Chương 93: (B2 Chapter 44)

"Sure, what is it?" asked Lucas with a kind smile towards Madelline. She was fidgeting nervously while her eyes kept darting about all over the room, not quite meeting anyone's eyes. Don't tell me she also kept something hidden about her ability… She finally found the courage to speak up, "You guys know about my ability… right…?" we all nodded, while my mind was racing with what kind of information she could have been hiding.

"Well… for the past few days, the number of threads I have been seeing has grown immensely, and it actually overwhelmed me on the first day that everyone arrived… but since then I have learned to use it more effectively and well… I think I can now see which directions everyone's families are…" she finished off, looking down at the ground in guilt while the rest of us stared at her dumbfoundedly. The reaction was immediate and expected, "WHAT?"

shouted Omar, and the rest of the group all started speaking simultaneously while Madelline looked around in alarm and hunched her shoulders up even further. Right! She can see connections between people! Since the tutorial ended and everyone was dumped back here, she would be able to see where all of the threads leading from us were headed! It took a few tries from Lucas to calm everyone back down and let Madelline explain further.

It turns out she had been trying to deal with the abundance of the threads that appeared all of a sudden and trying to make sense of things. She had already known that a thread's thickness signified the strength of the relationship, but she had also learned to figure out that by concentrating on the threads, she could somehow 'feel' how close the person was. Not an exact distance, just on a relative basis.

"… and I can feel that a person that is important for Lucas and a person important to Omar are the ones nearest to us, but they are both in different directions," Madelline finished, plunging the room into thoughtful silence as eyes kept darting towards Lucas and Omar.

"Do you have any idea how close they might be? Even if it's a rough estimate?" asked Lucas. Omar immediately turned to look at Madelline as well, his eyes full of hope.

"Sorry, I have no idea…" Madelline shook her head. The group delved back in silence, mainly to let Omar and Lucas process the news. Having a potential family member relatively nearby would obviously make anyone want to immediately leave in search. If it were me, I wouldn't have hesitated at all and would have already been in preparation of heading out. But I knew Lucas, and his mind would be split between his desire to connect with his family and his sense of responsibility here.

I didn't know Omar as well, but perhaps he would be having the same thoughts. My mind, however, was being pulled into a different direction. Her ability could be used to instantly see if everyone in our families were alive or not. If, for example, I only had two 'major' threads going from me, I would immediately know that one of my three family members was dead, I just wouldn't know who. It would also reveal when someone close to me died if a thread suddenly disappeared.

Personally, I would want to know this information, just so I can know for sure. However, as I looked around the room, I wasn't so sure if bringing up this idea to use the threads was a good idea or not. It was statistically unlikely that every one of us would have intact families. Three days ago, when the system dumped the 'unfit' users, the young and old members of our families had obviously been alive, like Mason's son who had just turned one a few days before the system arrived, and most of our aged parents.

However, was that still the case right now? And more importantly, should I ask Madelline to let each of us know the number of 'major' threads going out from us? It could immediately cause a lot of grief… and I believed it would be best if the group didn't know and instead focused on the family members they could find. Unfortunately, my plan to keep my thoughts to myself was derailed immediately by Mason, who said, "Wait… Madelline, could you let each of us know how many threads are going out from us?

We can then know the number of people close to us still alive!" I internally winced, whereas Madelline, who probably had also thought of this, winced physically. Meanwhile, I could see the wheels turning in the other's heads, as their eyes widened in realization and they turned back to look at Madelline again.

"I can… but I don't know which family member the thread belongs to… and even if it is a family member. It could be a friend, or a mentor you look up to…" she trailed off at the end as she could see her words were having no effect whatsoever. Everyone was looking at her with borderline desperation in their eyes, and while my feelings, as usual, were a lot more muted, I could understand them clearly. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. It was simply about closure.

The number of threads would at least make you mentally prepared for the number of deaths among people close to you, even if you didn't know who it was who had died. Though I didn't know what was worse, not knowing completely, or knowing about a possible death and agonizing over who it could be.

