Evolution of the Ruined Heir

Chapter 291: Act

They were screwed.

The thought seemed to resonate within Riven’s head.

He didn’t say it aloud. Didn’t need to. His wide eyes and pale face said everything for him.

“So, you get it now. The base is no longer safe,” Rhett said quietly.

Riven slowly nodded. “Yeah. I get it…” he muttered, then added under his breath, “I really, really hate that I do.”

He still missed his games and equipment, but now that Rhett had explained the situation, he realized what was more important.

There was a long silence.

Then Riven sighed and slumped into the booth’s seat like he’d just aged ten years. Rhett had released his hold over his blood since he calmed down.

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Riven mumbled. He looked like he was begging himself to stop speaking, but still continued either way.

“But I think I might be useful.”

Rhett raised an eyebrow immediately. Malakai’s plan banked on what he’d just asked Riven being possible. He knew nothing about how their lifeguard systems worked. Of the squad, Riven was the only one with that knowledge.

“The thing is… the city uses pulse stations to map the entire stronghold. That means they’re using mapped signatures fed to the main control station through regional relay points. It’s possible, if we can get to the main relay point.”

Rhett’s voice turned sharper. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” Riven replied, sitting up straighter now. “But like I said, we need access to the main relay point.”

Riven could practically see the question marks around Rhett’s face. He sighed.

“It should be located at the main Blood Guardian base. Where the Warden resides.”

Rhett’s expression darkened. “That’s going to be complicated.”

“I’m glad you think so too,” Riven smiled. “I think it’s best we just relocate, Captain. I heard Ironhold is good this time of year. Perfect for our squad.”

The Blood Guardians’ Warden was the most rigid man Rhett had ever met. There was no way he’d allow something like this.

“We can’t,” Rhett shook his head. “There’s a possibility that Renlo has been captured.”

“Who?”

Rhett sent Riven a glare. “He’s one of our squad mates. Look, we’re not leaving. We can’t abandon him. We have to find a way past this.”

Riven sighed. He seemed to think for a bit before he shook his head. He was already regretting his decision. “There’s another way.”

That grabbed Rhett’s attention.

“I’ll still need access to the main pulse station, but only for a second, until I can plant this.” He placed a small object on the table.

“This is—”

“Save the explanation,” Rhett cut him off. “After planting it, what next?”

“We use one of the other pulse stations,” Riven replied.

“They don’t secure the other city’s mapper stations as heavily as the main one. It’s low priority because no one ever thinks to touch them. They only transmit, not receive. But if I get into one in the Kaer Thorn district, I can backtrack the data stream to the central AI’s predictive logs and inject some false returns.”

“False returns?”

“I’ll trick the system into thinking Malakai and the squad are either not in the city or exactly where we want them to be. If I feed it consistent ghost pings and loop their last confirmed position, it won’t question it.”

Rhett blinked. “You… you actually know all this?”

Riven shrugged. “I’ve lived here for a while, Captain. Doesn’t mean I leave my room, but I read… a lot. And I might’ve hacked the MapperNet once or twice. For fun.”

“I’ve always thought you were insane.”

“No, I’m brilliant,” Riven corrected. “Insane is doing all this and not saving my game backups first.”

Rhett shook his head, smiling.

“Let’s go.”

Under the cover of the loud music and glowing lights, they both left the club and ventured into the night.

Once they were out, Rhett assumed a persona no one would ever suspect. He’d bought one large bottle of wine before they left the club.

And the duo made their way through the streets, Rhett drinking, swaying and barely able to walk, and Riven with a permanent deep scowl on his face.

He kept sending fear ridden glances around, constantly asking Rhett the same question. What the hell were they doing out in the open?

After everything Rhett had explained, Riven had expected so much secrecy. He’d half expected them to fly through the air. At the very least, walking in the middle of the street should be off the table.

But Rhett ignored his whispered question each time, choosing to keep up his drunken act.

’Please please, I hope I didn’t make the wrong decision.’

Riven was regretting his choice. Just who the hell was he trusting right now…

Rhett? The same person every single Blood Knight in Sylvastein knew as waste? He’d made the wrong decision!

Riven found his heart beating fast, his vision blurring. He was about to faint and hit the ground when he felt control of his blood being snatched away.

He felt his heartbeat stabilizing, the blood rushing through his head calming. He turned to see Rhett send him a glare.

The captain pretended to trip and fell toward him.

Riven instinctively tried to catch him only to see that he wasn’t heavy in the least bit. He felt the captain’s breath in his ears.

“We’re being watched. We have to keep up this act or they’ll ignore the fact that I’m a Bloom and we’ll be targeted too.”

Riven’s eyes shook and he had to force himself from glancing around to search for the tail. He suddenly realized why he was still alive.

’Because the captain’s a Bloom.’

He cleared his throat and nodded. Rhett moved away from him and continued his drunken walk.

The walk went on for a long while and Riven was trying to determine just what their plan here was. His confusion intensified when they left the Kaer Thorn district and entered the main city, Sylvastein.

Source: .com, updated by novlove.com

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!