'I wonder if that old geezer managed to stop the bleeding' Cylius thought as he sneakily swirled the brass knife with the wooden handle.
Due to the surrounding kids, the knife just managed to escape the sights of those patrol guards overseeing the corridor.
Cylius had cleverly utilized their blind spots, along with the movement of the children around him. Although there weren't few orphans, it wasn't crowded either.
To move the way he did needed swift foots, sharp eyes, and
Almost everyone had the talent to absorb genes and become geneticians but how much they could absorb these genes were unknown.
It would test if you have any natural genes inside yourself. People born with natural genes were the real geniuses as they were very scarce and were also considerably stronger than those without genes.
The naturally born genes were a boon to people and could grow along with the host, eventually distinguishing them from the crowd.
As it had been determined that the talent of people could only be precisely measured at the age of 13, they raised the orphans till they were 13 before taking them for a test.
If they were talented then they could be sent to schools to learn about technology and genes while if they weren't so much talented, only a dark future awaited them.
After shaking his head, Cylius went to the food hall. Inside it, it was crowded with not much free space. But still, people made way for him, showing the status he had here.
The reason was that he had a gun and he had the ability to shoot precisely.
Firearms had become common and people of all ages could use them; things had become chaotic and also orderly since the success of the project B.S.
Even though rules were strengthened further, the strong would be respected everywhere while the weak would be trampled upon just like the jungle.
Like the few people that were respected, Cylius was also avoided.
Even though he was antisocial, didn't have any friends and had a rather weak body, his power wasn't to be underestimated. His perception was just so sharp that he won't miss a bird from three hundred meters away.
He was already one of the chosen individuals who would go to a school even if he had low talent.
With a powerful gene, he would become an excellent sniper, being able to assassinate monsters from thousands of kilometers away. His role was very important as most people lost to monsters in the aspect of physical fitness with the exception of some.
As the number of people who owned guns was few in the orphanage, he would obviously be distinguished and avoided by people like a plague; not that he minded it.
After walking for a while, he got his liquified nutrition before going back to his room.
After arriving at his bed he got out two sticks that were with each other before pressing a certain button on its upper left side. Right as he did that, the two sticks then suddenly repulsed each other and stopped at a certain distance. Right after, holographic images appeared between the two sticks resembling some sci-fi movie equipment.
Well, it wasn't impossible anymore as they had analyzed how to contain and control light.
This was his most prized object and he treasured it even more than the gun. After all his only way of playing was this tablet that he had found after snatching it from a dead body.
It had even more worth than the gun from his perspective and its worth equaled three guns. He loved games, especially puzzles and racing games. From reality he could indulge in the illusory world of games and fiction, the feeling gotten from it was amazing.
And this tablet was the only way for him to gain entry to it. Although the games that were played by hands and tablets had become less trending after the VR came out, it had become flourishing again in the last few centuries due to the simplicity they had.
After all, not everyone would like to experience tiredness and some may even want to just simply enjoy the feeling of relaxing while playing.
After activating the tablet, he opened up the game that he had been playing for a while now. It was a car racing game. Due to playing it for long, he was quite proficient in it already.
After he was done playing which took him around 1 hour, he deactivated his tablet before going to sleep. Sleep was important and more so when tomorrow was an important day. It was already midnight and the other members of the room had already returned.
Fortunately, they all went to sleep shortly after coming. There were no nuisances for his funtime.
As long as they didn't bother with him, it was fine. He at least wouldn't pull the guns on them. And since there were consequences for killing orphans here, he would obviously try to deal the nuisance with another method instead of guns.
...
There would be limited free time for the orphans every week granted by the officials. In the meantime, one could do anything. Even killing others during the time was possible as long as they weren't near the orphanage.
So the orphans made the most out of this time. Some settled their grudges while some would search for guns or just play during the time. Of course, people who played during the time were few.
After all, if they were to find a gun, everything would change for them. So they would head to the trash dump location in search for items and things that could potentially be of use to them.
However, the free time given by the officials was short. Only two hours. Due to this reason, even though tons of firearms could be found in this world, only a limited amount of orphans could obtain them and go up the hierarchy.
.....
In the morning, a crowd of about two hundred people could be seen standing in front of a large building. The building had a traditional design and looked like a building from the 22nd century.
At the moment, almost all of the people in the crowd could be seen staring at the descending spaceship. The spaceship was large and had a black color, looking just like those spaceships from sci-fi movies.
Slowly, the spaceship went down and down and soon, a wide staircase had been released from the ship.
From the ship, streams of little kids descended down the staircase orderly. There were all sorts of kids but the most common feature would be their blank eyes, just like they had been possessed. With their eyes, they looked just like puppets controlled by someone.
Seeing this scene, the children couldn't help but have their sculp tingle.
After the stream of kids ended, the officials of the orphanage ordered them to ascend the staircase orderly just like the little kids. The orphans exactly did as they told and ascended the staircase in a few lines without causing any ruckus. They had seen the children's abnormal behaviour after all.
Once inside, Cylius couldn't help but be amazed, the spaceship was huge. Just looking from the inside he could see countless bots floating around the ship cleaning it. Highly advanced technology was everywhere he could see.
"Follow me" a booming voice sounded just as they were admiring the ship. The owner of it was a robed man flying in the air.
