Chapter 49 Day Zero | False Praise

Craasssh!

Evalyn's eyes snapped open from a loud sound forced her to wake. The sound of screaming followed immediately after, sending her heart racing, pounding in an erratic, offbeat rhythm.

"Calm down, sir! S-Sir, please—Gah! Let me go!!"

"SHUT UP!"

Crash! Thud, thud, thud.

Adrenaline pulsed in Evalyn's veins when she heard the woman screaming down the hall. She immediately jumped up from her chair and ran to the door.

"Get OFF!"

"I SAID SHUT UP, BITCH!"

Craaaash!

Evalyn's fight or flight reflex triggered, and her brain, conscious of her strength, opted to fight.

She wasn't thinking of helping the woman; her mind told her that she and her mother were in danger. So she burst through the door.

A tall, shirtless man with dark brown hair wearing heart monitors on his body threw a black-haired nurse in pink scrubs against the hall's wall.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his jaw twitched back and forth in a craze. His hairy chest was bleeding profusely from scratch marks from his fingernails.

"S-Sir, please!" The nurse pleaded on the ground, her nose bleeding from a punch to the face.

"SHUT! UP!" He yelled in a vitriolic rage.

Evalyn's eyes trembled in panic and confusion. Memories of her mother getting beaten by her father flashed before her eyes, leaving her twisted.

The sounds around her disappeared, making her feel like she was underwater. She saw male nurses and orderlies running down the hall to restrain the man, but she didn't process them.

Her mind was blank.

Strength. Control. Power.

Those were three things Evalyn lacked when she saw her dad beating her mom growing up. She always felt helpless—worthless—watching her get hurt from the corner of the hall.

That changed. It changed because Kaze gave her power and taught her how to use it.

Evalyn didn't think about Kaze, power, or helping people as she watched the man pick the woman up.

Her brain saw the man as a threat. He was a threat to her mom, just as her father was.

The man lifted the woman with his left hand, using muscles beyond the human's body pain triggers.

He raised his right hand to punch the screaming, pleading woman at full strength.

Time slowed to a crawl for everyone as they watched the scene, knowing they wouldn't make it in time before he delivered a serious blow to the woman.

CRAAAACCK!

The orderlies and male nurses fell still as the man flew across the hall, crashing into the ground and cracking his skull on the ground.

After investigating what happened, they found that he dropped the woman reflexively when an ice ball smashed into his skull.

Everyone looked down the hall and found Evalyn, surrounded by a slight vortex of white frost around her.

She had a blank expression, unaware that her power was showing openly. Only once the woman got up and ran over to her did she snap out of her haze.

All the frost swirling around her disappeared, and she looked at the black-haired nurse crying before her.

"T-Thank you!" The woman cried, hugging Evalyn with a thankful expression, "I thought he'd kill me. Thank you!"

Evalyn blinked twice as the world sped up, catching up to her. The sounds of the hall burst into her ears as the orderlies came up and thanked her as well.

Her breathing became sharp as she comprehended the situation.

Down the hall was a human body with blood squirting from his open skull. She killed a man, and people were around her, desperately thanking her.

"T-The troops left to quarantine the other hall, and they left us here!" The nurse cried with tears streaming down her eyes.

"I thought I'd die too. So many of us have been injured or killed."

Evalyn stared at the woman in disbelief.

She was in a soundproof room designed for the wealthy elites, on the top floor, isolated from the seven floors of chaos below her.

As a result, she didn't realize what was happening between the door, location, and her sleeping.

Now she was trying to process her killing someone, why she did it without thinking, and the hospital's situation simultaneously.

It was difficult because she understood that she had made a major mistake but didn't know how people knew about it.

Evalyn looked down and saw the woman's bloody hands on hers. The thin layer of frost on her arms made her realize what had happened.

"I…." She replied awkwardly.

The woman nodded in acceptance, understanding her shock.

"Thank you, miss." A male doctor with grey hair said while examining the corpse and running down the hall, "We don't know what we would've done without you."

"D-Don't worry about it." Evalyn replied hesitantly.

"Well, that's good." He replied with frantic brown eyes, "Because we could desperately use your help right now. Things are getting out of control in the lower floors."

The blonde shook her head. "Look, I can't help. To be honest, I'm not sure what happened. It felt like my body just reacted with a strange force."

"You mean to tell me that your body create a block of ice and hit a man in the skull with pinpoint precision on its own?" The man asked with sharp, narrowed eyes.

"Yes…." Evalyn replied, "I don't know what's going on, but I'm just here for my mother. I can't leave her side."

