The Masked Man entered the building. His five followers also entered after him.

Right after the six people entered the building, a car stopped in front of the building, and a person stepped out of the car.

He looked at his watch.

"Right on time. I wonder if Thirteenth is going to be on time or if he'll be late like always," the man muttered as he started walking towards the building.

****

Ryder was on the sixth floor, going from room to room, killing people in their sleep. He was entirely unaware of the fact that some newcomers had entered the building he was inside. These were the people he wished not to find inside, but it seemed as if his luck wasn't supporting him for now.

Ryder was in his Sixteenth Room. He opened the door and entered inside the room. He was happy that no one locked their rooms in this place, which made his task easier.

So far, he had an easy sailing where all his targets were sleeping on the bad, but this time seemed to be different.

The bed was empty, but it seemed like someone had slept there that night. The blanket and the bedsheet was enough of a clue for Ryder to know that this place was not empty.

'Who lived here? Did that person leave the room before I came?' He wondered as he walked towards the bathroom to check. "It can also be that the people I killed on that floor to be from this room,'

There were only a few meters of distance between Ryder and the door of the washroom when he saw the doorknob moving.

The door opened, and a man finally came into sight.

"What the heck?! Who are you?! Why are you in my room?" the man asked Ryder with a surprise look on his face as he took a step back.

The man seemed like he was very young, only in his early twenties. He had beautiful red hair that came down to his shoulders. He had a sharp-looking face and brown eyes that were looking at Ryder in confusion.

Ryder didn't even look at the face of the man before he aimed his gun at his head, but he stopped and didn't press the trigger as he saw the face of the man.

"Dixon?" he blurted out a name as his mouth opened in shock. His expressions couldn't be seen by the young man as they were hidden by the mask that Ryder wore.

" Hmm? Ah, so you're one of us. Hah, you scared me. Did the doctor send you to me? Don't worry. Tell him I won't be late. Syncing the bomb won't take long. I'll sync them in a blink of an eye. No one would be able to disable them individually. This plan will be a success! You can go. Give me five minutes. I'll be downstairs after getting dressed," the young man told Ryder as he breathed in relief. He was glad that it wasn't an enemy but one of their own. "Also, lower the gun, man. You know I'm not a prisoner here."

He walked over to the wardrobe and started getting dressed.

"You'll sync the bombs? You know how they're going to be used, don't you?" Ryder asked again as he glanced back at the man.

His voice seemed somewhat down as if he was sad.

"Of course. It'll be used to kill a few thousand insects that infest the earth. I know it's not much, especially since there are billions of Insects destroying this earth, but one day, we'll get our Utopia," the man replied as he sighed.

****

"Ryder, stop fighting so much, man. You know you're not going to win. So what if they mock you a little. You can't fall down to their level. Come with me. Let me buy you a treat."

...

"Hey, Ryder. Look. This bird! Do you know how rare it is? I can't believe that I found one. These things are hunted by humans for their fun. Poor birds. Why are we so cruel?"

...

"It died! It died! Why?! How can my own father kill this innocent Bird? Why?! Why is everyone so cruel to these poor things?!"

....

"Sigh, another forest fire caused by humans. So many innocent animals' lives lost."

...

"Ryder, did you hear the report? The pollution has increased so much despite the measures we took! Can we even do anything with so many people disregarding common sense?"

...

Ryder looked at the man and couldn't help but reminisce about the past. A young school boy who was more concerned about nature and animals than his own life.

He remembered how the young boy who was his best friend during the young days didn't stop talking about these things and how he wished to change the world.

He didn't know how and why both of them separated and didn't talk since he entered College. He always wondered why his old friend stopped replying to his messages. Did he forget him? Did he get busy, or did he just remove him from his life?

He never expected that he would find that old friend here.

****

"Are you really fine with killing people, Dixon?" Ryder asked again.

"Are you testing my loyalty to Uprising? Look, dude, you might be new, but I've been here since my college days. I've already killed thousands of people, and I'll kill thousands more today. You don't need to suspect my loyalty," the man replied without turning back.

"You already killed thousands of innocent people?" Ryder enquired.

"Hahaha, yeah. It's so overwhelming when I think about it. Still, those people were just the first step. I won't stop until I wipe ninety percent of humanity and bring the balance back to the world," the man replied.

"You killed young, old, and even kids. How did you change so much, man?" Ryder asked as he sighed. " How did you get lost so badly?"

"Hmm? Why are you talking like you know me? Who exactly are you?" the man asked as he turned back and looked at Ryder.

Ryder placed his hand on his mask and slowly removed it, revealing his face to his old friend.

The man looked at him for a brief period before managing to recognize him.

"Hmm? Ryder is that you?" the man exclaimed.

"It's you! I can't be wrong! You joined Uprising too? It's so awesome! We can both work together to improve the world," Dixon said as he started laughing.

"To improve the world or to destroy it?" Ryder asked as he looked into Dixon's eyes.