The Rogue System [BL]
Chapter 286 - Crushing Guilt

Chapter 286: Chapter 286 - Crushing Guilt

Eric sat in the corner of the small, dark room, his heart pounding in his chest like a drum. Just minutes ago two men in black had stuffed him in this small dark room that no light can penetrate.

The shock of his situation had rendered him speechless at first, but now his mind raced with a whirlwind of questions and fear.

"what is going on.... Why.... We..."

The door opened letting in a stream of light. Yuri, or the person who looks like Yuri walked in and stood by the door unmoving.

Yuri, the love of his life, stood before him, but he was different—changed somehow. Clad in the uniform of those ominous men in black, Yuri’s once gentle features seemed hardened, his demeanor distant and cold. Eric couldn’t comprehend how this could be happening. How could the person he cherished most become his captor?

"Why, Yuri... Why?" Eric’s voice trembled as he spoke, the words barely audible in the suffocating silence of the room. "Did they replace you? Where is my lover?"

But there were no answers, only the echo of his own desperate thoughts bouncing off the walls. He hugged his knees tighter, feeling utterly alone and helpless.

His mind flashed back to the memories of their love, the tender moments they shared together. How could it all have led to this? The pain of betrayal cut deep, mingling with the fear of the unknown future that awaited him.

Eric gazed up at the man who stood there silently peering down at him. "Yuri... please... can you let me go..." Eric’s voice wavered.

Yuri’s gaze remained cold and unyielding, his resolve unshaken. "System 202, you have to confess to all your crimes. You have no right whatsoever to remain silent. If you don’t confess, your soul will forever be banished into the Redemption Area, and you will be tortured endlessly."

Eric’s heart sank at Yuri’s words, the weight of his situation crashing down upon him. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, unchecked like a raging river. "W-what does it all mean? I don’t know what you are talking about... What should I confess? That I loved you? That I loved you enough to let down my guard around you! Tell me, Yuri!" He shot up, desperation lacing his voice. "what should I tell you!"

Yuri remained unmoved, his expression stoic and impassive. "Answer only the question. If you don’t cooperate, then we will have to resort to drastic measures to extract the answers we need."

Eric scoffed bitterly, a tear-filled laughter escaping his lips. "Drastic measures...drastic measures... hahaha" He slumped back down to the ground, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

"System 202," Yuri’s voice cut through the air, piercing and commanding.

Eric sobbingly gazed up. "my name... its Eric.."

"System 202," Yuri’s commanding tone echoed in the small room, cutting through the heavy silence like a knife.

Eric couldn’t help but let out a dejected laugh, the bitterness of his situation weighing heavily on his heart. "Tell me, Yuri... Was the love we had all fake? Did you even have an ounce of love for me..."

Yuri remained silent, his expression unreadable as he let out a sigh and turned to leave the room. The sound of his footsteps fading away only served to amplify the emptiness that enveloped Eric.

Alone in that small, desolate space, Eric found himself caught in a whirlwind of emotions. He laughed and cried, the tears mingling with the echoes of his own despair. "What sin did I do in my life to deserve this..." he muttered, his voice choked with anguish.

Slumping down to the cold ground, Eric wrapped his arms around himself, seeking solace in the darkness that surrounded him. But even as he tried to make sense of the chaos that consumed him, one thing remained painfully clear: he was utterly alone, trapped in a nightmare from which there seemed to be no escape.

Standing outside the door, Kai Alden could hear Eric’s heart-wrenching sobs. His own heart ached to go in and comfort him, but he stopped himself. "He is a fugitive... What happened in those worlds was not real. It was all acting. It was all acting," he repeated to himself as he walked back to the office.

His team was working overtime to clean up the site, and they had compiled the details of his past two jumps. One of his teammates was sitting by the transmigrator machine, fiddling with it. Frowning, Kai walked closer. "What are you doing?"

His subordinate shot up hurriedly, hiding their head behind the machine. "Oh... I’m fixing it, sir."

Kai frowned. "It doesn’t need to be fixed." They had already caught the fugitive. There was no need to repair this old machine.

His gaze fell on the machine and then on the huge workspace that was abandoned. On one particular workbench, he spotted the familiar paper cranes. He walked up to it and picked them up from the ground. Most of them were stomped on and crushed, a stark reminder of the chaos that had unfolded.

"S-sir..." his subordinate came over with a contamination bag, holding it out for him. Kai didn’t know what came over him, but he quickly hid the paper cranes behind his back. "These are not important."

"But sir... Our department might want them," his subordinate looked at him with concern.

"Do not report on this. I can take care of the department. Go feed Eri... go feed the fugitive with world energy. We don’t want him diminishing on us," he mumbled softly.

He sat down heavily in the system’s chair, holding his head in his hands.

"Sir... You have to get medical assistance. You don’t look good," his subordinate insisted.

"That is none of your concern," Kai snapped back. "Go do your job. I’ll take care of myself."

As his subordinate reluctantly left, Kai couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that lingered within him. His head throbbed with each beat of his heart, and a sense of dread settled in the pit of his stomach.

Despite his best efforts to push it aside, the guilt weighed heavily on him. He couldn’t shake the image of Eric’s tear-stained face from his mind.

"This is why I refused to fuse my fucking soul...."

"it’s too troublesome."