Chapter 9: Awakening
Dapper alighted from the vehicle and glanced up at the massive structure, his hands tucked in his pockets. "Such a girthy structure."
Without wasting a moment, he strolled into the tower. The moment he entered, he spotted a crowd bustling inside, some descending from a huge escalator, others ascending through another just as massive.
In this vast hall-like space, hooded and masked figures stood silently, their faces fixed ahead. Dapper counted twenty at a glance and there were even more of them. His instincts, sharpened from years as a thief, immediately flagged them as security. Dangerous ones.
’If I were to steal in a setup like this, how would I pull it off, huh?’ Liam mused, his eyes darting about the space, his body tingling as adrenaline coursed through him. The sheer thought of stealing here thrilled him.
But he sighed and dismissed it. ’I already lived that life only to be cut down by some mid-tier commander whose yearly income couldn’t afford one of my watches. If I’m stealing in this world, I’ll be a grand thief.’
He hopped onto the escalator and soon arrived at another wide area that resembled a bank. People queued in orderly lines, collecting something before heading out through one of many numbered exits.
Dapper couldn’t make out what they were receiving as it was always clutched tightly in their palms. Some handicaps even tossed it into their mouths.
He joined one of the queues and, after several minutes, it was finally his turn.
"Your name and ID, please," a bespectacled female representative asked, her eyes glued to her monitor. Dapper fished his ID from his school bag and handed it over.
With a few sharp, annoyed clacks on the keyboard, she finally passed something to him—sealed in a thin plastic bag.
"You’re going to the fifth section of the Awakening Tower. Don’t open it until you get there," she said, waving him off so the next person could step up.