"There are too many problems!" Rex muttered under his breath.
Ray came here to enroll in District Z's Soulforger Academy—but now, that was impossible. Someone wanted him dead.
'What if he hadn't collapsed from a soul forging failure... but was actually attacked?' Rex thought And now that he had survived again.
And I survived again... He'll definitely come for me again!
Panic bubbled in his chest.
'They're still in the shadows. I don't know who they are or what their connection to Ray was. If I want revenge… I need to disappear. I need a new identity,' Rex thought, clenching his fists.
But how? In a world like this—hyperconnected, surveillance-heavy, where AIs monitored every movement—how could someone just vanish?
Then it hit him.
'if I can change my Identity!, I could disappear completely or I can try reaching one of those planets'
Humans no longer lived only on Earth. There were colonies on other planets—hostile, beast-infested worlds. Right now, Skarath had paused its invasion and signed a temporary peace treaty with Earth. Colonization was still ongoing.
But there was a problem.
Only Soulforgers were allowed through the interplanetary portals—and those were tightly controlled by the military.
Haa~ such stress…
Then a darker, more creative idea formed.
'Wait… the dark web. There's always a way in the shadows'.
Rex tapped his smartwatch, fingers flying across the screen. In minutes, he found it.
The Black Web—this world's version of the dark net. Deeply encrypted. Utterly untraceable. A haven for illegal dealings, forged IDs, mercenary work, black market tech.
But of course—there was a catch.
'To access it, I need a Black Web ID... a digital ghost.'
He scrolled through forums and hidden message boards.
"To access the Black Web, you must register with a ghost ID. No ID, no entry."
Then a post caught his eye.
BigMouse:Selling my Black ID – contact me~
Rex clicked it and sent a quick message.
RichDad:I'm interested. Still available?
A few minutes passed.
Then came the reply:
BigMouse:Oh~ If you have 10K UC~.
Universal Coins (UC)—Earth's unified digital currency, Special currency of this world world.
'Of course… nothing comes free.'
He sighed and opened his banking app.
Seven glowing digits stared back at him.
'At least I'm not broke in this life.' A smirk crept across his face.
RichDad:Okay.
Another message followed instantly:
BigMouse:Oh~ how fast~ Here's the address: XXX Hotel. 11 PM Date XX. Come with crypto account, Oh! and come alone ya~.
'Deal done!, Address is at outer street area of district Z which have less surveillance compare to main Streets, but I can't fully trust him, I need to cautious dealing with this type of people!' Rex thought.
Now it was time to escape.
'First, I'll book a cab, hit a clothing store, exchange some money into crypto currency, then complete my daily quests for week. After that on Monday I'll pick up the Black Web ID, transfer all my funds into the anonymous account, and change my name And shift to a different district. That's the safest route,' Rex calculated.
Rex put on new patient grown, he got form drawer at side table. He moved to the door and cracked it open. The ward—luckily—was right next to the emergency wing, and both were on the ground floor.
Perfect.
As Rex stepped into the hallway, his instincts kicked in. He scanned both directions—then flinched, startled.
To the right, the same nurse from earlier sat on a chair, watching something on a holographic projection from her smartwatch.
'Ugh, she almost gave me a heart attack!'
He casually turned to the left—but just as he reached the corner, he heard the familiar voices of the two officers.
His eyes widened.
Without breaking stride, he calmly turned back, walking past the nurse like nothing had happened.
'Earphones…Same brand as Grandpa Jack. Total noise cancellation. She's completely zoned out.'
Good. She won't notice a thing.
Without hesitation, he walked past her—silent and smooth.
'Too easy.'
Once outside the ward, navigating the hospital was simple. He even asked another patient for directions.
People stared at him—his snow-white hair wasn't exactly subtle—but no one tried to stop him.
After getting out of hospital his booked hover cab was already waiting for him. Rex observed it for sometime.
"This—It's really floating! And there's no driver!" Rex was stunned. He had seen these vehicles on the internet before, but seeing one up close... hit different.
"It looks like a normal car—if you ignore the fact that it has no tires or driver," he muttered, placing his hand on the door.
His smartwatch flashed briefly for verification—and with a soft hiss, the door slid open.
---
Few minutes After Rex left...
"Sir!" The security guard burst in from the monitoring room, panic written all over his face.
John and Jean were in the middle of a discussion with the lead doctors, going over the proposal to increase security measures around Rex. They had even considered assigning personal officers to keep him under constant watch—for his own safety.
The lead doctor gave the guard a disapproving glare for interrupting. His brows furrowed deeply, annoyance clear in his expression.
John, ever composed, raised a hand. "Calm down. Speak slowly. What happened?"
"Huff... That patient you asked me to monitor—he's left the hospital premises!" the guard said in a rush, barely catching his breath.
Jean stepped forward, voice sharp. "What do you mean, left? And you didn't stop him?"
"I-I was in the restroom!" the guard stammered, shrinking under their collective gaze. "The cameras were on, I swear! But I wasn't at the desk for just a few minutes—he must've slipped out during that time!"
John's jaw clenched. "And you didn't think to inform us the moment you returned?"
"I—I came straight here once I saw the alert, sir!" the guard pleaded.
Jean muttered a curse under her breath, already pulling up her holo-tab. "Bring up the last ten minutes of footage. Now. I want eyes on every corridor."
The doctor rubbed his temples, clearly regretting not acting sooner. "If anything happens to that boy... we'll be held responsible."
John turned to a junior officer nearby. "Mobilize a search team. He couldn't have gone far."