Chapter 315
She stood over him, looking down at his writhing form. Her face was completely expressionless, but her hand was shaking uncontrollably.
He should be dead now, right? The other Aaron... should be dead too, right?
"Suzy..."
A faint, barely audible voice drifted up from the snow.
The familiar cadence of that tone caused Suzy’s eyes to widen. Following the sound, she looked down and realized the one speaking was Aaron. But judging by the expression on his face, this wasn’t the man who had come to murder her—it was the Aaron she had known and lived with.
How could she tell? It was an innate sense of familiarity. The aura radiating from the man before her felt deeply familiar.
Still, Suzy didn’t rush forward blindly. Instead, she took a cautious step back.
Staring at Aaron on the snow-covered ground, she was inwardly shaken. Even after taking a bullet straight through the head, this guy still wasn’t dead? How is he this hard to kill?
"Are you... Aaron?" she asked tentatively.
"It’s me," Aaron managed to squeeze out, his breath incredibly weak. "Remember to give me another shot in a moment... only then will I truly stay dead."
"Noah... Noah is on the third floor. Remember to go save him in a bit. If you drag it out too long, something might happen to him."
"You have to be extra careful from now on. Even if I’m dead, those people will still come. They’ll be here soon..."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Suzy demanded.
"You don’t need to feel guilty about killing me today. Just look at it as you taking this life back. You have to... survive, no matter what..."
The voice of the Aaron she knew grew fainter and fainter with every word.
Finally, Suzy knew for certain: the man lying before her was indeed the Aaron she knew.
"You!"
Suzy could sense it instantly.
Her gaze hardened as she recalled Aaron’s words from just moments ago.
Give me another shot.
She had no idea what kind of biology or hidden, life-saving tech made people like him so incredibly difficult to kill, but she didn’t hesitate. Following his warning, she decisively pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The gunshot was deafening.
This time, that foul, toxic aura vanished completely, replaced by the heavy stillness of death. At that exact moment, Suzy knew the man before her was truly gone.
Not just the Aaron who had tried to murder her, but the one she had saved—he was dead too. Completely and utterly gone.
Her hand went slack, the gun dropping to her side. She didn’t feel a sense of relief, nor did she feel particularly overwhelmed with grief. Instead, a crushing weight—a level of pressure she had never felt before—settled over her.
Aaron was dead. But he had warned her that even with him gone, more would follow. Others would come to finish the job. A relentless, never-ending onslaught of assassins. And the ones coming next would likely be even more unhinged.
Suzy let out a heavy sigh, her eyes darkening as she looked down at his corpse in the snow. She would have to take his body back with her. But before that, she needed to get to Noah as fast as possible.
Turning on her heel, she sprinted toward the abandoned building.
Just as the good Aaron had said, Noah was there. However, the boy had already lost consciousness from the bitter cold. His lips were purple, and he lay perfectly still on the ground.
Suzy’s heart clenched. She rushed over to check on him. He was only wearing a single thick coat, which was nowhere near enough protection against these sub-zero temperatures.
"Noah! Noah!"
She called his name several times, but he didn’t stir.
Stripping off her own heavy jacket, she wrapped it tightly around him and carefully poured a few drops of spiritual spring water down his throat. Only after finishing did she breathe a small sigh of relief. Scooping him up into her arms, she hurried down the stairs.
The moment she hit the ground floor, a commotion echoed from the distance.
Someone was approaching.
Clutching Noah tighter to her chest, she stared warily into the white expanse. But as the figures came into view, she let out a quiet breath of relief.
They were on her side. It was Liam, Thomas, and the others.
Likely drawn by the sound of gunfire, the group was sprinting toward her position from afar.
"Noah is here!" Suzy shouted toward them.
Her voice carried far across the empty, snow-covered landscape. Hearing her call, the distant figures visibly quickened their pace.
Liam ran ahead of everyone else, practically stumbling his way over, his face masked with sheer panic and terror.
Suzy hurried forward to meet him, but the snow was piled too high. In her haste, her footing gave way and she pitched forward. She clenched her arms tightly around Noah, making sure he didn’t go flying with her.
The fall left her looking quite disheveled. By the time she managed to push herself up and look up, Liam was already standing right in front of her.
"Noah..."
Liam’s gaze immediately fell upon the boy in her arms. Having been sustained by the spiritual spring water, Noah’s color had already improved significantly, his skin no longer bearing that deathly purple tint.
"He passed out from the cold... but he should be fine now," Suzy reassured him softly.
She held the boy out to him. Liam took his brother, cradling him with absolute care, before finally looking up at Suzy.
When he did, he froze.
The snow continued to fall around them, brushing past silently. Only now did Liam realize that Suzy’s heavy outer jacket was missing. She was standing in the freezing blizzard wearing nothing but a thin sweater, looking as though she might collapse at any moment. Her sweater was caked in snow, mud, and bloodstains, with a gaping tear torn through one of the elbows.
Liam’s eyes shifted from her sweater to her face.
Then, he went completely rigid, as if nailed to the spot.
Suzy’s long hair was a tangled mess, matted by a mix of sweat and blood, with damp strands clinging to her forehead and half-blinding one eye. Her face was so pale it was almost translucent—a bloodless, unnatural white. Yet her lips were a striking, vivid crimson. That sharp shock of red only served to highlight the fragile, ghostly pallor of her skin.
Liam also noticed a thin, superficial cut running along her left cheek. The blood had already clotted, tracing a long line from her cheekbone all the way down to her jaw. It wasn’t deep, but against her pale skin, it was glaringly obvious.
"Are you... alright?" Liam choked out.
She hadn’t looked anything like this when they parted ways. What on earth had she just gone through?
Then it hit him—the gunshots. They had rushed here precisely because they heard gunfire!
Before Liam could piece it all together, Suzy spoke up. "I’m fine."
She offered him a faint, reassuring smile. Looking at that smile on her deathly pale face, Liam felt a sharp pang strike his chest. His nose tickled with a sudden sting. He opened his mouth to speak, but the biting wind and snow rushed in, cutting him off.
At that moment, Thomas caught up to them. He immediately draped a thick jacket over Suzy’s shoulders.
"Suzy! Are you okay?!"
Thomas, Derek, and Leonard arrived in a flash, instantly crowding around her.
In that split second, the words Liam had wanted to say died in his throat. He lowered his eyes and fell silent.
Suzy’s attention shifted to the three who had just arrived. They were all talking over one another, pressing her for details about what had happened, their eyes full of deep concern.