Ellis was sitting on the couch, his recovering foot resting on a small table.
Settling down beside him, Fatima adjusted her blouse in a distracted gesture.
"Any news about Mark?" Ellis asked quietly, turning his head slightly toward her.
"I don't know the details," she murmured. "But from what I've heard... it doesn't sound very promising. It wasn't just a simple fracture."
Ellis nodded slowly, as if the confirmation had arrived too late to change anything.
"I don't get why they went into the forest." He shook his head. "The filter was already working."
"It's because they don't trust it." Fatima chose her words carefully. "Even after the whole purification process, some people look at that water and still see a lake full of sludge. They just can't believe it's clean."
Ellis let out a restrained huff, somewhere between agreement and frustration.
"And the tower?" He decided to change the subject, knowing that discussing the residents' stubbornness would lead nowhere. "Did Jim say anything about the progress?"
"I heard him telling Donna they'll probably finish the structure today." Her voice lacked its usual optimism.
Ellis frowned as he noticed. "You don't think it's going to work?"
Fatima stayed quiet for a few seconds before letting out a short sigh.
"It's just so strange..." She lowered her gaze to her hands. "The radio might actually work. And that would be incredible, I know. But part of me thinks the possibility of it working is scarier than the possibility of it failing."
"What do you mean? That doesn't make any sense. Getting out of here is all we've ever wanted." Ellis blinked in confusion.
"I keep thinking about what happens if we make it back," she finally said. "After everything we've seen. The things we've done. Even if we manage to leave, how am I supposed to..."
She hesitated. "I don't know. I just don't think there's any going back anymore. We're not the same people."
Ellis fell silent for a moment before answering.
"When my dad came back from Afghanistan, he said returning home felt like traveling to another planet."
He rubbed his thumb against his palm.
"He said that when you finally get back, you can't tell whether everything changed while you were gone or if you're the one who changed."
"I don't know what it'll be like for us. This... is the only place where we've ever been together." She looked at Ellis as if expecting an answer.
But none came.
"I'm going to the bathroom," she said suddenly, getting to her feet a little too quickly, as though she needed to escape the weight of that conversation. "I'll be right back."
"Alright." Ellis nodded.
...
Sitting comfortably on the motorhome couch, Daniel mentally opened the interface.
Let's start with the important part. His gaze immediately went to the nine available attribute points.
Six were instantly invested into Intelligence.
The last three went into Strength. A pleasant tingling spread through his muscles before fading away.
The panel updated.
[Life Level 2 — Common Superhuman]
Lifespan: 20/200 years
Strength: 19 / Endurance: 16 / Intelligence: 25 (Max) / Speed: 25 (Max)
Spiritual Energy: 190/190 (Recovery: 10 per hour)
Daniel stared at the last line. His eyebrows slowly drew together.
One hundred ninety? What's wrong with rounding this shit up to two hundred? Who designs an interface that stops ten points short of a nice round number?
Kael had clearly never taken a systems design class.
Ignoring that mathematical insult, Daniel opened the Skills tab.
He now had a considerable number of points to distribute.
Without hesitation, he selected Hunter's Web and dumped fifteen points into it all at once.
[Skill Updated.]
🕸️ Hunter's Web – Level 3 (0/45)
Type: Active
Cost: 30 Energy
Effect: +120% chance of capturing animals or supernatural creatures.
Additional Effects:
Captured animals cannot escape. Captured supernatural creatures have their energy continuously drained. Efficiency decreases depending on the target's power level. You may instantly execute a target incapacitated by the trap while remaining within one meter of it.
Daniel reread the last effect twice. Instantly execute an incapacitated target.
That had potential. A lot of potential.
This might be exactly the loophole I need to finish the mission.
The problem was the word 'incapacitated'.
From what he understood, the prey needed to be in a state where it couldn't escape on its own.
Considering the Smilers' strength, Daniel had serious doubts that the skill could keep them trapped long enough.
The creature would probably destroy the trap long before the draining effect produced anything meaningful.
Still... there was no harm in testing it later.
There were still seven points left to distribute.
He could invest them in Pain Tolerance, but instead chose to save them for the infamous skill the System was always talking about.
The one that was supposedly going to be unlocked after completing the mission.
Then he pulled the notebook from his Inventory.
With one hundred ninety Spiritual Energy, the Mental Interference Block Rune was finally available.
"Time for some arts and crafts," he muttered.
