CHAPTER 68: FINAL PREPARATIONS AND FAREWELL

Only then did Lucien leave the apartment, taking his key...

At the same time, the messages arrived...

[Optional Quest Completed!]

[Sick Neighbor!]

[New Special Item Unlocked in the Shop!]

[Obtained a Random Recipe!]

[Optional Quest Completed!]

[Biological Materials Stockpile!]

[Obtained a Random Recipe!]

The two random recipes were for a type of lamp and a heater... When I asked the system if there was a recipe for a power generator or something similar, or if I should get one of those, its answer was simple and straightforward:

[All your items will be powered by crystal energy; other energy sources are unnecessary for you.]

"Oh, and what was the special item in the shop?"

[Cure for the ZY Virus: 5000 points]

"Wait, why didn’t you mention this before? I can–" Lucien stopped mid-sentence, finally understanding why the last two quests were called tests.

[...]

"The price is impractical with my current points, and it could even jeopardize my father’s treatment... Not only that, but what if I, my father, or my friends are bitten and I need to buy the potion, and I don’t have any points?"

This time, Lucien only thought about the consequences, not wanting to say something so obvious and childish in front of the system...

Without much else to do, Lucien tried calling Tristan, his mother’s assistant, again, but the call went straight to voicemail.

"Did something happen to him? Why isn’t he answering my phone anymore?"

Still holding his father’s cell phone, he decided to call Dona Yolanda and finally warn her and the family about the apocalypse. He wanted everyone to prepare starting tomorrow by accumulating resources, but Lucien was surprised by whoever answered the phone.

"Hello?"

Lucien remained motionless for a moment, recognizing the sweet, familiar voice.

"Mr. Rivero?"

"Hi, Laura, it’s Lucien... How are you?"

"Lucien? It’s been a while since we last spoke..." Laura said in a sad, tired tone.

"Yes indeed... Why did you answer your grandmother’s phone? Is she okay?"

"No! She’s not... She and my mother are sick and have been taken to the hospital. My father is there with them, but he wouldn’t let me go with them for fear of something contagious..."

"That’s not how this disease spreads... Can you give me your father’s number?"

"Why do you want to talk to him? And what do you want to tell about "how this disease spreads"? Do you know anything?"

"I’ll text your father explaining everything I know, stay home, and don’t go to school for the next two days. I’ll call you again tomorrow..."

"Okay, his number is 775-653..."

Then Lucien wrote and sent a long message to Laura’s father. He told him to stock up on food and water and stressed that they were not to leave the house on Tuesday under any circumstances...

Soon, more messages arrived, and Laura’s father even tried calling him back a few times. But Lucien didn’t answer.

He didn’t have enough points to buy a single Cure from the system store, much less two. Therefore, he couldn’t help the girl he liked at that moment. And he didn’t even dare to continue talking to her or her father about it without feeling enormous guilt...

With nothing else to do, Lucien went to sleep...

On Monday, he didn’t go to school and spent almost the entire day at home. Late in the afternoon, he went to a small lake near his house... and there he met William and Nina one last time.

"Why did you schedule our meeting at this location?" Nina asked, looking at the lake and the forest with several hiking trails and a simple playground not far away. Normally, it would be full of children accompanied by their parents, but now, with the mysterious disease spreading, it was completely deserted.

William grabbed a rock and threw it, bouncing it several times in the water until it almost crossed the entire lake. He was satisfied with the throw, then turned and answered Nina’s question in Lucien’s place.

"Lucien and I have been coming here to play since we were four years old. We don’t play on the playground anymore, but we still use the open space to fly our drones... Sometimes we come here just to get away from home for a while on the weekends, especially when our parents fight..."

Lucien approached William and also began throwing rocks into the lake. It wasn’t long before Nina joined in. They continued throwing rocks in silence, only laughing at each other when the rock sank into the lake during a failed throw...

