Elena and the others were tirelessly working to rebuild and fortify the camp. With both the bridge and the cabin in ruins, they were burdened with an overwhelming workload.
At sunset, the scouting team returned from their mission near the hospital with alarming news.
Elena and her team had previously attempted to reach the hospital in search of her mother, only to find it overrun by thousands of fallen, some of whom had evolved to higher levels.
"We found a group of survivors in the hospital. There was smoke rising from the garden side of the building. It looked like they were signaling for help," reported Logan, the leader of the scouting team.
"When the apocalypse began, everyone rushed to the city hospital because it had an underground safety bunker. In the chaos, many people turned into fallen before they could reach it," Silvia reasoned.
"But what about Miss Elizabeth? Would she..." Alya trailed off, knowing that Elena's mother was terminally ill and could have become a fallen or died. She glanced at Elena, who had closed her eyes, refusing to let negative thoughts cloud her judgment.
"We have to help them. We can't just leave them to die," Elena decided firmly.
"But the hospital is surrounded by a whole swarm of fallen," Logan objected.
"It's indeed too risky to go there. I suggest we wait for the government or military to arrive with nuclear weapons. We can't clear the area without at least a thousand fighters on our side,"
Vanessa, the strategist of their camp, added thoughtfully, "Or... we could have that man use his darkness skill to subjugate them while we take them down. Since they are all lower level than him, he should be able to do it."
"Oh, that's right! How could I forget we have that monster on our side? With him, it should be possible to clear the area in a few days," Logan exclaimed, his eyes lighting up at the thought of leveling up by killing so many fallen.
"But would he agree to help us?" Vanessa questioned, casting a shadow over their renewed hope.
Elena rose from her chair and left the tent, the weight of the decision pressing heavily on her. As she wandered around the camp, she saw a child sleeping in his mother's lap while she sang a lullaby.
The tender scene tugged at Elena's heart, reminding her of how her mother used to do the same, telling her bedtime stories like Cinderella and other popular German tales.
The urge to rush to the hospital to find her mother was overwhelming, yet she feared the high probability that her mother hadn't survived the apocalypse.
"I have to ask him," Elena decided as her resolve hardened. She had grown a bit comfortable trusting that man, albeit very little.
Since he saved her life, she decided to be a bit nicer to him from now on. So, she thought of requesting his help politely.
Just as she was thinking about him, he appeared at the entrance of the camp with a familiar man.
****************
Connor groaned as he woke up, the rough ground beneath him adding to his discomfort. The mental fatigue from the previous battle and the lingering effects of the anesthesia still weighed heavily on him.
The sun was about to set as he got up and started walking towards the forest. He had a sinking feeling that Ethan and the others had either retrieved the treasure or that the unknown man in the hood had killed them and taken it for himself. How was he sure it was him? Simple: why else would he want Connor either dead or unconscious?
'Why did he not kill me, though?' Connor wondered, a flurry of questions swirling in his mind. One thing became clear—he could have easily died, not in a fight but in a defenseless state.
'Focus, Connor,' he chided himself. 'You are growing stronger, but the universe is full of monsters everywhere.'
His frustration grew as he replayed the events in his mind. He had let his guard down, distracted by the joy of leveling up. He had been grinning like an idiot at his progress while his assailant had watched his every move from a hidden spot.
As he trudged through the forest, his anger simmered. He vowed not to let his guard down again.
Connor looked around the forest for an hour until he found nothing, Even if they were left alive or killed, they must have likely taken the treasure for themselves and fled which is not possible since the man seemed too cunning to let the treasure slip away.
He sighed and decided to go back, when he sensed a familiar person. The presence was less and getting farther, connor immediately gave him a chase to find who it is.
He found the man running in a high speed utilising the winds which gave away his identity to connor.
"Ethan?" Connor asked, to which Ethan stopped and looked at him.
"Connor, you're alive!" Ethan exclaimed, panting heavily.
