His question naturally made the students look at each other in confusion. It made no sense at all given the context.
"Urge to laugh?"
"Did I hear him correctly?"
"Why would I have the urge to laugh? I've been asleep."
Such comnts could be heard everywhere on the basketball court. However, Talon didn't care as he looked around.
"If one of you feels the urge to laugh or has been feeling it for a while now, tell . It's really important." Talon said in a calm tone.
He didn't let their confusion break his focus. He didn't know how long he had before things got out of control and he didn't want to wait to see either.
'Co on, co on!' He kept looking around, waiting for a hand to rise.
Seconds passed like an eternity with no reaction coming from the students. That made Talon frown even harder. It seed no one had felt that way from the group.
"So no one?" He asked.
The students shook their heads confusedly. That made Talon exhale a long breath as he ran his hand through his hair. For better or worse, this was a good thing since that ant the parasite probably didn't infect them yet.
'No, I can't assu that yet. I need to play it safe.' He thought to himself.
"OK, who're the people responsible for feeding the two prisoners Ji-Seok and Rim Kyung? All of you, step forward." He spoke after a few seconds.
The students looked at each other again with confusion before a group of them stepped forward. The group was not that big, barely 10 people who belonged to the Food and Supply section. As the na suggested, they were the group assigned to split the food amongst the students and keep everyone well-fed and in full health.
"Ok, who of you fed them the past three days, step forward." He specified again.
In the end, three students walked forward nervously. Feeling Talon's prying sharp eyes on them was not the best feeling by any ans. They looked down nervously, unable to keep eye contact with him.
"Now, I want you to answer honestly and don't lie. It's for your sake." He said.
"Y-Yes, sir!"
"When you went to bring them food, did you make any body contact with them? In other words, did you touch them in any way?" He asked. "Even if it's a very insignificant touch."
"..." (x3)
The three students were confused by the question. Why did it matter if they touched them or not? It made no sense. But, since Talon had asked them, they couldn't just ignore it.
"No sir, I didn't touch them. I just put the plates near them and they ate from it." One said.
" neither, I was scared that they might do sothing so I just put the plates down too." Another added.
Talon nodded his head thoughtfully, it seed that these two weren't infected, most likely. Then, his eyes fell on the third one, which was a female student.
"And you?" He asked.
"... Sir... I..."
Talon squinted his eyes when he noticed her nervous expression.
"I... I think when I brought them the food yesterday... I found Rim Kyung on the ground, unable to move. He called for to help him. I was hesitant at first, but, I felt bad leaving him there so I helped him lay against the wall." She explained nervously.
Talon went completely silent as he stared at her. Nobody knew what was going through his head at that mont.
The more seconds passed without Talon saying a word, the more the students felt nervous. The lack of information and the bizarre way he was acting made it even more stressful.
"What's going on?"
At that mont, Hyun-Jae entered the main area with a serious look on her face.
'It's the president!'
'Thank god she's here!'
Talon's eyes wandered to the girl approaching him.
"What happened, Talon? Why is everyone here?" She asked.
"Sigh... I found Rim Kyung and Ji-Seok dead." He sighed as he finally spoke.
His words ignited a strong reaction in the students. They never expected to hear such a piece of news out of nowhere.
"Dead?!"
"Did they get killed?"
"What's happening?"
"Dead? Was it a normal death?" Hyun-Jae shook her head as she looked at him.
"No, when I inspected their corpses. They had wide, disgusting smiles on their faces."
"Smiles? Why would they have smi-" Suddenly, Hyun-Jae rembered what they discovered a while ago, all the monsters they saw with that sa horrid smile. "The monster..."
"Yeah, he sohow infiltrated the gymnasium and killed those two. I think there is a possibility that soone else was infected by the parasite responsible for the smiles. For now, I have one single suspect." He explained as he looked at the girl. "Step forward. What's your na?"
"Mmm... Yang Hana... Sir..."
