A bit of spiritual spring water trickled past the boy’s lips, but he still made no attempt to swallow.
Suzy had no choice but to feed him again. This time, she gently cupped his jaw with her fingers, guiding him to swallow naturally. She waited a moment to make sure he wasn’t choking before finally relaxing.
He’s swallowed the spiritual water, so he should be fine now, right? she thought to herself.
Storing the water back into her spatial realm, Suzy didn’t leave right away. Instead, she stayed by the bed, gazing at the boy for a moment.
His face was pale—almost translucent—and his long eyelashes cast soft, delicate shadows beneath his eyes as he lay motionless. He was undeniably handsome, on par with the likes of Thomas and Derek.
Suzy couldn’t help but wonder if the system was glitching. Perhaps that faint, muffled sound she’d heard earlier hadn’t been an illusion after all...
Lost in thought, her gaze unconsciously drifted down to the boy’s collar. His jacket, once caked in mud and water, was now spotless. Aside from a few wrinkles around the neckline, it looked fresh out of the wash.
Fresh out of the wash... Wait, no!
If this guy woke up and found his clothes impeccably clean, he’d definitely get suspicious. How would she explain it then? She couldn’t very well tell him about the talisman.
After a brief pause, Suzy leaned over and unzipped his jacket. Within moments, she stripped it off him.
She didn’t stop there. She went on to strip off his shirt, then his trousers. Her movements were swift, efficient, and completely devoid of hesitation or stray thoughts. Even so, she couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of his body in the process.
He was lean, his frame defined by a sharp, slender build, and his skin was smooth and pale.
How could he not be a love target?
Suzy questioned the system once again, confident that her instincts and judgment were spot on.
"System?" she called out internally.
Silence.
Deciding not to dwell on it, she stashed his clothes away, pulled a blanket over him, and headed for the driver’s seat.
She sat down and buckled up. Just as she was about to turn the key, she spotted several figures approaching on the monitor. They were fellow refugees—a shifty-looking bunch—glancing around nervously as they slunk toward her beat-up minivan.
In no time, they had reached the door. The man in the lead, eyes gleeful, reached out to yank it open. He pulled twice, but the door didn’t budge.
At that exact moment, Suzy slammed her foot on the gas, and the van surged forward.
Startled, the man instantly let go. When he recovered, he began hurling curses at the disappearing vehicle, but Suzy was already far ahead, leaving them with nothing but a cloud of exhaust.
She had no patience to waste on people like them and simply kept her eyes on the road.
After driving for a while, her thoughts turned back to the unconscious boy in the rear. Since he hadn’t woken up yet, she couldn’t just haul him straight to City A. It seemed her journey would have to wait—at least until he came around.
Having made up her mind, Suzy pulled over in a safe spot.
Once parked, she went to the back to check on him. She reached out, intending to feel his forehead for a fever, but before her hand could touch him, the boy suddenly opened his eyes.
Those unusually light hazel eyes opened without warning.
His gaze unfocused for a second, like he was floating up from the depths of a heavy dream, not quite adjusted to the shift between light and reality.
Suzy caught his eyes and froze. The boy was looking at her, too.
Two seconds passed. His long eyelashes fluttered slightly, as if he were trying to process something. Soon, a spark of clarity flickered in his eyes, and his pale lips parted faintly: "It’s... you..."
"You remember me?" Suzy was a bit surprised.
The boy stared at her and gave a barely perceptible nod.
"I’m Suzy," she said, getting straight to the point. "You collapsed back on the road. How are you feeling now?"
It seemed his mental processor hadn’t fully booted up yet. After she finished speaking, he dazed out for several seconds before replying, "Awful."
His voice was rasping and faint.
Suzy nodded, taking it in. The fact that he could wake up at all was likely thanks to the spiritual spring water, but a full recovery would probably take time.
"What’s your name?" she asked.
The boy opened his mouth and strained to force out three syllables: "Mark."
So I remembered it right.
Suzy silently repeated the name in her head.
"When I found you on the road, were you completely on your own? Where were you heading? To the base?" Suzy asked. "Isn’t your sister with you?"
A long string of text, half a dozen questions at once.
Mark’s system suffered an immediate overload. This time, he froze for a solid five seconds before he could answer.
"Just me... going to the base. My sister... isn’t with me."
As for why she wasn’t with him, he didn’t elaborate. Since it was his personal business, Suzy didn’t pry further.
However, his destination—the base—presented a bit of a headache. Their routes were completely opposite.
Besides, he was still sick. They say if you’re going to help someone, you see it through to the end; she couldn’t very well save his life only to dump him on the side of the road now, could she? But driving him back to Black Mist Base meant making a huge detour, which was an utter hassle.
Suzy felt a sudden wave of annoyance. She had truly brought a massive headache upon herself.
She turned to look at Mark again. He looked back at her with a thoroughly innocent expression, and the two sat there, simply staring at each other.
She parted her lips, intending to ask more about his sister, but before the words could leave her mouth, his eyelids began to droop once more.
His eyelashes trembled twice, sinking lower and lower. The light in his eyes slowly faded as his consciousness drifted away from his body.
Suzy sensed something was wrong. "Hey?"
The moment the word left her mouth, Mark’s head tilted to the side. His breathing leveled out, and he plunged right back into unconsciousness.
"Fainted again?!"
Looking at his sleeping face, Suzy felt completely helpless. They had barely exchanged a few words before he passed out on her again.
She didn’t leave or rush into action right away. Instead, she kept her eyes on him for a while to make sure he was genuinely out cold.
"Mark, Mark!"
She called his name several times, receiving no response whatsoever. She poked his arm—still nothing.
Taking out another cup of high-purity spiritual spring water from her spatial realm, she expertly lifted his head and began feeding it to him again.
Just like before, he remained unconscious and made no effort to swallow. She had to use a bit of finesse to guide the liquid down his throat.
Even so, a tiny trick of water lingered at the corner of his lips. Suzy gently wiped it away with the pad of her thumb before pulling her hand back.
His lips looked a bit more hydrated now—still cracked and pale, but no longer deathly bloodless.
Suzy stared at him, doing the math. This was already his second cup of high-purity spiritual water. If it was just a simple fever, he ought to bounce back soon.
Right then, a pitter-patter echoed across the roof—dense, rustling taps that rapidly grew louder.
Suzy hurried over to the window and looked out. Sure enough, it was raining again.
The downpour came out of nowhere, sudden and unannounced, heavy enough to drown the world. In the brief ten seconds between hearing the first drops and looking outside, the light drizzle had escalated into a raging torrential storm.
She counted herself lucky for picking a good spot: relatively high ground behind a half-collapsed residential building, discreet enough that passersby would hardly notice. Not to mention, the battered exterior of her RV parked next to a ruined house looked practically abandoned anyway.
Suzy decided to hunker down right here.
Under these conditions, driving in the rain was the last thing she wanted to do. The road conditions were atrocious, and the heavy downpour severely blocked visibility, making it far too dangerous. Staying inside the RV was better; it offered a real sense of security.
Now, all she could do was wait for this guy to wake up.
Having made her decision, Suzy walked over to the driver’s seat, shut off the engine, and began adjusting the internal temperature of the RV.