it to make it more appealing.
The ceiling was high up and for a second there, Hecathe wondered if he had really entered someone's office or a shopping mall.
Why the hell was the ceiling so high up?!
Did they need to fit in a giant Godzilla in here or something?!
He sighed as he looked around. He could see an elevator but where it was leading to was still a question that had not been answered.
The inside wasn't as crowded as the outside, however, it wasn't empty either.
If Hecathe had to compare the outside of the building with the inside, he would definitely explain it within a single sentence: The outside looked like a weird sci-fi comic convention and the inside looked like a normal billionaire's mansion.
When people saw him enter, they immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed up to him. Forming a line as they bowed in respect together.
"Captain Alphius, we are glad to see you come back," He didn't know who spoke first, but after this one person had spoken, the rest also opened their mouths to speak up.
Hecathe nodded as he looked down at them and responded, "Well... It's good to be back I guess."
Among the people who had rushed up to him and formed a line, there was a woman whose back looked particularly familiar for some unknown reason.
Hecathe squinted at her curiously and when someone else noticed him looking at her, the person nudged her and she immediately jolted up, straightening her back as she looked at Hecathe and asked, "Captain, is there anything I can do for you?"
"You?!" Hecathe cried out, losing his cool as he saw her face.
The girl faltered back a step as she saw this reaction, "Umm... Captain, did I somehow offend you?"
"What?!" Another man cried out as he heard this, "Captain, she offended you?! Shall we throw her in the chamber?"
The girl shuddered in fear as she heard this, but the man didn't seem to be joking as he turned to Hecathe and looked to be waiting for Hecathe's answer.
Hecathe's eyebrows creased together as he felt tongue-tied at this moment.
This girl... He certainly knew her!
Even though he didn't exactly know her name, he could still recognize her as one of his company workers.
She was the one who gave him the report that morning in the meeting!
The girl gulped in fear as her eyes trailed towards the man who had suggested throwing her into the chamber before she turned back to look at Hecathe, "Captain, did I do something wrong?"
This time, Hecathe shook his head as he heard this question, "You... Have you ever worked for Zuex?"
The girl tilted her head in confusion as she heard such an unexpected question, "Zuex... What...??"
Hecathe gulped as he shook his head, "Forget it."
The girl seemed to be a bit curious now, but since Hecathe clearly stated that he didn't want to continue this topic, she would naturally listen to him.
"But..." Hecathe spoke up as he looked down at his tummy, "I'm hungry. I would appreciate it if someone can feed me first."
He heard someone gasp and in the next second, it was complete panic as people started running here and there.
Hecathe could hear one of them yell at another, "How could you be so careless?!"
The one being scolded immediately bowed his head multiple times as he apologized in a manner that made Hecathe wonder if this man had committed some kind of serious crime or something.
The woman who looked a lot like the worker from his company immediately walked up to him and bowed as she apologized, "It's our fault, Captain. We should have been more attentive!"
Hecathe's pupils contracted as he saw this, but he said nothing as a response.
Another man rushed up and stood beside the girl as he suggested, "Captain, why don't we get your injuries treated first?"
Now that the man had reminded Hecathe of the shoulder wound, the pain came back to him as he nodded, "Then let's have it like that."
He was immediately escorted to a room that was filled with medical supplies and there were two people waiting inside for him.
He laid down on a table and suddenly wondered if he was supposed to trust these people enough to have them operate on him.
They injected something on his shoulder and when the effects of the substance kicked in, the pain he felt slowly faded away into a small sting that could hardly be noticed. They used a gauze to clean out the wound before stitching it up and wrapping it tightly.
Hecathe could rest assured that his eyes hadn't played tricks on him. The gun used by Marvin really wasn't a normal gun since there was no bullet left behind.
"I'm quite surprised, Captain," The one who was wrapping up his wounds suddenly commented.
"Eh?"
"He really went easy on you this time as well," The man added with a smile and didn't bother explaining further.
