The mask installed was really handy; it was flexible enough to mimic a natural expression because of its material.
Of course, in Reign's case, the amount of expression he could convey was limited. Plus, his eyes were also hidden by a fake bandage, so only the curves of his mouth and cheek could be seen when he was speaking.
"Thanks for everything Johny, " Mellisa handed him an enveloped filled with cash.
"Don't worry about it, I owe you a lot for sending a team to save my wife. This is nothing," Johny responded with a smile. In this line of work, having a lot of connections was beneficial.
After wrapping things up, Johny left the place immediately. There was no need for further conversation with the customer, as business dictated their interactions.
He did great with the job, and that was all that mattered.
In the living room, Melissa, George, and Reign sat on the sofa for a meeting.
"What do we do next?" Reign asked George, feeling restless after days of waiting.
With no opportunity to kill and level up, he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.
George, uncertain about the next course of action, turned to Mellisa, so she could provide the answer.
"It's time for you to undergo a test. We'll head to Summit City, where they'll assess you to assign an appropriate rank for missions," she explained
"Would not be dangerous ? " Reign asked, going to an organization and registering was dangerous . He could get ambushed there.
"Don't worry, we'll register you as a Demon. Ideally, it's better to classify you as a Divergent, but it's impossible to conceal your aura during the test," she elaborated.
Demons were accepted into the organization, but they often faced discrimination, so she hoped Reign could qualify as a Divergent.
"Aura?" Reign was puzzled; this was the first he'd heard about his demonic aura being detectable.
"Oh right, you're a newborn so you don't know much , wait here," Mellisa went to her office and get something .
After a minute or so, she pulled out a small palm-sized crystal orb.
The orb was plain, with a clear surface that caught the light in the room. It didn't have any special patterns or colors, just a simple, transparent sphere.
"This is made of Malice Crystals. When a demon touches it, it turns black," she explained, detailing the object's function.
Reign grabbed the crystal ball, curious if this was really true. If it was, then he must be wary of it in the future.
[Ding]
[The system detected an object attempting to scan the host's body.]
[Would you like to block it ?]
[Yes] or [No]
'Yes' Reign was elated after hearing the notification. The capability to block such objects meant he could evade potential trouble from sensory-type equipment.
On the other hand, Melissa was taken aback to find the crystal orb showing no reaction whatsoever.
"Hey, are you sure it's not defective?" George inquired.
Reign was 100% a demon, so why didn't the crystal react at all?
"No, a malice crystal would always work as long as it gets in contact with a demon," Melissa mumbled to herself.
"But maybe he's special?" She touched her chin in contemplation. She needed to change their strategy if this was the case.
The crystals not showing any signs just opened up a better route for them to take.
"Reign, do you know about Divergents?" she asked.
"No idea at all," Reign shook his head.
"Well, Divergents are said to be humans with demon blood," she started to explain.
"Like Anna?"
"No, Anna is demon. Even though she's George's daughter, she's a pure demon because her mother's blood was too strong. I tested her before, so I'm positive about it. " She paused and took a breath before continuing .
"Divergents are more human than they are demons. They have super strength, are faster than humans, have better senses, and everything. At the same time, they also don't trigger demonic energy." She added.
From this point, Reign already had an inkling of what she was driving at.
"So you want me to pretend to be a Divergent?"
"Yes! You'll be more accepted and would also get more benefits as a Divergent than as a Demon."
Reign contemplated her words, and she was onto something. He knew all too well that demons were not welcomed by humans.
Even if it were a criminal organization worse than demons, many humans would still be against it.
"Alright, let's go with that," he answered.
Observing Melissa for a few days had built a small measure of trust in him. She exuded ambition, a trait that made her motives easier to discern. As long as she see benefits in aiding him, she'd likely remain invested.
"Good, I'll just grab my things. Meet me in the garage; we'll use my car. By the way, before I forget, these are your documents," Melissa handed Reign a wallet. Inside, there was some cash and an ID.
It had a fake ID picture of another person who resembled his mask, with the name "Reign Gos."
"You need an identification card to enter the city. Don't worry, that ID is safe and legit. I had someone find a person who had gone missing for years, and had the same name as you, so you can take his identity," she added after seeing Reign remained silent.
'She's more useful than I thought,' Reign muttered silently.
He couldn't deny that she was really resourceful, even better than George.
It might be because she had been working in the underground world for too long, so she already knew the ins and outs. It was evident that this was not her first encounter with such tricky situations.
***
As they traveled along the highway, Reign noticed the city drawing nearer.
Surprisingly, tall walls, standing about five floors high, encircled it—a sight he hadn't anticipated.
He now felt that this world was really different from his previous one.
According to George, the walls were built to prevent people from entering the city without undergoing a check.
That was the information provided to the public, but for people like them, it was evident that these walls were actually designed to detect demons.
It was a good thing that he went along with George and Melissa's plan; otherwise, even entering the city would have been a major hurdle for him.
When they reached the checkpoint, they transferred to a 15-lane roundabout. The checkpoint was so extensive that they needed to expand the road to avoid traffic jams.
Slowly but surely, Melissa's car moved until finally it reached a toll booth where a man wearing a brown military uniform approached with a K-9 dog.
The dog was planning to bark as soon as it got near our car.
"Woof!" Wick barked first, and as if understanding his words, the K-9 paused and simply sniffed the car without reacting.
"Good boy," Reign praised, patting Wick's head, very pleased with how useful he was.
Even Melissa was surprised; she had thought she needed to pull some strings, but it ended up being solved effortlessly.
When the search was done, they were asked to hand over their identification cards, and the guards only took a brief look at them.
They did inquire about Reign's bandage, but after Melissa provided them with medical documents, they finally let them through.