CHAPTER 63: CHAPTER 62- TRUST

Chapter 62- Trust

The story sent chills down Jack’s back. He didn’t even need to hear the rest of it to understand how truly terrifying this must’ve been. From the way the woman spoke, it was clear they hadn’t noticed any signs of those individuals becoming Undead.

In fact, the fact that they could speak and hadn’t lost their cognitive ability—or at least that’s what seemed to be the case at first glance—was even more unsettling. The second thing he noticed was the abruptness of it all.

She said they’d slept through the night without any problems, and then suddenly, in the middle of the night, something happened that made those people behave that way.

"What happened after that?"

"... We—my husband—followed after them. He... he left us to tend to the injured while he tried to chase them and figure out why they were leaving."

"He didn’t go with anyone else?" Jack asked.

"Yeah... he didn’t. He refused to let anyone go with him because it would be too dangerous."

"..." Jack frowned. "And then, what happened?"

"An hour later, he came back... We were about to go out to look for him, but when he returned... he was completely different. He looked pale, terrified, breathing heavily as if he’d seen a nightmare. I have never seen my husband that terrified in my life. He looked completely wrecked..."

For someone as strong-spirited as that man to look that terrified... What could he have seen?

"Did he tell you what he saw?"

"... No. All he said after calming down a bit was that... every human in the city is no longer human. Everyone is a monster, including those who don’t appear to be Undead. We tried to ask him why he thought that and where they went... but he never wanted to answer. He simply kept repeating the same thing over and over again."

"Weird..." Jack instinctively looked at the delirious man lying on the ground. ’What did he see? What could’ve happened to those people?’

The boy was now far too curious to simply drop the matter. It could very well be a major problem later if he doesn’t deal with it now.

Slowly, he stood up and walked toward Luna. He pulled her aside to talk.

"What is she even talking about? This sounds way too off, Jack."

"I know, and I want to investigate this," he said. "I don’t have a good feeling about it at all. I’m not sure what it is, but it could be something very dangerous."

"Are you sure? I don’t know if it’s a good idea to look into this... What if it’s something we can’t deal with?"

"That’s why I’ll investigate alone. You’ll continue leading the group while I check what this could be," Jack said.

"Huh? No, absolutely not." Luna shook her head immediately. "I can’t let you go alone. This is too dangerous."

"Listen to me. I’m just going to check. I’m not going to fight. If the situation is bad, I’ll escape."

"... But..."

"I’ll be fine. You just need to continue with the plan and get everyone on the same page. I won’t take long."

"..."

Luna looked down, her heart racing as she tried to calm her nerves. The idea of letting him go investigate the unknown didn’t sit right with her. Even if she wasn’t as strong as he was, she wanted to go with him—just to be sure he was safe.

However...

"Promise me..."

"Hm?"

"Promise me that you won’t put yourself in danger," she said, looking up. Her face was serious. Jack hadn’t seen that expression in what felt like forever, so he was slightly taken aback. Luna was usually playful and calm, but when it came to serious matters, her entire demeanor changed in an instant.

"I promise I’ll be fine," Jack replied calmly, staring deep into her eyes. "I’ll be back in a bit."

The two stood silently for a few seconds. Luna kept probing Jack’s eyes for sincerity until she was finally satisfied. She sighed and looked away.

"Ok, I trust you."

"Good. I’ll get more info out of them and then leave. I want you to bring them with you and keep them tied up for later. They might be useful."

"But one condition, Jack. If you aren’t back within an hour, I’ll come look for you, ok?" she asked.

"Hmm, yeah, that’s reasonable. If I don’t come back in an hour, then it means I’m most likely in trouble."

"One more thing," Luna said, then called for a general. "Can we get two radio communication devices?"

"Hm? For what?"

Luna quickly explained the situation to the man.

"My lord... The boy is going there alone?"

"He’ll be fine. We’ll stay in contact."

"Of course. We have a few that we brought with us in case we got separated."

After being handed two devices, Luna gave one to Jack.

"That’s actually pretty smart," he said. "I didn’t think of that."

"I want you to send me a message every minute or so. I want to make sure you’re safe."

"... Yeah, I’ll try to."

Putting the device in his pocket, he finally looked at Luna and said, "Just make sure things go well and don’t push too far if you feel like it’s too dangerous. If retreating is the best option, then do it without hesitation. No need to push yourself beyond your limit."

"I understand. I won’t do that again."

As much as Luna was fond of Jack, she had learned her lesson—that sometimes, trying to do more than she was capable of wasn’t the right way to show appreciation for her beloved. Sometimes such things hurt more than they helped, especially when life and death were at stake.

With that, Jack turned around and walked to the leader of the group, who was slowly regaining consciousness after the pain had begun to subside.

"Hey, you," Jack said calmly. "I don’t know what you saw earlier today that made you think humanity is gone... but I’ll tell you this—people are still very much present. We didn’t die, we didn’t get influenced, and we certainly didn’t turn into monsters. Whatever you saw, I’ll go check it myself and get rid of the problem if I can. But you need to tell me what it is and where it is."

Jack made sure to sound as sincere and honest as he could. At this point, sympathy was the only thing that could reach this broken man.

"You... will die..."

"Let me be the judge of my fate. If I’m going to my death, then I’ll at least go willingly. But I need to know what it is that you saw."

"..."

Staring into the boy’s eyes, all the man saw was confidence and determination. He didn’t have a single shred of doubt in his own abilities—something that impressed the man greatly.

"You... sigh, whatever..." he grunted before speaking. "A few blocks from here, in the city laboratory... that’s where they all went," the man said. "But I want you to know one thing..."

"Hm?"

"If you think that the majority of people have turned into Undead in the city, then you are gravely mistaken... The majority of people... are in that laboratory..."