Regional Dispatch Center
In the region's emergency hotline headquarters, a young man with a baby face let out a deep, deep breath of exhaustion.
Rested the back of his head against the chair, he had sighed so deeply the cubicle several rows away could hear him. "What's going on?"
"Geez, the world is really so crazy!" he said, looking a few years older than he did this morning.
Just this morning, there was an ongoing murder. This afternoon, there was another one! Goodness!
Couldn't people just live in peace!?
It wasn't that he was naive, thinking that he wouldn't get murder calls after getting into a job like this. After all, the emergency hotline number itself was unlucky!
However, he did do some research, and even in their region, the calls would usually be medical emergencies, traffic accidents, domestic disturbances, suspicious activity, public disorder, rescue, and a whole lot of misdials.
The chances of getting active murder calls for the entire team handling a region were only around 2 to 10 per week. If he included cases where dead bodies (which died under suspicious circumstances) were found, it would only be around 20-50.
Did they suppress this news in order to prevent the masses from panicking or something? Did the dispatch centers fake data due to some dishonest circumstances?!
If the leaders of dispatch centers all over the world knew what he was thinking, they'd feel very wronged!
"Your first day as a dispatcher?" his seatmate said, with that veteran attitude of being a senior. "You'll get used to it."
Nike shook his head. "Please no!" he exclaimed, already terrified.
On the first day, he was already so exhausted. Why did he take this job again?
…
Back to the site of the second murder call of the day, an hour after the call
The Mason family house was a nice standalone house with a nice yard, located not far away from the City center.
It was not quite a grand villa of those one-percenters, but it was spacious enough to show the family was very well-off. After all, in this place, land was equivalent to gold.
The owners of this villa were relatively well-liked in the neighborhood. They were all gentle and amiable, always sending goodwill gifts to their neighbors.
Who'd have thought they were actually devils?
The neighbors grouped around—whether it was the rich folk or their servants—and looked at the police cars around a house. There was even an ambulance in there.
People loved to gossip, and everyone was afraid to miss any juicy piece of news, regardless of their stature in life. Some even followed the police cars just to see the excitement.
Their eyes widened in shock (and interest) when they saw the well-known family of three being dragged out.
The family was definitely taken by surprise because the couple was scantily dressed. Obviously, they were doing some hanky-panky when the police arrived.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" they yelled, wearing hideous expressions on their faces. But when they realized they had an audience, they expertly ironed out their faces, looking wronged instead.
"We're innocent! I'm going to sue you!!"
"How dare you take us away?"
"This is injustice! Everyone! Everyone, help!!"
"My gosh…I wonder what happened?" a random neighbor asked. "And looking at how they were being dragged, the case must not be minor.
"But should the police really be so rough?" another said, feeling bad for the family.
"How could you be so blind? Didn't you see their hideous expressions a moment ago? They're totally acting!"
Another nodded, also seeing that scene. The way their expressions changed from evil to pitiful made him feel goosebumps. "So scary! They looked so nice when I encountered them while jogging."
"I knew there was something wrong with them! They always felt so fake to me, but no one believed me!"
"What did they do?"
Many expected that someone had been murdered or something, but all three were dragged out instead.
Soon, a stretcher appeared, carried by two EMTs, and taken directly to the ambulance.
People who had a decent angle saw that it was a young man, pale and thin, with shocking bruises and festering wounds all over his body.
"Oh my gosh!"
"What? Who's that?"
"Was he tortured!?"
"That does not look short-term!"
"Oh my goodnesss!"
Things got big and even reporters arrived at the scene. They didn't get a photo of the victim, but they got a photo of the basement where the victim was kept.
The police only allowed a few official people in, of course, and the time was limited. Regardless, it was enough to have an idea of what happened in there. The few reporters from different outlets looked at each other in shock.
Big news!
…
"I want to keep everything as private as possible," Kael said, voice extremely raspy. He spoke painfully, as if his throat was being rubbed against sandpaper with every word he uttered. He looked at the EMTs next to him.
They nodded and made a call. The overview of the case would not be blocked; it was too late, but his identity and the exact circumstances could indeed be hidden.
Kael closed his eyes, temporarily finding peace. Now that he was being healed, he actually felt the pain in more pronounced ways. After all, he was too busy thinking about how to escape before.
It was like the skin and muscles were being torn apart at the slightest movement, exacerbated whenever they passed even a slight bump on the road.
This kind of pain would've driven a normal person insane. On Kael, however, his eyebrows just furrowed, a few veins appearing on his thin arms.
"Can…can you tell me what date it is? And which city or region are we in?" he asked in increments, struggling to say a long sentence. His question was not out of place, considering he had been trapped in the basement for years.
They answered in as detailed a way as they could, and Kael closed his eyes as he thought of the various possibilities.
In fact, he already had a guess in mind when he heard the three idiots speak, as he recognized the language. Hearing the date and confirming the location, he pretty much confirmed he was in the same place—or at least the same country.
Just a different time.
Thinking about it felt too amazing. How did it happen? He was a space user, but it was not connected with controlling time. Even if it were, the chaos of time travel would've ripped his body (and soul, probably) to shreds.
But…the reason was not something he really cared for. The fact of the matter was that he was still alive somehow. And, most importantly—
At some point, Kael unconsciously felt his own essence stone and felt a pulsating feedback.
Despite the tearing pain in his body, his eyes were bright at the realization.
Naia was here!
…
A/N: The original draft had the ML super rich, you know, the usual multi-billionaire CEO and stuff. But then, after typing tens of thousands of words, I decided to scrap thousands of them and make the ML (relatively) poor instead. lololol