"It seems you’ve gotten used to your stronger bodies. I remember William could barely reach halfway across the lake with his throws... And you, being a newbie, are doing very well, Nina."

"Pfft, what do you mean you barely made it halfway across the lake? I remember almost always beating you at throwing..."

"Haha, sure, sure..."

"Huhu, looks like you two are going to lose to me today..." Nina laughed after making another beautiful throw that this time actually crossed the lake...

Soon, time passed quickly with them having fun, and the sun began to set.

"It’s getting dark, let’s go back." Lucien threw another stone one last time, skipping it in the water several times until it crossed the entire lake perfectly before hitting the sandbar on the other side.

The three began walking together as Lucien handed each of them three more Level 1 crystals.

"I’m sorry, I can’t give you more than that."

"It’s okay, my dad went away with his new family, and my mom went to her new boyfriend’s house for the weekend but hasn’t come back yet... Looks like when everything starts tomorrow, it’ll just be me and my grandmother," Nina complained in a melancholy voice.

"My parents didn’t listen to my plea, and said they had something important at work and couldn’t miss tomorrow... What should I do?" William asked, his voice melancholic and worried.

"Give me their cell phone number, I’ll text them as if I were my dad. Maybe they’ll listen to him and stay home tomorrow."

"Thanks, Lucien!"

"Thanks, bro!"

"Hmm, but how do you have access to your dad’s phone?" Nina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My mom disappeared in Aethoria almost a week ago, and no one knows where she is... No matter how busy she was at work, she always called me every night." I think something bad happened to her, I just... I was just denying it and trying to tell myself everything was fine and it was all just a mistake or a misunderstanding..."

"Lucien..." Nina put her hand on his shoulder, giving him a comforting look.

"She must have lost her phone or something, don’t worry so much..."

"Besides, it’s been six days since my father got very sick. The last thing he told me was that he didn’t want to go to the hospital... At first, I thought he had some trouble with the police, but now I think he already knew he wouldn’t be safe there. Maybe he and my mother knew something about the apocalypse in advance, and someone tried to silence them? I really don’t know what to think..."

"I’m sure your mother is fine... Keep us updated on the radio, Lucien, and don’t give up hope!" Nina tried to comfort him.

"We’ll lose the radio signal tomorrow. I’ll try to activate a special antenna as soon as possible. So we’ll try to communicate every day at 3:00 PM, on the channel I gave you. If there’s no communication for 15 minutes, turn it off and try again the next day."

Soon, all three arrived at Lucien’s building.

"See you later, brother. Stay safe and stay alive. We’ll see you when we can."

William hugged Lucien, leaving those last words.

Hm, you too."

Nina then came, hugging Lucien for a long time in silence. Until Lucien started to blush. She let go of him, blushing even more than he did.

"This isn’t goodbye, we’ll see each other again!"

After saying these words, Nina ran away in one direction, while William went in the other...

Lucien felt completely alone when he returned to the apartment. He ate dinner quickly and sent the messages he promised to William and Nina’s parents, pretending to be his father again.

Then came another flurry of messages and attempted calls from the senders, but Lucien hung up, not wanting to be discovered...

"System, are you there?"

[Yes, I am. Do you need anything?]

"Why is the daily mission to keep the secret of the apocalypse and my father’s illness still active? After all, I told my friends about the illness and warned Laura’s family and my friends about the apocalypse..."

[Today was already the last day of these two missions, so I’ll consider them complete this time. Since you did well to open up to your friends about your feelings. After all, it takes courage and maturity to express our pain and mistakes.]

Lucien nodded in thanks, but he was still discouraged and sad about not being able to reach his mother, so the system sent him another message:

[Cheer up, Host, the apocalypse only starts tomorrow. But the time has come to finally cure your feline companion!]

[Side quest completed!]

[Save Mr. Mustache 2/3]

[Obtained 100 Creation Points!]

[Obtained New Species Crystal]