"Yang Hana. Ok, I will be a little honest with you here. I think you could possibly be infected by a parasite that could very likely kill you."
"... What?! What p-parasite, sir?! What happened to ?!" She asked with a terrified look on her face.
"Listen to , Hang Yana. I need you to be calm. I said 'Possibly', which ans that it's not a certainty yet. That's why, I need to check. Can you help out?" Talon asked calmly.
"O-Ok! Please help , sir!" She said in a begging tone.
"Don't worry, co here," Talon said as he crouched down and extended his hand for her to get on the stage.
The girl imdiately approached him and took his hand as he pulled her up. anwhile, everyone watched tensely, unable to understand what happened. Parasite? Deadly?
"Now, can you sit down?" He asked in a calm tone.
"Ok... Hah, hah..." With a still pale expression, Hang Yana sat down and looked at Talon as she fought the urge to cry.
"What are you going to do, Talon?" Hyun-Jae asked confusedly.
However, Talon didn't respond as he crouched down in front of the girl, startling her. "Don't move, ok? I want you to stay fixed and take deep breaths."
"Ok..."
"Now, open your eyes wide and look up as much as you can."
'I don't know if this is going to work... But, this is the only idea I can co up with.' Talon thought to himself.
Since Talon had no idea how these parasites work, he went on with the sole thing he knew about them and that is the place where they affect the host. It seed that they directly get into the brain and start consuming it, effectively changing the host's behavior and slowly controlling it, till it dies.
However, in case the target is killed before the parasite can consu its brain, the thing itself would leave through the eyes and die outside.
Which ant that there was a chance Talon could see the worm through the girl's eyes. Precisely, the sclera. Or that was at least his theory.
"Ok..." The girl did what he asked.
"Excuse ."
Talon then squinted his eyes as he got closer to her face, awfully close. So close, in fact, that she could feel his breath on her face. The girl was surprised at first, but she didn't move at all. Even though she was feeling her heart race with Talon being this close to her, she didn't move.
anwhile, Hyun-Jae watched everything ensue with a weird expression. Seeing Talon's face close to another girl didn't sit well with her at all. She didn't know why, but she felt the urge to simply look away.
'Why am I acting this way? It's an urgent situation. Focus!' She cursed her weird feelings and focused again.
anwhile, Talon's eyes were staring directly into the girl's sclera, prying through that thin layer and trying to notice any small abnormalities within it. With his Enhanced Focus skill and his evolved vision, Talon's eyesight was now at least 10 to 11 tis better than that of a normal person.
In comparison, an eagle's eyesight is only 8 tis better than that of a normal human so it was safe to say that Talon had the ability to see things that normal humans could never notice.
"Hmm..." He searched through her eyes for any indication but he couldn't really notice a single abnormal thing.
A while later, he pulled himself away. "You can blink now."
"Am I ok, sir?" The girl asked anxiously.
"... I didn't see anything weird within your eyes. I think you're fine. Though, just in case, I want you not to make any physical contact with anyone else till I'm 100% sure you're fine, ok?"
Hearing his assuring words, the girl felt all the tension in her body leave imdiately as she sat there, heaving up and down. Then, small tears welled up in her eyes.
"Thank god..." She murmured to herself.
Talon looked at the girl silently. He could understand why she was crying at that mont. Hearing that your life could be in grave danger and then realizing that you were fine was a great feeling.
"How did you know that they were dead?" Hyun-Jae approached Talon and whispered into his ear from up close.
"Hm? A girl ca and told that she brought them food and noticed that they weren't moving, so, she called to check it out." He said.
"A girl? Who?"
"Oh, it's that... Wait..." As Talon was about to point at one of the ten students, he suddenly realized sothing. Of the ten students, he couldn't see the girl at all.
"Huh?" Talon shook his head and looked again. "Why isn't she there?"
"Talon?"
"..."
(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )
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