Chapter 84 Luna second side

Chapter 84: Chapter 84 Luna second side

Adrian was more confused than ever when he saw Astrid chained to the pole while the others were gathered on the opposite side of the panic room. What the hell had happened while he was in the bathroom? The last thing he remembered was walking away to take a bath because he couldn’t stand the blood and dirt covering his body. Astrid had been outside in a serious life-or-death situation with his friends, so how had the guy suddenly appeared inside their panic room? And why was he chained up like some dangerous criminal?

"Isn’t anyone going to tell me what happened here?" Adrian asked, his voice carrying his confusion. "I’m completely lost."

His voice made the others turn toward him, but before anyone could answer, Adrian’s attention shifted to Rowan. His eyes widened. "What happened to him?" The question came out sharper than he intended.

Rowan was sitting with one hand pressed against the side of his head, blood still staining parts of his hair and face. The injury looked horrible, but it was already closing thanks to Ethan, whose palms were glowing with a soft golden radiance as he carefully worked over the wound. Adrian’s eyes moved from Rowan to Astrid, then back to Rowan. His suspicion immediately returned. Had Astrid done this? That had to be why he was chained to the pole.

Adrian remembered seeing blood scattered around the panic room when he entered, but he hadn’t realized just how much of it belonged to Rowan. He rushed closer. "Is he going to be okay?"

"See? Good as new," Luna suddenly said, sounding far too pleased with herself. "You’re saved, Rowan. Nobody is taking you away from us."

Adrian raised a brow. Kai did the same, then peeked his head around the side of the couch like a curious chicken, trying to see what was happening while somehow blocking everyone else’s view at the same time. "Oh, Luna Hart is getting possessive," Kai said, his voice carrying an exaggerated teasing tone. "Who would’ve thought?" He even made a strange little growling sound afterward, almost like a cat purring.

Luna’s eyes narrowed. She looked around and immediately spotted a pillow lying on the floor—it must have fallen during the earlier fight. She picked it up without a word. Kai’s grin disappeared. "Wait—" The pillow flew straight toward him. "Hey!" It smacked him directly in the face, sending him tumbling backward onto the couch behind him. "Miss, that was rude!"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Good."

Kai rubbed his face while the others tried not to laugh. Adrian shook his head before looking back toward Rowan. Ethan was still healing him, his expression completely nonchalant despite the chaos around him. "He’s going to be fine," Ethan said. "The injury looked worse than it actually was. I managed to close most of it."

Adrian sighed in relief. At least one thing wasn’t completely falling apart.

Luna, however, stretched her arms above her head and let out a tired sigh. She looked exhausted, and honestly, Adrian couldn’t blame her. The entire day had been insane. They had survived an attack from creatures that could tear apart helicopters. Three strangers had somehow made it into their defenses. Astrid had awakened an SSS-Rank ability in the middle of the chaos. Rowan had nearly been killed, and their entire front yard looked like a battlefield.

Luna checked the watch around her wrist. It was already six in the evening, yet the sky outside still looked disturbingly bright. The sun hadn’t moved the way it normally should. Instead, that eerie red glow continued hanging over the world, painting everything outside in a bloody daylight. It was creepy—almost unnatural.

"I’ve had enough," Luna announced. Everyone looked toward her. "I’m going to sleep. You guys can take over from here." She started walking toward the door. "I think I might actually lose my eyesight if I have to look at this mess for another second."

She barely took two steps before Adrian reached out and caught her hand. "Wait." Luna stopped. Adrian looked at her seriously. "Please. I just need an explanation."

She turned toward him. "An explanation?"

"Yes. Why is he here?" Adrian pointed toward Astrid. "How did he even get inside? What happened outside? Why is Rowan injured? And why is that guy chained to a pole?" He glanced at Astrid again. "I went to take a bath for a few minutes and came back to what looks like a completely different situation."

He wasn’t angry—he genuinely wanted to understand. And more importantly, he wanted to hear it directly from Luna.

Luna crossed her arms over her chest and studied him. His short dark hair was still slightly damp from his earlier cleaning, and his shimmering eyes looked almost black from a distance. She sighed. "He’s the lucky one." She pointed toward Astrid. "That purple-haired dude over there managed to survive the traps, the monsters, the heat, and practically everything else trying to kill him." Her gaze moved toward Astrid. "And somehow, he awakened an SSS-Rank ability while doing it."

Adrian’s eyes widened. "An SSS-Rank?"

"Yep." Luna nodded. "Blood Sovereign." She paused. "Pretty impressive, considering I was convinced that guy was going to die within five minutes."

Astrid remained silent from where he was chained, his head lowered. Luna continued, "But before he becomes too comfortable here, I think he needs a proper introduction to how things work." She gave him a pointed look. "If he doesn’t learn to behave, he won’t last long in this house."

Adrian frowned. "You’re seriously keeping him?"

