The only things Nick felt when he heard that proposal were disgust, annoyance, and disdain.

'If I were to work under you, the people of Crimson City would have nobody left who has their best interest at heart,' he thought.

Nick acted like he was taken aback.

"Wait a second," he said after two seconds of stunned silence. "I have to think about this."

"Take your time," the governor said as he put the square away and walked to the door. "I don't need you to show me around anymore. I've got a map now."

Nick watched with surprise as the governor left the room.

Several seconds after the governor left, Nick started to pace around as his brows furrowed.

He seemed to be debating with himself.

But why?

Wasn't it already certain that he would refuse?

Yes, it was.

However

His ability hadn't reactivated.

Someone or something was watching him, and Nick was quite sure that it was the governor.

'Spying on me, huh?' Nick thought as he looked at the wall with a thoughtful expression. 'Not sure how he's doing it, but I guess he has some unique powers.'

Nick returned to pacing, and he even whispered to himself occasionally.

'Is this some kind of test from him?' Nick thought. 'Does he want to make sure that I'm not planning on betraying him?'

'I can't be sure. I only know that I have to act like I'm deliberating his offer.'

After about a minute of walking around, Nick sighed and looked at the door leading out of the room.

He looked at it for a couple of seconds.

And then, he exited and looked around.

Nick slowly walked through the hallway, glancing into all the doors to check for the governor.

In the end, Nick found the governor in the big room with all the screens, looking at a couple of them.

"Have you made your decision?" the governor asked without turning around, his voice somehow getting past all the noise of the alarm.

Nick took a deep breath.

"I don't think joining the city is what I should do," he said slowly.

The governor turned around and looked at Nick with evaluating eyes.

"Elaborate, please," he said.

"I'm on Aegis' side," Nick said. "Ever since I talked with Simon Francium, I knew that Aegis is the one organization that I want to help more than any other."

"You said the cities are made to ultimately help humanity."

"However, joining the city is not the best way to help Aegis or the city," Nick said.

A small gleam of interest appeared in the governor's eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"Dark Dream has grown a lot in the past years," Nick said. "We have gained more Specters, and we have gained more Extractors. We have a bigger Investigation department, and we also employ many more clerks. Of course, our profit margins have also increased a lot."

Nick looked at the governor.

"And while I can't say that we are perfectly white, the stains on our shirts are minuscule."

"We did not influence politics for our gain."

"We did not use the guards in a way to hide wrongdoings."

"We are not secretly harboring Specters that we shouldn't."

"We are not killing any people without telling the city."

"Whenever there has been a conflict, we have not been the aggressors and have only defended ourselves."

"Dark Dream has had many opportunities over the years, but Julian and I have never taken more than we were owed."

"The other Manufacturers are not like that," Nick said coldly.

The governor still looked at Nick.

"I do not need to tell you what they do. You know that better than me."

"The fact is that Dark Dream is not nearly as parasitic to the city as the other Manufacturers."

"And that's why I think remaining with Dark Dream is the right thing."

"The guards and the government are shackled by laws and don't have much freedom to act."

"Meanwhile, Dark Dream has all the freedom."

"In Dark Dream, I can support Aegis better than as a city agent," Nick said.

The governor looked at Nick with unimpressed eyes.

"You believe the government is ineffective in enforcing its laws?" the governor asked.

Nick looked into the governor's eyes.

"With ten Specialists, 20 Experts, and 40 Veterans, would it have been possible to remove the Parasite's influence in the past?" Nick asked back.

The governor furrowed his brows and looked into Nick's eyes for a while.

Nick just looked back.

"The answer is no, it wouldn't have been possible," Nick continued speaking.

The governor was a bit surprised about that statement.

After all, it should have been possible to get rid of the Parasite with such a force, and the city had access to something like that.

"Because most of the city's forces are borrowed," Nick said. "At least one, if not several, of the people assigned with the mission would have deliberately overlooked many of the rats. After all, the guards do not belong to the city. At most, they are temps."

"Their true loyalties lie with the Manufacturers, not the city."

"So, yes, I do believe that the city is not able to properly enforce the laws, but that is because most of its people are criminals themselves."

As the governor looked at Nick, the image of Nick in his mind changed.

Nick had always seemed quite inexperienced and na?ve in the governor's mind. The only really good thing about him had been his altruism and his power relative to his level.

Yet, the confidence with which Nick spoke made the governor realize that he might have underestimated Nick.

Nick had highlighted the biggest flaw of the city.

The city didn't have many Specters, which meant that it couldn't produce a lot of Extractors truly loyal to it.

The fact that it had to borrow Extractors from Manufacturers was why it was so difficult to keep the Manufacturers in check.

While the head of the government was, technically speaking, a dictator, all his soldiers and guards acted according to democracy.

A democracy in which only big companies could vote.

Logically, the big companies voted for what was best for the big companies, and many times, these things broke the laws set by the dictator.