Chapter 11 — Jessica Has a Little Secret
"That is—"
Ruths and Kai widened their eyes as the apple wrapped in blue light slowly drifted toward them before dropping onto the ground.
"An apple—it's an apple!"
"That's right!"
Kai reacted instantly and snatched the apple up.
"Kai! Wait—what are you trying to do?!" Ruths shouted angrily.
"An apple?"
The Black man, who had been pretending to sleep, quickly sat up to take a look. His eyes went wide, and his stomach growled loudly.
The apple clenched tightly in Kai's hand seemed to possess an irresistible, hypnotic power, tempting his hunger.
"Kai, where did this apple come from?" the Black man asked.
"I think it was given to us by the superpowered kid. He hasn't abandoned us," Kai said.
"Then the three of us should split it," the Black man said.
"There's only one apple. It's not enough for three people," Kai said as he looked at the other two.
"Kai, what do you mean by that?" Ruths glared at him.
"Didn't the two of you say earlier that you were ready to give up?" Kai snapped. Starved to the brink, all he wanted now was to keep the apple for himself.
The Black man sneered, seeing through Kai's intentions. "And you're not afraid that this apple might be poisoned?"
"Yeah, it might be poisoned—so I'll be the one to eat it."
As he spoke, Kai took a bite of the apple, chewed, and swallowed. If he didn't eat, he'd die of hunger anyway—poison no longer mattered to him.
"Stop it! Kai!"
Kai didn't stop and continued devouring the apple.
"Stop right now!"
With a roar, Ruths lunged at Kai. The two quickly became entangled in a fierce struggle over the apple.
---
Townsend Harris High School.
Ivan lay on his dorm bed, an angelically pure smile on his face.
"An apple can fill your stomach and replenish water. Doing good really feels great!"
"Let them suffer for a few more days. Then I'll ask who was cruel enough to order them to resort to violence."
The chubby roommate shivered uncontrollably when he saw Ivan muttering to himself like a madman.
Ivan noticed and looked over at him.
"What's wrong?"
"N–Nothing."
"Mm."
For some reason, Ivan always felt that his roommate was afraid of him. He never initiated conversations, and when he did speak, he stammered nervously—nothing like how he acted around others.
"Is there something wrong with me?" Ivan wondered.
Still puzzled, he soon drifted off to sleep.
---
In his dream, Ivan saw a dark silhouette wandering through a city. Black energy poured from its body, and wherever it passed, everything was destroyed and devoured. The city itself was swallowed bit by bit, eventually turning into a blank white backdrop.
Ivan wanted to stop it, but realized he didn't exist in this place. He was only an observer.
After that, he saw many strange figures:
a red-and-gold armored machine,
a green-skinned giant,
a middle-aged man flying through the air with a red cape,
and a muscular soldier clad in combat gear and carrying a shield.
They charged toward the shadow, attempting to attack it.
Then, a surge of black energy erupted from the shadow's center, rapidly spreading outward and consuming everything. Ivan's vision was swallowed by darkness.
The dream ended there.
Ivan woke up and soon realized it had all just been a dream.
---
After school the next day, Jessica didn't schedule extra lessons for him. Instead, she chose to go to the gym with Ivan.
While walking, Jessica suddenly asked a strange question.
"Van, when you go to the gym by yourself… have you ever run into any gays?"
"Cough! Cough cough!"
Ivan nearly choked on his own saliva at the question. ╯°Д°╯
"Never! Not once! Why would you suddenly ask something like that?"
"I just see you going to the gym every day, so I thought maybe you'd found love there," Jessica said with a mischievous grin.
"Jessica! You've gone bad! Have you been hanging out with improper friends lately?"
Ivan pretended to be angry, though inside he felt genuinely happy for her—she was becoming more and more cheerful.
"Hahaha, no way," Jessica laughed. "Then why do you go to the gym all the time?"
"What other reason could there be? To strengthen my body, obviously."
"Really? But it's already been a month, and you still haven't grown any muscles. You actually look thinner."
"Uh…"
That was indeed a painful truth. Ivan's month-long training hadn't been completely useless, but the results were minimal.
Others worked out and got twice the results with half the effort. Ivan worked out and got half the results with twice the effort. Even though hours of daily training left him feeling refreshed physically and mentally, muscle definition stubbornly refused to appear.
"Don't be discouraged! If anyone bullies you, I'll protect you!"
As she spoke, Jessica stretched lazily—then jumped.
She leapt over a full meter into the air.
Ivan was stunned.
Did Jessica have the talent of an athlete?
Unlike Ivan, who trained daily, Jessica spent most afternoons on electives and self-study. Even so, her physical condition was clearly superior to his. She was outstanding in both academics and athletics.
"Jessica, you're amazing!" Ivan praised her without hesitation.
"Van, actually… I have a little secret. It's this secret that gives me so much confidence," Jessica said with a smile.
"A secret? What kind of secret?" Ivan couldn't help feeling curious.
"I already said—it's a secret. And secrets can't be shared so easily."
---
At that moment, the two passed by the site where Angel had fought three thugs earlier. Ivan noticed two men in black standing beside the massive crater. One of them was adjusting some equipment. After finishing, he spoke to the other, who then raised a mechanical telescope toward the sky.
While observing, the man adjusted the dials and sliders along the telescope's edge.
A thick pipe extended from the side of the device, connecting to another bulky machine, making the whole setup look extremely heavy.
"The clouds are too dense. The penetration isn't enough—turn it up," the man holding the telescope said.
The other man acknowledged and began adjusting the controls.
"My God!" the man with the telescope exclaimed.
"What is it?" the technician asked urgently.
"This piece of land is really floating in the sky!" The man lowered the mechanical telescope, his face filled with shock.
"Then why can't the radar detect it?" the other frowned.
Hearing this, Jessica tugged Ivan to a stop.
"Van! Did you hear what they said?"
"Yeah."
"They're talking about the ground that mysteriously disappeared the other day, right?" As she spoke, Jessica looked up at the sky, squinting for a long while. All she could see was blue sky and white clouds.
The clouds concealed the small floating landmass high above.
"Seems like it. Let's keep moving."
"Van, aren't you curious? If that land is really floating in the air, wouldn't that mean the fairy-tale sky cities could actually become real?"
Ivan was curious—but not about the floating land. He was curious about that mechanical telescope. Could it really see through clouds?
He remembered deliberately gathering clouds beneath the floating land to conceal it. From the ground, there should've been nothing visible—only clouds, no suspicious dark spots at all.
"I'm going to ask them."
Just as Jessica moved to approach the two men in black, Ivan grabbed her arm.