Chapter (37):deep search part 2
In Blackwood's house...
Mrs. Blackwood was sitting on the couch with Andrew, watching TV, while Andrew held his phone and texted his friends.
"I wonder where Emma is now?" Mrs. Blackwood thought as she watched TV. "I hope she's okay."
"I'm back," Emma replied as she closed the door behind her.
"Emma, you're back early? Oh, I almost forget today is a holiday? How was your day—"
"No, I just forgot to take something from my room."
"Oh, what did you forget?"
"Something small," Emma said as she climbed the stairs.
Emma went up the stairs to her room. When she reached her room, she opened the door, found what she was looking for, and began putting it in her bag. Meanwhile, downstairs...
"By the way, where was she earlier?" Andrew asked.
"She was hanging out with her boyfriend," Mrs. Blackwood replied.
"In the morning?" Andrew asked skeptically.
"Yes, she said she wanted to go talk to him," Mrs. Blackwood said. "She can hang out with whoever she wants, Andrew. Don't you remember doing the same thing in the past?"
"I'm not complaining, but this isn't like her. Did something happen this morning?"
"Well, now that I think about it, I saw her this morning, and her hair was all messy. She told me she had a bad dream."
"What was it?" Andrew asked.
"She didn't tell me. She just said she was going to hang out with him," Mrs. Blackwood answered.
"I'm really starting to wonder about this so-called boyfriend of hers... but... maybe it's good for her to have one... better than me," he said apologetically.
"Huh? Andrew, are you okay?"
"It's nothing," Andrew replied.
"Andrew... last night, you didn't tell me what happened between you and him. What happened____"
"I'm leaving!" Emma shouted as she rushed out of the house.
*Clank!*
"That was fast," Andrew remarked.
"...Yeah... I hope she has a good day."
.
.
.
At the investigation bureau... in a certain room...
There was a large room filled with chairs, and many people were sitting there—investigators, detectives, analysts, and others. Marcus and Niles were also sitting among them.
"Who do you think the new director will be?" Niles asked.
"As long as he's not corrupt or someone who got the position through connections, I'm fine with anyone," Mr. Blackwood said calmly.
"You're right. I just hope he's at least qualified," Niles replied.
"Oh, he's coming!" someone said.
A man who appeared to be in his fifties walked in. He had a cold demeanor, a slightly hunched back, and graying hair. He was dressed in black with an elegant tie.
"Ooh, he looks tough," Niles commented.
"For those who don't know me, my name is Gustav Del Albietro. You may address me as Gustav. I've been transferred here from Chicago because the previous director decided to retire. Starting today, I will be overseeing this department. If anyone has questions, it's best to raise your hand."
From the crowd, someone raised their hand, and Gustav noticed.
"Yes, you?" Gustav asked.
"Mr. Gustav, did something happen in Chicago?"
"No, just the usual," Gustav replied coldly.
Marcus glanced at Gustav with an ambiguous expression, understanding what he meant by his words.
"Another question—"
"One more thing before I go," Gustav said, raising his fingers as a group of people entered.
"Huh? Who are these?"
The newcomers were a group of men in suits wearing bulletproof vests.
"Let me introduce them. These are—"
"As you can see, these are my men from my unit back in Chicago. They'll be the rapid response team, stationed in the south, not too far from ■■■■■■ School, about two blocks away."
"Wait... isn't that the school your daughter attends___"
Niles noticed Marcus's fingers were tightly clenched, his expression sharp, and his eyes trembling coldly.
"So that's how it is. Now I understand."
.
.
In the forest...
"I'm back! So, did anything happen?" Emma asked, panting.
"No... just his usual nonsense..."
*Krrrrrrr!!!*
"Good, then let's get straight to work!" Emma said as she pulled out her laptop.
"Oh! You brought your laptop here? Do you want to play a video game together? It's been ages since I played games. Man, I've gotten old!" Smiley joked.
"Of course not, Smiley. I need it to access its system and hack into it," Emma replied.
"Wait, you can do that?" Smiley asked in surprise.
"Yeah, because there's a port I can connect my laptop to," Emma said as she booted up her laptop.
"I'll plug it in now. Hold it steady, Smiley," Emma said as she inserted something resembling a USB into the small device inside the monster bike's engine.
*Krr.r.r.r.r.r!!!!*
*Ding!*
"Wow! It actually worked! I'm in its system now! Now, let me try to hack into it... Hmm, this is a programming language... old and encrypted."
"Is it too hard for you?" Smiley asked.
"Yeah, it would've been extremely difficult in the '90s, but nowadays, this programming is ancient and simple. Something like this is easy for me," Emma replied as she began attempting to access it.
"Question—how did you even learn programming in the first place?" Smiley asked curiously, scratching his chin. "Since when have you been a hacker?"
"I'm not a hacker. I took computer programming courses. It was essential if I wanted to be an astronaut, not to mention many other things... but that was in the past," Emma said with a hint of bitterness.
"Ooooh... I see now," Smiley said, sitting on the ground near Emma. "You're still sad about what happened back then, aren't you?"
"Yeah... a little... but I've changed," Emma answered.
"But it still affects you, doesn't it?" Smiley asked.
"No..." Her eyes trembled slightly as she continued trying to hack into it.
"Don't lie to me, girl. I can tell when someone's hiding something, and you're doing a terrible job at it—like trying to hide the sun."
"Ugh, Smiley, can you stop mocking me for just one minute?" Emma snapped angrily.
"I'm not mocking you. I'm just curious about you—about how it feels for a gifted genius like you to fall into the mud... What does it feel like?" Smiley asked with a sinister smile.
"It's... (looks down)... terrible," Emma replied, her typing slowing down.
"How so?"
"Like trying to climb the tallest tree and falling onto a rock," Emma said coldly.
