World Keeper

Chapter 971: Conspiracy

Chel’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the envelope in front of herself. This was, in many senses, her masterpiece of a void script. If everything worked according to her simulations, this would let her draw out the rogue ninja faction without bringing any harm to the rest of the world. I can’t let a group like that stay around when they’ve already expressed an interest in taking down the Keeper.

Chel wasn’t deadly loyal to the Keeper in the way that Terra was. Rather, she knew that James wouldn’t get another chance like this. She knew that this was the only life she’d have to live with him. If that meant protecting another Keeper from hidden threats… well, there was a reason she chose to become the Goddess of Security.

“I’ll be back in a bit!” Chel smiled back to the rest of the group as they were engrossed in their work. Barely anyone even noticed Chel hopping up from her seat and walking for the door, the envelope in her hand.

After exiting from the research center, Chel teleported into the distance, changing her appearance into that of a middle-aged kitsune with dark red hair. She suppressed her divinity, manipulated her own soul to cover the traces of her godhood, and even adjusted her own weight to lighten her steps. With that out of the way, she briefly practiced walking with her new gait, and made her way to an apartment complex not far away.

Officer Pike should be getting off work in ten minutes. According to his usual schedule, he will go for a twenty minute walk around town, during which he will hide from observation for ten minutes. After that, he will make his way back home, where he spends the rest of his day.

Confident that she had thirty-five minutes before the target reached his home, she walked to the mailroom of the apartment complex, finding the mailbox for apartment 318. After she pressed her finger against the lock, there was a faint click and the mailbox swung open. Seeing the rest of the mail inside, Chel simply placed the letter on top of the pile and closed the mailbox, letting it lock once again.

Let’s set up a security camera while I’m here. She thought to herself, making her way to the stairs. If she could get a camera inside of his apartment, she would have a better understanding of their operations. So, she casually made her way to the third floor, nodding her head at the various kitsune she passed along the stairs.

Chel kept that same smile, seeing as everyone she passed watched her for a moment. She walked to the door of apartment 318, and then… continued walking, making sure to control her expression. This is worse than I thought. She muttered inwardly, a kind old woman with greying hair moving to greet her.

“Well, hello there, dear. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. Did you just move in?” She asked curiously, her hands placed over one another in front of her stomach. 

Chel simply put on her best, naive smile. “Oh, no! I was looking for a place to rent, though, and I heard that the prices here were pretty reasonable, so I was thinking of getting an apartment. Do you have any recommendations?” Test their responses. Will they try to chase me away to protect their secrecy… Watching the reactions of everyone she had passed so far, she was certain that every resident on this floor, the old woman included, was part of the group that she was looking for.

The woman seemed to think about that for a moment. “Hmm. Well, the place does have its charm, I suppose. If you’d like, you can look at the layout of my apartment, and see if it is to your liking?”

Chel blinked in surprise, her smile widening. “That would be lovely! Oh, though I wouldn’t want to impose or anything.” She said in a bright tone, her mind racing. They’re willing to invite me in and entice me to stay. Either they plan to convert me here, or they are preparing to do so in the future if I decide to move in. They’re confident that they can get anyone they want with minimal preparations.

The old woman nodded her head, turning and leading Chel towards a nearby door. “Oh, it’s no trouble at all, dear. Things have been a bit quiet lately, so it would be good to have some fresh company around.”

Chel nodded her head, moving along behind the woman before blinking again. “Ah, give me just a moment, someone’s messaging me.” She said, before holding a hand up to her ear. This was a common practice when using the private messaging system in public, to let people know that you were busy with another conversation.

The woman glanced back at Chel curiously, having not yet opened her door. However, she seemed to be watching the changes in Chel’s expression, how her eyes and mouth moved to silently convey her message to the other party.

‘Sorry, sis. Was out apartment shopping. Yes, I know. I know.  Okay, I’ll be back home in just a few minutes.’ The woman deciphered Chel’s communication through watching these subtle gestures. When Chel brought her hand down from her ear, she let out a sullen sigh.

“Sorry, family call. Looks like I don’t really have the time for an apartment tour today. Would it be alright if I took you up on that offer later?” She asked in a hopeful tone, the older woman nodding her head.

“Of course, dear.” She smiled, before writing out her contact information. “Just call me anytime you’d like. I don’t really go anywhere, so I’m usually at home.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks!” Chel nodded her head, giving her own number to the older woman. Of course, the number that she gave was to one of Chel’s multiple dummy devices, rather than her personal communication terminal. After exchanging numbers, Chel turned and jogged to the stairs, careful to maintain her weight and a natural hurried pace. She didn’t even spare a glance at apartment 318 the entire time, certain that someone would see her do so.

