Everyone held their breath, senses sharpened to the limit, straining to detect even the slightest movent in the darkness.
ACE's Death squad had night vision goggles, but from their current angle, they couldn't see clearly into the corner—just a vague, black shape barely visible in the dim light.
Yoren swallowed hard, his fingers trembling as he lifted the lamp. He hadn't taken a good look before; panic had made him act on instinct. At first, he had only thought the shadow resembled a person. But as the light crept closer, he had sworn he saw a face staring back at him.
That was all it took.
His nerves snapped, and he let out a sharp yelp, dropping the dim lamp. The light hit the ground with a soft thud.
Now, everyone stood in rigid silence, weapons drawn, poised for a fight.
Yoren's pulse pounded. Did I really see sothing? Or was it just my imagination?
Vina's voice sliced through the tension, sharp and filled with unmistakable threat.
"Whoever you are, co out. I'll count to three."
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
Nothing.
Kate glanced at Vina. "Want to pull them out?"
Vina shook her head. "I don't sense any living presence. It might not be human."
Seconds crawled by, thick with unease. The longer the silence stretched, the heavier the air beca.
Finally, ACE sighed, lowering his shield slightly. "Everyone, hold position. I'll check it myself."
Vina nodded. "Kate, go with him. If anything seems off, fall back imdiately."
"Got it."
The two n advanced slowly, one leading, one watching his flank. Kate gripped his battle axe tightly, tension clear in his stance. ACE, by contrast, was almost unnervingly calm—as if he already knew whatever was in the corner wasn't a threat.
Yoren tightened his grip on Snowsant's hand, watching as they approached the dark figure.
A mont passed.
Then ACE's voice rang out. "Not an enemy. Threat neutralized."
The entire group let out a collective exhale, followed by murmurs of frustration.
"Tsk. Damn it."
"Yoren, I swear, I'm gonna kill you."
Embarrassed, Yoren scratched the back of his head, forcing a weak laugh. "Uh... Sorry, everyone. Place is just really creepy, you know? Got a little jumpy."
Vina finally relaxed, lowering her war hamr. "Rest up, everyone. Yoren, you're coming with to take a look."
"Oh. Right."
Still feeling the weight of a dozen annoyed stares, Yoren settled Snowsant in a safe spot before following Vina. Holding up the dim lamp, he moved toward ACE and Kate, curiosity gnawing at him.
Kate pointed toward the shadowy figure. "This is what spooked you. Take a look."
Yoren stepped closer—and imdiately wished he hadn't.
At first glance, it did look like a person. The figure was about 1.6 ters tall, likely female, covered entirely in black. Clothes and skin blended together in an unnatural way. The eye sockets were sunken, the mouth twisted into a grotesque expression of suffering.
Yoren hesitated. "Is this... a statue?"
They were in Mandel City's main square. It wasn't uncommon to find human-shaped statues in places like this. But sothing about this one felt wrong.
Reaching out, he moved to touch its surface—
Smack!
Vina slapped his hand away with a sharp glare.
"Don't touch it!"
Yoren winced, rubbing his hand. "What? Why? Isn't it just—"
"No."
She bent down, picking up a loose chunk of rubble. Holding it between two fingers, she dragged it lightly across the figure's arm.
Swish!
The rock cut cleanly through, as if slicing through soft foam. Beneath the torn surface, sothing faintly glowed with a dull, sickly yellow light.
Yoren's stomach twisted. "What... the hell... is that?"
Vina tossed the rock aside and grabbed Yoren by the collar, yanking him several steps back. Kate and ACE were already putting distance between themselves and the figure.
Then Vina spoke, voice grim.
"It's a corpse. The body of an Infected."
Yoren felt an imdiate, ice-cold chill run down his spine.
He knew about Infected—people suffering from Oripathy. It slowly destroyed their bodies, causing organ failure and endless pain. But it wasn't highly contagious. As long as there was no direct contact with Originium matter, even non-Infected could coexist with them without risk.
But when an Infected dies...
That was different.