"Maybe." Luna shrugged. "He’s useful." Then she glanced toward Miles. "And dinner needs to be prepared. Miles knows what to do." Miles gave a small nod.

Luna turned back toward Adrian. "I’m tired. Can we have this discussion tomorrow?" Before he could answer, she stepped closer, her hand suddenly rising to his face. She gently caressed his cheek. Adrian froze, his eyes widening slightly.

Luna herself seemed surprised by what she had done. She didn’t completely understand why she had touched him. Maybe because she was tired. Maybe because after everything she had gone through in her previous life, having people around her who actually cared whether she lived or died felt strangely comforting. She had spent her previous life surrounded by selfish people—people who only came to her when they needed something, people who abandoned her the moment she became inconvenient. Now things were different. These people were annoying, loud, stubborn, occasionally stupid—but they stayed. And Luna couldn’t deny that she liked having them around.

"We still have several days before we leave for the next hoarding trip," she said quietly. "Use the opportunity to eat, sleep, and recover." Her fingers left Adrian’s cheek. "Stop worrying about things you can’t control. Whatever is happening outside, we’re currently the lucky ones." She pointed toward the monitors. "Those people outside are the prey now."

Adrian glanced at the screen. The images showed the destroyed front yard—blood, broken equipment, burned pieces of helicopters, dead bodies, and the terrifying creatures that had caused all of it.

Luna turned away. "Now let me rest." She started walking again. "And when you’re all done, sleep properly in your various bed spaces. We’re going to need our strength."

With that, Luna disappeared through another door. It led into her private room inside the panic room—the only section of the entire structure that none of them had been allowed to enter. The door closed behind her.

Inside, Luna walked toward a pristine white bed and collapsed onto it. She stared at the ceiling for a moment before turning her attention toward the system interface. There were still dozens of things she needed to acquire—weapons, food, medicine, materials, upgrades—everything she could possibly need before the next major phase of the apocalypse arrived. She already had another hoarding trip planned for tomorrow. If the government finally stopped searching this part of the island, she would take advantage of the opportunity and leave. She couldn’t afford to waste time.

Her eyes moved across the system screen, then paused. Astrid. The purple-haired survivor had awakened an SSS-Rank ability—Blood Sovereign. Luna had immediately recognized the significance of it. She didn’t need the system to tell her how powerful the ability was. The moment Astrid had unleashed his blood, she had felt the pressure. That wasn’t an ordinary awakened ability, and considering the circumstances surrounding his awakening, there was no doubt he had enormous potential.

The problem was that Astrid had already exhausted himself. That was the weakness of awakened abilities—they weren’t limitless. Awakened humans were still humans. Their magic came from their own bodies, their strength, their essence. When they continuously used their powers without proper recovery, their bodies would eventually begin breaking down. That was why Luna had worked so hard to provide her men with leveling crystals. The crystals didn’t merely increase their strength—they also provided a steady source of energy that allowed their bodies to recover faster and gave their abilities something to draw from. That advantage was one of the reasons her men could fight for far longer than ordinary awakened. Astrid didn’t have that luxury. And neither did most awakened humans.

The SSS-Rank was supposed to be the highest tier, yet somehow, even those people were beginning to appear more frequently. Luna slowly sat up, her expression becoming serious. Something was wrong. The creatures were getting stronger too. Before, she had only known about mutated beasts and zombies. Now there were dungeon creatures, flying monsters, massive beasts capable of destroying helicopters—and she had no idea what would appear next.

In her previous life, the apocalypse had followed a certain progression. It had been brutal, but predictable. This world wasn’t following those rules. The changes were happening too quickly. Too many things were appearing at once. Luna’s fingers tightened around the blanket. What if parasites appeared next? And if parasites appeared, what would stop them from evolving? What if they became something capable of infecting entire populations? Then there were the things she didn’t even want to think about—alien creatures, unknown organisms, monsters that couldn’t be killed by ordinary means, creatures that might arrive from somewhere beyond their planet and decide that humanity was nothing more than prey.

Luna’s imagination immediately began producing one terrifying scenario after another. She had already lost count. The more she thought about it, the more she realized something—her knowledge of the apocalypse was becoming less reliable by the day. She had spent days believing she understood what was coming, but this wasn’t her world. This was a parallel world with different rules. And if the rules were different, then there was no guarantee that anything would happen the way she remembered.

Luna slowly pulled the blanket over herself, then activated the final security function:

[Invincibility Shield: Active]

The protective barrier surrounding the mansion immediately strengthened. To anyone outside, the structure would become nearly impossible to detect—even the creatures roaming around the mountain wouldn’t be able to locate the mansion easily.

Luna stared at the system notification for a few seconds. Only after confirming that the shield was functioning did she finally relax. She closed her eyes, but she didn’t fall completely into sleep. Even exhausted, Luna’s instincts refused to let her become vulnerable. She remained half-aware of the faint sounds coming from the panic room outside.