Truth Beyond the Veil Chapter 9: Chapter 8: Noir, let’s have some fun!

Read chapter 9 of Truth Beyond the Veil by DarkCosmos on NovelPedia.

Summer, 16:30 Location: National Highway 32, Earth; “Sigh... I’m exhausted. That was way more tiring than it looked,” Leo groaned, stretching his arms in the backseat. “Man, installing all those machines and wires... and here I thought I’d be gaming right after.” “Good work! We are done on our part, too— ” “What the hell were you guys even making in that basement? Twenty GPUs? Ten CPUs?! The hell! I might not be a tech guy, but what are these for? A supercomputer? How much does all that even cost? Is any of this even legal?” Leo cut in angrily. “Why are you fussing so much?” Theo replied, fiddling with the car display. “Even if it’s illegal, you’re in it too… Uh, where was I? Victor had already completed all the designs, and I had also adjusted the mechanisms and features that would be added. Now with the hardware in place, we will begin production next week when we come back!” Leo groaned, “Ugh... by the way, what were you guys even making?” “Haha... Our Superhero masks!” Victor turned and grinned. “Huh... Superhero costumes? Already? Well, it’s better to be prepared than to be caught unprepared later on.” “Not costumes! Only masks, we are not superheroes.” Theo corrected. “Besides, I don't think any of our uncles told us that ‘power comes with great responsibilities.’” “Hahaha, you are correct. Besides, I don't think getting powers is the whole picture here—after all, nothing comes for free. Lastly, Theo doesn’t have any uncle,” Victor said with a serious face. “…” “Yes, so we should be prepared for something that will happen soon, and I am truly not convinced that we are the only ones with these powers... Noir is the best example,” Theo said as he switched on the music system and lowered its volume. Leo adjusted his position to get more comfortable, “Now that you mention it, it’s true that we may not be the only ones, even though there is no news of anything unnatural. Still, that bird or whatever near the shopping mall, and the animal incident that happened, are suspicious as hell... Yeah, what happened to that?” “I checked everything I could, but did not get any leads... That area may be a little remote, but it is still under gov control. Wildlife and other things are maintained there, so I don't think it will be an apex predator.” “Later, I deployed some drones, too. You guys might not know it, but other than a few more corpses in different areas, I didn’t get any leads. The DNA sample shows rat, but these are common rodents. Lastly, I am not adept in this field.” “But is it wrong to assume any apex predators? I mean, you saw the corpses; we can tell that all it took was one bite, and the head was snapped off, and lastly, only the head was eaten. The corpses range from all sorts of animals, so I don’t think size matters.” Victor analyzed the whole thing while rubbing Noir's belly. “Purrrrr…” “…” Theo nodded. “Well, I don’t know, so to be careful, I informed all my neighbours (there are only two) and informed the wildlife bureau.” Now, both Victor and Leo raised an eyebrow. “When did you do all that?” “Himitsu~” “Secret my ass!” “Just use your brain. I mailed everyone that night with some pictures… anyways, let’s leave it at that now that things are getting weirder, we will have to improve our network and AI too.” Leo sighed. “I don't get it. Why are you guys so tense? I mean, sure, things aren’t looking great, but I don't think the scale of things has gotten that huge; if it was, wouldn’t it be all over the news?” “You really think the government wouldn't catch on first?” Theo shot him a mocking look. “They might be slow, but they’re not blind. I bet they even know about the thin energy traces in the atmosphere; satellites might have already picked up on it by now.” “Uh… are you guys serious? I mean, I get it, they have so many things under control, but…” Leo was a little shocked. “Don’t underestimate them, Leo? Why do you think we are going all the way to make a new AI, a new private network, and everything from scratch