That night, the Military Base encountered a unique report.
According to one of the soldiers who usually perused the Outskirt Marketplace, corrupted beasts had earlier infiltrated a delivery container van.
Several officers immediately informed the others, thinking that it was an ongoing emergency because it should’ve been.
An attack like that, especially in such a crowded and packed place, would result in the rapid spread of corruption.
"Prepare for dispatch. Given the location, the rate of contamination must be extremely fast!" It was an urgent situation, and while the officer worried for the people he knew in the area, they could only hope that they evacuated before they could get there!
"Sir. That’s just it. There’s no need."
"Huh? Are you giving up on those people!?" Blared the officer while the reporting soldier looked sheepish because he was still trying to figure out how to report the whole thing.
"The attacking beasts had been dealt with, and the clean-up was already done, Sir."
"What? The report says it was this lunchtime! Also, why are we only hearing about this now?! We have sentries close by. Why haven’t we gotten wind of this?"
The officer raised his voice, unable to understand how they suddenly had such security lapses, and during a breach at that!
"Because someone resolved it before anyone could report it, Sir."
"HA?!"
"Explain yourself!" That sounded so incredulous that even the onlookers looked at the reporting soldier, who could only rub his temples in stress.
"When I got there, the people were operating normally, like nothing happened. It was just that the 10 stores affected were closed because they managed to sell out all their items."
"All I managed to take were these photos, Sir. I decided to rush back in person to explain whatever it was that I saw and heard."
The photos he showed were of a clean street, with people still bustling around and doing regular business. It was just that towards the very end, around 11 shops were closed for business.
"That’s the area that was supposedly attacked and littered with corruption earlier, Sir. But I used my spiritual abilities, trying to lure out stragglers, but there was nothing."
"Are you sure it was attacked?" The officer asked skeptically. Maybe the vendors were just making up tall tales to generate interest.
"Yes, Sir. I talked to both vendors and customers and received misplaced praises." The soldier rubbed his neck before adding, "Everyone’s praising us for being competent because even students from our attached Academy could deal with everything on their own."
"Say what now?!" The officer’s head jerked, unsure if he heard right.
"That’s just it, Sir. The one who dealt with everything, including the thorough clean-up, was a student."
"Did you hear that correctly? A student?! Which one?"
"They recognized the uniform, so they were sure. But no one could really tell me the name, and when I asked around, everyone just gave praises but snaked around the student’s name!" The soldier was exasperated.
Of course, he tried asking for the name, but no one wanted to say anything, it was just all praise like they were afraid that the student would get in trouble.
And the people were really doing that. Those who witnessed the scene, and especially those who heard Luca’s name, would rather sew their mouths shut when asked for his name.
It was the only favor the young man asked for.
He mentioned that he wasn’t sure if he would be punished for using technology that was still being developed and hoped that people would keep his identity a secret.
That same day, the owners deleted all surveillance footage showing Luca in a bid to protect their little savior.
But, well, they deleted Luca from everything but didn’t really think about someone called Ollie.
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