Chapter 55 Stranded Xii

Chapter 55: Chapter 55 Stranded Xii

Her system wasted no time reminding her of what she owed.

A familiar panel appeared before her eyes.

[Sorry for the interruption, Host, but your purchases must now be deducted.]

Luna stopped walking as glowing numbers immediately began calculating everything she had spent.

There were the four guns she had purchased for the men.

Three tactical torches.

The amphibious vehicle.

And now, the additional rescue vehicle the system had deployed to save Adrian and Kai from the collapsing abyss.

She stared at the list with a pained expression.

There it goes...

Her hard-earned coins were about to disappear all over again.

[Four firearms, three tactical torches, one amphibious vehicle, and one emergency rescue vehicle.]

[Total purchase cost: 800,000 Infinity Coins.]

The balance before her eyes immediately began decreasing.

900,000,000...

899,500,000...

899,000,000...

898,600,000.

The numbers finally stopped.

[Current Balance: 898,600,000 Infinity Coins.]

Luna simply glared at the floating panel.

It stood there as though nothing had happened.

As though it hadn’t completely disappeared when she needed it the most.

She folded her arms.

"So..."

"You vanished when my life was on the line."

"Now you’re back?"

The mechanical voice answered almost immediately.

[An unknown energy interference surged throughout this region.]

[To prevent irreversible corruption of my core data, I was forced into an emergency shutdown.]

[I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused afterward.]

[The fault lies with me.]

For a brief moment...

The voice almost sounded human.

Not cold.

Not emotionless.

Almost...

Guilty.

Luna stared silently at the glowing screen before shaking her head.

There would be time to question it later.

Right now, the people around her mattered more.

Since the system had returned, getting everyone back to her apartment would no longer be difficult.

Finally...

They could leave this nightmare behind.

She didn’t want to remain here for another second.

If not for everyone’s injuries, she would have teleported away the instant the system came back online.

Instead, she walked toward Rowan before kneeling beside him.

Carefully, she rested two fingers beneath his nose.

His breathing had stabilized.

The harsh, uneven gasps from before had disappeared.

He was finally breathing normally.

A wave of relief spread through her chest.

"You’re safe."

Her voice softened as she gently patted his head.

The tenderness surprised even herself.

Earlier she had been shouting, panicking, and fighting for everyone’s lives.

Now...

She couldn’t help treating them carefully.

Perhaps seeing them on the verge of death had awakened something inside her.

Or maybe...

She had simply spent enough time with them that imagining any of them dying had become unbearable.

Slowly...

Rowan’s eyelids fluttered open.

The first thing he saw was Luna’s worried face hovering above him.

His brows furrowed.

"How...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Luna placed a finger against his lips.

"Shh."

"You’re safe."

"That’s all that matters right now."

"There’ll be plenty of time for questions later."

Rowan blinked before giving a weak nod.

Using both hands, he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

His body still ached, but it was manageable.

Only then did he look around.

Everyone was there.

Adrian sat quietly with his head lowered, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

Kai remained beside him, whispering something that Rowan couldn’t quite hear.

Further away...

Ethan stood completely alone.

As if he had deliberately created an invisible line separating himself from everyone else.

Rowan immediately sensed something had happened while he was unconscious.

Especially when he noticed Luna.

She acknowledged everyone...

Except Ethan.

Every glance toward his direction was met with complete indifference.

She acted as though he didn’t exist.

"Luna..."

Rowan finally spoke.

"Aren’t we leaving?"

"Wasn’t that the plan?"

Originally...

Yes.

That had been the plan.

But now...

Luna had changed her mind.

"We’re leaving."

She paused.

"But not all of us."

"Ethan is staying here."

The words immediately caught Rowan’s full attention.

He adjusted his sitting position despite the pain shooting through his body.

Around them, destruction continued relentlessly.

Buildings collapsed one after another.

Massive cracks spread across the streets like giant spiderwebs.

