Cooperation

Nathan was happy. Just like Terrence hadn't known how to talk, Nathan hadn't known how to get Terrence to talk or process what he was feeling at the possibility of his son being a regressor and what it meant if Nathan's story was true. That was why he had tried to stir Terrence into action.

What type of person just lets themselves get picked up and used as weights instead of fighting back? Nathan hoped Terrence would play wrestle like they had done when he was younger.

It didn't pan out as Nathan had intended, so he went with the flow until he could find a reason to stop since he could tell his father was suffering in silence. However, Terrence didn't cheer up when Nathan stopped using him as a weight, so Nathan was stumped.

Nathan was satisfied. He was getting closer to his parents again. It was nice. He had missed them and wasn't sure how to be close with someone he hadn't seen in decades.

Fortunately, it came almost naturally to him and his parents.

After the talk, Nathan chanted the Sky Piercer Mantra again. This time, without going so deep that he completely forgot about the passing of time around him. Since he kept it light, he was free to focus on other things at the same time, such as the fact that the Vijang Syndicate would still have other entrances to their bunker.

The Triangle was important for one reason or another. But it wasn't directly connected to the bunker. That meant there had to be other places that were. 

Nathan still wanted to find out what was up with the Triangle since he felt it would be important. It might also explain why the Vijang Syndicate were doing what they were doing. But until he could figure out a way to get into the Triangle itself or find out what was hidden there, it would have to wait.

In the meantime, he would be better off spending his time training the Sky Piercer Codex or trying to uncover the Vijang Syndicate's upper echelons and motives.

Nathan was still confused about the whole situation.

Before his regression, the Vijang Syndicate had all of a sudden attacked the city. All important places, such as police stations, hero bases, hospitals, and safe houses were attacked simultaneously by varyingly powerful villains.

The servants of the law, heroes or not, didn't see it coming and were overwhelmed by the attack.

Nathan hadn't thought about it much in his past life since he didn't think about anything except revenge. But even though they had spent years planning and preparing, the Vijang Syndicate had enough manpower to run over the city in one sweep.

There had probably been one or two places that held out for a few days or weeks that Nathan wasn't aware of. But the only people Nathan encountered after the attack were ones wearing those leather jackets.

'How did they get that much force? And without anyone noticing?'

The Vijang Syndicate had hidden a group powerful enough to take over a city armed with heroes in one go. In addition to that, they also had an underground bunker stacked with supplies that could last them years, and that was without the group who raided the city knowing.

Nathan already knew the Vijang Syndicate wasn't just a bunch of organized criminals and that they had support from someone on the supposedly official good side. But the influence necessary to keep all of that under wraps for so long wasn't making any sense.

The heroes worked for the good of the city, so even the city officials and officers of the law didn't control them, especially the higher-ranking heroes.

'Are they in on it?'

If all of the top officials in the city like the mayor, his staff, the police commissioner, the stationed commander, and the top heroes worked together, it would be possible for them to hide it from the public.

'A skill, then?'

Nathan was confident. There was no way all of those could cooperate. Heroes who assumed the mantle without shame and proudly worked for the good of the public by keeping peace and safety by defeating villains would never willingly agree to slaughter their fans. It would be like shepherds disposing of their sheep.

Without people to adore and worship them, heroes didn't have a reason to live.

Nathan frowned as the Shrouded Hero popped up in his mind. There were also those who just did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. And they were damn stubborn about it.

'Disgusting.'

There was no one like the Shrouded Hero in Avalio. There probably wasn't anyone like him on the entire planet. He was one of a kind.

But he wasn't the only one with an unbreakable moral compass. Out of the dozens of heroes in the city, Nathan was willing to bet at least one of them was working for the good of others without any superficial reasons.

'Maybe that's the way to go?'

There were probably one or two heroes working together with the Vijang Syndicate. Unlike the city officials who were almost under lock and key for their safety against villains, they would be easier to get a hold of and talk to.

Nathan knew there were other entrances to the city, but he didn't know how to find them. He knew there was a bunker. He knew there was something in the Triangle.

He knew many things. That was why he also knew that he wasn't in a position to solve those problems.

He had to take another route if he wanted to find out the whos and whys of the Vijang Syndicate and their plans.

Nathan frowned and disgust distorted his face.

His journey before his regression started alone, and it ended alone. He had never worked with anyone. But if there was one group he got especially bad with, it was the heroes.

He resented them for letting his parents die. They resented him for taking his anger out on the world and its inhabitants. They were always willing to talk, especially when he killed other villains, but they never said anything worth listening to.

However, it seemed he would have to make compromises if he wanted to exterminate the Syndicate. The only viable other option would be to hole up and train until he could brute force it.

It is what Nathan would have done before his regression. And that was almost the sole reason why he didn't want to do it.

The Sky Piercer Codex gave him an incredible ability to self-reflect. If he used the same methods as in the past, he would eventually go down the same path.

Brute forcing things like taking down crime syndicates also meant a lot of casualties. It didn't mean anything before. Now, it meant his parents could end up in the crossfire.

Nathan sighed and dragged his legs over to the computer.