Chapter 121: Chapter 121
"Streamer M, I heard you’ve been making the rounds. Any juicy rumours for our viewers?"
"Well Streamer C, what I can say is that anyone watching the main stream will be in for a treat!"
"Wait, main stream? Are you really telling our viewers to go watch another channel instead?"
Melody laughed and patted Coral good naturedly on the shoulder. "Of course not, silly! Because I have a summary of everything they’re going to talk about. To begin..."
Bran had tried to concentrate at the beginning of the broadcast, he was the cameraman after all, but after just a few minutes of back and forth he found himself completely unable to make heads or tails of it. Why did they talk like that? Did anyone understand them? Did people actually like watching this kind of performance? If so, why?
Ever since receiving his metaphorical license to use modern technology again, Bran had tried to get with the times, or at least with his own age group, but he found himself, like with the livestream, completely unable to make heads or tails of it.
Did people really like carrying around a piece of metal that dinged and buzzed every few minutes? It surely hadn’t been so hectic when he was in high school and owner of his own shiny new smartphone...
Someone bumped Bran from behind and the camera in his hands waved wildly.
"Sorry, sorry!" said the person who’d done the deed. Bran glanced back and saw that it was a woman with two bags of four cups each of milk tea. Clearly some kind of goffer.
"It’s alright," he mumbled and stepped to the side to avoid another collision.
To be cleat, it wasn’t entirely the woman’s fault. Googlᴇ search novel•fire.net
The Unity, for some reason, had decided to house all fifty plus members of all presenting groups into one small to medium sized conference room for their wait and even when they’d first entered, it had felt small. Now, a full hour later, it was practically claustrophobic.
The security guard manning the large doors that led to the actual presentation pace touched his ear, then opened the door, letting back in the last group.
There was more jostling, and more camera wobbling, and the next presenting group trailed into the presentation room. Heads craned to try to see inside, but the security guard kept the gap of the door narrow. Bran, for his part, didn’t even try to catch a glimpse.
Not least because he and the rest of his group already had a good idea of what was in the room. And what was in all the other rooms on this floor and a few floors above and below.
Low-key reconnaissance last week combined with Mini Colin’s giant efforts today were proving very fruitful in the area of getting a lay of the land and the little man had already signaled that he’d finished placing all the talismen, both in the inner and outer segments.
Bran checked his watch, then caught Zhan’s eye.
Zhan gave a small nod then got on his phone.
They were the next group that was going to head in and, while it was chancy to get things set up and activated so much in advance, they all knew they likely only had a minute or two to get things done once they entered the presentation room.
Zhan got off his phone and mouthed ’we’re good’.
In his mind’s eye, Bran could see the jiaolong and other loong
Bran adjusted his grip on the forever becoming heavier camera, made sure Coral and Melody were in frame, then went back to zoning out while staring at the wall behind them.
Fifteen minutes later, the security guard opened the door, letting out the last group.
All four members of their group jumped into action.
"Looks like it’s finally our turn!" said Melody as she led the way to the door, followed by Bran and Zhan behind the camera.
"Do you think they’ll let us livestream from inside?" asked Coral, making sure to not turn away too far from the microphone.
"Only one way to find out!" replied Melody with a flourish, dramatically indicating the door.
"No filming," said the security guard.
Well, that answered it.
Melody and Coral made a quick sign off to their online audience, then led the way into the presentation room. The pair were the face of Kunpeng while Zhan and Bran were officially just technical staff. It had been like that since the quiet shift from Shengnü to Kunpeng and their both closed and open alpha and beta tests. It turned out that Coral, though previously completely inexperienced in programming, had a real capacity for studying computers and magic so she was able to play the more tech-savvy of the pair with Melody being more of an energetic mascot.
Bran pulled the visor of his cap down just a little and, with Zhan’s help, stuffed the camera into its padded bag.
Coral and Melody lingered with the clear intention of helping but Bran waved them on. "We’ll catch up. Go."
So the girls went through the door and, after a minute or two of struggling with bits and bobs that they swore had fit earlier that day, so did Bran and Zhan, their equipment all safely stored away in the bags slung over their shoulders.
Unlike the room they, and everyone else, had been waiting in, the proper presentation room spacious with the feel of an auditorium what with the sloped floor and dozens of seats lined across the middle. In fact, the room wouldn’t have looked out of place in a university, not that Bran could really tell having never been to a university before.
The four of them reached the front of the room and got about getting ready, their nervous fumblings only fueling the narrative that they were a small start-up in awe of the all powerful The Unity and its head honchos.
Speaking of head honchoes... Bran cast an eye around but failed to see the two people he’d expected to be here: Artemis and Malcolm. Their reconnaissance the past week had showed up evidence that they were two of the core people working to bring this whole affair to pass so it was odd that they both weren’t there. Did this change the plan? Bran couldn’t think how, though he started to get a bad feeling about it.
If they weren’t here, then where were they?
There was, however, one man who they’d all not just expected to be here, or hoped to be here, but needed to be here.
Down in the front row, just to the right of centre, sat Arthur Penn in his usual uniform of black turtleneck and jeans, head bald and sharp eyes, at the moment, trained on his lap where he was typing on his phone.
Trying to contact Artemis or Malcolm, Bran surmised as he helped Zhan get their laptop plugged into the room’s computer and AV system. Even if they weren’t really going to use it, it was probably wise to pretend they would.
In the centre of the space at the front of the room and about a metre from Bran and Zhan, stood Coral and Melody preparing to give the presentation together.
The projector on the ceiling came to life, bathing the wall behind them with a blue light that read ’NO INPUT’ in white on the top right. One of the technical staff took notice and started to make his way down from the back to rescue them.
Bran looked to Zhan then to the girls and, while no one gave any visible signs, it was clear they were all ready. He slid his hand into his pocket and took a hold of the tool he’d sneaked past security there.
Arthur locked his phone and slid it away into his pocket.
"Oh?" There was an unnatural glimmer to Arthur’s eyes as he narrowed them. "I would have thought you’d rather give the presentation, Bran."
Everyone but Bran flinched. They’d been careful not to leak that Bran was going to be at the presentation or that he was even a part of Kunpeng, but it was so like Arthur to know anyway.
Bran straightened and gave the man, his father, a cold smile.
"As people follow the earth," he said. His voice was quiet yet it cut through the room like a knife. "Earth follows the heavens."
He pulled the small knife from his pocket, cutting his thumb, and holding out his now bloody hand.
Arthur’s eyes widened, scrambling to his feet. "You can’t-!"
But Bran could and he was.
Under his sleeves the spell marks Misha had drawn on glowed and a circle of writhing symbols expanded out from under his feet, engulfing the room. The talismen Mini Colin had set had successfully been connected to the loong circling above, who in turn were doing their best to keep the energy circulating in the immediate area.
Arthur had been successfully captured in the Coil.