John was a normal young man.
Twenty years old, he was currently enrolled in one of his city’s colleges.
He was one of those enthusiasts who were curious about the ground reality.
So, since he was fourteen, he went to all sorts of online forums, groups, and panels to know the truth and only the truth.
He knew full well about Enigma’s deeds. And his admiration towards her was so much that he even tried to contact Shadow Guardians online.
Thus, when Enigma’s “true goal” was revealed, his world turned upside down.
The hero in his heart turned out to be a despicable villain.
The evidence was irrefutable.
It had only been a few days since that incident, but John’s mind was still preoccupied with Enigma’s hunt.
“Why haven’t they caught her yet?” He complained.
Then, he did what most of his peers did.
He scrolled through his social media.
“Again?” The biggest headline was the ‘traitors’ being beaten up and tortured in the gamma expo.
“I wonder if people are sadists? Or else why is this news this popular for so long?” John shook his head and scrolled down.
Then came the interviews of Cail Xander and Princess Iris Xander.
John’s face had a complicated emotion as he looked at these two people.
In the past, he despised the Xanders. But realizing their deeds, he couldn’t help but respect them.
With a sigh, he scrolled down when he suddenly noticed something was weird.
News… a piece of news was visibly climbing up the leaderboard rankings.
Five seconds passed and John opened his mouth in shock.
100, 95, 90…
Fifteen seconds passed. John stood up dumbfounded. He still couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
80, 70, 60…
Thirty seconds passed and John quickly checked the other social media platforms—both regional and solar.
It was the same piece of news. It was the same anonymous source.
But the speed of the climb remained the same.
A single minute passed.
1.
The news finally reached the apex position on the leader boards.
“Gulp.” John looked at the different leaderboards on the seven holograms and gulped. They all had the same news.
(Enigma isn’t a threat. She is a victim.}
The title was absurd. John wondered who even dared to post it. Even if they were anonymous, the federation could track them down.
“But why did it climb the rankings then?” He narrowed his eyes and clicked on the title.
The hologram flashed a blue light and the plain white background was gone.
The relatively 2-D hologram till then turned 3-D as a small forest occupied John’s room.
In the middle of the forest was a dome-shaped lab building.
Outside the building, an old man stood with a small smile.
“Uranus’ most famous scientist!” John knew this old man. His friends who were in the research stream described him as the closest we ever got to a legend.
“Hello, fellow human.” The old man began.
“We were under the assumption that Enigma is a principal threat, however, it is all false.” He took out what seemed to be a strange black disc and started drawing out strange calculations.
John could follow it for a few seconds, but soon, he had no idea what was going on.
So, he skipped to the end and found the old man saying.
“This proves that any information going out of the solar system is getting blocked by items like these. And to repeat it again, Abyssals have plenty of them on Pluto.” The Old Man said in a hushed tone.
Then, his eyes glowed fiercely as he declared. “As the head of the Uranus research committee, I am throwing every single scientist of the solar system.
You can check the authenticity of this video with technocrats. You can personally send out messages and track them. You can verify if those messages are being bounced back or not through my formula.
I dare you all, PROVE ME WRONG!”
“…”
John blankly stared at the hologram. The next thing he knew, he lost the strength in his knees and plopped on his butt.
“H-How can it be?” He muttered in a broken voice.
He used to rever her but then hated her. Now, he’s being told that the charges against her were all false?
“No way!” John shook his head fiercely.
Fortunately or unfortunately, humans were creatures of habit. They resisted change.
So, John decided he wouldn’t change his opinion on Enigma from this one post.
But once given the right incentive, humans were also extremely adept at changing.
“I will let the other scientists debunk it! Venus scientists are more than enough.” He said to himself and searched for the relevant links.
As expected, even though it had been less than half an hour since the news was uploaded, there were already hundreds of ‘expert’ responses.
John’s lips broke into a hopeful smile and he selected the expert with the most followers—one of mercury’s leading scientists.
A thin woman with red hair and straight brows appeared on the hologram.
“I will prove you wrong in five minutes.” She said and started the experiment.
John watched in anticipation.
One minute passed. Two minutes passed…five minutes passed.
The confidence on her face was nowhere to be found as a solemn expression appeared on her face.
“No…but why…is this the reason?” She muttered incoherently and despite getting negative results, she continued.
In the end, twenty minutes passed with the redhead trying multiple times to ‘prove’ that this ‘message bounce back’ was all fake.
After all, how could anyone lock down the solar system…right?
“Arghhh! I stand corrected. This is indeed verifiable. Guys, it’s official! Enigma threat is a hoax.” The redhead yelled.
John’s body trembled as his face turned as pale as a sheet of paper. His heart pounded for the truth, but his brain couldn’t accept such a result.
Begrudgingly, he pressed for the next famous scientist.
“….bless you. The proposed theory holds true! Indeed, Enigma’s threat is fake!”
John felt his heart drop as he checked out the other experts. They all gave the same answer.
Of course, he encountered one or two who didn’t agree and showed why the proof is wrong.
But they were all quickly corrected by the real scientists. Soon, tens of thousands of verifications filled a pool and were still filling.
Amidst all this, Neptune’s science academy released a video.
“…We verify this is true. This news is going to be declared on the planet level.”
“Fuck!” John cursed out in shock.
With an academy themselves proving it to be true, there could be nothing more convincing.