"Is that really... all you feel right now?" Smiley asked.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked, her eyes flickering between Smiley and the laptop as she kept typing.
"Don't you ever think about getting revenge on them? Making them suffer like you did? Taking vengeance?" Smiley asked.
"What? No! Why would I think about that??" Emma asked angrily.
"But they bullied you, those people? Do you remember how you first came here? How you were?"
"...Yeah... I know... but that doesn't mean I should be like them. That wouldn't make me any different from them either, if I sought revenge," Emma said.
"But there's no need for that. In the end, they're dead, right?"
"...Yeah... yes," Emma replied dryly.
"You well be happy."
"What? No! They were killed—why on earth would I be happy?!" Emma asked angrily.
"You'd be happy because they'll never show up again to make jokes about you, or turn you into a laughingstock, or hit you. You'd be happy because you know... they'll never come back into your life,never .....Again."
"Ah... no... I'm... not..."
*KRRRrRRrR...rr....r....*
*Ding!*
"Hmm? What's this? It turned green. Emma, what's this?"
Emma looked and realized that, without even noticing, she had breached the system. She saw numbers, codes, and data scattered across the screen.
"I... hacked into... its system... I think?" Emma asked.
"Was it really that easy?" Smiley asked.
"Maybe?" Emma thought, pressing keys randomly. It had been a stroke of luck.
"So, what are you going to do now that you've hacked into its system?" Smiley asked, quickly changing the subject.
"I'll see how it reacts when I try to modify its commands."
"So, will that take long?"
"I don't know. It depends on the system's data structure. Maybe minutes, maybe hours."
"What? That's way too long!" Smiley said.
"That's programming for you, Smiley. Did you think it was that easy? No, it's really hard."
"Good thing I'm not a programmer," Smiley replied.
"Yeah, no one told you to become one," Emma retorted.
"So, where do you start?" Smiley asked.
"Let me... start with... what?" Emma asked strangely.
"What's wrong?" Smiley asked, noticing Emma's odd expression.
"There's something weird... There are no numbers or code symbols, just commands and words. Nothing else."
"Let me test something," Emma said.
When she looked at the laptop screen, suddenly, the bike's wheels spun violently, and the monster bike seemed uncomfortable with what was happening to it, roaring angrily.
*KRRRrRRrR!*
"Whoa! What happened?" Smiley asked curiously.
"That was the wheel settings. I made the wheels spin backward."
"Hahaha, that's fun! What about this?"
"That's the light settings."
Emma pressed the keyboard again, and its eyes began flashing like a yellow spotlight, blinking several times.
"It's like something out of a video game!" Smiley said amusedly.
"Wait a second—if changing the settings is this easy, then maybe..."
"What are you doing?" Smiley asked, watching as Emma rapidly pressed keys.
*Ding!*
Suddenly, the monster's noise stopped, and it fell completely silent.
"Smiley, release it now... slowly..."
"Hmm... okay!"
As soon as he released it, the bike stopped moving and stood completely still, like a statue.
"Whoa! What did you do? It's completely calm now... like an obedient dog."
"I just tweaked some settings. I changed the search parameter to 'do not move' and added extra settings like 'do not attack' or 'do not move quickly' since my laptop is still connected to the port."
"That's amazing! What else can you do? Can you make it like a pet?"
"Well, it's not impossible, but— Huh? What's this?"
*/Activate Alpha Code*
*Beep!*
"What the hell?!" Emma shouted as she frantically typed with both hands.
"What's happening, girl?" Smiley asked innocently.
"There's some kind of command inside it activating and erasing everything!"
"Wait, what? Can't you stop it?"
"I'm trying!" Emma yelled.
"Umm? Why does it sound like an alarm, Emma?" Smiley asked, pointing at it with a smile.
"I don't know, Smiley, but we need to get away fast before—"
*Boom!*
The moment Emma spoke, the bike exploded. She closed her eyes, bracing for the worst, but felt no pain. When she opened her eyes, she realized she was unharmed and still holding her laptop. She saw Smiley gripping her shoulder—he must have saved her at the last second. They both looked at what remained of the bike. The flames illuminated the cave tunnel, ignited by the explosion. Scattered around the burning bike were shredded mechanical parts and flesh mixed together, making the scene even more horrifying and gruesome.
"Well, that was unexpected," Smiley said simply.
"Because it wasn't its choice. We triggered it. We activated some kind of protocol that made it explode."
"So, what you did was blow it up?" Smiley asked plainly.
"Yeah, sort of," Emma replied awkwardly.
"Interesting. Then let's go."
"Huh? Where?" Emma asked in confusion.
"To the factory, to apologize!" Smiley said.
"What?" Emma asked as if she hadn't heard him correctly.
"You said yourself it came from the factory, right? And you blew it up. Its owner must be furious. Wouldn't it be better to find him and apologize?" Smiley asked innocently.
"Smiley, do you really think whoever sent it would be nice enough to let us live?"
"Yeah, maybe he'll be angry, but I think he'll understand since we're just mischievous teenagers," Smiley said jokingly.
"(Sigh)... Name one time—just one time—there wasn't a monster trying to kill or eat us in this forest," Emma asked skeptically.
"Emma, there's a first time for everything!" Smiley replied.
"Why do you sound way too optimistic?"
"What? Do you hate how kind-hearted I am?" Smiley teased.
"No, I just feel like you're trying to trick me," Emma said.
"Emma, have I ever lied to you? And even if I did, wouldn't it be better to get to know him more closely?"
"...Sigh... I guess you're right. Besides, it'd be good to start looking into the places it's been to find the source of these nightmares," Emma said, giving in.
"To adventure!" Smiley cheered excitedly as he walked toward the cave.
"Yeah... but this time, I'll be ready!" Emma said firmly.