Concrete shattered.

Dust filled the air.

Even the monsters weren’t spared.

Their nests crumbled beneath the collapsing structures while countless mutated creatures were buried under falling debris before disappearing into widening fissures.

Strangely...

The ground beneath Luna’s group remained untouched.

It was almost as though an invisible barrier protected them from the disaster unfolding around them.

Rowan found it unsettling.

"...Didn’t we agree we’d survive together?"

"Ethan may be a complete jerk..."

"But you didn’t risk everything just to abandon him now."

"Wouldn’t all your effort go to waste?"

Luna slowly nodded.

He wasn’t wrong.

Everything she had done to recruit Ethan...

Every resource she had spent...

Every risk she had taken...

It would all become meaningless.

But...

She was reaching her limit.

"What good is bringing someone who refuses to cooperate?"

She folded her arms tightly.

"I can’t babysit someone who clearly doesn’t want my help."

"He made that obvious."

"He doesn’t need me."

"He believes he can survive alone."

"So let him."

"I’ll just find someone else."

"I’m sure there are other people with abilities if I keep searching."

The frustration in her voice was impossible to hide.

Every time she remembered Ethan refusing to help save Adrian and Kai...

Her anger returned.

Rowan remained silent for several seconds before speaking again.

"No."

"He’ll still be useful."

"Just like the rest of us."

"He has powers, doesn’t he?"

Luna reluctantly nodded.

"He does."

"Then think about it carefully."

Rowan looked directly into her eyes.

"This isn’t about him."

"It’s about you."

"About what you’ll lose if you leave someone that valuable behind."

He glanced toward Ethan.

The young man stood alone with an expression that looked more empty than cold.

"Look at him."

"He doesn’t act like someone who’s simply arrogant."

"He looks... broken."

"That kind of behavior isn’t normal."

"It’s the kind people develop after living through something terrible."

"I can see it."

Luna remained quiet.

"So instead of giving up..."

"Why don’t you show him the Luna Hart I met back at the safe zone?"

"The woman who never accepted ’no’ as an answer."

"The one who dragged complete strangers toward survival whether they liked it or not."

He smiled faintly.

"So what happened to her?"

"If words don’t work..."

"Go over there and drag him back."

"...Or beat some sense into him."

Luna rolled her eyes.

"You don’t need to lecture me."

"I already know what I’m doing."

Even so...

She couldn’t deny that Rowan’s words had reached her.

Perhaps...

She had been letting her emotions cloud her judgment.

Without saying anything else, she walked toward Adrian instead.

He had barely spoken since returning from the rescue.

Stopping beside Kai, she lowered her voice.

"How is he?"

"Can he travel?"

Kai looked at Adrian before answering.

"He’s recovering much faster than I expected."

He hesitated.

"But..."

"I think what happened back there triggered something."

"The way he reacted after almost falling..."

"It felt personal."

"Like it reminded him of something from his past."

Luna glanced at Adrian.

He remained silent.

His eyes stayed fixed on the ground while his fingers unconsciously gripped his sleeves.

Whatever memory had resurfaced...

It had shaken him deeply.

Just then—

RUMBLE!!

The earth trembled violently once again.

The ground beneath everyone’s feet shook so hard that fresh cracks immediately began spreading toward them.

Pieces of concrete split apart.

Several nearby buildings finally gave way, crashing down with deafening explosions.

More debris rained from the sky.

Large stones rolled across the broken streets while clouds of dust swallowed everything in sight.

Luna immediately looked upward before making her decision.

"That’s our cue."

"We’re leaving."

Without another second of hesitation, she opened her system interface.

"System."

"Summon the amphibious vehicle."

A familiar mechanical chime answered her request.

Within moments, the sound of powerful engines echoed through the collapsing city as their escape finally arrived.

Behind her, another section of the ruined district crumbled into the widening abyss.

They had escaped death once.

Luna wasn’t about to wait around and challenge fate a second time.