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Bruce sighed in relief when he saw his old home intact. That being said, the neighbor's house on the left side was now on fire. A bus had just it and was the cause of the fire. Suddenly, Bruce saw some people trying to leave the bus, the windows were locked, and the door of the bus was blocked due to the fire and the rubble of the house. Bruce saw a good part of the bus also painted with blood… a good number of survivors were inside the vehicle, but a lot of them died.

"Where are their weapons?" Bruce asked himself while running toward the bus. "They should have obtained some short swords."

The fire was quickly spreading, so Bruce had to be fast. The heat made Bruce flinch, and the smell of all kinds of things being burned filled his nostrils and made him feel a bit dizzy for some seconds, but without wasting time, he broke the bus windows with his sword. It would be pretty cool if he could 'make a door by slashing his sword, but Bruce was pretty sure that he wasn't strong enough to cut metal.

The survivors inside the bus hurried to jump from the bus; since there were some kids there, Bruce was forced to stay a while longer to help them leave. Coughing and covered in bruises, Bruce managed to help a group of fifteen or so survivors.

"Thank you…" A brown-haired man said and then coughed for some seconds. "You saved us…"

Now that he saw the man up close, he noticed that despite being fairly young, the man had a stethoscope on his neck. Bruce recalled that the municipal hospital was nearby. After looking at the survivors, Bruce saw that the kids looked especially weak as if that man and they had just left the hospital in a hurry. Some of them even had some curves on their bodies, but those weren't from the wounds they received in the last few hours.

"Don't mention it," Bruce waved his right hand. "I just happened to be close by to help. In any case, shouldn't you guys have some weapons? Like a shorter version of this one?"

"Yeah, we had…" The man furrowed his eyebrows while looking at Bruce's sword covered in blood. "We didn't use them, but we left them at the bus entrance. Most likely, we lost them."

Bruce nodded while looking at the front of the bus; not only had they lost all their weapons, but they even lost a considerable number of allies there; it was a miracle that some people survived the impact.

"What happened?" Bruce asked. "What made the bus driver lose control of the vehicle? Was it a monster?"

"I don't know…" The brown-haired man said while trying to recall the last moments before the impact. "All that I remember was to hear an impact, and then something exploded. After that… I can't really tell what happened."

Bruce was one hundred percent sure a monster was the cause of the impact and explosion. He didn't find any monster that could use magic, but it wouldn't surprise him if he encountered one in the next few minutes that could use Fireball. He recalled that a few hours prior, he was pretty sure that monsters had their own quests, and most of them possibly received some rewards.

"I see…" Bruce said. "Anyway, you work at the municipal hospital, right? Do you know if the director was working tonight?"

"No… today was her day off," The man frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"She is my mother," Bruce replied.

"Eh?" The man said, shocked. "Director Sarah has a son? I never heard of that, but now that I see you more clearly, you have her eyes, don't you?"

"I wouldn't know…" Bruce shrugged.

Although it was a bit sad, it was only obvious that people as serious as his mother and father wouldn't talk to others about him. Bruce was the black sheep of the family, after all. That being said, the discomfort disappeared after just a few moments.

"Well, take care," Bruce waved his right hand and then headed toward his parents' home.

"Wait, wait!" The man said and then grabbed Bruce's shoulder. "You have to help us. I can sense some monsters watching us, waiting for you to leave."

"I have? Are you sure?" Bruce frowned.

"I heard that director's Sarah husband is a high-ranked officer in the army," The man said. "You are in the army as well, right?"

"Do I look that disciplined to you?" Bruce asked.

"Honestly? No…" This time the man frowned at his own answer.

"You are completely right," Bruce said.

"Still, you have weapons and some equipment, and despite this chaos, you are completely unharmed," The man said. "We have sick children here, and the adults are wounded. You are the only one we can rely on."

Bruce crossed his arms and studied the situation. The man was right, but he was assuming too many things. Bruce didn't have the duty to help anyone. However, now that he thought about it. His current goal was about to end, so he needed a new one. Besides, he had a noisy conscience; if he left those people in their current situation, Bruce would bet that he would have many sleepless nights due to it.

"… Unless you have some destination that will keep you guys safe, and it is very close by, I don't have any intention of helping you," Bruce said. "However, if you don't have a destination, I know a place where I can take you."

"Really? Where is it?" The man asked. "My name is Lucius, by the way."

"It is a hotel that has other survivors…" Bruce sighed. "Anyway, before doing that. I have to do something else first."

Lucius was the only one who stayed close to Bruce, while the others stayed at a distance that was out of the reach of his sword. Probably because Bruce was covered in blood, and Lucius was used to seeing it so much.

Regardless, Bruce didn't even have to enter his home to confirm that his parents weren't there. Although his house was fairly big, despite being simple. His parents had an odd way to pass messages to each other in case something unexpected happened. Bruce found a single envelope hidden below the third big vase on the right side of the entrance door.

"Bruce, if you find this later, it means that you are probably alive and well. I thank the heavens for that. However, I need to ask you to stop searching for us. We are in a place where only a handful of people can stay, and I also can't reveal our location for security reasons. I'm sorry, but we can't take you with us. It was something decided by those who even have the power to give your father orders. We don't know for how long this situation will continue, but I hope that one day, we will be able to reunite. Until then, you should look for a survivors' group and then leave the town as fast as possible. Create a stronghold somewhere and wait for the storm to pass. I wish you luck."