CHAPTER 213: THE EFFECT

Shelter City 9 Orphanage

The mess hall was silent. Rows of children sat still, eyes glued to the large screen, watching the supernatural footage unfold like a cartoon. Except this one was painted in blood.

Limbs flew through the air. A rain of gore splattered across the drone lenses. Yet not a single child screamed. There was no fear, no horror. Only wide-eyed wonder. They watched as if witnessing their favorite idol in action, completely entranced, as if their minds were under some unseen influence, something suppressing fear and holding their instincts in unnatural stillness.

The adults, in contrast, were visibly shaken.

Faces had gone pale. Bodies were stiff. Some clutched their stomachs and turned away. A few couldn’t hold it in and vomited on the floor.

The camera feed trembled slightly. It wasn’t clear whether the drones were unstable or if their own vision had started to blur. Either way, the nausea was real.

But among the fear and disgust, something else stirred in a few. The moment the camera zoomed in and caught a clean shot of the one behind the massacre, those who recognized the face felt something far more personal.

Vivienne White was one of them.

"Selina, what kind of man have you fallen for?" She whispered, her eyes fixed on the screen, on that unmistakable face framed by rain and blood.

Since her husband’s sudden death—an event she never understood and chose not to question—her daughter had grown fixated on a boy from school.

At first, Vivienne had assumed it was teenage infatuation. Hormones, fantasy, passing emotions. That age was full of illusions. But as time went on, the way Selina kept bringing up his name, again and again, with a strange, unnatural admiration, had started to worry her.

Out of concern, Vivienne had looked into him. No surname. No background. No wealth or influence. Just an intelligent but otherwise unremarkable boy. Nothing that justified this level of devotion.

And now, the same boy she once dismissed as harmless was on every screen in the city, soaked in blood, surrounded by chaos.

She forced herself to look away, turning toward the far side of the room.

There, near the doorway, stood Marielle. Tall, black-haired, and blue-eyed, her face as pale and stunned as her own.

She doesn’t know either, Vivienne thought. She has no idea what kind of son she’s taken under her wing.

Though Marienne, like all the others, stood shaken, shock was clear on her face. Yet, like the children, she felt no fear or discomfort despite the blood and carnage. A strange calm held her as she watched.

The shock came from recognizing the face on the screen—her very own son, slaughtering mutants like an angel of death.

"Brother?" Niva whispered softly, as if asking herself. Her expression mirrored her mother’s—no fear or disgust, only genuine shock at seeing someone so close on the screen.

They both already knew what kind of organization Adyr was working for, and as soon as the news anchor said PTF on the television, they understood exactly who was meant.

But seeing Adyr as the main source of the entire news and sensation like this was unusual for them.

Especially since the son or big brother they had always known—the kind and thoughtful one—seemed completely changed. His face held a cold expression, his humanoid form shaped strangely by his odd wings.

"Brother, what made you so angry?" Niva couldn’t help but wonder.

She didn’t know what kind of monster he was, but she had known her brother for so long, and through the screen, she could feel a faint, irritating presence coming from him.

"Brother?" Neris, who had been standing beside them, watching the live broadcast with a pale face and a slight tremble in her body, flinched the moment she heard the word.

"I-Is he your brother?" She asked, her voice stuttering, uncertain whether it was from the shock of learning something so unbelievable or from the fear the scene was causing.

"You know him?" Marielle asked, her wide eyes filled with curiosity.

Neris nodded slowly. "He was the one who saved us." She pointed toward Zelda and Boy, who were watching the TV with bright eyes and smiling faces.

Why do they all look so normal? Neris couldn’t help but think.

She felt like collapsing, like throwing up everything inside her, but the children sat there calm, almost happy. That made her question what the hell was going on.

Niva and Marielle exchanged a glance after Neris’s answer, their eyes filled with quiet understanding, but neither of them spoke. Instead, they turned back to the screen and kept watching, catching a brief glimpse of the kind of life he had really been living while feeding them only fragments of it until now.

—

While people watched the live broadcast, a strange, overwhelming sensation crept over their bodies, shaking them to the core. At the same time, local networks across every city were buzzing with activity.

@ApocalypseSurvivorMan:

Hey, hey, what is this I’m watching? Can someone tell me which side is supposed to be the monster, the one I’m supposed to be afraid of?

@WhoTookMyCandy:

Dude, what is this strange feeling? I’m a horror movie fanatic and can watch hundreds of gore-filled, torture scenes without blinking, but why does just watching this scene make me feel like I’m going to puke?

And even new accounts appeared, created just to join the conversations and question what was happening.

@GrampsPassedOut:

Someone help, please. My 60-year-old grandpa suddenly clutched his chest and started groaning with his mouth open. Now he’s gone completely silent. What should I do?

@BroActingSus

My 9-year-old brother’s been acting weird. Everyone in the house was disturbed by the live broadcast and tried to turn off the TV, but he kept stopping us. He actually wanted to keep watching it. Do I need to suspect he’s some kind of hidden masochist or something?

And, of course, there was some troll among them.

@MasterBates

Hey, that’s my brother. He looks cool, right?

Besides that, more people were talking about their young siblings unnaturally enjoying the scenes and about acquaintances suddenly fainting or having heart attacks.

There were even comments claiming that there are people actually dying while watching the live broadcast.