I was lucky that nobody was in the mailroom to see me stash the letter, but… why was there somebody in 318? Although she had never stopped in front of the door, Chel could hear sounds coming from the interior of the apartment. Someone walking around while listening to the news. According to the information on Officer Pike, he lives alone. There also weren’t any letters in his mailbox addressed to anyone else.

Once Chel made her way out of the apartment complex, she turned and walked down the sidewalk, doing her best to look natural. Her eyes glanced up at the window of the apartment building, quickly finding the window to room 318. Her eyes twitched for a moment as she saw Brian Pike standing in the window, observing the street below.

He has a double… Chel had never been able to get security footage from inside the apartment complex, and now she knew why. It was likely that every resident in the complex had been taken over, perhaps even the management staff. This is bigger than I thought.

As she walked, Chel noticed that she was being followed. It was always two people, following her from at least a block away. They only kept her in the corner of their vision, but were careful to never lose sight of her. Every few blocks, they would be replaced by two other individuals. Chel internally clicked her tongue. She had said that she needed to go home to meet her family, so she navigated to one of the safehouses that she had bought long ago.

Each safehouse that Chel had prepared had a different living situation, all managed by avatars of Chel herself. The one that she chose this time was occupied by a single avatar disguised as a kitsune woman just older than Chel’s current appearance. Once inside the house, she quickly connected to the internet, using her divine power to manufacture information about her current identity. With how cautious they’re being, there is a good chance that they will look into my identity later. I need to register that dummy device as this identity’s official number…

In a way, this safehouse had been rendered unusable in the future, at least until the current situation was dealt with. After she had made sure that the history of her current identity went far enough back that even Chel herself wouldn’t be overly suspicious, she split off another avatar of herself as her current appearance.

Chel hissed slightly as she split off a fragment of her soul, imbuing it into the avatar to give it more autonomy. If she had to manually control every avatar for every safehouse she was managing, her mind wouldn’t be able to handle the strain. After all, many of them were not even on Deckan.

With the situation on this side dealt with, Chel immediately teleported out and back to the other side of Ashtanu, returning to her normal appearance before making her way back to the research center. There were at least sixty individuals dedicated purely to the security of that area. If we take into account the possibility of everyone in the building being replaced, that number increases threefold. Does every agent have similar security, or is Officer Pike a higher ranking member?

Chelsea had a complicated look on her face, making her way into the research center, only to find James waiting for her. Chelsea blinked for a moment, before smiling wryly and bringing her soul out of her body for inspection. “I had to split a bit off to establish an avatar, before you mention the disparity.”

She knew James was sweeping over her with his special energy sense, so she didn’t want to leave a reason for him to be suspicious of her. “...How was it?” He asked once he was satisfied.

“Worse than I thought… way worse.” Chel shook her head solemnly. “I had to activate the third safehouse in the city.”

“They tailed you all the way back?” James blinked in surprise, before his face became more serious. “Were you able to leave the letter?”

“Thankfully, there was nobody in the mailroom when I arrived. They only took notice of me once I took the stairs up. Also, the cop has a body double that stays at home. Which means that he probably disguises himself as someone else from the building to leave after he gets off work.”

Officer Pike let out a soft sigh as he returned to his apartment, making a brief stop along the way to pick up his mail. “Any activity?” He asked at the front desk, flipping through the different envelopes. He immediately threw away the bills, as they were all set to automatic payments, as well as the junk mail and spam.

“Nothing much. Couple of people coming by to check out the apartments, but Ms Habberdy dealt with them.” The man at the counter spoke up while flipping through a magazine. Brian gave a small nod, looking at the two letters left in his hands. One was from an informant sending information relating to an active case. The other… was from his wife. Not Brian Pike’s wife… the wife of the man he used to be.

The officer’s hand trembled slightly, sending a brief glance at the landlord before making his way up to his room. There, he found his avatar sitting down and watching the news as usual, and he made his way to the bedroom to read the letter. How did they find me? He asked himself, knowing that he had avoided any ninja-run businesses in the area. Not an easy task in itself, but he had managed it.

Once in his room, he opened the envelope and pulled the paper out. His gaze went empty as he looked at the paper, which depicted swirling lines surrounding an eyeless face, mouth hanging open in a silent scream. The image seemed to almost come alive in front of him, reaching out of the paper to grab at his wrists.

A few moments later, the hands retracted back into the page, which dissolved in his hand. The envelope soon followed suit, neither being left as evidence. Immediately afterwards, Brian blinked and shook his head. He looked down at his hands, opening the second letter to read with no memory of the first.