"Wait a minute everyone… let's be entirely sure we want this information. Those who don't, can simply choose to not know. But more importantly, we need to make a promise to keep this information to ourselves. We simply cannot let the others know about Madelline's ability, otherwise she won't have a single moment of peace," Lucas spoke, making some very valid points. His words made me think about how much we should share about our skills and our abilities, because we had been openly sharing everything until now.

Well, apart from Marcus that is. Actually… how can I be sure everyone else has been honest as well…? In fact, why had I been so open about everything I had gained so far…? Maybe because I had been so interested in the system and exploring it, I hadn't given much thought into the potential dangers of sharing my strengths and weaknesses…? Really should have thought about that sooner… For now, I concentrated back on the matter at hand.

Everyone had readily agreed to keep the information about Madelline's ability private, and at my suggestion, it was extended to keeping everyone's skills and abilities secret. The common ones that everyone got due to their class would obviously be known, but other than that, we agreed to keep things private. Surprisingly, no one opted out from knowing the number of major threads going from themselves.

I would have thought at least one or two of the people here would have opted out, but I guess knowing beats not knowing, even if knowing the information could be potentially devastating. Madelline then proceeded to reveal the threads going out from everyone, and in a major relief, three major threads were going out from me, meaning all of my family members were still alive! I was extremely happy at the news, and I hoped I would be able to reunite with them soon enough.

In fact, the more encouraging news was that two of the threads were so close to each other that Madelline thought they were just one thread, so it looked like two of my family members had met with one another already, or at least they were pretty close to each other. I hope Mom is not alone… The other results were as devastating as I had expected.

Madelline herself was the only other person who had an intact family from the looks of it, as she even had a few extra major threads which were probably her close friends. Other than that, everyone had at least lost one family member by the looks of it. In fact, most had lost more, as Omar just had two major threads going out from him, and he had a family of seven members. This obviously was not accounting for close friends or other possible 'major thread' holders.

The most brutal news, however, was received by Hannah and Marcus. Both of them had absolutely no threads that Madelline thought could be related to family members. She had hesitantly asked if perhaps they weren't as close to their families so perhaps the somewhat smaller threads could belong to possible family members, but both had shaken their heads at the question blankly. It looked like they had already lost their entire families.

The mood had understandably turned extremely gloomy, and a few moments of silence later Hannah had rushed out of the room with tears in her eyes, followed by Sam who called after her. Marcus then quietly asked to be left alone, and we had trudged out of the room one by one at that, offering empty words of solace and sorrow. Madelline was an absolute wreck by this point, and even repeated assurances by everyone, including Marcus, couldn't get her to stabilize herself.

She had run off to a room not far from Marcus's where she had apparently been staying, and shut the door behind her. Lucas and Omar had then also excused themselves and wandered away together. They had wanted to discuss whose family member would be searched for first, as both of the closest threads that Madelline had pointed out were in different directions. It was bound to be a difficult discussion, and I didn't envy them at all.

I was just glad that they had apparently gone past the conflicting decision of whether to go in search for their family members or not. They had both decided, rightly in my opinion, that searching for family comes first. That left just Mason and I standing awkwardly outside Marcus's room.

"It's good that the rooms here are still not occupied, so everyone can have their private moments…" Mason suddenly said in a low voice. His eyes were unfocused, and he was probably thinking about going to his own room as well. He had a wife, two siblings, and a child, while his parents had already passed away before the system had arrived.

However, he only had two threads going from him, and one of them was at a lower intensity than the other, so it looked like he had lost one of his siblings and either his wife or his son. I simply nodded, thinking it actually was a nice luxury to have. The rooms on the ground and first floor were so packed that it was impossible to fit someone else inside, and we even had people sleeping on the hallways outside.

Luckily for us, the rooms got emptier the further up the stairs we went, and for now, each of us had the luxury of a private room we had claimed for ourselves. Mason then also excused himself and wandered off, leaving me alone. It had been yet another long day, this one being more emotionally heavy than most we had faced so far. I knew it wasn't a nice thought to have under the circumstances, but my mind was repeatedly going to one thought… Looks like we'll be heading back out soon…

I hope everyone remains fine after today…