"Someone did it!" Fred was in ode the moment he saw the old puter's rea. His eyes read the s reading the words 'Bloom Haven'He paused, wasn't it retly that someone finally cleared the Miasma within that part of the game? Until then pyers hadn't been able to access it, or so he thought. A memory came to mind, something so long ago he had almost fotten it. The reason he sought to solve the puzzle of the CEO's family. [Fshbabsp;Fred Berkley stood in front of the CEO's desk staring at the luxury carpeted floor of the rge office. Before him, the CEO sat at a dark oak wood desk decorated with intricately carved figures of fairies and old gods. Fred reized some of them from Lumos inc's current project Moon Valley. The VRMM was set to e out that year and Fred himself had even pyed and voiced some characters of his own. The grumpy librarian was one of them and a few others who didn't have as much of a memorable role. "Fred." The CEO's soft but firm voice called. Fred lifted his gaze from the floor a warm browaring at him in worry. "Yes sir?" Fred replied. "Have you been sleeping much Fred?" Mr. Sincir, founder and CEO of Lumos Inc. asked. The man ced his hands together, resting his elbows oable as he studied the brilliant man standing in front of his desk. "Sleep tio elude me," Fred said sheepishly. "And with all the caffeine you drink, it will tio run." Mr. Sincir said with a chuckle. The older man sobered up and sat straight-backed in his chair. "Fred I've called you into this office today because of your past. you're the only orust with this." Fred stumbled back at the sudden reminder, he gred at the CEO, angry the man would bring up something he waet.Sensing the hostility, Mr. Sincir leaned forward, intending to press the issue. "Yes Fred, this is a task I have chosen specifically because of your e to the flowers of the red dawn."Fred gasped. "You said you would never bring up my e to that group." "I need you to help me find someone. I've exhausted all other avenues, you are my st hope," "Who?" Fred asked still gring. He didn't expect the CEO would ask him to do something illegal, it almost disappointed him that the man would bring up his past in an attempt to use him. Fred ched his fist. "Fred, I'm not asking you to do something illegal. I merely require your trained expertise. But this must remaiween us." Mr. Sincir said sternly. He stood up from his desk and beed Fred to follow him. The two of them stood within the dusty Archives of the Lumos Inc. building which the CEO had fashioo mimie of the very first offices he had ever worked in. The CEO didn't seem ed by the dust now gathering on his expensive suit and walked forward until he came to an analog device covered with a formerly white sheet. From its silhouette, Fred could already tell it was a puter of some sort, some old model that couldn't keep up with innovations of the current year. Fred stared as Mr. Sincir pulled the sheet off, presenting him with an old puter monitor from times long past. The regur, dark face of the monitor reflected him, the mae beeped, a soft distorted sound from the aged speakers. Fred watched as it sputtered and coughed up dust from its CPU before whirling to life. Heavy internal fans spat dust and grime but finally, the dark s glowed. A white cursor blinked onto the s, it was alive. Fred moved his attention from the dusty ted back to his boss who was now looking pleased with himself. "This beloo my te brother. And I believe it is the only thing that help me find my niece." Mr. Sincir said. "Y-Your niece?" Fred stuttered. He watched for a rea from the CEO but the ma his face a stoic calm. Mr. Sinodded. "For years now, I've been trying my hardest to find her, hired the best PIs searched and searched. But as. I know her parents ged her o protect her from my past as well. My brother and I-" the CEO cut himself off, not wanting to reveal too mubsp;Mr. Sincir exhaled. Fred paused, rubbing the back of his head and w how to ask the question he wao pose. "Sir, how do you know she's...alive?" Fred said thoughtfully. "Trust me I know, how I know will be revealed in time." Mr. Sincir said. The CEO turned his back, preparing to leave the archive rooms. "Use everything avaible to you, to get that mae w. It alone holds the key to finding her. And I know she will be looking too." [End Fshbabsp;He leaves the archival room and walks down the silent hallways to the other person who would still be here so te in the night."Yvlena," he said under his breath running towards the