Sleepless Night

The ball of yarn bounced a few times, then exploded.

Yarns flew everywhere and expanded at an alarming rate.

Jun and Edward got caught in the blast and became entangled by yarn.

Evo carefully approached the two. He forcefully removed the red club from Jun's hand.

After a few seconds of struggling, Jun slumped down his head. He felt severely exhausted, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

The red damaged club must have drained some energy from him to be in that frenzied state. With the addition of the mental curse, Jun's head began throbbing from pain.

Evo turned towards Edward before nodding his head in appreciation. If it weren't for Edward, a lot of people could have died pointless deaths.

Sheila ran and knelt down while healing Edward and Jun.

"Check the bodies if they're alive. Heal them." Evo said.

"What?!" Sheila swiftly turned to Evo, unable to believe what she was hearing.

Almost everyone nearby reacted in the same manner.

They were shocked, feeling betrayed.

"What do you mean? Those people just attacked us! You want me to help them?!" Sheila burst out. "I won't do it!"

"Heal them. We need to know who did this, and I have a plan for that," said Jun, who managed to turn his head in their direction. His breaths had a rhythm that showed his exhaustion.

Jun already realized something when he was fighting those people. They were only play-fighting as if stalling for time.

Just like people who were afraid to commit fully on a fight—they just stabbed their poles forward, so they could claim that they fought the battle.

He wanted to stop fighting and talk to them, but he lost control of his consciousness and went on a rampage.

With them healed, he could at least be a good hypocrite and exact vengeance. He already thought of ways to make them talk that would make them wish that they were dead.

He should have realized it sooner—that people won't cause trouble with just the amount of resources one could find in the mall.

There's a huge chance that someone was behind the attack and not these people's decisions.

His play-fighting with them proved it, and they were probably waiting for the order to retreat, but it never came. 

With no knowledge of Jun's thinking, Sheila resentfully complied. The name above her head turned black.

"We could use this as an advantage," Evo said, then suggested something with a target in mind. "We should interrogate them and find out who's order was this."

Sheila first walked towards Old John, who was kneeling beside Emma and Jorge.

"Let me heal them," said Sheila.

"It's alright." Old John smiled without facing her. "Let them rest."

Sheila became confused. She got closer and saw a floating black vortex above Emma's chest. She turned her head towards Jorge and saw the same thing.

"What is this?" Sheila inquired as she stared at the vortex.

Old John ignored her question and chose to remain silent.

Sheila touched the vortex, and a window popped up. It was a dimensional storage filled with various things.

When realization struck her, she hurriedly pulled her hand out and turned towards Old John.

"I-I'm..."

"It's okay."

Old John smiled. If Jun were to see his smile, he would immediately know that he's just trying to hold his tears.

Sheila stood up and headed towards the incapacitated civilians.

The first thing she noticed was the bruises on the civilian's body.

Sheila had mixed feelings as she strode towards them.

***

On one of the rooms on the second floor of the municipal hall, several police officers were talking with each other.

"We should have stopped them."

"What they're going to do is wrong!"

"Lieutenant!"

Lieutenant Cedric listened to his officers as they panicked.

Earlier, the mayor requested that they go for a night raid. The goal was to steal as many things as they could from the mall, then leave without getting anyone injured.

Of course, he immediately rejected the idea. The police force managed to scavenge a good amount of supplies that would last them for a month if they rationed it well and two weeks if not.

As he looked out the window, he noticed a parade of civilians with hands on the back of their heads. Fifteen people walked in a line, making a beeline for the police station.

It was an unusual sight to behold.

Lieutenant Cedric turned around and went to the mayor's office.

When he reached the office entrance, he heard the loud scolding coming inside.

"What do you mean you lost? You guys have the number advantage! You have the element of surprise! I even borrowed five guns for this! How did you even mess that up! We even have someone who knows how to use stealth! So, tell me! How in the world did you fail?!"

"The guard on duty noticed us. I don't know how, but he noticed us, even when we were still a distance away. We tried talking to them to stall some time, so our stealth guy could get close to them quietly, but that man pointed the gun at him as if he could see him. Our guy panicked and shot the man. At that moment, I knew the raid already failed since we were outgunned, so I left them."

"When I was a distance away, I saw how a single man armed with a rifle outsmart them. Made them all kneel, took their guns, and made them march in a line. He became invisible, so I ran back as fast as I could."

"Useless! How is that even possible! One man against fifteen people?"

A loud, smacking sound echoed across the room.

Lieutenant Cedric felt some chill behind him, then decided to come into the room. He pushed the door open and saw Neil on the ground, wiping the blood from the side of his mouth.

Lieutenant Cedric sternly looked at the mayor. "People died? Is that right?"

Mayor Yobet panicked. "Some people got shot, but we're not sure if they're dead. People panic and that's natural," he frowned after getting questioned and rebuked the Lieutenant, "Why do I feel like you're siding with them?"

Before Lieutenant Cedric could answer him, a loud gunshot echoed in the room.

A small dot appeared on the mayor's head with blood spilling out of it.

Lieutenant Cedric quickly pulled his gun on his waist, then turned around. 

Neil, who just managed to stand up, watched the mayor's body fall to the floor. The mayor's eyes were wide open as he hit the floor.

Lieutenant Cedric gulped as he saw the face of the same teenager from this morning slowly fade away and turn into a dark silhouette. The glaring dead eyes stared him, and when he closed his eyes, he could see it clearly as if the other person was still staring at him.

The silhouette disappeared by the time that he opened his eyes. He looked around and tried to focus more, but he couldn't find the profile anymore. He heard some repeated thudding sound, so he turned his head.

Neil was furiously kicking the dead body of the mayor.

***

Inside the mall...

Old John finally absorbed the legacy from the two bodies after emptying their dimensional storage.

He received a massive boost to his stats, but that didn't reduce the sadness that lingered in his heart.

He first planned to bury the bodies since the two weren't bitten, but decided not to do so when he remembered a story the old farmer told him earlier this morning.

The small farm they set up outside was growing nicely, thanks to the giant worms that were helping on making the soil healthy. The worms were about one foot long and one inch thick.

Old John doesn't want to bury his loved ones when he knew that their bodies wouldn't rest in peace even if he buried them. With no other choice, he absorbed the body's legacy.

Everyone was alert and couldn't fall asleep.

Tatang Robin observed the monitors with more focus. There were already stacks of coffee packets by his side so he wouldn't fall asleep.

People who can't sleep gathered at the door to stand guard.

Evo was working on something in the electronic section.

Marianne snuck herself on Jun's bed and lied down next to him. Jun, who was feeling mellow, hugged her.

"Where did you go earlier?" Marianne asked, but Jun didn't answer and just kissed her forehead.

—

In the city hall, inside the mayor's office.

Several police officers discussed how they should announce this matter to the public. The citizens were now in panic downstairs, and they have to do something.

Lieutenant Cedric finally decided to cover the matter up as a suicide.

As long as Neil remained quiet, which he probably would, there should be no problem.

Maintaining the government's image should be the priority, and the topic about the raid needs to be removed in their minds.

He asked Neil to call everyone involved in the incident. He plans to have some proper talk with them.

***

In the middle of the night, the ground suddenly vibrated.

Every living person woke up, wherever they are.