Strangely comfortable

Both sides had different reactions to Arlan's answer.

It wasn't just the words he said or the way he said them, it was the intent that surprised them.

Those who knew Arlan knew that he was a quiet person and usually kept things he didn't like to himself.

Those who didn't know him directly got a bad impression of him, so much so that the young woman next to him quickly raised the katana and used the force of the vertical cut on the hilt to slice Arlan's neck in one go.

"Knara"

Arlan felt the blow of air on his neck instead of something sharp.

The man had stopped the woman called Knara at the last moment. If the man hadn't tried to stop her, Arlan's head would surely be rolling on the floor.

This was undoubtedly the moment when Arlan came the closest to death.

The man walked up to Arlan and kicked him in the back of his knees, forcing him to kneel, and then grabbed him by the hair and stared him down.

Arlan felt like his kneecaps were about to break, his legs were completely numb, and his scalp ached from the man's grip.

"You see, we are looking for a man. He should be wearing the same clothes as us and be about 50 years old"

Arlan had definitely never seen these people before, he had been locked in the bunker since he arrived on the island and today was the first day, he had been outside.

"I have no idea, this is the first time I've seen people as strange as you"

This time Arlan replied softer, though still with contempt in his voice. But this time the man did not ignore his words and put his hand on Arlan's chest.

Arlan frowned at the man's strange gesture, but a second later he felt something enter his body.

"What are you doing...!?"

What he felt entering his body was the same sensation he had when he tasted the contaminated food back in the bunker.

That time, he passed out quickly, so he didn't feel as much pain. Instead, this time he wasn't unconscious, so he began to feel this strange warmth spreading throughout his body, covering him from his feet to his head.

"Arghh!"

The man didn't stop even after he heard Arlan scream. Instead, he frowned slightly and stopped after about 10 seconds, which seemed like an eternity to Arlan.

The man let go of Arlan, who fell to the ground gasping for air, unable to breathe properly. His whole body ached as if he had thousands of needles in his body.

Especially his heart hurt more than any other part of his body. Arlan felt lethargic, as if the man had drained all his energy.

As Arlan suffered on the ground, the man approached the group and asked them the same question again.

Maybe because of how stunned they were or because they just didn't remember. But as the man asked them the same question, Tristan and Laurel remembered one person.

"I don't know if it's the person you're looking for, but about three weeks ago we met a man with the same description" Laurel replied with fear in her voice.

Compared to Tristan, who knew how to stay calm in complicated situations, and Arlan, who seemed to have gone crazy. She could not help but fear for her life. Even the soldiers were a little afraid.

One of them because of the fact that he had a horrible wound in his abdomen that wouldn't stop bleeding, and with every passing second, he was losing more and more consciousness.

The man looked hard at Laurel and asked:

"Did the man had a large scar over his left eye?"

Laurel found it difficult to answer because of the man's intense stare, but the description of the person she had met a few weeks ago matched perfectly with what the man said.

"Y-yes"

The man lifted his head slightly and asked one last question.

"Where did you see him?"

Laurel slowly raised her shaking arm, trying to hide her nervousness, and pointed in a direction.

"Several miles that way, there is a ruined city, we met him in the ruins. At the north part of the city"

The man immediately stopped looking at Laurel and focused on his group.

"Perse, Leijn, we'll go to the city. The rest will take them to the village"

Two men stepped forward and the rest approached the group.

The man approached the two men who had stepped forward and spoke to them for a few moments before they ran off in the direction Laurel had indicated.

Knara picked up Arlan's torso and approached the others. Then they began to lead them somewhere while keeping an eye on the surroundings.

Even though they were hostages now, they felt safer being protected by these strange people.

Tristan and Laurel walked in silence while the soldier who was healthy helped the other who was about to faint.

In the back, Knara carried Arlan under her shoulder, not caring if he was comfortable or not. But being comfortable was the last thing on Arlan's mind.

Even though he was awake, Arlan was strangely quiet and calm.

He was still lethargic, but more than that, he was focused on feeling the warmth coursing through his body, which at some point had stopped hurting and now felt strangely comfortable.

It was the same as he had felt when he had woken up after eating the contaminated food, only now the sensation was stronger than before.

It was as if Arlan had drunk water from the well instead of a bottle. He had felt it directly, so the effect was stronger now.