Chapter 4: Shattered

Several hours had passed, the warships had far left their stopping points and continued to head towards the Zoratian planet.

In around two days, they would be at their destination.

Neil called Jane but she didn’t pick up, so he decided to wait for her.

Not long after, food was delivered to his room. After that ceremony, even the teenagers with bad talent weren’t too upset.

Even in other warships they all seemed to have a topic to talk about at all times, everyone was talking about Neil and how big of a failure he was.

Only Michael and a few others were aware of the true result, though it was strange but his talent was extremely high.

…

“Sigh only if I could still enjoy aunty’s cooking, E.C.O’s cooking is seriously so bad.” Sighing, Neil continued to eat.

“Jane’s call incoming.” Nemo’s voice rang out in Neil’s mind.

“Answer it.” He said and swallowed the meat in his mouth with a mouthful of soup.

“…Neil” the voice he wanted to hear so badly finally sounded, but it seemed unusually cold.

“So, you should have heard about my–” Neil slowly began to speak but Jane interrupted.

“Let’s break up.” She said, her tone emotionless as if it was some recording before adding:

“It is just impossible between us.”

“Jan– Wha–? Huh…” Neil was shocked and baffled at her words, unable to believe it was the same girl he loved so much.

The girl who acted as if he was her entire world, more important than anyone in her family.

“…” Neil couldn’t speak for a few seconds, he knew they might end up separating but never thought Jane would do it like this.

Everything felt strangely silent, his own heart beat ringing constantly through his ears.

He couldn’t even form one proper thought, otherwise he would have deduced that her family might be behind it.

Picking the glass of water, he gulped it down and finally spoke: “Okay… take care.”

CLICK

As the call disconnected, Neil just stared into thin air with an empty gaze, unable to believe that Jane could do that.

They were so much in love, it was her who tried to get close to him first and her possessive behaviour.

He would have accepted separation from her just so he won’t end up holding her back, but her cold tone broke his heart.

Was it all meaningless? Did their time together mean nothing just because his talent was low?

Now Neil truly felt that he had lost a lot in that ceremony. Even the silence of the room felt so loud, the ring on his finger felt so heavy.

After a moment, he pulled it out and threw it away, feeling as if he had been punched in the guts.

May and Jane were the only two people he trusted and loved the most, but now he was left with nothing.

He decided to try to sleep, who knows, he just might die very soon.

***

On the other side, Jane felt just as sad and heartbroken, she couldn’t say those words to Neil so she had taken quite some time just to record that.

Asking her assistant to play it over the call.

Tears filled her eyes, knowing that her actions must have hurt him.

And she also knew what her father and grandfather wanted, but she would never allow them to succeed.

Only until she had gained enough strength in the Zoratian planet, would she keep her promise after that no one could stop her from getting back with Neil.

Rubbing her puffy eyes, she walked closer to the window, from where the sight outside was clearly visible. It was a screen but it seemed like an actual window.

’Neil, I will explain everything to you after reaching the Zoratian planet, not when those two are eavesdropping.’ Jane thought, gazing at the distant warship in which Neil must be travelling.

Above all, she wanted him to be safe.

Over the call, it was impossible for her to explain the reason and inform him that this is just a fake breakup.

After all, for Neil’s safety she had just promised her father and grandfather to break up with him, if they know she is still in contact with him, then those two will cause more trouble for Neil.

In the end, Jane could only pretend for now.

After the call was cut, she decided to at least send a message to him secretly; despite the risk, she just didn’t want the person she loved the most to suffer or feel sad.

But suddenly, her body trembled and she was thrown back.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!

There was a loud explosion that shook all the warships, Jane looked out of the window after stabilizing herself.

And shivered at the sight.

She saw that it was the warship number 7 which had exploded.

It was a complete mess and more than 30% of the ship was destroyed, many must have died, while lots were dragged outside into space.

Thankfully, their advanced suit instantly covered their bodies and provided a constant support of oxygen and protection.

Jane felt as if her heart was getting pricked by needles, she rushed forward, calling out his name.

But there was no way she could do anything.

…

Neil, who was lying on his bed with his eyes closed, suddenly smashed against the wall as a side of the warship exploded.

Then his body got thrown out into space as Neil lost his consciousness.

***

After an unknown period of time, as Neil finally came back to his senses, he felt some pain in one of his shoulder and arm.

There were light murmurs around him, blinking open his eyes, he took in the shocking sight around him.

He found himself trapped inside some sort of prison.

It was more like a cage with at least a hundred other surviving teenagers, some of whom had already woken up.

A frown appeared over his face as Neil sat up, looking around, he soon saw guards of a different race.

’The Lizzard race…? They were behind the explosion?’ Neil thought, feeling pain all over his body.