"What happened, and where are the others?" Connor asked, eyeing Ethan's disheveled and injured condition.
"Once you left with the gorilla, those bastards decided to betray you and take the treasure for themselves. They forced me to guide them to the treasure map," Ethan said with frustration evident in his voice.
Connor's anger surged upon hearing this betrayal. He hadn't intimidated them enough to prevent them from stabbing him in the back.
"We found the treasure in the center of a small lake, where a coral egg lay inside a shell, guarded by frog monsters," Ethan paused to catch his breath, still panting heavily.
"After a fierce battle, we secured the treasure. But then, an unknown man appeared and swiftly killed them one by one. I used my rock golem skill to create a distraction while he was occupied with the others. I escaped using [ Wind Rush ] until I found you."
"No," Connor said after a moment of deep thought.
"What do you mean, no?" Ethan asked, puzzled.
"You didn't escape him. He let you go," Connor replied, his mind racing.
If this unknown man could effortlessly eliminate Ethan's group, why spare Ethan? He didn't know the exact reason, just as he didn't know why he was left alive.
The realization that he was spared by the unknown man sent shivers down Ethan's spine. He despised feeling vulnerable, at the mercy of his adversaries.
Though he knew he was not a brave man, this situation wounded his pride deeply, especially since the apocalypse began.
"Anyway, I don't think it's wise to roam around in the woods at night. Bye then," Connor said, preparing to leave, but Ethan stopped him again.
"Wait, take me with you," Ethan pleaded, realizing he had nowhere else to go.
Connor sighed as he decided to take Ethan to the camp, even though he isn't good in combat he will have other uses, he planned to exploit him well since the unknown Mr. Hoodie had spared him.
Either he thought he was not worth chasing and killing or he left him for Connor, whatever it was Connor decided not to ever let himself be played by anyone.
****************
Elena came to greet Connor but didn't expect Ethan to be with him. She felt a twinge of discomfort under Ethan's gaze as he spoke with a disarming smile.
"Hello, Elena. I'm so glad to see you're alive and doing well," Ethan greeted warmly.
"Hi, Ethan" Elena replied politely, her eyes darting to Connor, deliberately ignoring Ethan.
"I... we need your help" she said to Connor, her voice tinged with urgency.
"Later. I'm too tired now" Connor replied curtly, brushing past her. Fatigue etched deep lines into his face, and his shoulders sagged with exhaustion.
"Hey, at least listen to what I have to say!" Elena called after him, frustration creeping into her tone. But he didn't respond and disappeared into his private tent.
Was this karma? Elena seethed inwardly. She despised being ignored, especially by someone as arrogant and egocentric as Connor.
Determined, she followed him inside his tent. But as she stepped in, she froze, her eyes widening in shock. Connor was in the midst of taking off his pants.
"You pervert! Get out of here!" Connor shouted, his face flushing with anger and embarrassment. Elena's cheeks burned as she quickly turned on her heel and fled the tent.
"You should have told me you were going to change," she muttered to herself, feeling a wave of regret. It was the first time she had been called a pervert, and the shame settled heavily on her shoulders.
On the other hand, Connor muttered, "What is wrong with that girl? Can't she wait till tomorrow to ask for help?"
He spoke to the empty tent, frustration evident in his voice. As he changed into loose clothes, he couldn't shake off the day's exhaustion.
With a weary sigh, he crawled into his bed. The day had been hectic; he had been fighting and traveling around the city since morning, dealing with the incident with the unknown man.
*************
[ Connor's POV ]
"She is coming this way. Get ready," Shaun, my friend, signaled her approach as we started our act.
Mark and Shaun began hitting the first-year student who was crawling on the ground. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't actual bullying; the whole thing was staged, and he was in on it.
"What are you doing, Mark and Shaun? You both never learn. What do you even get out of beating your juniors like that? I swear, this time I will really get you suspended" came an enraged tone from the girl for whom I had set up this whole act.
It was all just to get close to her.