server room. If it was one pce he could be sure to find pyer information, it would be there. His feet echoed through the corridors as he ran through the corridors of the Lumos Inc. building. Finally, he stopped at a pin white sliding door with simple brotering beled 'Server room.' Fred bursts through the door, startling the only person who stood amidst the rge shelves of servers lining the room from wall to wall in a nearly maze-like structure. The server room was one of the biggest rooms in the building, shiny gs reflected Fred's image at him as he stepped forward."Fred Barkley"The icy tone of the sole server engineer said. She released a suffering sigh, l her tablet before turning to Fred to gnce up and down at him in obvious annoyanbsp;"I need you to help me cheething within the servers." The woman scoffed, bothered by his presen the server room. Fred paid it no mind, knowing that much like himself, his colleague had a disdain for people entering her spabsp;"And why should I? it's not as if I be from helping the archival rat." She said, tappiablet."It's important to the CEO," Fred said. The woman raised an eyebrow, her tapping ceased. She sidered it before rolling her eyes and being him as if he were a dog.Fred walked forward, payititude no mind. Romina Walsh, chief server engineer and one of the most brilliant women Fred had ever met. He would know, he reended her for the position. Romina stared at him with icy blue eyes, her short hair cut in a bob swished in the air-ditioned room as she faced him. The glitter of her diamond studs gleamed in the fluorest lights, matg her equally pale skin tone. She adjusted her gsses before speaking. "Lucky you, I was about to gh the pyer database to get some information for our sponsors. Now what do you want Fred?""A pyer, she would be an elf uhe name Yvlena, specifically in Bloom Haven." Romina's mouth pressed into a thin line, she faced her table, tapping until a holographic proje popped up from the s oablet. She sed through some files, eventually narrowing it down to the area Fred wao know about. "Gd you made it easy for me Fred," she said with a smirk, Fred moved to the front, peering at the holograph closely. "To my knowledge Bloom Haven isn't open to pyers, it's the CEO's pet project isn't it?" Romina's eyebrow shot up in surprise. "Well, well I guess you were right." She said. She ehe holographic board allowing Fred to see the detailed information about the person who owhe at. "Aya Brown?" Fred gasped, reading the owner of the email at, unfortunately, there was no listed identification. No phone number, address, or the like lio either the email at or the gaming at. "What about where the money goes? I see she's made rge withdrawals here and here over the past two weeks." Fred said curiously. "She uses a Gpal at, you don't o tie anything to the at to get your cash Fred. Most likely this person resides in a low-ine area." "How do you figure Romina? This is incredibly valuable information." Fred said intensely, His tired eyes ignited with passion. Could he finally have solved the mystery? Romina was taken aback by the fire in his eyes but nodded a on about the finance servibsp;"Gpal is one of those fintech apps developed by Nue Corp. It's a finance service you use for instant transas and our partnership with Nue Corp allows us to use it as one of our payout options. But as you probably have already guessed it's in the minority of our payment options." "Where would you say its rgest user base is?" "Axen and Meriost likely. Axen is going through one of the worst eic crises it has ever seen, while Mericross has an almost even css distribution." Romina said adjusting her gsses. "And here in Evangels, what would you say is the likelihood Gpal has some kind of user base?" "Not likely at all, it would be something very underground, not something you would tie to a gaming at unless you're trying to hide something." Fred breathed ierile air of the server room, and fell into thought, he sidered her words. "Thank you Romina," he said to her. The woman nodded coldly. Fred spun on his heels, about to leave when Romina called his name."Yes?" "Whoever this girl you're trying to find is, I hope for the best oute." She said looking down at her tablet. The light reflected off her rounded spectacle making her seem ominous but to Fred, it brought a small smile to his fabsp;"I hope I find her in time Romina," He said leaving the server room. Annou Chapter 34 and new poll on Patreon, vote for a side story you want to see!