Although the children were shocked, they didn't dare to not obey his words as he radiated a very powerful aura that a dangerous thought emerged in their mind. Maybe, just maybe, even if they banded together, this man could really kill them if he was displeased.
With this thought in mind, they followed the robed man strictly and soon reached a large hall. There were already many people waiting for them there. They were just like them: orphans.
Following the orders, the children all sat at the chairs.
The chair was cold and with a weird design, it ensured the people that no discomfort would happen no matter how long they sat there.
Waiting for his turn, Cylius didn't bother with other people. He was just silently waiting for his turn to be examined since he noticed that every ten minutes or so, a beeping sound will be heard and the children at the front row numbering tweNTY people would enter the door in front of them.
They would be gone just like that and the next batch of children will be sent into the door. There was no way to know what happened to the children but Cylius wasn't much worried about it.
There were ten doors meaning a thousand and two hundred people every hour.
That was quite a big number. It would mean ten thousand children in just 8.5 hours.
...
He was at the front row of the orphans that came from the orphanage G18. And surprisingly, someone came to him and greeted. Judging by his outer looks alone, he would be above average.
He wasn't interested in him but he didn't mind knowing a thing or two about the ship.
After talking to him for a while, he knew that he came from the orphanage G17, and when they boarded the ship, there was also another group that was from the orphanage G11.
His name was Garen and apparently, he was a member of one of the dominating groups in the orphanage of G17 just like the orphanage he was in.
By dominating groups, he meant those that were up in the hierarchy. Those that had guns.
Hearing him talk, clearly, Garen didn't know much about the ship too.
'So he is useless...'
"Thanks for the information. But now, you should go back to your group" said Cylius as soon as he knew Garen didn't know much about the ship.
Garen was an extrovert, judging from how he had come to talk with him even though he had the 'don't bother me' face. His voice was uncommonly energetic too. He didn't want to stay with these people, they would only bring him trouble.
'He wasn't interested in him.'
Cylius had clearly expressed this stand of his but no matter what, Garen wouldn't leave. He would really just follow Cylius closely no matter how much Cylius shooed him off.
"Can you give me space? Go away else I shoot you"
He wanted to do his own thing. He wanted to play. But annoyingly, this notification keeps poping up and wouldn't let him.
"High radiation is interfering with the 3F78 tablet. Owner is advised to go out of the radiation circle." how bitter. This high radiation thing might be from the space ship, so he could do nothing about it. He obviously can't go against the spaceship because he was sure he will be shot just like what happened in the orphanage.
He didn't know why it was like that or it may be that the tablet might really be too primitive compared to the current technology. The corpse should've been from a long time ago. But its body only showed slight rot, maybe he was a genetician?
If this is really the case then he was unfortunate, he could've brought the corpse with him to research on it.
With this he had nothing to do now but he was patient about it. After half an hour, his turn came up. The two was in the same line. Garen was at the back of his group while he was at the front of the group.
After entering through the automatic door, the group of ten was teleported into a large room. Cylius felt nauseous, fortunately, it wasn't unbearable.
Coming into the room, he saw two stones standing in the middle of the room. They had a black color and was quite tall and big. And in the middle of them was a woman with black robes.
She wasn't hiding her face nor her figure so her slender long legs along with her curvaceous body had been revealed. The boys were at that age so their eyes were already on her body, looking up and down.
However, Cylius wasn't interested in her. Nothing more than mortal desires of people. If views logically, this person of the female gender was a living creature that was a homo sapien.
She stood on her bones and inside her was nothing but muscles, nerves and organs. If simply put, she was a bag of bones that had meat covering her.
But one thing that attracted his attention was whether she was a genetician or not. If she was, he wanted to see how differently they behaved and what was different in their structure from humans.
"Place your hand on the left stone first and then the other one" said the woman coldly. The orphans one after another came to the first stone and the second stone just like the woman said. The first one lit up sometimes and sometimes not but the second stone never lit up.
The woman didn't seem fazed by the results as she ordered the ones who lit up into a row while the ones who didn't light up into another. Cylius was last followed by Garen, he had a kind of idea but didn't really know if it was the truth. Unexpectedly both of the stones lit up on Garen.
The woman seemed surprised but still made him into the group that lit up the first stone.
After preparing himself both mentally and physically, he concentrated his mind before touching the two stones. If he was right, this should be the supposed test and its results would determine their future.
Feeling the stone's hard and cold surface, he felt no heat even though it had obviously lit up and light was radiating from it.
'Onto the next one' thought Cylius before he once again concentrated his mind before touching the second stone. All of the people except Garen didn't have the second stone light up when they touched it.
So it might be something important. And even if the woman tried to keep her cold face, Cylius could obviously feel her tiny bit of excitement as she looked towards Garen's result.
Maybe Garen was special. What kind of special he was, he didn't know. Lighting up the second stone could may result in either doom or blessing.
Hopefully, this second stone will be about the innate gene test.
...
Touching the second stone, an inexplicable feeling was born within him; as if something deep within him had awakened. Something that had been dormant for long.
Whether he was excited or not, he knew this something would be beneficial to him. Therefore, he didn't give it any mind and then looked towards the woman only to see her smiling widely, her previous cold face long gone.
Getting into the same group of Garen, the door opened up automatically, intending for them to go in.