"Huh, silly girl. Just because you're the Disciplinary Committee head doesn't mean you can order us around" Mark replied, while Shaun tried his best not to break character and laugh at his cringe-worthy lines.
Honestly, he was terrible at acting, but I had no other choice—they were my only friends, after all.
Mark proceeded to ask the question I wanted to know the answer to, "Or do you think your boyfriend, the Student Council President, Julian Derek, would come to help you? Is he even your boyfriend?"
I gave a thumbs-up to him in my head.
"My relationship with him is none of your concern"
Helen replied and helped the boy stand up.
"I will have you punished for this. Come to the Disciplinary Committee room after 4," Helen said in a fierce tone that left no room for argument.
Both Mark and Shaun had pale faces when they heard that. I had to finally step in to save them.
"What is going on here?"
"You are..." she looked at me like she was trying to remember me.
"I am Connor Lennox. Did you forget my name?" I said in a nonchalant attitude but was actually hurt inside.
"Oh, right. Sorry, it's just that I'm too busy with all my work that I tend to forget the names of people I rarely make contact with," Helen said with a guilty look.
I asked her the trillion-dollar question that had been in my head for a long time. "What was that about boyfriend and relationship talk? Do you have a boyfriend?"
'Please, please, please don't let it be true.'
Helen looked away from me and said, "Yes, I do"
Those three words hurt more than I could Imagine. It meant she was dating that bastard.
My heart shattered, as she was about to walk away, but my friends gave me a pleading look to save them.
'Right i dragged them to this I need to save them, I can cry later'
"You there, what is your name?" I asked the boy in a loud tone, which made him and Helen turn back to me.
"Millet. I am from Class D, first year, sir," he said in a fearful tone.
"Millet, right. Didn't you owe me 1,000 bucks? When are you gonna give that?"
"That's right, Connor. We were just asking him to return your money," Mark caught on to my plan to help the two.
The boy looked flustered for a second before he understood my plan, as my friends looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Yes, sir. I am going through a tough time, so I want to ask for a month's permis-"
"I gave you the money 40 days ago and you still want more days? You know we have everything signed, right?"
The boy acted scared as he got to his knees. Helen also got frustrated at the situation.
"Can't you provide him some more time? If you need money urgently, I can lend you some," she offered.
I sneered at her request. "I am Connor Lennox, the heir to the multinational Lennox Corp. You think I would be in need of money? This was just business."
I continued before she thought of me as a cruel loan shark. "But this was unexpected for me as well."
I turned to look at my friends. "You idiots, I just told you both to remind him to pay the debt, not to beat him."
"But..." Shaun tried to reason, but I interrupted him.
"Listen, kid, I will reduce the debt to 600 bucks if you let this incident pass."
I gave my offer, which he was about to accept when Helen said, "But what is wrong is wrong. They beat him, which goes against the laws of the school."
This girl... I cursed inwardly.
"What, do you think I won't punish these two for whom I will lose 400 bucks? You're wrong, Mrs. Helen. I am a businessman who won't let a single penny go to waste."
After a bit of back and forth, she finally gave in and left.
As she left, I went toward a corner of the nearby staircase. I didn't want to show my face now; the act was over, so I could bring out my true feelings, right?
I felt so devastated.
My mission of getting to the truth was accomplished by this whole facade I had orchestrated, but I lost.
My friends came to console me. These two were the only friends I had, so they understood me better than anyone else.
"Connor... you..." Shaun didn't know what to say.
"Don't be so hung up on her, bro. It's her loss that she's dating that bastard of a council president," Mark offered. His words were kind, but they didn't quite soothe the ache in my heart.
"Yeah, so what if they look good together as model students? You're also the great Connor, the richest kid in the school," Shaun added, but his words only brought me more pain.
Truly, they did look good together in everyone else's eyes. But when I saw her smiling at him, smiling at someone else, my heart felt what any person in love would feel: jealousy.
It was a simple word, but the pain it brought me every time was enough to make me want to burn this world.