Dr. Thomas entered a giant blue rhombus building in the restricted area of the Academy of Sciences.
It was his private research facility. Funded by the federation, it had all the state-of-the-art technology he needed and more.
His projects received ample funds and he had the backing every researcher wished for.
The pupils he received over the years went on to become leading researchers and amassed massive influence, which in turn increased his clout in academia.
Coupled with his own groundbreaking discoveries over his relatively short career, he was seen as one of the leaders in the community. Even the federation took his opinions seriously.
As such, no one would've expected that this was a man who was living many science students' dream life was worse than a psychopath.
He hated his own race. And wished for it to burn.
Why?
Why would a man be so bitter and resentful of his own kind?
Was he born this way?
No. He too wished for a normal life. A loving family, a successful career, and a hopeful future.
He was heavily influenced by the ideals of justice and equality.
And then it happened.
His parents, two working civilians in a corporate company became 'collaterals'.
Were they sacrificed due to abyssals? No. Magic beasts. No!
Two young masters of prominent families apparently lost their tempers and fought it out in the middle of a city.
The result was hundreds of casualties.
In them were his parents.
His world nearly collapsed that day, if not for the ideals he still believed.
Using all the inheritance money he had, and went to the courts. The young masters did get punished.
The jail term of 10 years.
…motherfucking 10 years?!
They took hundreds of lives and were punished for 10 years? Was that it? Was that all their lives amounted to?
Where was Justice? Where was Equality?
Having grown as a sheltered child until then, the incident really broke all his shells and possibly his mind.
'Justice and Equality are illusions by the strong to enslave the weak.' Was his realization.
Every court case which treated high rankers differently from mid rankers and mid rankers from low rankers only strengthened his belief.
The world was unfair. Your treatment only depended on the level of your divine path.
It didn't matter if you committed a crime. It didn't matter if lives were lost and families were destroyed.
Except for the victims' families, no one, absolutely no one gave a fuck about the injustice.
Forget high awakeners and powerful people, even fellow commoners, the fellow middle class didn't give them another glance.
They went on with their daily work. For it didn't happen to them, they acted as if it was never gonna be their problem.
Those apathetic eyes—selfish, uncaring, and indifferent really hit him hard.
Every day, at least a hundred civilians were labeled as casualties across the federation because of some powerful awakeners' dispute.
36,500 people per year.
Nearly 1 million people died after his parents for the same reason.
Of course, Thomas never cried since that day. He made it his goal to make the world cry.
He wanted it to burn. And he'd watch it with a smile on his face.
Watching the selfish and crude humans feel helpless like the victims they ignored.
And that's why he devoted all his being to his goal. He knew he had no talent for being a warrior.
So, he joined the academy of sciences, grew his clout, and climbed the ladder step by step.
After decades of dedication, his hard work finally seemed to yield.
The first step was with the death of Enigma.
"Ke~keke. Is her death really that helpful?" Thomas chuckled and asked the hologram projecting from a red sphere, the alpha orb.
The Abyssal in the hologram nodded with a pleased expression. "She is a big obstacle. Perhaps the only obstacle.
If not for her, we'd have already conquered the cluster cities and Uranus. Neptune would've followed.
In a year, the human race would've gone extinct. It's a pity she…"
"That bitch!" Thomas slapped the desk and growled. "Saving humanity? Trying to be a hero? For these rotten creatures?"
Then he covered his face. "He…Hehehe…Kekeke."
Creepy laughter began to leak from his closed mouth.
He looked at the abyssal and grinned. "So, that's why you helped my research, eh. Good, good."
The method to determine if Enigma was alien was partially assisted by abyssals. If not for them, it'd have taken one more year of research.
"Did you give them the treasure?" The Archduke asked Thomas with a solemn face.
Thomas smiled widely. "It's an interesting piece of treasure. Even I'll need a few days to decod—"
"Dr. Thomas, did you give the clients the treasure?" The Archduke furrowed his brows and repeated.
Thomas waved his hands in a generous manner. "Of course, I did. I even told them the truth about Enigma's age. I also added that she might be trying to communicate with her race, cause why not?"
"…She can't communicate." The archduke muttered.
"Huh?" Thomas raised a brow.
"Never mind." The abyssal shook his head and changed the topic. "How is your next invention?"
Thomas' eyes brightened. "It's done. With this used by the military, the fun will only begin."
"Haha! Good! If you need assistance, don't hesitate to contact us." The Abyssal said and ended the call.
"Assistance, eh." Thomas shook his head with a mocking smile. "You guys are cowards. You had the power to destroy humans, but you backed out since the price is too high. Tsk. Tsk. Without some sacrifice, how will the world know pain?"
Speaking of pain, his eyes brightened.
"I wonder how Enigma reacts to her fate. He…Kekeke."
At the same time as his creepy laughter resounded in the lab, Xia was focusing on her special bracelet.
On a hologram attached to it, the earth was shown along with a fast-moving redpoint.
"Enigma, you're done.." Xia took Rudolf and chased Enigma.