A dead Infected's body rapidly fused with the Originium in their bloodstream, releasing a highly volatile gas. Within days, their remains would beco a potent, long-lasting source of infection. If left unchecked, the contamination could last years.
And right now, he was standing five ters away from one.
Yoren took another step back, forcing himself to stay calm. He was masked. He had taken suppressants. And worst case, he still had the syringe.
He had to keep it together.
Taking a deep breath, he looked at Vina. "Why? Why didn't Ursus authorities clear out the bodies after 27 years? Why just leave them here?"
Vina's brow furrowed. "I don't know. Even abandoned cities usually have cleanup operations. Leaving infected corpses like this is reckless. And besides..."
She hesitated.
"This body. Sothing about it is strange."
Yoren swallowed. "Strange... how?"
Now that his fear had settled, he noticed it too.
Why was this corpse standing?
Natural disasters varied—teor showers, firestorms, acid fog—but none of them left victims standing upright. Even if survivors succumbed to Oripathy later, they wouldn't have died on their feet.
No...
This was more like soone had forced them to remain standing—
Until they died.
A sudden intake of breath.
Vina's sharp whisper cut through the darkness.
"Yoren. Over here."
His pulse spiked as he turned, raising the dim lamp.
Just a few ters away, another identical corpse stood in the shadows.
His skin prickled with cold terror. "There's more than one?"
A shiver ran down his spine. He instinctively moved closer to Vina, gripping the dim lamp so tightly his knuckles turned white.
He was about to suggest heading back when he noticed sothing off about her expression.
"Vina? What's wrong?"
She didn't answer imdiately. Her golden eyes darted around, scanning the darkness beyond what Yoren could see.
Then, finally, she whispered:
"There's... a lot."
As an Aslan, her night vision far surpassed his own. Even in near-total darkness, she could make out shapes and movent.
And what she saw made her tense.
Beyond them, stretching into the square, were dozens of those sa corpses—silent, unmoving, their twisted expressions frozen in ti.
The way they stood. Their varied, unnatural postures. Their grotesque, agonized faces.
It was as if, in the final monts of their lives—
They had still been trying to scream.
A snowflake landed on the tip of Yoren's nose, its icy touch grounding him for a brief mont.
At so point, the snow had begun falling again.
The flakes drifted silently over Mandel City's darkened ruins, carried by biting winds that howled through the abandoned streets. Their echoes stretched into the empty void, making the dead city feel even more desolate.
Around Yoren stood dozens of motionless corpses, frozen in unnatural stillness, like statues carved by so cruel hand.
He strained his eyes, but even with the dim light, he could only make out the two closest figures. The rest were swallowed by darkness. After hearing Vina's warning, he had no choice but to imagine what surrounded him.
And that was worse.
The mind fears the unknown more than anything. What Yoren couldn't see felt infinitely more terrifying than what he could.
Fear is instinctive. He rembered reading an article once—"Why Are Humans Afraid of Their Own Dead?"
It claid that people feared corpses not because of the bodies themselves, but because of what created them. A dead body is evidence of danger. Subconsciously, the human brain registers it as a warning—sothing nearby caused this death. Even if people don't realize it, their instincts scream at them to flee before they et the sa fate.
Right now, Yoren was beyond afraid. He was paralyzed.
Sure, he had watched horror movies before. He had even walked through haunted houses for fun, seeking the thrill of fake terror. But there had always been one key difference—he knew those weren't real.
But this?
This was real.
This was danger.
He kept his eyes wide open, gripping the dim lamp in his trembling fingers. He could see the first two corpses. But beyond that? Dozens more. Unmoving. Watching.
He had never believed in ghosts.
Even when unexplained things happened, even when people spoke of spirits and curses, he dismissed it all as superstition. He had even laughed at it online, debating skeptics and mocking the supernatural.
Right now, he wanted to go back in ti and slap his past self.
There was no sound. No movent. Just the weight of invisible eyes, pressing in from all sides.
Yoren's breath hitched.
Sothing moved beside him.
His pulse spiked.
He spun around—
Nothing.
A single bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, loud enough that it distorted his hearing.
