Omniscient Revenge System

002 Regression of the Puppeteer

Without warning, the scarred bald man slammed his steel baton right into Max's stomach.

Thud!

Max's mouth spewed a mixture of blood and fluid. His body collapsed, crashing into the table leg.

"Mercy! I will pay! Give me time!" Max screamed, groaning. He tried to protect his head with both hands.

The two thugs ignored his whining. The second thug raised his boot high, then stomped on Max's ribs mercilessly.

The loud crack of bones echoed throughout the cafe. The other patrons scattered, running toward the exit to save themselves.

Amidst the chaos, Seth remained sitting calmly, sipping the rest of his coffee. The blue system screen glowed brightly, presenting a series of notifications that spoiled his eyes.

[Target's physical pain reaches a high level! +20 EXP.] 

[System confirms: Target's physical suffering counts as valid to increase the EXP amount.] 

[Accumulation: 20/100 EXP toward Level 2.]

Seth smirked faintly. He stared at his own palms. If Level 1 alone already allowed him to obtain crucial secrets, what kind of insane power would the System give him when he reached Level 2 or Level 10 later?

“Eh?” Seth jolted—Max's hand suddenly grabbed his leg, interrupting the blue screen until it disappeared.

Max crawled closer across the dirty floor. The man's trembling and bloodied hands gripped the edge of Seth's pants.

Indeed, only Seth sat nearby. The patrons who knew Max had already distanced themselves. Leila, who had acted hysterical earlier, now hid under the table while trembling in fear. Max's subordinate also felt too afraid to show himself.

"Seth... help me, Mate..." Max coughed. He stared at Seth with pleading, tear-filled eyes. "You are my best friend... lend me that necklace... they will kill me..."

Seth lowered his gaze, staring at the pathetic man with a facial expression as if he felt truly confused and shocked.

"What did you do until they chased you, Max?" Seth pulled his leg away roughly. “I want to help… but sorry… this…”

Seth looked at the two thugs who now stepped closer—looking impatient to beat their prey again. Seth deliberately put on a terrified expression, pretending he lacked the power to help.

“You want to help him?!” snapped one of the fierce men.

Seth shook his head as fast as possible. “No! Go ahead.”

Seth looked down at Max and shook his head with one hundred percent fake regret.

“Sorry, Max. I completely do not understand your business here. Besides, I have to pick up Dustin at the daycare now. I cannot interfere."

Seth backed away, leaving Max as the debt collectors dragged him again. A smile of satisfaction blossomed on his lips as he watched the thug deliver a brutal kick to Max's face.

Leila screamed hysterically, covering her mouth. She snatched her bag and ran, trailing right behind Seth who had just opened the cafe door. The woman abandoned her lover, who now groaned in pain as he received relentless punches.

Leila clearly chose the safe path. Outside the cafe, Leila leaned against the brick wall for a moment. Her breath hitched, and her body trembled violently.

"Seth! Why did they beat him?!" Leila cried, gripping her husband's arm. "What did Max do?! We must call the police!"

Seth stared at Leila, tightly hiding his disgust. He deliberately let Leila follow him outside because he did not want this woman to suspect that he already knew all about their betrayal.

"I don't know, Leila," Seth answered. He released his wife's grip casually as if he just made a normal movement. "Maybe our friend caused a lot of trouble that we don't know about."

Seth then focused his gaze on his wife's face.

The system screen reappeared.

[System activates feature..] 

[Target: Leila Corbyn.] 

[Major Secret. The system deducts the remaining 50 Points. Point Balance will deplete.]

“Use it!” Seth commanded in his mind.

Even though he had to lose all the points he received from beating Max using other people's hands, Seth did not mind at all. Leila also needed payback.

[Leila Corbyn's Secret: Target carries a four-week-old fetus. Max Wagner is the biological father of the fetus. Target plans to manipulate the Host into believing that the baby belongs to the Host.]

Seth's legs instantly wobbled after he read those lines. He almost fell if his hands did not quickly grab the water hydrant behind him.

“Hubert…” Seth muttered very softly.

He finally found the answer to that dark fact. Now he understood the reason Leila never cared about Dustin. Hubert did not belong to him; the boy came from Max's bastard seed.

That reality exceeded the limits of depravity that Seth could imagine. Fury burned his chest again. However, he instantly extinguished the fire with a heartbreaking faint smile. He had the perfect way to prevent that stupidity from repeating.

"Leila," Seth called with a soft tone and a sorrowful gaze. "Forget Max for a moment. I need to tell you one important thing."

Leila looked up, still sobbing. "W-what is it?"

"This morning, the hospital doctor called me. He delivered the results of my comprehensive medical test," Seth lowered his head, playing the role of a devastated husband.

“Oh… You went to the hospital?” Leila looked confused; she did not recall Seth having a hospital appointment schedule.

“Yes. I actually hid it from you. I went there because my lower back often hurt since half a year ago.” Seth rubbed his lower back to make his lie look convincing.

“I thought it was just a mild pain. But after the doctor examined me thoroughly—it turns out a disorder exists in…” Seth slightly hung his sentence, fabricating the best scenario to make it sound deadly.

“My sperm-producing ducts—a disorder exists there. It does not threaten my life, but the doctor confirmed that my body is one hundred percent sterile. We will never be able to have children again, Leila."

Seth displayed a very concerned face, yet in his heart, he smirked widely as he watched Leila's face turn pale. Seth's words just now successfully destroyed all of the woman's future plans. Leila would never be able to claim the future ‘Hubert’ in her womb as Seth's child.

