Only I Am A Reader

After altering his face a bit more and changing into casual clothes, Leo used Shadow Movement to get through most of the distance before making a quick stop at the supermarket.

'This should do it.'

The mediocre steak had only made Leo crave some good food, so he picked up a few things to make himself a late dish.

Finding and ordering good takeout would have likely taken less time and effort, but Leo wanted to do something special to celebrate an early success.

Besides, there was no better way to break open the old safehouse than to make a homely meal.

With the ingredients in hand, Leo walked up to the street where the safe house was situated before melting back into his shadow.

The best way to keep the integrity of a safe house was to never really open it or close it. To Leo, the door key was no more than an accessory.

'Was someone here recently?'

However, as soon as Leo stepped back into the place, he couldn't help noticing very small signs that made it look like this place was used recently.

'Is it squatters… Probably not.'

It wasn't like New Enigma City was too advanced to have those, but the lack of obvious signs was what made Leo even more suspicious.

A normal illegal trespasser would leave too much evidence, yet this place looked clean enough that Leo almost didn't notice anything.

'Well, I'm definitely not leaving.'

As apprehensive as Leo was about anything that could screw his plans, the menace formerly known as Cassian wasn't the one that had to run in hiding.

Now that he was stronger than ever, Leo was eager to meet the trespasser. Rather than trying to avoid them, he wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

'It's a shame that Cassian's life is a blank paper.'

Unlike Arthur who had met his fate early on, or Baekho who was mentioned repeatedly next to Yeon until he also met his fate, Cassian was practically erased from the story after making his early exit from the scene.

He was only mentioned a few times when people commended Aurora for making him her stepping stone. Aside from that…

'He might have really stayed there till the very end.'

Everything about the Lord of Shadows was never mentioned again as if he never existed. As such, Leo truly didn't know what to expect in the days to come.

That being said, being a clean slate made it that much easier to do things freely. Instead of having to swim against the tide to change his fate, all that Leo had to do was combat Cassian's empty depression.

Thankfully, fighting emotions was something that Leo was already very good at.

Chop! Chop! Chop!

While organizing his thoughts, Leo had already finished prepping the ingredients for his little meal.

He was cooking nostalgia food rather than making something fancy, so he only had to do some simple chopping, and Shadow Aramement made that even more simple.

Sizzle…

Putting a generous amount of ghee on his Shadow Pan, Leo dropped in the minced beef to brown for a bit.

After making sure to keep the flavorful melted fat in the pan, Leo then proceeded to take the beef out.

Following that, he dropped in the minced onions to get a little caramelized before adding in the spices. Powdered onions, powdered garlic, paprika, cinnamon… Only after adding an odd mix by feel, did Leo drop the rest of the vegetables.

Leo didn't exactly like green in his food, so aside from chopped tomatoes, he only added colored peppers and gave them a quick stir.

'Smells perfect.'

In reality, a great smell didn't always mean great food. Just using the right mix of spices was enough to generate that smell, but the familiar aroma undeniably gave Leo a sense of comfort.

Without further ado, he dropped the beed back in and mixed everything together after adding a few drops of vinegar.

Finally, he gave it a light coating of mozzarella cheese before serving it on a Shadow Plate!

"It tastes even better!"

Scooping some into his mouth using soft bread, Leo couldn't help commending himself. It wasn't a Michelin star dish, but revisiting it after a while always made it taste the best!

The hunger of 3 days easily made Leo devour the entire large plate. This was the equivalent of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, even if the timing was wrong.

'Time to see how our protagonist is doing.'

After filling his stomach with food and water, Leo took out Cassian's laptop from his Shadow Pocket. Cassian wasn't that great with technology, but his scheming laptop was extremely encrypted.

As such, even if the higher-ups knew that he would be stalking Aurora Dawnbringer online, he still couldn't be traced.

'It's all for professional purposes.'

Unlike what they probably thought, Leo had no hidden intentions. He was only browsing around to properly gauge this reality's timeline compared to the novel.

After all, whether it was about Aurora or not, all major events still happened around her in one way or another.

'My internet presence isn't as quiet as expected.'

Every time Leo went into a page or a forum related to Aurora, a strangely persistent group of Cassian's fans always made sure to leave an impression. 𝘣𝑒𝘥𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝑙．𝘤𝘰𝘮

Some called him Aurora's savior, while others even said that she didn't deserve his help.

'Did the novel dumb down the people too much, or is this reality that much different?'

Unexpectedly enough, details that only the readers should have known were mentioned here and there.

In most books including City of Villains, the ignorant audience never had that much weight, but some of them seemed to easily read between the lines.

'Or… maybe I just have some crazy fans?'

Was the anomaly Cassian's erased existence or was this book's writer just being too sloppy?

Leo could only be sure of one thing. Aside from important and unchangeable events, it looked like he couldn't rely too much on his novel knowledge…

'There we go.'

Thankfully, Leo at least knew where to start.