The evening air seemed colder than before when the group passed through the base gates.
No one was joking. No one was talking about the five monsters they had hunted that morning. Even Andreas, who usually always found something to complain about, was silent.
The shadow Lian and Cassian had seen on the rooftop still weighed on everyone’s minds.
And that was the problem. None of the others had been able to see those two red eyes. If only Lian had seen it, it could have been a hallucination.
But both Lian and Cassian? That was no longer a hallucination. Not in a city like this... It only meant one thing... They were being watched.
But by what?
As soon as they entered, they were taken directly to the command building.
Commander Gareth stood behind a large metal table, with several officers around him.
The first day’s report began.
Cassian wasted no time explaining all the details of the route, the monsters killed, and the condition of the area.
The atmosphere in the room gradually became heavier.
But when it came to the shadow on the rooftop, something strange happened.
"Both Lian and I saw it." Cassian said this sentence quietly.
"The distance was great. Details were unclear, but something was standing on the rooftop."
Commander Gareth, who had seemed calm until that moment, suddenly frowned, and his eyes narrowed.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Lian answered. He had no doubt about his senses and vision. With his current physical ability, seeing that distance was not hard at all.
A few seconds of silence passed. Then Gareth exchanged a brief look with one of the officers.
A look that did not escape anyone’s notice. As if they knew exactly what the matter was, but no explanation was given.
At that moment, the door to the room opened forcefully. One of the soldiers entered, almost breathless.
"Commander!"
All eyes turned toward him.
"The corpse collection team is back."
"And?"
After receiving the report from the forward team, they had sent a group to collect the bodies of those monsters. No matter how worthless they were, they could still help.
Gareth had even scolded Cassian for not bringing the corpses back himself. It did not matter if they had no financial value; at least research could be done on them.
The soldier swallowed.
"They found nothing."
A few people did not understand what he meant.
"What do you mean nothing?" Gareth frowned.
"No corpses were there. The monsters killed today... had disappeared."
The room froze.
Lian slowly raised an eyebrow. Moving those carcasses was not an easy task, especially within a few hours. And besides, why should they be moved?
He doubted monsters were interested in the carcasses of other monsters... At least, that was the information based on the behavior of monsters in the previous nine Ruined Realms.
He was not the only one surprised. Cassian, Marcus, Sarah, Claire, and Andreas were also surprised. They had not expected such a strange day.
They had just thought they would enter that city, kill all the monsters, and return to the Academy to be praised.
But now it seemed their assumptions had been wrong.
"You can go rest." Gareth looked at them and said quietly.
They nodded and returned to their tents.
That night, the atmosphere of the base was strange. The soldiers were guarding more than before. Massive searchlights constantly scanned the city.
And the movement of officers had almost doubled.
Lian, however, did not feel like staying in his tent. After resting a little, he went out for a walk.
But when he passed by the command building, he heard part of a conversation between soldiers.
He had not intended to eavesdrop, but a few sentences made him stop unconsciously.
"It’s happening again." One officer’s voice.
"It happened in the previous cases too." Another voice answered.
"All the corpses disappear."
"It doesn’t matter if they are human or monster. It’s as if something is collecting them."
"What does the commander say? Shouldn’t we warn the students? Something is definitely wrong in that city."
"Shh! The commander said the students should not find out anything for now."
Lian’s heart beat a little faster. Collecting corpses... For what? If the monsters were hungry... If the bodies were disappearing... Then what was collecting them?
And why should it be hidden from the students? The situation here was getting stranger day by day.
He did not hear any more because the conversation ended.
But the question remained in his mind. That night, he could not sleep. Something in the city was wrong. Not just dangerous, but wrong.
A feeling that was hard to explain. He felt that the white-eyed creature might only be the surface of the matter, not the whole truth.
But he had no information to base any reasoning on.
In the end, he fell asleep with difficulty. He needed energy for tomorrow.
The second morning arrived.
The sky was not yet fully bright when the group was ready to move again. This time, they chose a different route. Instead of the commercial sector... they went to the residential sector.
A neighborhood where thousands of families once lived.
The silence here was even worse. The houses were almost intact. Cars were in their parking spots.
Some windows still had curtains, as if people had left their homes just for a few minutes.
But they never returned.
One of the buildings was almost completely destroyed, but strangely, all of them smelled smoke from that side.
They looked at each other and decided to investigate more closely. They went closer and noticed that while the second and third floors were completely destroyed, the first floor was still standing.
They followed the smell of smoke until they could enter a residential unit. Or at least, what was previously a residential unit.
"Wait."
Everyone stopped.
"Look over there." Marcus pointed to a spot in the building.
The group moved closer and immediately noticed.
On the kitchen table, there was relatively fresh food. Of course, by fresh, they meant something from about one to two days ago. A few water bottles, footprints on the ground, and ash that showed a not-too-old fire had been lit within the last several hours to maybe a day.
Someone had been here.
Recently.
Not weeks ago, but recently.
"Survivor." Cassian said immediately.
It was possible that a human survivor was living here.
And if that was true, they had to find him.
Everyone got ready. The search began. They searched every inch of every place they could check. They even went as far as checking the destroyed sections.
And a few minutes later, Andreas found something.
Behind a large closet, a hidden door that was closed. The door was well hidden, with onions and garlic scattered around it. Two things that could disrupt monsters’ sense of smell and distract them from this place.
"Whoever hid here knows the basics about red alert situations." Sarah said with a smile.
Marcus, without asking, struck and broke the door open.
And under it... stairs leading down to the basement.
The group went down cautiously. The space was dark. The smell of moisture and fear flowed in the air. At the end of the basement... a man was sitting.
Thin. Too thin. His face was bony. His eyes were sunken, and it was clear he had not slept well for nights.
And his hands were trembling constantly. When he saw them, he did not scream. He did not run.
He just kept muttering something under his breath... over and over.
"I shouldn’t have looked..."
"I shouldn’t have looked..."
"I shouldn’t have looked..."
"What’s wrong with him?" Sarah suddenly said.
"He saw something that broke his mind." Lian thought for a moment and answered.
The state this man was in, based on first glance, was absolute fear. He was terrified of something. To the point that he would rather die than face that fear.
He looked at the group’s healer and gestured for her to go forward.
"Calm down." Claire quietly stepped forward.
But the man did not even look at her. As if he was trapped in another world.
"I shouldn’t have looked..."
"I shouldn’t have looked..."
Cassian stepped forward.
"What shouldn’t you have looked at?" He knelt next to the man.
For the first time, the man reacted. His head slowly lifted. His terrified eyes fixed on Cassian’s face.
His whole body started to shake. So intensely that it seemed like he might fall apart at any moment.
"That monster..." He then said in a broken voice filled with terror.
Tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.
"It... is collecting us."
And a deadly silence took over the basement.