357 Reflection
“Yeah, it’s a pity that I won’t see her again.” The woman wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Mommy, why are you crying?” The little girl raised her small face and asked in confusion.
Seeing such a response almost melts Lucian’s heart. He felt sad that the little one would become motherless. But it’s better that way than to die at the hands of the monster. ‘Even if I die now. At least I have to make sure that the kids like her survive tonight!’
A strong resolve and sense of mission arose from his heart. Before he dies, he wants to do one last good deed. Lucian had kids, that’s why he also has a soft spot for kids.
“Where is her father, then? And what’s your name?” Lucian asked.
“Marilyn.” The woman patted her daughter’s head and says. “I’m not sad okay? I’ll just miss you.”
The little only tilts her head as she can’t really understand the deeper meaning of her mother’s words. But she also smiled in a carefree manner as she saw that her mother wasn’t sad anymore.
‘Because I won’t see you again.’ Marilyn felt her heart tighten. Then she smiled bitterly at Lucian’s question. “Her father never woke up again since he slept when our daughter was still six months old. But don’t worry, we have relatives that would take care of her if she survives.”
“Don’t worry, your daughter would survive. The investigators responsible for this city would surely come. Although late, they would.” Lucian took a deep breath.
.....
“Well, we already gathered the kids. And they already bid their goodbyes to their parents. You’re right. Even if we die tonight. The kids have to survive!” A middle-aged man in glasses with no lenses gritted his teeth and said passionately.
Lucian nodded at the man, then as the man said, he saw four groups of children crawl through the dark hole one after another. All groups were led by the oldest kids that have some understanding of the situation.
The kids have different emotions on their faces. Sadness, confusion, fear, anxiety, and nervousness. Some of them could understand why they have to part with their parents, while the older kids knew that it would be the last time that they would see there, and the majority were completely clueless as to what was happening, and the parents only coaxed them to follow the group.
“Fel, behave yourself, okay? Just follow the older brothers here. I’ll be back to you in a while.” Marilyn leaned her head down and kiss her daughter. Her eyes were moist as she tried her best to hold back her tears.
“But I don’t want to.” The little girl gripped her mother’s hand. “I just want to be with mom.”
“Okay, don’t be silly. The older brothers here just want to play with you.” Marilyn smiled sweetly.
The little girl could only nod her head in the end, and the two nine-year-old boys came to her and let her integrate with the other children.
“Don’t worry. You will see your mother later. We’ll just play a game.” The boy that lead the first group tried to coax the little girl as he held her hand gently. “What’s your name? I’m Sunat, but you can call me brother!”
“C-claire.” The little girl stuttered as she tried to pronounce her name. “B-but I don’t know how to play. I’ll call you elder brothaa?”
Claire looked at her new elder brother with an innocent face as she called him with weird broken pronunciation.
Just like that, the group of children crawled through the dark holes one by one under the teary-eyed gaze of the parents. Their small bodies smoothly entered the holes. And after a few minutes, the children had already disappeared.
“Now, cover the holes. It would be bad if the monster saw the holes and smelled their body odors. That fuck can transform into anything, so it could easily follow them.” Lucian said, which the crown immediately executed.
“Such poor little children.” Eugene, who observed this from a distance, didn’t know why. He suddenly saw his younger self and the days when he was still a child. Ignorant and powerless, he couldn’t help but sympathize. “Well, I’ll save these children if needed.”
Eugene knew that some of them would become orphans just like himself in the past. He only saves those he wants. And as he saw his past self from the kids, he felt that he at least have to make sure that they survive. Of course, he won’t sacrifice his life for them.
‘This is the last time I would help.’ Eugene felt that he still had some softness in his heart, remaining that he needed to eliminate. In his opinion, kindness is a thankless thing to do.
Then Eugene brought his attention back to the monster, who had already killed almost half of the degu users. Now, there are only twenty-three left.
Blood literally flooded the stadium, separate body parts were scattered in every corner, and a mountain of the corpse had formed. The stench of dead bodies filled the stadium. Yet, the monster still continued his slaughter wildly.
The entire place intended for happy and great performances became gruesome. The last place where degu users fought bravely to protect the weak but failed.
...
On the previous street, the fire from the houses and establishments had already stopped. But it’s only because it had already burned everything to smithereens. Even the dead bodies and debris from before had already turned into ashes. Yet, the fire couldn’t affect the blood traces from the wall.
The place was completely devoid of people. All of them had already gone to the stadium, and only a few corpses that the fire didn’t reach remained.
Suddenly, four shadow circles with star patterns emerged from the ground. Then, four silhouettes followed. They are Fein, Gregory, Anthony, and Michael.
When the four of them saw the state of the street, they knew that the monster had already acted.
“Damn... This looks like an apocalypse.” Anthony swept his eyes and saw a large stone with a crack.
Michael clenched his fist. “Fuck!! we’re too late! And a lot of people died. But where’s the monster? We have to find it!”
“Wait, let me see if there are still survivors here.” Fein closed his eyes and spread his perception and covered the entire street.
Every minute, details turned into information that his brain absorbed. Then with simple deductive reasoning and analysis. He quickly understood what had happened.
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