Chapter 990 The Conference
"Inside." The BOS officer motioned. He practically pushed Lee Seng inside, closing the door. They had moved him back into the room he had been inhabiting. He stumbled a couple steps away from the door. Lee Seng held a t-shirt in his hand and wore hospital sweats. He glanced at his stomach and noticed some burn scarring.
"The scarring is normal." Lee Seng told himself. He rubbed his stomach and sighed. He started to slip his shirt on when a knock came to the door. He pulled his shirt down as the General of the BOS appeared.
"Mr. Chang, you seem more colorful now that you're not in pain. I hope this will help with the investigation." Captain Frank said. The door closed behind him and he made his way over to Lee Seng. "Please, have a seat." The two sat in the small sitting area.
"I'm just going to tell you what I've been telling everyone else." Lee Seng told the Captain. The Captain leaned into his chair and looked at Lee Seng.
"What happened at the lab nearly four months ago?" The Captain asked. Lee Seng sighed and shifted in his seat. This would take a while. Lee Seng recounted what had happened. The Captain, like the others before him, wrote down the information. When Lee Seng was done, he continued with questions.
Lee Seng and the Captain went back and forth for more than an hour before the Captain was satisfied with his questions. The Captain stood up and nodded, saying, "Alright, that's all the questions. I won't lie, you have a very consistent story. Through the questioning from six different officers and myself, you've answered similarly with all of us. It'll be hard to understand why the Creator even did all of this in the first place, but I believe you."
"Are you trying to butter me up so I say something you want to hear?" Lee Seng scoffed. He crossed his arms and looked at the bed. "I killed most of the Failed Ones, including their leader. There's still more out there. Who knows how they're adapting and hiding now that their leader is dead? If the BOS wants me to stand trial for my father's actions, I will not, but I will hunt down the Failed Ones like I originally intended to do."
The Captain paced the room as he thought. He looked over at Lee Seng after some time and said, "Do you have any interest in taking any assets from your father's company? Will you restore Chang Labs?"
"I have no interest in that." Lee Seng shook his head. "Nor do I have an interest in biological testing. While my dad had a passion for that, I do not. I would rather spend my time outside, fighting monsters and capturing the Failed Ones."
"And after you complete capturing the Failed Ones, what will you do?"
"Dunno." Lee Seng shrugged. He hadn't thought about what he would do in great detail. "Travel? See the world? Reclaim the Old World? Disappear and live a quiet life elsewhere?"
"What do you want to do in this current position?" The General reworded his question. "If you want to do all those things, what do you need to do first?" Lee Seng smiled at the question.
"Set up a conference. I want my statement out to the world that 'I am not responsible for my Father's actions. I'm simply uncovering the truth of what he did and I'm ending the Failed Ones.'"
Captain Frank nodded and excused himself. He left Lee Seng alone for quite awhile until a knock came to his door. Lee Seng turned and watched as the Captain came back with a much older man.
"Chang, this is our Public Relations Expert George Hammon. He'll be running through what will happen at the press conference and how it'll work in tandem with the BOS and you." Captain Frank said. Mr. Hammon was a gray frizzy haired man in business casual attire. He shuffled over to the chair and sat while BOS Captain Frank stood off to the side.
"What's the condition BOS has whipped up?" Lee Seng asked. He knew the BOS would want him to do something in return for his own personal agenda.
"You will work with the BOS until you've slain all of the Failed Ones. You will additionally help uncover any extra details about your Father's many secrets while you do so." Captain Frank explained. Lee Seng nodded and looked over to Mr. Hammon.
"We've set up a conference. It will be held in the Police conference building in a couple hours. You will be escorted there and will explain all you've said you would explain in addition to this condition. You will be binded to it and won't be able to leave until you've completed your mission. You will additionally be inserted with a chip. If you ever escape, the BOS will find you and kill you." Mr. Hammon explained.
'The BOS has inducted criminals of many kinds into this system. They serve their time doing mostly hard BOS missions. This sounds about right for my situation. I don't need to be worried about anything and play along. It won't take that long because of this…' Lee Seng thought to himself as the System's Void Storage popped up. Two key items were glimmering in his inventory.
[Mother's Blood] and [Son's Blood] sat in his inventory. Lee Seng looked back at the two and nodded. "I'll be in your care, then." Lee Seng bowed.
The press filled the conference room as Lee Seng took peeks at them. There were at least hundreds of people in here. Lee Seng felt butterflies moving around in his stomach. He pulled away and steadied himself. He was dressed in a button-up shirt, dress pants and dress shoes with a blazer. The BOS had told him he "needed to look like he is well-prepared for the conference."