"You don't have to worry about that." He replied, "We can protect her."

The blonde panned her gaze on the stunned orderlies and woman next to her.

"Forgive me, but you couldn't protect your nurses and helpers." Evalyn said bluntly, "If you can't do that, you can't protect my mother, can you?"

"Normally, that would be the case, but you're a cultivator, yes?" The doctor asked with bent wrinkles on his forehead, "We can have soldiers protect your mother due to your value."

Her eyes trembled, and she looked back at her mother's hospital room.

"I-I can't. I should be gone, but the hospital won't let me take my mother." Evalyn said.

The doctor scoffed in disdain. "That's because the people helping your mother are dying, yet you'll let them die?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, sir." She swallowed, "I'm just a teenager. I don't know anything about fighting, and I barely learned this stuff a few days ago. I'd put my and my mother's life in danger."

Technically she was still a teen, as the denotation stops at nineteen. It was misleading but true.

"Unbelievable." The man scoffed, looking away with his bloodshot eyes, "All of you cultivators are the same. So self-centered and unwilling to help others."

Evalyn turned to look at the woman and orderlies to [prove] she was willing to help.

However, they were looking away from her in disappointment and disillusionment, as they were desperate, and the hope they felt with her presence disappeared.

"Look, I just helped your members." She said bluntly.

"Yet you're accusing me of not helping anyone.

Instead of thanking me, you're bitter that a teen without combat experience won't risk her and her mother's life to fight like a soldier.

I'm sorry for not being keen on helping you with your mindset and behavior."

The doctor scoffed and turned away from her. "You make me sick. I'd ask that our dead doctors' and nurses' lives weigh on your soul, but it's obvious you don't care to begin with."

Everyone turned and looked away as they followed the doctor storming down the hall.

Evalyn watched their backs with narrowed eyes. Then she walked back into her room with a downcast expression and sat down.

She didn't wipe the blood off her hands, arms, or shoes. Her eyes just fell blank as she stared into dead space, lifeless and without thought.

—Present Time—

An unknown amount of time passed before she heard her phone beeped with a special tone, letting her know that Kaze had messaged her.

Evalyn reached out to grab it but stopped when she saw the blood on her shaky hands, and sat back down to let tears fall from her eyes.

She didn't know if she could face Kaze.

After taking a deep breath, she steadied her hands and read the text.

—

You: The military is negotiating a deal. So leave your uncle out of it unless you want your mom to be a chess piece on day one.

—

Tears welled in Evalyn's eyes when she looked at her mom. The woman was under an anesthetic due to the Qi Sickness symptoms and bruises on her neck.

—

You: My mom is under an anesthetic for the night. Without my uncle pulling strings, I cannot move her, as she cannot travel.

—

She waited for five minutes.

Ten.

After an hour and a half, she finally gave up waiting for him to reply. However, the phone lit up again.

—

Kaze <3: Your mother is jeopardizing the lives of thousands. So remember that before you fail to use your head again.

—

Evalyn looked at the blood on her hands and shoes with trembling eyes. Tears fell from her eyes, dropping to the floor, diluting the blood prints on the ground.

—

You: I'm doing the best I can.

Kaze <3: Look around you. You can see what's happening, yes?

Kaze <3: The world is simpler now. Don't help people; if you're forced to act, don't leave witnesses. Take your mother and escape; there won't be an investigation.

—

Evalyn's eyes trembled in shock.

—

You: Just give me till morning….

Kaze <3: Are you mad? You mean once all of the doped-up patients wake up?

—

She swallowed. While she understood the situation, she couldn't imagine killing people, and taking her down eight flights of stairs and walking out the door felt like suicide.

At the very least, the soldier's guns would kill her mother. Pulling it off safely would require her to kill anyone that showed the slightest hostility.

It was extremely irrational to leave her mother unless she planned to kill every soldier and rioter in her way. That wasn't an excuse; that was a fact.

While Kaze could pull that off effortlessly, she couldn't.

—

You: There are guards everywhere. They have guns and have already used them. They'll kill my mom at a minimum.

Kaze <3: What was the point of giving you a divine technique if you're not willing to use it?

—

Evalyn stared at her phone with a broken expression.

She was exhausted; she was up all night at the party and then got a few hours of sleep before her uncle showed up.

Then she learned about her mom and dad, showed up at the hospital, learned about her mother's condition, killed a man, and couldn't leave.

The stress caught up to her, and she closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

Knock! Knock!

Evalyn woke up to the sound of two loud knocks on the hospital door.

"We're coming in!" The male doctor from the night before yelled aggressively.