Chapter 64: Beneath the Surface

Helen POV

Chris took a second before looking at Gwen.

“So, what will you need for the lab?” Gwen thought about it before she started telling him what she wanted.

Most of it went beyond anything I understood well enough to have an opinion on, but Chris seemed able to follow her without much trouble.

Whenever she mentioned something he didn’t understand, he asked instead of pretending otherwise, and that usually led to Gwen explaining even more.

I mostly listened from the other sofa.

Seeing her like this made it difficult to believe she’d refused to even leave her room last night.

Whatever had happened after I left her with Chris had helped, and for now, that was enough for me.

Once Gwen finished explaining the important parts, Chris thought about it for a moment before looking toward me.

“How much of the neighborhood have we bought?” I told him, “The inner section is ours.” Chris asked if that meant all of it, and I nodded.

“The last property was finalized yesterday.” When he asked about the middle section, I told him it was almost finished.

“There are still a few houses left, but we’re already talking to the owners.” Chris nodded before asking, “What about the outer section?” I told him it was still being discussed and would take longer, which made him ask if there were any problems.

“Nothing unusual.

Some people are willing to sell as soon as the offer becomes good enough.

Others don’t want to move regardless of what we’re offering.” I paused before adding, “And the more property we buy, the more careful we need to be.

Eventually someone is going to wonder why you want an entire neighborhood.” Chris told me not to push anyone, and I assured him we weren’t.

He nodded again before saying, “Keep increasing the offers slowly. Anyone who still doesn’t want to sell can stay for now. We don’t need people becoming suspicious because we’re desperate to buy their house.”

That was already what I’d told the people handling the purchases, so I simply nodded.

Chris looked like he was about to continue, but then he stopped.

At first, I thought he was still considering the properties, but something about his expression changed.

It wasn’t much.

His attention simply seemed to disappear somewhere else for several seconds.

Gwen noticed too and called his name.

Chris’s eyes focused on her again before moving to me.

“You don’t actually know what I can do, do you?” I frowned while Gwen looked just as confused and told him, “I’ve seen what you can do.” Chris replied, “Some of it.” Gwen frowned.

“What does that have to do with the neighborhood?” Instead of answering, Chris stood and told us, “Come outside.” Gwen pointed out that wasn’t an answer, and Chris simply replied, “I know,” before starting toward the door.

White was already standing before either of us moved.

I looked at her, but she didn’t seem confused by the sudden change in conversation.

He led us toward the neighboring house before stopping.

I was about to ask what exactly we were doing when darkness suddenly spread around us.

A blackish dome formed over the four of us, but it lasted barely a second before disappearing.

Everything looked exactly the same afterward—the neighboring houses were still there, the sky was still visible, and nothing around us seemed different.

Gwen looked around before asking, “What was that?” Chris answered, “To hide what I’m about to do.” I looked around again, but I couldn’t see anything that suggested we were hidden.

Before I could ask how it worked, Chris crouched and placed one hand against the ground.

Then an entrance appeared in the ground.

I stopped.

There was no explosion, no sound of breaking stone, and I didn’t even feel the ground beneath my feet move.

One moment there had been solid earth in front of Chris, and the next there was an opening leading underground.

I couldn’t see where it ended.

Beyond the entrance there was only darkness.

For several seconds, I could only stare at it.

I’d seen excavation work before, and making a hole so deep that you couldn’t see the end would require heavy machinery, workers and a great deal of time.

Chris had done it in less than a second without disturbing anything around us.

There wasn’t even any displaced dirt or stone.

Gwen stepped closer and looked into the opening, but there was nothing to see beyond the darkness.

She looked back at Chris and asked, “You did that?” Chris stood before answering, “Yes.”

I looked at him and then at the entrance again.

He didn’t look tired, and his breathing hadn’t changed.

If anything, he seemed completely unconcerned by what he’d just done.

My eyes moved toward White.

She was standing a few steps behind him, completely calm.

Gwen seemed to notice that too, but before either of us could say anything, Chris looked toward us and said, “Touch me.”

Gwen looked back at the dark entrance before asking, “We’re not jumping down there, right?” Chris assured her, “No, we’re not jumping.” Gwen immediately replied, “Good,” before placing her hand on his shoulder.

I did the same on his other side while White touched him from behind.

The world changed.

I didn’t feel myself falling.

I didn’t feel anything.

One moment I was standing outside beside the opening, and the next my feet were touching stone.

I looked around and forgot what I’d been about to say.

The opening above us suddenly seemed very far away.

The cavern stretched in every direction, so large that it took me several seconds to properly understand what I was looking at.

The ceiling rose far above us while the empty ground continued into the distance.

There were no machines, no supports and no lights beyond the strange illumination Chris had created around us.

There was nothing except an impossible amount of empty space where solid earth had been moments ago.

Gwen slowly turned around before asking Chris, “How big is this?” He answered, “Roughly twelve hundred meters across and around a hundred and twenty meters high.”

I looked at Chris.

More than a kilometer.

I’d known he was powerful.

There was no other explanation for some of the things I’d seen him do, and I’d stopped expecting normal answers from him a long time ago.

But knowing something and seeing it were very different things.

He had removed enough earth to create something larger than many industrial sites, and the house above us hadn’t even shaken.

Gwen looked around again before turning back to him.

“You made all of this just now?” Chris answered, “Yes, I did.” She stared at him for several seconds while Chris simply looked around once before nodding to himself.

“This should be enough.”

I almost laughed.

Enough.

Apparently, that was what this was to him.

Not something impossible.

Not even something worth stopping to admire.

It was simply space.

Chris turned toward Gwen and asked, “Where do you want your building?” That seemed to pull her out of it, because she looked at him and asked, “My lab?” Chris replied, “Unless you’ve changed your mind.” Gwen looked around the cavern again before pointing toward one side.

“There.” Chris asked how much space she wanted, and Gwen thought about it before giving him a rough size.

He asked a few more questions about height and how much room she wanted left around it for expansion, and within a minute, Gwen was already looking at the cavern differently.

They put the medical section near the genetics laboratory, though Chris wanted enough distance between them that neither would interfere with the other.

The main servers would be farther away, while Gwen chose the opposite side of the cavern for the strength-testing area.

Chris caught her wrist before she finished pointing and shifted her hand farther across the cavern.

Gwen looked at him.

“Seriously?” Chris told her it still needed more distance, making her stare toward where he was indicating before saying, “That’s already hundreds of meters away.” Chris didn’t seem bothered.

“We have the space.” Gwen looked back at him.

“You’re making me sound like a bomb.”

…….

Author’s Note

Sorry for not uploading for a while.

I had exams, so I couldn’t really focus on writing or uploading properly.

Please bear with me for three more days.

After that, uploads should be regular again.

Thanks for understanding and for waiting.