"It's time, Chang." Mr. Hammon spoke up. Lee Seng nodded and took in a breath before walking with Mr. Hammon. The photos went and all eyes were on him. Mr. Hammon moved to the podium first. "Hello and thank you all for coming on short notice. As you all know, Lee Seng Chang has been with the BOS for the last month. He has been receiving medical attention in the last month at Capitol City Hospital. We've asked you all to come here to give Mr. Chang's statement. I will now give it to him for his statement. We will not take any questions afterwards."
Mr. Hammon motioned for Lee Seng to come to the podium and moved off the stage. Lee Seng took in the room and steadied himself. He hadn't shifted his form. He didn't feel like it and he hoped all of his friends were watching.
"Hello everyone, my name's Lee Seng Chang. I'm the son of the deceased Creator, Dr. Vang Chang." Lee Seng started his long speech. Murmurs grew over the sentence. "I would like to start this by addressing something that happened two years ago. I know you probably heard about the village of Maus and the bombing that came with it… Unfortunately, my friends and I were thrown into a much darker reason behind the bombing… A Deimon, or you might better know them as the infamous D31 faction, was holding students, children, and villagers captive in the school. My friends and I managed to uncover this dark secret and kill the Deimon.
"I suffered during the fight and went into a coma for two years. My friends were forced away due to the bombing by the Deimons. The Deimons bombed the village of Maus leaving my friend Olivia Ok homeless and without her grandmother and beloved friends in the village.
"I woke up two years later and we all collectively decided to figure out what was happening in Capitol City. We traveled to New Angeles and found many things have happened since then. There we decided we would travel to Capitol City. There we saw the Deimons wreaking havoc on our beloved city. We traveled to my father's lab and that's when I was put in front of the truth… The Failed Ones, people from the early days of the Biohuman serum, were trapped underground. They had finally hatched their plan to kill my father, kill me and everyone in there and escape.
"My father, Dr. Vang Chang, died under Failed One #001's lies. She had made him believe she was his lover and they would truly be together after she was freed. She killed my father and summoned her 'Son' from within me… I managed to survive because of my form." Lee Seng stopped, grabbing a water bottle and taking a sip from it. He looked at the press and continued. "I.. Died, but my twin brother saved me, temporarily going into some sort of stasis."
The reporters began to grow with questions. They started to ask many questions and Mr. Hammon took over, shushing the crowd.
'I'm sorry, everyone. Your secret identities will be broken because of me… They'll know Fox Spirits exist… I hope you won't hate me for this.' Lee Seng apologized in his head.
"Alright, enough. Mr. Chang has not finished his statement!" Mr. Hammon hushed the crowd. The reporters grew quiet and looked at Lee Seng. "Mr. Chang, you may continue." Lee Seng nodded and took another sip of water before continuing.
"Y'see, I'm not some regular Biohuman who just sprouted tails and fox ears. I'm actually binded with a humanoid species called 'Fox Spirits.' My supposed 'brother' is a Fox Spirit that I was binded to. Keng was there from the beginning of my 'Second Awakening.' If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today. In exchange for his life and all of our tails, I was given life again." Lee Seng looked up, holding the tears. He wiped them and looked back at the crowd.
"I caused the Midwest to turn into a perpetual desert. I made things worse and… the other me that came from Experiment #001's antics took all of the surviving Failed Ones with him and his 'Mother.' The heat that radiated from me was one of anger… one of sadness… desperation that I couldn't do anything to stop them. My powers were temporarily taken from me for two whole months. At that time, I didn't know what to do. I was lost but a friend found me and snapped me out of it and I started my search.
"With the help of my friends, Calis Juridaya, Ritsuka Yamada, and Evan Trainor, we killed a total of four Failed Ones including 'Son', the other me, and Experiment #001 - Mother. In the battle with Experiment #001, I burnt my DM nerves and caused my self-healing abilities to stop working for a time. I was unconscious for nearly a month before waking up and being found by the BOS.
"With that, I was captured, healed by a wonderful healer from South Africa and I stand here today to tell you this…" Lee Seng gulped and looked over to the BOS General before looking at the reporters. "I will be working with the BOS to find the rest of these Failed Ones and uncover any secrets the Creator has hidden from the world and me."
"Lee Seng! Lee Seng!" Reporters started to scream as cameras clicked.
"What does the BOS want with you? Are you entering their criminal program then?" A reporter shouted.
"Mr. Chang will not answer any questions at this time. Thank you for coming to the conference and have a good day." Mr. Hammon closed the conversation. Lee Seng turned and walked away from the podium and bowed to the crowd before leaving.
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