Their faces looked similar to a Lizzard with scales spreading across their bodies, and a human-like build with at least six feet height.

All the guards were holding guns and talking in a strange language that Neil couldn’t understand.

Normally they could add a translator to their suits but Neil’s bodysuit was the most basic so it didn’t have many features.

After all he didn’t have enough money, and his parents never sent anything.

Neil couldn’t recognize most of the teenagers, though he did remember one of them.

It was a boy named Lukas, who was quite rich but had awakened a similarly low talent.

“Neil… well fancy meeting you here.” Lukas muttered in a low voice as he scurried over, his face pale.

“What’s happening here? We were kidnapped…?” Neil couldn’t help but question at the absurdity of the whole situation.

Just then two men walked closer to the cell, they seemed to be higher ranked in the Lizzard race.

The two were talking something while gazing at the group, then they gave some order to the guards.

“W– What are they talking about?” Neil questioned, since Lukas’s bodysuit was definitely a lot better.

“Damnit my suit got damaged during the explosion, but they seemed to be searching for someone among us.” Lukas said, his translator was barely working.

The guards opened the door and began to pull one person outside at a time, the teenagers had no way of retaliating, they were powerless.

The two men laughed and continued to talk. Seemingly enjoying their suffering.

“The talented… damnit, this fucking translator haa they will also be selecting the talented ones among us to turn into slaves it seems, and throwing all others into some kind of death zone…”

Lukas’s face turned even paler, with their talents they would certainly be thrown in the death zone.

He was shivering, hugging his knees.

All the humans were extremely frightened, one moment they were filled with joy and suddenly they were thrown into prison.

Neil was also shocked, he couldn’t believe that after all the twists and turns, this is how his life comes to an end.

“Aaaaah I am going to kill you all!” Someone among the crowd, who also had a translator, could no longer hold back and rushed towards the two guards.

He activated his skill as his speed doubled but in the next moment, one of the Lizzard men flicked his finger and threw something that pierced through the boy’s head, killing him instantly.

A metallic coin was embedded into the boy’s head, as blood pooled around him.

All the surrounding children were even more terrified.

The two high ranked Lizzard men then had a verbal fight over killing one of the boy just like that.

Soon some guards cleared the dead body, as everyone watched the scene in horror.

One by one, all of them were getting dragged away and no one returned.

Not long after, Lukas was dragged away despite his struggle, and he disappeared from sight.

’There… is no escape.’ Neil sighed, there was a high chance these people might be searching for him, but it would be meaningless with his low talent.

Maybe they hadn’t heard about it yet, or maybe they are just searching for someone else.

…

A few minutes later, the guards came to get Neil.

’Sigh seems like I really won’t be meeting aunt May again, and J…’ Thinking of that certain girl, he was filled with anger and pain.

Their love, all the time together had ended just like that. He felt he knew everything about her, he knew how much she loved him but never expected Jane to change just like that.

It was a fact, women are always in search for someone better, richer, stronger…

This just might have been an act from the beginning, the thought made him despise Jane even more.

He forcefully pushed the thoughts of Jane out of his mind, she wasn’t the woman he believed her to be.

Neither worth wasting time thinking about in his remaining very short life.

The guards got him out of the cell and then gestured for him to follow, with four guards surrounding him.

Since Neil didn’t struggle meaninglessly, he wasn’t dragged away.

After passing through a long corridor, they entered an enormous hall that was filled with hundreds of Lizzard men.

The hall had lots of doors present across the walls and only one of the doors was open right now, which was emitting a bright light.

Several Lizzard men stood in front of the open door, along with a handful of human teens, though more than forty had already been dragged to this place.

It seemed most were already in that death zone or whatever.

’Are they throwing the low talent ones into that door? What even is that? Ah even Lukas isn’t here, so I must be right…’

Neil thought to himself, the light in his eyes dimmed, aware that death was close.

Forcefully shoving him in front of the door, one of the Lizzard man connected a cable to the bracelet on his wrist.

Then several men gazed at the large screen present over the wall where Neil’s synergy appeared.

Then another Lizzard man scanned his body with a strange looking scanner.

After a few moments, he checked the result and shook his head.

So it wasn’t him they were searching…?

And his talent was low too, so his fate was obvious.

Without wasting a moment, one of them pushed Neil into the door, inside which a round portal was present.

In the next instant, his body was sucked into the portal.

This was an area that had been declared as a death zone by the Lizzard men since any person, no matter how high talent they might have, died within moments in there.

This realm had existed there for a long time, and they had done all sorts of experiments, but each one resulted in causalities; sometimes even their most talented overconfident candidates had died.

So now this place was more of killing zone for them, no need to clear dead bodies or anything, just throw anyone inside and they would be gone forever.

❖❖❖

Thanks for reading…

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