“That… that…”

Within seconds, Leila's face only retained a corpse-like paleness. The snake-hearted woman even lost her ability to speak.

[Target experiences immense mental pressure. +2 points] 

[Target feels confused. +3 points] 

[Target's mental panic breaches the extreme limit! System detects psychological shock. +10 EXP.] 

[Target's shattered hopes trigger absolute despair. +15 EXP] 

[Total: 45/100 EXP.]

Seth celebrated the small victory by patting and gently squeezing Leila's shoulder. “This shouldn't be a big problem. Didn't we already agree to only have Dustin?”

Leila still failed to provide an answer.

“You look so pale, Leila. How about you go home first? Let me pick up Dustin.”

Seth deliberately drove her away. He still had a very long plan for today. “We will talk again later when I arrive home.”

Leila nodded soundlessly. Her footsteps looked unsteady as she walked away.

In his previous life, Seth surely would have panicked immensely upon seeing his wife look slightly pale. Useless attention. Right now, even if he saw Leila lying covered in blood, Seth would only laugh at her.

As soon as Leila's figure disappeared from his sight, Seth grabbed his phone. His fingers moved nimbly, searching for a name: Lawyer Lucian Travis's Office.

He faced no difficulty finding it, because the place apparently operated as a large law firm. Seth easily made an appointment the moment he mentioned his need to speak with Lucian regarding an heirloom necklace.

“You are indeed very important.” Seth rubbed the obsidian necklace pendant on his neck, then raised his hand—hailing a passing taxi.

Seth would pick up Dustin and meet Lucian today. He needed to know the exact connection between Olympus and the necklace.

***

"No, thank you." Dustin politely refused the hot tea Lucian Travis’s secretary offered, opting instead to grab a chocolate chip cookie from the tray.

The five-year-old boy then pulled a complex 5x5 Rubik's Cube from his small backpack. His tiny fingers moved with dizzying speed, twisting and turning the colorful blocks without a single moment of hesitation.

Less than two minutes later—Seth only managed to sip a little bit of tea—he set the perfectly solved cube on the glass table with a proud face.

“Good job.” Seth smiled, then stroked Dustin's head. Kissed his hair, letting out a soft sigh. "You will always stay with me," he whispered.

This revenge did not belong to Seth alone; he did this for Dustin too. Seth vividly remembered Leila's sickening smile when Max casually mentioned harvesting his genius son's organs.

"I will make both of you pay in full—with interest." Seth wouldn't hesitate or show mercy. Letting the thugs break Max's bones served merely as a light appetizer. What came next would be far worse.

"Mr. Corbyn?"

Seth stood up and shook hands with a middle-aged man who exuded pure competence—his eyes looked sharp and observant behind a pair of silver-rimmed glasses.

"Lucian Travis." The man sat across from them, glanced briefly at the tea cup then nodded.

"Please read this." Wasting no time, Lucian handed over a document folder.

Seth scanned the contents of the highly official document. The terms shocked him with their absolute simplicity—Lucian wanted to take the obsidian necklace currently hanging around Seth's neck for a few days, in exchange for a thousand pounds.

A fantastic sum, considering Seth knew the pawnshop previously appraised the necklace at a mere ten pounds when he tried to sell it for food money years ago. He scrapped the idea back then because parting with his grandparents' keepsake for pennies felt insulting.

Now, a top-tier lawyer offered him a thousand pounds—strictly to borrow the necklace, not to purchase it.

"We will return the necklace to you." Lucian pointed to the bottom of the document. "As you can see. Please write down your address and phone number so we can contact you to return it."

"Can't you explain why you need this necklace?" Naturally, Seth probed for Lucian's true objective.

"I apologize, but I will explain everything after I return it. I merely follow a client's orders. I cannot say much right now." Lucian shook his head, maintaining a professional yet tight-lipped demeanor.

Seth instantly understood. Lucian did not covet the necklace for himself. The lawyer simply ran an errand for the 'Olympus' family. A mere dog of a massive corporate empire wouldn't dare leak his master's secrets.

Still, Seth wanted an edge. He focused his cold gaze on the lawyer.

'System, use the Omniscient Eye on him.'

[Warning: Host only possesses 20 Points. The System can only reveal a Low-Tier Secret. Proceeding will drain the remaining balance to zero.]

'Just use it!' Seth commanded impatiently, still expecting to uncover a grand conspiracy about the Olympus family or the necklace's true power.

[Target: Lucian Travis.] 

[Low-Tier Secret: Target hides three slices of triple-chocolate cake inside the bottom drawer of his office desk. His wife strictly banned him from eating sugar due to his dangerously high blood sugar levels, but Target plans to devour the cake secretly after the Host leaves.]

Seth cursed inwardly. He stared at the blue screen, instantly realizing his own miscalculation. Low points only bought low-value secrets.

He understood a crucial rule right then. Gaining EXP indeed leveled him up and unlocked overpowered abilities, but unfortunately, he currently lacked the points to do anything useful. 

He urgently needed to hoard a massive amount of Points if he wanted to extract Major Secrets from his enemy. Without enough points, he would only get ridiculous cake revelations that wouldn't help him at all.

To farm more points quickly, he needed to inflict massive mental distress on a target. Max currently lay in a hospital, recovering from a brutal beating, and Leila was also stressing about her pregnancy.

What a perfect target.