Chương 370: Chapter 360 - Between Two Worlds

The atmosphere in the chamber was heavy as Pablo finished speaking. Each new piece of information hit Alonso harder than the last. First, the fact the whole world had seen them in the white rooms, displayed like some kind of sick reality show, and then the fact that those who died… appeared back on Earth. If he wasn't sure the person before him was his friend, he would have called all this bullshit, but… It was clear it was not.

"Wait a moment… people outside… can see us?!" Ayu's eyes widened, her gut twisting. After all… Pablo shook his head.

"No. Well… only the white rooms had constant transmission. After that, we didn't get anything. But… it's hard to say if, after we entered, it remained the same," Pablo said. Ayu sighed in relief. Alonso did too. But the part pressing on him was not just the visuals. It was the other truth sitting like a weight in his chest.

"About what you said, the returnees and all… is it for everyone? Everyone who died inside was really brought back?" Pablo nodded.

"Yes. Without exceptions. For Gen-1, one million of you were brought in and…" he glanced at the counter on the wall.

"... six are left. So yeah, everyone else should be back. Though, death on Earth is still permanent. And no, deaths on Earth don't leave behind an orb or vanish the corpse." Alonso leaned forward.

"So… if we were to die right now…" Pablo nodded. He did not hide it. Some of Leonhard's men had wanted the truth kept quiet to ensure Gen-1 stayed with them, but Leonie had been against that. And so was he. They had the right to know. They had the right to choose. Alonso remained silent. So The Tower was real? They were truly in their real bodies inside whatever this space was and… it was some sort of challenge to humanity?

"So what do you know of The Tower? Have people on Earth managed to find any more information about it, or the alien civilization behind it? What happens if we fail?"

"That's… a lot of questions," Pablo said, voice low.

"But the answer is short: we don't know. It is as mysterious as it was at the start." He paused.

"We were sent 77 days after the first of you cleared the white rooms, so around 80 days since you were summoned into The Tower. In those eighty days, Earth changed… a lot. But from The Tower we have only gotten visuals and the signal preparing us for the Second Ascent. There has been nothing more."

"Are the people on Earth safe?" Ayu asked.

"What has happened to our families back there?"

"That… they should be fine," Pablo said.

"The government and…" he paused, unsure how much he should disclose of what Leonie had shared. Perhaps he should wait for her to explain it herself.

"The government has been providing assistance to returnees and their families, and especially… for you, the survivors of Gen-1," he said.

"Heck, they built an entire military base around Sugarloaf Peak and had me and Jack waiting for you up there."

"What!?"

"Yeah, things really escalated after only a few of you remained," Pablo said, remembering those insane weeks. Alonso blinked.

"Damn… so we are, like… famous out there? On Earth?"

"Famous? That's an understatement," Pablo said with a grin.

"At one point, you lot had hundreds of fan sites, your faces were well known, and you even had cool toys made." Alonso's jaw dropped slightly. As far as he was concerned, the only time he was on the news was when he had the car accident.

"What about the rest of us?" Ayu asked.

"Oh, yeah, most of Gen-1 was pretty well known by that point…" Pablo hesitated, genuinely confused.

"If I may ask—have you changed? Because I remember clearly, and you're… not the same Ayu we were shown back then. But there was only one Ayu in the Ascent roster, so…"

"Yes," she said, not really surprised.

"Do you know about the Beastmen from the last stage?" Pablo nodded.

"Well, I took the gene enhancement from their ancestral site. My body changed because of it." Pablo blinked. The Ayu before him looked nothing like the beastlike Leonhard and his men. Unless she had some way to hide it…

"Pardon, but… you mean you became a Beastman?"

"Not exactly. I took the one that keeps me human."

"Huh?" He had never heard of such a variant. Leonhard certainly hadn't mentioned it. Odd. But then again, he'd never entered that site himself… so maybe it existed. Perhaps it was a weaker serum with no outward changes? Alonso leaned forward again, his thoughts heavy. On one side, he felt genuine relief knowing that those who had died had returned. Arjun, Mei, the others… they were probably back with their families now. That was good. Also… it meant all those he had killed… probably lived too.

The realisation loosened something inside him. A pressure he had taught himself to carry. A weight he had built his spine around. Yet he could not deny the quiet release that came with knowing it. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. This new information changed a lot. But more than the past, it was the present that pressed on him. They now had a ticket back to Earth. A way to leave The Tower. Will they take it? … He needed time to process all of it.

And more importantly… he needed more information.

"You said Earth changed a lot in those eighty days after we were gone. What happened?" Pablo took a breath.

"Well… an actual alien tower appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a million people vanished overnight, then came back with powers, we started getting visuals of you all fighting monsters, and—yeah, you can imagine life wasn't exactly going to stay 'normal' after that," he said.

"But surprisingly, the chaos was much smaller than you'd think. Not that there wasn't chaos—there was plenty. Some returnees went crazy, we had massacres, weird new sects popping up everywhere, global fear, uncertainty… all of that." He paused, expression shifting into something more thoughtful.

