Chapter 66: Let’s go. We don’t have time to waste.

"He is on his way."

The receptionist nodded.

Lucian sighed, his mind had already moved away from this conversation, his focus once again shifted to the sounds that came from below and suddenly, he frowned.

The sounds below were comparatively silent before, but for some reason, that had changed. Lucian could now hear hurried footsteps.

The voices were extremely faint, Lucian could tell the walls here were far thicker than normal, this was also the reason no one here could hear them other than him.

"They found the service wall."

The moment he heard those words, his expression changed.

He looked at the receptionist and he realised it.

She told them...

He looked at Mara, who was still working to open the hidden door, she pressed the scanner closer to the wall and frowned.

"This is layered."

"Can you open it?"

Darius asked.

"Yes."

"How long?"

"If I am careful, five minutes."

"We do not have five minutes."

Lucian shook his head.

"What are you saying?"

Mara narrowed her eyes.

"I can hear them."

Lucian revealed but then—

"Sir, with respect, this is becoming unreasonable. You have found a service wall, nothing more. My manager is on his way.

We are fully cooperating."

The receptionist spoke up, seemingly annoyed.

"Are you?"

Lucian turned to her.

"Yes."

And Lucian...

He just looked at her in awe.

To think someone could lie with a straight face with so much certainty.

"Cross. Let Mara work."

Darius ordered, Lucian looked at him and told the truth.

"They know we found it."

"And we cannot prove that."

Darius answered coldly and Lucian...

He calmed himself down. He knew there was no point in getting worked up, that usually only got in the way, Vivienne had instilled that inside him.

It was far better to understand the situation at hand than to cry about it, so that’s what he did.

He couldn’t make a political mess, not unless he had a strong reason to, so instead, Lucian decided to be useful in another way, he kept his ’eye’ on whatever was happening on the underground floor.

"Delay them."

He heard another voice. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Venn is handling it."

Then another.

"We don’t have enough time. Start clearing everything."

The third voice was much colder than the others.

Lucian narrowed his eyes at those words.

Clearing...

What did it mean...?

Lucian remained silent, he only heard how the movements below became much louder, more and more people began moving faster, he heard metal clicking, a chair wheel rolling then—

"No, please, no, I was good!"

He heard a woman’s voice.

She was crying.

It wasn’t just her, there were many others with her.

Lucian’s face turned cold, that was when Mara spoke again—

"I found the locking pattern, it is hidden under a standard privacy shield."

"Can you bypass it?"

Darius questioned.

"Yes, but slowly. If I force it, it might trigger whatever system is attached to the other side."

The receptionist jumped at the words.

"Exactly. That is why I asked you to wait for facilities, this wall may be connected to active treatment systems, opening it carelessly may endanger clients."

"Oh? So now there are clients behind the service wall?"

Lucian questioned with a playful look on his face. At this point however, Darius could see that this wasn’t just playful banter. He was trying to pressure the receptionist to give in, because if she did, if she revealed the truth.

It would give him the reason to move.

That was what Lucian was after.

And Darius...

He didn’t stop him either.

At least not till he had no choice but to.

"I said treatment systems, sir. Not clients."

The receptionist did not give in, just as Darius expected.

"But you were thinking clients."

Lucian smiled, still trying the same trick.

"I was not."

She shook her head, Lucian stepped towards her in an intimidating manner—

"Cross."

Darius called out and Lucian stopped.

Then, he sighed and turned his attention back to the voices he was hearing.

"Move the valuable ones first."

"The singer?"

A second voice answered.

"Her and the two clean profiles. The rest are damaged."

"What about the damaged ones?"

"Dispose of them."

And those words got a reaction out of him.

He still didn’t lash out in anger, he suppressed it, he suppressed every single emotion he felt and only focused on the sounds below.

The sound of a man struggling, a chair being scraped, someone gagged resistance, then suddenly, one heartbeat out of many became significantly fast and it continued getting faster and faster until suddenly—

Lucian heard a thud and—

The heartbeat stopped.

Someone was dead and the moment it happened—

Lucian moved.

"Cross!"

Darius reacted instantly, but this time, Lucian did not care, he reached the wall before anyone could stop him.

"Wait! If you break the wrong point—"

Mara screamed in panic but—

"I will not."

Lucian answered in a terrifyingly calm voice.

It wasn’t just the sounds that came from below he was listening to, as Mara worked on the wall, he heard what was happening inside the wall as well, the hidden frame, the locking bar, the three ’anchors’, he ’heard’ everything.

It wasn’t just his hearing at work, he could sense pressure, the rhythm, he could understand the... structure.

And once he understood the structure—

He knew where its weakness was.

It was an advanced technique, one of the three deadly techniques that Vivienne had instilled into his body.

And now—

It was time to use the second one.

His hand moved and he punched the wall.

It was a light punch, almost like a tap, completely different from the momentum he was carrying before.

’Did he... chicken out?’

Tomas couldn’t help but wonder in his head. Then again, thinking of punching a wall itself was a foolish idea from the beginning.

Who in their right mind even considers that?

’A Blood-Altered Human, that’s who.’

Tomas snorted.

That was when Darius reached Lucian and grabbed his shoulder.

"I gave you an order."

He spoke with a solemn look on his face.

"I followed it."

Lucian answered, then, he looked at Darius with the same terrifyingly calm look on his face and—

"Until someone died."

Darius’s expression changed at those words.

Then suddenly—

"W-What...?"

Mara blinked in disbelief. Darius turned towards her with a frown.

"What happened?"

He asked and Mara, she looked at the wall, then at Lucian and—

"H-He... he completely ruined the defensive structure of the wall...

The door is open."

She spoke and just then—

The smooth wall split down the middle and folded inwardly, before it collapsed altogether and... opened to a hidden pathway.

"!!!"

The receptionist widened her eyes in horror and Lucian—

"Let’s go.

We don’t have time to waste."

He commanded and again, for a reason he did not understand—

"Y-Yes."

Darius followed.