Chapter 163: Chapter 163 - Interrupted Broadcast
Clink!
The heavy door shut completely behind him.
For a few seconds, Theo remained standing there in the quiet hallway.
The coldness lingering around his body slowly faded away.
Yet somehow, he felt worse than before.
Finally, he let out a quiet breath and began walking through the corridor again.
’They must’ve had a pretty complex relationship,’ he thought.
Even now, Elise’s reaction felt strange to him.
The anger, curses, and then the complete silence at the mention of her death.
Theo lowered his head slightly.
’She might explain it to me one day...’
At the thought of Alia, his mind couldn’t help but shift to the house she’d left behind in New York.
The inheritance papers were still very vividly present in his mind, after all.
’I should go check it out later with the others,’ he thought, nodding to himself.
A free house wasn’t something he wanted to ignore.
Especially not considering he and his friends still needed somewhere permanent to live near Westridge.
’Don’t really want to force those three to live together with me and my parents,’ he thought, shaking his head. ’And even I’d rather not.’
If he were to get targeted, the last thing he wanted was for his parents to get caught in the crossfire.
Theo continued walking while deep in thought.
By the time he finally exited the building again, several more minutes had passed by.
Bright sunlight from the setting sun immediately hit Theo’s face as he stepped outside.
Compared to earlier, the university grounds had become less crowded.
Even so, the moment they noticed him, whispers began circling around.
It wasn’t just the freshman students either, even the second years couldn’t help but point and laugh.
Theo barely paid attention to it though.
He just continued on his way back to the registration building.
Before long, he spotted two familiar figures standing near the entrance.
Lyra seemed to be dramatically waving her arms around while talking about something.
Meanwhile, Iris quietly stood beside her with a faint smile on her face.
The moment they noticed Theo approaching, both immediately looked over.
’’Finally!’’
Lyra let out a deep breath.
’’Do you know how awkward it is standing here while everyone keeps staring at us?’’
Theo glanced around briefly.
Honestly... she wasn’t wrong.
Quite a few nearby students were openly staring in their direction.
’Seems like they’re all pretty upset,’ he thought. ’Can’t believe people get so wound up over their pride.’
Theo looked back at them with a simple smile.
’’Just ignore them,’’ he said. ’’Did choosing your instructors work out?’’
Both Lyra and Iris nodded.
’’It went surprisingly easily,’’ Iris muttered. ’’Though mine will only arrive tomorrow.’’
Lyra let out a scoff and crossed her arms.
’’Tsk, look at you complain,’’ she said loudly. ’’Mine will only get here in three days!’’
Theo stared at both of them, confused.
’’But isn’t the pre-admission period ending in like four days?’’
Lyra immediately nodded.
’’We got an extension on the training, but only for like three weeks,’’ she said.
Then she turned back to Iris with a grumpy expression.
’’Which is also why it’s unfair that she practically gets two extra days!’’
Iris couldn’t help but let out a faint chuckle.
Much to Lyra’s surprise, she reached out and patted her head.
’’Now, now,’’ she said softly. ’’Maybe they just judged that you are more talented and need less time.’’
Lyra blinked once.
Then she ducked down and ruffled through her own hair.
’’What are you treating me as, a child?!’’
Iris chuckled softly.
’’Sorry,’’ she said while smiling faintly. ’’Your reaction was just cute.’’
Lyra’s face immediately twitched.
’’Cute?!’’
Iris nodded calmly.
’’Very.’’
’’Oi!’’ Lyra shouted. ’’Stop treating me like a kid already!’’
This time, even Theo couldn’t help but let out a laugh beside them.
Lyra instantly snapped her head toward him.
’’And why are you laughing too?!’’
Only a few moments later, the three of them had begun making their way back towards the apartment.
The walk back passed by quickly amidst Lyra and Iris’s chatter.
After the sun had fully set, Theo knocked on the apartment door and was let inside by his parents.
The girls immediately hit it off with his mother and disappeared into the kitchen, giving him some peace and quiet.
’Ugh,’ he thought, throwing himself onto a chair in the living room. ’Maybe I’ll just look at the house tomorrow.’
Iris and Lyra had already gotten themselves a hotel room for the night anyway.
Theo glanced at the television, still seeing countless news stories about the beast tide flashing by.
That’s when the most popular national news channel suddenly switched to a live update.
He couldn’t help but perk up slightly.
’’There’s been a heartbreaking update to the total death count,’’ the female reporter said. ’’Across the eight cities which were directly hit and the twelve that were indirectly hit...’’
A sad expression appeared on the woman’s face.
’’1.7 million people passed away.’’
Theo’s expression didn’t change much.
It was something he’d expected, considering his city with around 200 thousand people had practically been wiped out.
’’Galveston, Wilmington, and Santa Barbara were amongst the worst-hit cities, which still remain overrun to this day.’’
Theo froze upon hearing the name of his city.
Several graphs popped up on the screen side by side, showing the death counts of each city.
Galveston had lost 143 thousand people out of their 144 thousand total.
Wilmington had lost nearly 300 thousand people out of their 322 thousand total.
And finally, his city, Santa Barbara.
It had lost around 198 thousand people out of 204 thousand people.
’’This will no doubt go down as one of history’s worst disasters,’’ the reporter continued as she lowered her gaze. ’’Or... calamities.’’
Suddenly, the screen flickered.
It went completely black for a moment.
Theo snapped out of his daze and stared at the screen in confusion.
Then... the live feed continued playing.
Theo slowly stood up from his chair, his expression growing dark.
Blood shot into the air on the feed, little droplets falling onto the lens itself.
The reporter’s body remained standing unnaturally still... yet her head was nowhere to be seen anymore.
’’Shit,’’ he muttered. ’’The Calamity Covenant...’’
As expected—
A second later, the camera slowly turned toward a dark-clothed figure.
Though her face remained hidden behind a mask, long red hair flowed down her back.
That wasn’t all.
She held the reporter’s terrified head underneath her arm while forcing a smile onto its face with her fingers.
’’Sorry for the interruption,’’ a female voice echoed through the screen. ’’For now, this’ll be a special broadcast... which none of you will mind, right?’’
