I Became The Administrator of A Sacred Ground
Chapter 48: Clash of Clans

Chapter 48: Clash of Clans

From the hallway windows, Euri and some of his fellow students stared at the chaos in front of the teachers’ building in a stunned silence. Principal Serique was sweating bullets as he tried to explain to the news reporters that he had no idea about the intel they claimed to have received.

Smaller groups of students were running in and out of the hallway to collect bits and pieces of the interview.

"It’s official, guys! They’ve confirmed it! The intel was sent to these outlets from a legitimate source. The sender showed them live data from the tests."

"Also, it seems like the sender wasn’t acting outside their authority. They proved that they had enough power over this project to authorize the leak!"

"Could it be one of the five superhumans we met on the roof?"

"What’s the benefit for them in leaking the news? Then again, the news piece itself is a little absurd. How are all of us qualifying past the base requirements? Is the bar set too low or what?"

"Stupid, if the bar was that low, why would the data attract the attention of so many news outlets? It’s clear by their enthusiasm that our results have been nothing short of monstrous!"

"...Are... Are we really that awesome? Our whole class?"

The inference seemed doubtful. Nobody could quite believe it that easily. And it wasn’t long before someone picked out the big flaw in the narrative.

"Hey, we still have one test left. It couldn’t be possible for all of us to qualify without taking the last test. So whoever has leaked the news that 80 students of our school have shown unusually high potential for the superhuman path and been accepted by Red Sea Labs.... They published some false data, at least partially."

The realization sent a wave of nervousness through the students. Euri, still watching the principal handling dozens of interviewers far away, shook his head in dismay.

"What is it?" Jaakie elbowed him in the ribs. Euri looked at the density of students nearby and discreetly walked over to a spot in the hallway where he wouldn’t be heard, with Jaakie following his steps curiously.

"Remember when I was eavesdropping on that group of superhumans on the rooftop? I heard enough at that time to make some guesses about what’s happening here," he explained, leaving Jaakie looking stunned.

"Bro, I was standing right beside you there. You were eavesdropping on them the whole time? How come I didn’t hear anything? I thought you just knew that they were sitting on top of the tank."

Euri’s face darkened. "Are you really focusing on THAT? That’s not the point of what I’m telling you, idiot!"

"Okay, okay!" Jaakie threw his hands up in the air and said, "Enlighten us with your fine analysis, sir detective."

"The leader of the group, Nadir Bloodfly, is not in a comfortable position in Red Sea Labs. The forces that run Peacock District are far from being friendly towards the descendant of a foreign clan.

"This project is his first landmark of influence in our city. So messing with this project is the same as messing up the expansion of the Bloodfly Clan."

"...Well, shit."

Jaakie glanced behind them, scanning the crowd of students busy in their frenzied speculations. Their overall sentiment was in a tug-of-war between hope and nervousness; hope because of the news that they had all qualified; nervousness because of the fact that the news was likely to be fabricated.

"If that’s the case, then whoever leaked this news clearly wants to deal a deadly blow to the Bloodfly Clan’s descendant. Once it turns out that the intel is fake-"

"No, no, nope. I don’t think so," Euri muttered, recalling the low-volume discussions of the three employees operating the spherical machine in the second test.

Their discussion was actually far more informative than the conversation among the five superhumans. But he couldn’t tell Jaakie that without explaining how he had heard them through the walls of the machine when the rest of the class couldn’t.

"What did I say wrong?" Jaakie asked indignantly.

"Try to see this from the point of view of the ill-wisher of Nadir Bloodfly. They want his project to fail, if possible. The first block of the domino chain was the issues that arose in the AI-operated first test. It’s not difficult to understand that not all 80 of us were supposed to pass.

"Now, what did Nadir Bloodfly do in response? He investigated the matter, changed the whole schedule of their activities today, and conducted a formal introduction before leaving abruptly. Where could they have gone?

"Obviously, the headquarters of Red Sea Labs is their destination. They left to confront the matter at its root!"

"Wait, how are you so sure that it’s the headquarters they’ve flown off to-" Jaakie couldn’t finish the question before Euri silenced him.

"On the train today, I saw them flying here from the Heart Zone of the city. I was on the train. They left in the same direction."

"That makes sense."

"Now, as I was saying, it’s hard to imagine that a secretive, suddenly announced project of a company could be manipulated by external forces. Someone from the company definitely helped create the problems in the test!"

"...Euri, bro," Jaakie began interrupting in a weak voice.

"Don’t you think your guesses are running too wild? You’re making up shit for the sake of it, at this point. Do you have to stoop so low to prove me wrong?"

"Shut up and listen to me. You need to hear the whole thing," Euri continued, undeterred.

"Since we can assume that this unknown enemy inside Red Sea Labs wants the recruitment project to fail today, they obviously must have some alternative plans to stop any rescheduling of the tests. The obstacles they’ve created are not too big to bypass.

"This also means that there’s going to be some major internal conflicts within the Red Sea Labs soon. It’ll pretty much be a clans-versus-clans proxy war. Why would they be stupid enough to publicize the news about today’s test in a positive light, then? It could be traced back to them easily and foil whatever scheme they’re cooking!"

"Then who could’ve done it? Who leaked the false news?" Jaakie asked, gradually becoming convinced by his logic.

"Who else has access to the live data about the test? Who has the authority and channels deep enough to convince so many news outlets of a lie, and summon them to our school so quickly?"

Jaakie’s pupils shrank. "You’re not referring to..."

"Nadir Bloodfly. That’s exactly who I’m referring to," Euri replied confidently.