Hecathe was confused and curious but he simply gulped and decided not to question anything.
The whole procedure didn't take more than twenty minutes or so and when it was done, Hecathe was allowed to go and eat.
He was immediately taken to the dining room where he sat down at the head of the huge table.
Nobody else dared to sit down at any of the other chairs and instead they all preferred to stand on the side with their heads hung low in embarrassment and fear.
Soon enough, a lot of servers came out with serving trays filled with plates of food.
When all of the food was placed in front of Hecathe, he frowned as he asked, "Is someone else joining?"
A man who stood beside his seat immediately shook his head as he answered, "No, Captain."
Hecathe sighed as he questioned again, "Then are you feeding an elephant?"
The man once again shook his head as he answered, "There are no elephants here, Captain. Would you like to buy an elephant?"
Hecathe turned his head to look at the man, "Do I look like I want to buy an elephant?"
The man reluctantly shook his head once more, "No... You don't, Captain."
"Then why the hell is there so much food?!" Hecathe scolded the man who probably had nothing to do with the amount of food presented in front of Hecathe.
The man looked horrified and was about to say something but his words were forced to be gulped down as Hecathe sighed, rubbing his forehead in the process.
"Forget it, I'm just tired," Hecathe spoke up as he coughed and tried to calm himself down.
In reality, Hecathe had no problem with all this food. He just wanted to test the power Captain Alphius had on these people who were mistaking Hecathe for that man.
Hecathe couldn't help but unconsciously nod his head as he realized that Captain Alphius was pretty important and powerful in this place. Well, if that's the case, Hecathe could completely rest assured that he won't be tortured or held captive once again.
The plate in front of him was empty so he took a fork and a spoon before filling his plate up with food.
It was only now that he had taken a proper look at his hands that looked... Weird...
Hecathe was definitely sure that his hands were veiny and bigger in size, but somehow, right now his hands looked thinner with longer fingers and white... As if all the blood in his body had been sucked dry.
This was really weird and Hecathe had a feeling that this was definitely something he should be worried about.
At this exact moment, his stomach growled once again and Hecathe decided to focus on the food for now.
Without wasting any further time, he dug in and ate the food without hesitation.
Only after filling his stomach to a certain extent did a worrying thought cross his mind: What if the food is poisoned?
He stopped for a second as he thought of this possibility. He silently let his eyes glance at everyone surrounding him.
Well... At this point, he really didn't think that the food would be poisoned.
It took him more than half an hour to completely fill his stomach and when he was full, he coughed as he picked up the glass of water kept on the side and drank it before standing up from the seat as he exclaimed, "I'm done."
The girl who was definitely not his company worker but looked a lot like her was the first to react. She bowed her head as she spoke up, "Captain, you should go to your room and rest."
Hecathe nodded as he heard this, "I'd like to take a shower first."
The girl nodded enthusiastically as she spoke up, "Follow me."
Hecathe gave a small nod and the girl happily led the way to 'his' room.
The elevator in the main lobby was in fact just an elevator that took them up to his room.
Instead of asking her if this elevator had any other purpose, he decided to look at the buttons on the panel inside the elevator, and just as expected, there were only a few buttons. One leading to the ground floor, another going up to a single floor, and the other buttons were all emergency buttons.
When the elevator had reached its destination, Hecathe got out but the girl stayed on the elevator.
When Hecathe turned back to look at her, she simply bowed as she took her leave, "I'll be going then. Rest well, Captain. I'm sure you've been through a lot."
Hecathe didn't like it and his eyes narrowed down on the closing elevator doors.
That look in the girl's eyes... It was a look of pity and it really bothered Hecathe for some reason since nobody had ever looked at him like that before this.
The elevator door completely closed and Hecathe was left all alone in this unfamiliar room.
Hecathe clicked his tongue as he looked around to make sure that there was nobody there and when he was sure that he was alone, he couldn't help but panic a little as he clenched and unclenched his fist while looking down at his hands, trying to figure out why they looked and felt so different.
