As the soldiers moved, lifting bodies and dragging the corpses of the creatures aside, rlin turned to Kai. "You will co with ."
Kai’s eyes raised slightly as they t rlin’s. "Why?"
"Because half the city is burning, the military is panicking, and there are people within our own ranks who would rather chain you than understand you."
Kai remained still as the rainwater continued to drip from the tip of the sword and onto the ruined tiles.
rlin lowered his voice. "If you stay here, they will look for you. And they will find you."
Silence road between Kai and rlin as poisonous gases gushed out of the creature after every pull.
The soldiers worked in the background, their boots sloshing through blood. tal clanged, stretchers unfolded, and radios cracked. Yet around rlin and the boy, it felt as if the rain had built an invisible wall just for them alone.
When two soldiers rlin had ordered, including Nally, brought the corpse of Lena, Kai broke free from rlin, then dashed toward the soldiers.
rlin gestured at Nally. In an instant, they lowered the stretcher, then moved a few steps away from the body.
Kai crouched down on one knee, stared at the face of the body, then placed his left palm over the chest.
A chill ran through Kai’s bones. Yet he didn’t draw his arm back.
The two soldiers standing behind Nally had saddened expressions as they watched the boy and the corpse.
’What a world we live in,’ Nally thought, then tilted her gaze to rlin.
After what felt like an eternity, Kai cracked his eyes open, stood up, then turned his gaze toward rlin. "Can I bury her first?"
rlin’s heart humd in a single beat. He looked toward the second floor, toward the broken window where the purple light had burst from earlier, then back at the boy.
"No," he said in a soft tone filled with honesty. "Not tonight."
Kai let out a deep exhale, then tightened his grip on the sword.
rlin continued before the refusal could delve deeper. "If you bury her now, this place will beco a beacon by dawn."
"How?" Kai’s face turned slightly cold.
"Soldiers, officials, scavengers, reporters... and worse. Let remove her properly, then close this very estate."
Kai’s cold gaze softened as he watched rlin close the gap between him and the corpse.
After sending the corpse back into the last MRAP, which had not been packed with corpses, Kai neared rlin. "Don’t let them touch her carelessly."
rlin looked at the boy’s blazing eyes, then gave a small nod. "They won’t."
"And," Kai turned, looked at the sky, then back at rlin. "...don’t let Wang co near her."
rlin’s eyes stilled. ’So they really know each other. My guess was right.’ Thoughts lanced through rlin’s head as he stared at the boy, shocked.
"Understood."
rlin turned toward Nally. "Assign four n to this house. Handpicked, not fools or talkers. The body is to be cared for with full respect and..." he paused, then glanced at Kai in the distance.
"She must be covered before dawn."
Nally’s expression softened. "Yes, sir."
rlin pulled out a thin black communicator from the pocket of his coat. He pressed the side once. A static sound cracked from the communicator before a male voice answered from the other end.
"Commander rlin."
"Patch no one into the line," rlin stated.
In a flash, the voice on the other end stiffened. "Sir?"
"Now."
rlin clicked the side again, then let out two breaths. "Any reports coming from Charlie or the other recovery teams are to be routed through before the central command hears them."
"That will raise questions, sir."
"Then let them ask ." rlin ended the transmission before the other party could throw another question, then slid the device back into his coat.
rlin turned, giving all the soldiers a glance. "The road from here changes now," he said quietly, more to Kai than to anyone else.
Kai stared at him and said not a single word.
rlin shifted his gaze to the blood-covered necklace hanging around the black hoodie, then to the sword, and finally to the ruined mansion behind them.
Nas repeated themselves in Kai’s eyes, followed by faces. Lieutenant Gray, Lena, Ayra, Gilgal Village, then Bion City.
While the soldiers continued their tasks, a siren wailed in the air from afar.
’Another report. Another death count showing Central City peeling away into chaos.’ The thoughts ran in a loop in rlin’s mind.
He turned and began walking toward the MRAP that had the lady in it. After two steps, he stopped, realizing Kai wasn’t following yet.
At the side of the collapsed gate, Kai stood there, the rain whipping him, the sword clenched tight in his grip.
Kai focused on the fraying torn curtain on the second floor, fluttering weakly through the broken window.
’I’m sorry for not saving you.’ Saddened thoughts lanced through Kai’s head as he lowered his head, closing his eyes.
"But I will... save everyone," he whispered, cracked his eyes open, then exhaled deeply.
As he joined rlin and neared the MRAP together, Nally ordered four trusted soldiers toward the MRAP carrying Lena’s body.
"Do justice to it. But be careful."
The soldiers on the street moved aside, creating a path without being told when the MRAP Kai and rlin were in moved forward.
So of the soldiers lowered their heads, but so stared at it in secret.
Outside, the rain kept falling over Lena’s estate, over the leftover corpses, over the broken glass, and over the creatures that had failed to claim either the boy or the soldiers.
rlin sat opposite Kai and watched him in silence as the engine rumbled to life and the vehicle paused for a while.
’If the capital hears first, they will dissect him,’ rlin thought, not missing a glance at the boy’s dual eyes. ’If Wang finds out, he will be executed in an instant.’
rlin blinked, then inhaled. ’I first thought the boy was as bad as Wang had inford earlier.’ He leaned his back on the tal wall of the MRAP, then crossed his hands on his chest.
The MRAP rolled, leaving the blood-soaked estate behind.
And in the dark section of rlin’s mind, he felt the truth colder than that of the lie: fighting against the monsters was smaller than the secret sitting across from him.
Outside, the rain beat the roof of the MRAP, rolled in streams across the narrowed windows, and washed the blood from the road in thin trails that vanished into the gutters of the ruined city.
In the second MRAP, Nally sat with her rifle laid across her thighs, her shoulders rigid, and her boots stained black and red.
Around her, the soldiers who had survived occupied the steel benches in exhausted silence. No one cracked jokes, and no one cursed.
Even the wounded lying at the back remained quiet, as if the pain dancing in their bodies were just peace.
Beside Nally, a man with a torn sleeve and a bandage wrapped around his neck stared at his own hands. The hands trembled as he raised them, then clenched them into a fist.
"That boy..." he whispered, then swallowed hard, lifting his eyes. He scanned the faces around him as though searching for so valuable item.
"That was the sa kid from Team Alpha, wasn’t it?"
At the far left, seated near the door, Brann raised his eyes, keeping his head lowered. He looked at Jace’s face, then shook his head.
In Brann’s mind, he still saw Jas pushing MJ out of the way, the scream, the stone, and lastly the Titanaboa.
Brann’s jaw tightened the mont the mory faded, then he raised his head and looked eye to eye with Jace. "Yeah, that’s him."
Jace tilted himself, looked at Brann, then scread, "Then what the hell is he?"
"Careful," Nally’s voice lanced through without turning her head.
Jace looked at Nally with a death stare. ’If I can’t talk about him now, then...’ A smile tore across Jace’s face as the thought looped in his head.
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