Chapter 303 Secret mission The first day had passed, which meant it was finally time. It was time for the first day of events. The schedule was like so, each day, the first round for every category of events would happen. Several smaller events would take place at the same time. In comparison, the three main events would be shown one by one. On the top platform where all the students were, there were several screens spread throughout the arena with a number on its side. Each student was handed over a pamphlet at their hotel, which indicated the schedule of events which would be showing on which screens. The top platforms would also be available for the public during this time. This meant that those that had arrived from other planets and factions were also able to watch closely at the events taking place. When the main events were to be shown in the afternoon, all the screens would change to focus on them, and the public would have to watch the events directly in the arena. Underneath the arena, most of the participants had woken up early. The first events didn’t start until closer to midday, but still, the nerves and excitement got the better of them, and nearly everyone had woken up early. The sleeping quarters for the events were just as nice as the hotel but were set out differently. There was only one floor, and each of the rooms was next to each other, but they had the basics for everyone: a computer, a bed, toilet and shower. The computer was there so the students could still enjoy their free time and research on whatever doubts they had while also updating themselves about the ongoing news. It would also allow them to communicate with other students. The separation was to allow them to focus and to sort out the formalities with all the students taking part in the events. There was a large number of people, and with several military bases taking part, it was easier to communicate and organise things this way. When the event was over or when a student was knocked out, they would be free to head to the hotel where their military base had its accommodation. Peter, of course, had restricted access compared to the others. There was no computer in his room, and a guard was stationed outside his door during the whole night. When Layla had left her room in the morning, she went out and started to head to the target practice area. While walking, her legs were a little wobbly, and she had quite the bags under her eyes. Her body felt weak, and the energy was drained from her. One wouldn’t expect this type of reaction from some of the participants, as they really cared for an event like this. But for Layla, this was not the case. She had no reason to care for the tournament, win or lose it didn’t matter. Her life was already predetermined. She wasn’t going to get good grades and join the military or a faction after this. She couldn’t even become a solo traveller if she wanted to. This became more apparent to her last night, and this was the real reason why she felt like this. Last night she had hardly gotten any sleep. When entering her room, she had prepared to have a nice rest. She had made a warm bath and placed the right amount of bath salts and solutions into the tub. She had never experienced pampering like this and just wanted to enjoy it for once. However, fate was quite cruel to her. The sound of a message being received was heard on her computer. ’That’s strange. I didn’t sign into anything right. I don’t think I even touched the computer. Maybe the person before forgot to log out?’ She said as she started to walk over. However, even the thought of someone forgetting to log out was strange. Technology had come quite a way, and the computer was able to tell who was actually at the computer at the time through the camera. If it wasn’t the correct person or the user wasn’t seen, it would generally disconnect from whatever it was connected to. Still, this just made Layla even more curious. When she looked at the screen, her heart felt like it skipped a beat. The towel she had covering herself had fallen out of her hands, and she didn’t even bother to cover up her bare naked body. On the computer screen was an envelope with a crest attached in red. It imitated the letters from the old times when wax used to be used to seal essential letters. In this case, the seal being used was an angel with its wings having been removed falling to the side. It was a letter from Pure. They had their ways of getting information to their members, Pure, in reality, was a much bigger and more influential group than the government would have liked the public to know. Layla’s hand was shaking as she went to select the Letter. ’What could they want now, do they want me to do something, maybe even attempt to assassinate someone?’ Thoughts were running through her head. There were many different tasks an agent needed to do, and she felt quite lucky when they told her to just gather information about the academy as she saw fit. The Letter could very well be her first real mission. Eventually, she plucked up the courage and clicked on the Letter, the digital screen imitated the seal being open and the contents of the Letter were shown. "Agent 100, you have been ordered to lose and drop out of the tournament as soon as possible." The contents of the Letter were short, and it didn’t expand on instructions or even explained why, it was merely telling her to purposely lose her next match. Her bath time was ruined, and her whole night for that matter. The task was an easy one, and she was thankful for that. She wasn’t really going to try in the event anyway. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why it was so important for her to drop out of the event. The only thing it would allow her to do was a return to the others side. ’Are they planning an attack?’ This dreaded thought had now chilled her mind. If they weren’t planning an attack, they were planning something big. Every year this event took place and so far they had never targeted it. It was expected at some point they would, and this might very well be the year. Having arrived at the target practice area, Layla started to notice something strange. The other students seemed to be hurdled up in groups and were talking about something. She was able to catch a few words here or there, and she had also expected them to be talking about their upcoming events. "Hey did you see that video?" "Yeah, it went viral pretty quickly." "Do you think you could do that?" "Are you crazy, it must be fake right?" "But it happened here. It was one of the students from the bases. Look at the date and time stamp, and even in the description they mentioned what had happened." "That’s what I don’t understand, though. Clearly, this person was a skilled fighter. But if this happened yesterday at the arcades up top, then that means he isn’t a participant in any of the events. Even if he had a weak ability, there is even a martial arts event. Heck, there’s an event based on this very game. So why didn’t he join." Without any context to what the students were talking about, Layla was perplexed and was quite curious as well. That’s when she heard her name being called out from behind. "Hey, Layla!." Logan shouted. "Do you have a second?" As soon as Logan had left his room, he had been looking around to try to find Layla, trying to see if she had heard or seen the video herself. Standing upright, trying to make herself look energised, Layla turned around. "What’s up." "Judging by you not saying anything I guess you haven’t seen." Logan then placed out his hand, and the little spiders from his suit started to detach themselves until eventually, they formed a small screen and tablet. The video was a recording of one of the gaming booths from the top left corner. The student was angled, and the camera was positioned slightly behind so one could see the machine as well as the student’s fast hand movements. What was shown was a student being able to clear a level four game, while the machine itself looked like it hadn’t moved an inch. Layla had tried one of these machines before and could see how impressive it was. In the video, the figurehead had been altered and blurred thanks to the uploader wanting to keep the person’s identity a secret. "It’s cool and all, no wonder everyone is talking about it, but why did you want to show it to me so badly?" Layla asked. Logan then gave a command to his little spiders, to alter the video. The blur from the person’s head was removed, and now curly hair with a pale skin could be seen. It was still hard to see the student, but for those who were around him a lot, she could tell who it was. It was Quinn. "What the hell is he doing?" She asked. **** For MVS artwork and information, follow on Instagram and Facebook: jksmanga