Chapter 268: George Past

Chapter 268

Phil fell silent for a moment, before he finally sighed once more.

"Since you’re part of the Bureau, and this matter now concerns you directly, I suppose it’s time you learned the truth."

Alex straightened slightly, his interest immediately piqued.

"George, who goes by the name George Andreas, was once a deputy captain in the Bureau’s Research and Development Division. He was considered a very promising Awakened, and about forty years ago, he had already reached the Ascendant Realm."

Alex’s eyes narrowed.

Forty years ago? That meant George had been around for a long time. Considering the lifespan of an Ascendant, his age wasn’t particularly surprising, but his former position inside the Bureau certainly was.

Phil continued.

"Back then, George was one of the division’s most talented members. His understanding of abilities, combat techniques, and the nature of Primordial Essence was exceptional. With his talent, he had a pretty decent chance of reaching the Master Realm someday. Honestly, that would’ve been an impressive achievement."

He shook his head.

"It’s a shame things turned out the way they did."

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"Nobody knows exactly what happened during that particular mission. George went out with his squad, and when he returned, something about him had changed. His behavior became strange, and he started distancing himself from his colleagues. At first, everyone assumed he was suffering from the effects of a difficult mission, so the Bureau gave him some time to recover."

Phil’s expression hardened.

"Then, one day, he killed his squad captain and two of his fellow comrades."

Alex’s eyes widened slightly.

"He killed his own teammates?"

"Not only that. After killing them, he dug out their Primordial Cores and fled the Bureau." Phil’s voice had become noticeably colder. "The battle between George and his captain was particularly brutal. According to the surviving evidence, his captain managed to inflict serious damage on him before dying. We believed George’s own Primordial Core had been damaged during that fight, which might have explained why he disappeared for several years."

Alex remained silent, absorbing the information.

A damaged Primordial Core could seriously affect an Awakened’s ability to use their power. Depending on the extent of the damage, it could even prevent them from progressing to a higher realm.

Yet George had somehow returned stronger than before.

Phil seemed to understand what Alex was thinking because he continued without waiting for another question.

"A few years later, one of our squads finally encountered him again. Naturally, they attempted to capture him, but the operation ended in disaster."

"What happened?"

"His illusion ability had changed." Phil paused, seemingly choosing his next words carefully. "Before that encounter, George’s ability had a known flaw. Our researchers had studied the reports from his previous missions and identified certain limitations that could be exploited. But when the squad fought him, those weaknesses were no longer apparent. His ability had evolved into something far more powerful than before despite the fact that he was still in the Ascendant Realm, and our people couldn’t distinguish his illusions from reality."

Alex’s expression darkened. So even the Bureau had known about George’s ability, yet they had failed to find a reliable way to counter it after his evolution.

No wonder the bastard had been so confident.

Phil continued, "We also discovered that he had been capturing Awakened individuals and ordinary humans to conduct some kind of dark and twisted experiment. Several people disappeared in areas where he’d been spotted, and the evidence we recovered suggested that he was using them as subjects."

A cold feeling settled in Alex’s stomach.

He remembered George’s words about Celine being stubborn and refusing to answer his questions. The bastard had spoken as if torturing her was nothing more than an inconvenience.

Now Alex understood that it wasn’t an isolated incident. George had been doing this for years.

"Ever since then, we’ve been hunting him," Phil said. "We’ve tracked him across several regions, followed leads that turned out to be traps, and lost good people trying to bring him in. But that man is as slippery as a snake. Every time we think we’ve cornered him, he finds a way to escape."

He clenched his fists.

"Today, we thought we’d finally caught up with him. We received information suggesting that he would appear in this area, so we mobilized immediately. Unfortunately, it seems we were still too late."

Alex absorbed everything Phil had just told him.

So that bastard had once been part of the Bureau.

A deputy captain, no less. And after killing his own comrades, he had spent decades experimenting on innocent people while evading capture.

Alex slowly lowered his gaze toward Celine.

She was still unconscious, her breathing steadier now, but her face remained pale. The sight made something inside Alex turn cold.

He had endured betrayal, humiliation, and death in his previous life. After being given another chance, he had sworn never to let the people he cared about suffer because he was too weak to protect them.

Yet George had dared to lay his hands on Celine.

A dragon has a reverse scale, and touching it means death.

Alex didn’t care how long George had lived, how powerful his illusion ability had become, or how many times he had escaped the Bureau. The man had made himself Alex’s enemy, and Alex had no intention of letting that matter end here.

George Andreas, you’d better pray you can keep hiding. Because the next time we meet, I swear on my life to kill you.

For now, however, revenge would have to wait.

Alex carefully lifted Celine into his arms, making sure not to put unnecessary pressure on her injuries. He needed to get her somewhere safe, have her healed

Only after that would he figure out how to deal with George.

And once Celine was safe, it would be time to focus on his own growth.

He had already reached the limits of what his current rank could offer him in a battle against enemies like George. If he wanted to kill George by the next encounter and turn the tables on that bastard, he needed to enter a stage where no matter what George does it would not affect him. If he had entered A Rank earlier he would have easily killed the bastard and prevented all this.

His gaze hardened as he considered the next step.

First, he would take Celine away and make sure she healed.Then, he would level up to A Rank today.