His limbs felt stiff. Even his breathing felt wrong.
Then—
A hand landed on his shoulder.
"AHHH!"
Yoren scread and jumped like a startled cat, nearly toppling over.
Vina, standing behind him, took a reflexive step back, startled by his outburst.
"What the hell?!" she hissed. "What's wrong with you?"
Yoren stared at her, chest heaving. His brain needed a full three seconds to process that it was just Vina.
Then he exhaled shakily, pressing a hand to his chest. "Vina, you nearly killed . I thought... I thought..."
She raised an eyebrow. "Thought what?"
"Uh... nothing."
There was no way he was going to admit he had worked himself into such a state that his own imagination had nearly broken him.
He forced an awkward chuckle, trying to save face. "Vina, don't just touch people suddenly in a place like this. Even soone as brave and composed as can get startled. Haha..."
Vina frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I an—"
"I didn't touch you."
The air froze.
The nervous smile on Yoren's face vanished.
"You... didn't?"
"No."
A cold chill crawled up his spine, clawing at the base of his neck.
"I-I felt soone pat —"
A deep voice cut in.
"It was ."
Yoren jumped again.
Kate was squatting beside him, looking up with an expression that was a mix of amusent and mischief.
Yoren's terror imdiately transford into rage.
"KATE, WHAT THE HELL?!"
Kate stood up slowly, stretching. "Nothing much. Just felt like giving you a little scare."
"A little scare?! I nearly pissed myself! And why were you squatting there in the dark like a psychopath?!"
Kate shrugged. "Felt like it."
"I—NIMA!" Yoren wanted to strangle him.
Before he could launch into a very well-deserved rant, ACE approached, his expression unreadable.
"I checked the area," ACE reported. "There are at least thirty standing infected corpses in this square. I still can't determine why."
Vina crossed her arms. "It doesn't make sense. Let's regroup. Be careful."
As they moved back toward the resting team, Vina analyzed the situation aloud.
"The disaster that destroyed Mandel City happened 27 years ago. Ursus wouldn't have left the city as-is. They would have mined the Originium and cleaned up the bodies afterward."
Yoren nodded. "Then that ans there's only one possibility—these bodies appeared later."
ACE suddenly spoke. "Miss Vina, does Glasgow have intelligence on what kind of natural disaster struck this place recently?"
"According to Victoria's reports, it was a firestorm."
ACE stroked his chin. "Then it makes sense. These corpses show signs of extre heat exposure. Their skin was burned black, but because their bodies fused with Originium, they didn't disintegrate. The infected can remain preserved for decades—but not standing like this. Which ans..."
Yoren's eyes widened. "Soone positioned them like this."
"Or," ACE added grimly, "they were forced to stand until they died."
A shudder ran through Yoren. "That's... horrifying."
He glanced at ACE, suddenly impressed. "Your deduction skills are insane. You ever watch Detective Corgi?"
"What's a corgi?"
"Uh... never mind."
Vina didn't respond. Her grip tightened around her war hamr.
There were more secrets buried in Mandel City than just Originium.
She turned back to the group. "From now on, stay alert. This isn't our problem. Our only goal is to collect the Originium and get the hell out. Understand?"
Yoren imdiately nodded. "Absolutely. Better safe than sorry. We take what we can and leave."
Vina turned to him, eyes narrowing. "Yoren, that makes sense. But I have one question."
"What?"
"Why have you been holding onto for the past five minutes?"
Yoren froze as a blush took over.
Then, very, very slowly, he looked down at his own hands—clutching the hem of Vina's coat in a death grip.
He let go so fast it was like he'd been burned.
"I— I was just making sure you wouldn't trip! Yeah! Haha! Haha... ha..."
Vina gave him an unimpressed look.
"Uh-huh..."
Yoren forced a grin, trying to salvage what little dignity he had left.
"Just so we're clear—I definitely wasn't holding on because I was scared. Definitely not. Nope. Absolutely not."
Vina's stare deepened.
Yoren laughed nervously, avoiding eye contact.
Tonight was a nightmare.
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