"And yet, humanity actually held together better than expected. The United Nations did something for once and pushed the whole 'common enemy' narrative. The Tower became the thing we all had to unite against. And it worked. They made the Climbers heroes—rightfully so. They used you all as an example of hope, courage… purpose for the rest."

"The rest?" Alonso frowned.

"Well… us," Pablo said.

"The Second Ascent. And maybe others after. We don't really know. The Tower message announcing it stated: ' First Tier ascended. Second Ascent in 77 days.' It happened around the time the white rooms were finished, so we believe there's some kind of correlation between that and whatever a Tier is."

"So… a Second Tier must be completed for another Ascent to be triggered?" Alonso asked. Pablo shrugged.

"Not sure. As I said, that single message is all we have to guide us. The mechanics of The Tower are unclear. We don't even know what a Tier really is yet, though there's some speculation. But… we're treating ourselves as the last batch just in case," he said quietly.

"As in, no more people coming in. No more humans showing up beside us." Alonso's gaze narrowed. Pablo sighed.

"We can't be certain. But there's a very real possibility that we're all that is left inside The Tower." Alonso exhaled, his gaze drifting downward as the weight of it sank in. The idea of being the final group settled heavily in the room, slowing every breath.

"Is there a way to come back into The Tower after becoming a returnee?" he asked. Pablo shook his head.

"Not that we know. However, two of us, meaning two of the twenty-nine that arrived now, were also from Gen-1." Alonso frowned.

"What… who?"

"You probably don't know them," Pablo said.

"They never reached the second stage. One died in the Oasis and the other in the white rooms." Ayu's eyes narrowed. The memories from the Oasis stirred immediately, sharp and unwelcome. If it was one of the men involved back then…

"And the one who died in the Oasis is?" Ayu asked. Her voice was quiet, but the weight behind it settled over the room like a stone sinking into deep water. Pablo felt the shift immediately. The warmth in the air rose, slow at first, then more pronounced. It was not just heat. It felt charged. Heavy. He glanced instinctively at Alonso. Alonso had gone still. His eyes were fixed on Ayu, expression steady, controlled. Yet Pablo sensed something beneath that calm. A pressure. A quiet readiness.

The faintest ripple of intent that matched Ayu's, not as wild as hers, but cold enough to make Pablo straighten in his seat.

"Well," Pablo said carefully.

"It is one of Leonhard's seven. A man named Ian." Ayu did not speak. She closed her eyes for half a second, as if something old and painful broke through the surface of her mind. Her lashes lifted slowly. Her gaze sharpened.

"Ian…" she murmured. Something stirred behind her. Pablo could not describe it properly. The light in the room seemed to draw toward her, just a fraction. The air thickened further, as if responding to something primal waking inside her chest. For a moment he felt the echo of an animal baring its teeth. She searched her memory, then suddenly froze as recognition hit her. Her brow tightened.

"Is he tall? Pale? And bald?"

"That… yes," Pablo answered.

"He was bald before transforming. And pale. I think that's him." Ayu straightened. Her posture changed, every line of her body tense and focused. Her presence felt raw, dangerous, almost animalistic. The temperature continued to rise. Alonso's expression hardened too. Not as visible or as intense, but more like… a sword being drawn. Pablo felt it—whatever this Ian had done… it was not good. This was not looking good. Ayu's voice dropped to a calm, icier tone.

"Where is he?" Before the shocked Pablo could respond, Alonso sent her a private transmission." He'll be in his room. Right now… we have to wait. And according to what Pablo just told us, even if he dies here, he'll just be sent back to Earth, and that… can be a problem for the people there." Ayu's fangs clenched." Then I'll fucking kill him back on Earth too. Him… and all the others." Alonso understood her perfectly.

Even if he didn't know Ian's exact role, if it was in any way connected to Hughes and what happened before he reached the Oasis—when Ayu had nearly been… He felt the thought twist inside him. He wished he could slice that bastard into pieces and kill him slowly. However—" He's not worth affecting our decision to return or not. He's nothing, Ayu. And… we'll find a way to deal with him and the others," Alonso transmitted, holding her hand and feeling the heat pulsing through her blood." They will pay. I promise."

Ayu's heartbeat thudded heavy. She pressed his hand a little harder, closed her eyes slowly, and after a few seconds of silence, exhaled." Thanks." Alonso stared at her. His heart felt heavy. His eyes narrowed. Ian, huh…

"Do you have a leader of sorts?" he asked Pablo. Pablo blinked, finally snapping out of it. That pressure… had felt too damn real. It almost felt like the Beastmen skill Predator's Dominion, yet there were no tell signs of it.

"Well, yes, we do, though the leadership is kind of divided in two. We have The Shadows, a group I am part of, under Leonie, and then another group, mostly Beastmen now, under Leonhard." Wait… Leonie? That name rang a bell, where… no… it had to be a coincidence, right? Still, he couldn't help but ask.

"Is this Leonie by any chance—" Pablo nodded.

"Yes, she's Lukas' sister."