The needle appeared between his fingers.
Daniel slid its tip across the first line of the page with the precision of someone who had already made beginner mistakes and had absolutely no intention of repeating them.
The energy flowed without the stumbles of his first attempts.
He worked patiently.
On the side of Colony House, the cold wind stirred the treetops.
Julie watched Ethan sitting beneath a tree, completely absorbed in a children's book.
Her mother had gone to the bathroom a few minutes earlier after reminding her, for the third time, that she wasn't to take her eyes off her brother for even a second.
"Julie," Ethan called without looking up from his reading. "Can we sleep in the motorhome again?"
"Maybe another day."
She liked having them there, but it kept her from sleeping with Daniel, which got in the way of their nightly activities.
Ethan pouted a little. "You're really lucky you get to live there now. I want to live in Daniel's magic motorhome too."
Julie opened her mouth to answer, but then she noticed movement from the corner of her eye.
Victor.
Her body tensed slightly.
Daniel treated Victor with an almost unsettling level of normalcy, but Julie's instincts still fired off warning signals whenever he appeared.
The man was strange. Unpredictable.
And possessed an almost supernatural ability to appear out of nowhere.
"Hi," Ethan greeted. "How are you?"
Victor stopped at a respectful distance. His eyes swept across the area before finally settling on the boy.
"I'm fine." His voice came out low, as usual.
He slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, handling it with the care of someone carrying something fragile.
"Was this the boy you saw?" Victor unfolded the drawing and held it out toward Ethan.
Ethan closed his book and approached without the slightest hesitation.
The crayon illustration showed a pale figure dressed entirely in white.
"Yes!" His eyes lit up. "That's him. Do you know him too?"
Julie decided to intervene before Victor could answer.
"Ethan." Her tone was firm but not aggressive.
"Mom said you're not supposed to talk to people you don't know."
The boy turned his head toward her. His expression was a mixture of confusion and disapproval.
"He's not a stranger. He's my friend."
Julie closed her eyes for a moment. He's your friend? You exchanged a few words and now you're part of the same secret club?
She swallowed the comment. Arguing with Ethan rarely produced positive results.
So she stayed where she was, silently assuming the role of bodyguard.
She knew her mother wouldn't be gone for long.
And she wasn't.
Tabitha appeared at the top of the stairs, wiping her hands on her jeans.
Then she spotted Victor. The change in her expression was immediate.
"Ethan! Julie! Come here."
It wasn't quite a shout. But there was enough firmness in her voice to make it clear it wasn't a request.
Victor took a step back as though he had touched something hot.
The reaction was automatic. Over the years, he had learned to recognize that moment.
Adults didn't like seeing him around children.
They never did.
That was why he had patiently waited until Tabitha disappeared inside the house before trying to approach.
"I... I should go." Victor cast Ethan a quick glance. "See you later."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and hurried away, clutching the lunchbox against his chest as he tried to escape Tabitha's field of vision.
Tabitha descended the steps and stopped in front of her children.
Her gaze shifted between Julie and Victor's retreating figure as he headed toward the back of the property.
"What was that man doing talking to you two?" Concern was present in every word.
Before Julie could explain the story behind the drawing, Ethan took the lead.
"He's my friend, Mom!"
Then, realizing friendship might not be a strong enough argument to reassure her, he played his strongest card.
"He's Daniel's friend too!"
Tabitha blinked. Surprise flashed across her face for a split second.
"Is that true?" she asked Julie.
Julie looked at her brother, narrowing her eyes slightly.
After the kidnapping, their parents had turned into walking fortresses of parental paranoia.
Ethan knew that.
But he also knew Daniel was one of the few people capable of walking through those walls without resistance.
Mentioning his name at that moment had been a calculated move.
You manipulative little brat.
Julie thought it with a mixture of astonishment and pride.
"I wouldn't exactly call him a 'friend,'" she said, carefully weighing every syllable. "Daniel just... doesn't seem bothered by him. Which, coming from him, is saying a lot."
A small smile threatened to appear on Ethan's face.
Tabitha nodded slowly. Some of the tension left her shoulders.
If Daniel didn't see Victor as a threat, then the chances of the man posing a danger to her children were considerably lower.
She didn't add anything else. She simply stood there on the lawn, watching the solitary figure walk away.
The shadows cast by the trees gradually swallowed him, until nothing remained except the wind rustling the dry leaves at the edge of the forest.
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