Chapter 136 Behind the mask

Words : 1193 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Noah's smile didn't quite reach his eyes as he tilted his head slightly. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice calm but carrying an edge. The girl smirked. "I bet Sophie would love to know what her boyfriend is doing around the year-two girls' dorm." She tapped her tablet absentmindedly, like she was considering her next move. "I always knew you didn't deserve her." Noah blinked, momentarily stunned. Of all the things he'd expected tonight—tracking a hacker, decoding some elite-level tech, maybe even confronting a mystery figure—he hadn't expected this. A damn Sophie loyalist. He'd walked straight into a trap, not the one he was looking for, but one just as annoying. What was he supposed to do now? Grab the tablet? Sure, he could snatch it in a second, but that would just escalate things. Even if he managed to delete whatever she had, people would only see one thing: Noah harassing a girl. A perfect way to turn a bad situation into a disastrous one. But before he could even process his next move, the girl let out a sudden, sharp scream. Her fingers jerked away from the tablet as the screen flickered violently, lines of distorted code replacing whatever app she had open. The symbols warped, twisting into unreadable gibberish before something even stranger happened—an eerie, violet emblem formed at the center of the screen, pulsing like a heartbeat. Kelvin shot up from his seat. Noah took a step back. Whatever was happening... wasn't normal. Kelvin approached, eyes flicking between Noah and the girl still freaking out over her glitching tablet. Noah took a careful step back, hands raised slightly as if to say I want nothing to do with this. He had walked right into a mess, and now it was unraveling in real-time. Leaning slightly toward Kelvin, he muttered under his breath, "Tell me that's you." His tone was casual, but his eyes weren't. They carried the weight of a silent Please say yes. Kelvin didn't answer immediately. He was watching the flickering violet symbol on the girl's screen, analyzing it in real-time. Finally, he sighed, "Okay, so I had the same idea," he admitted, voice low. "I was about to hack her tablet myself." His lips twitched slightly, like he almost respected what had just happened. "But our little friend beat me to it." Noah's jaw tightened. "You're saying—" Kelvin nodded before he could finish. "To do something like this? They have to be close." He glanced around, eyes scanning the other people in the hangout spot. "Close like me. Close like them." Noah followed his gaze, heart pounding just a little harder. The hacker was here. Right now. Watching. Kelvin and Noah locked eyes as the realization sank in. If they knew the hacker was here, then the hacker had to know they were too. The thought barely settled before a sharp crackling sound filled the air. Kelvin's wristwatch—his custom-built tracker—suddenly sparked, blue electricity arcing along the metal frame.@@@@ "Shit—" Kelvin ripped it off instinctively, wincing as a few sparks nipped at his skin. Without hesitation, he flung it onto the pavement, where it fizzled and died in a small puff of smoke. Noah stepped back, eyes darting around. "That's not good." "No kidding," Kelvin muttered, rubbing his wrist. "They saw me snooping. That was a countermeasure. They fried my damn tracker." But just as he turned away from the smoldering remains of his device, something else caught his eye—something across the hangout spot. A faint green glow. It flickered briefly, emanating from the screen of a tablet held by someone sitting at the far end of the area. Kelvin's lips curled into a slow, knowing smirk. "They got me," he murmured under his breath. "But I got them too." Noah followed his gaze, eyes locking onto the glowing device. "That's your signature, isn't it?" Kelvin exhaled sharply, the thrill of the hunt kicking in. "Bingo," he said. "Whoever owns that tab... that's our hacker." Noah and Kelvin began moving, but as they did, something gnawed at the back of Noah's mind. They were all compromised. The hacker knew they were here. Worst-case scenario? A scene broke out in the middle of this public hangout spot. What had started as a quiet infiltration had spiraled into something unpredictable. 'Mission parameters have changed,' Noah thought grimly. 'We need to adapt,' His eyes flickered around. There were as many boys here as there were girls. Meaning—whoever they were after wasn't necessarily female. That made things trickier. He wasn't letting this one get away. Noah pushed harder, closing in on the figure. His eyes narrowed as he got a better look—the hacker was wearing a hoodie, the fabric billowing slightly from their sprint. He smirked to himself. They're in trouble. A month ago, he wouldn't have been able to keep up. His lungs would've been burning, his legs aching. But now? With his increased stats? He could run like this all night. Then, without warning, the hacker stopped. Noah skid to a halt about twelve feet away, heart pounding as he eyed the person in the hood frame. They were just... standing there. Back turned to him. His instincts flared. Something wasn't right. The figure suddenly spun and hurled a small metallic ball toward him. Noah reacted on instinct, jumping backward just in time for it to hit the ground. His eyes tracked it immediately, his brain catching up to what was about to happen. "I don't want to hurt you!" he shouted, trying to de-escalate. "I just want to ta—" A low beep filled the air. Noah's blood ran cold. Boom! The ground erupted, dirt and debris flying in every direction. Trees near the impact site splintered and cracked under the force, the shockwave knocking leaves loose from their branches. Smoke engulfed everything. The hacker turned, satisfied, taking a step forward. Then froze. A hand clamped onto their shoulder. Slowly, they turned their head, and through the haze of smoke and dust, they saw him. Noah stood there, face streaked with dirt, eyes burning with frustration, his grip iron-tight. A fist was drawn back. The hacker's breath hitched. "How did you—?" There was no way he could have closed the distance between them that quickly , right? He was too far. The explosion— But as they stared, something caught their attention. Noah followed the hood's gaze downward. At the same time, a blue screen flickered in his vision, visible only to him. --- [Void Blink activated] [Warning—You have sustained critical damage] [-20 HP] --- He felt it before he fully saw it. His right foot was... wrong. The entire front half of his shoe was gone. And his big toe? Barely hanging on. Pain finally hit him like a truck, but he gritted his teeth, shoving it aside. He had bigger concerns. Like finding out exactly who the hell he was dealing with. His eyes flicked back up. Time to see the face behind the hood.

Chapter 136 Behind the mask

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