Novels by westsidesalted

Yoo Mu-hyeon found a house nearby.A thin layer of dust had settled on all the exposed surfaces.Lucas glanced at Gabriel.The latter didn't bother with him and walked straight to the kitchen.Carrying Henry, Lucas walked up the flight of stairs to the second floor.He arrived at a narrow hallway with four doors. Two on both sides.The first two doors he tried were bedrooms. The next one was a narrow storage room. A bucket, mops, and an old dusty vacuum cleaner were stacked on top of each other with an air of negligence.Lucas turned to the door opposite the storage room. It gave way to a green-tiled bathroom.Lucas kept his comment to himself as he strode in.A bluish-green curtain stretched across the room, dividing it into two parts.The shower stood to the left; a white tub, which was slowly turning yellow, was pushed against the wall. To the right was the toilet space.Lucas placed Henry inside the tub and tried the tap.It gave a dull splutter and spat two spurts of water before

"I am a friend of your father," Lucas smiled. His voice was filled with sincerity.Of course he was lying. He had never even seen the latter before.The little boy looked at him with disbelieving eyes. His gaze slowly shifted to the pole in Lucas's hands. The small body shivered, pulling into itself like a snail shrinking into his shell."Oh, this... Don't worry. I was just using it to take care of the bad guys." Lucas noticed his stare. He tossed the bloodied pole with suspicious yellow liquid sticking to it aside, putting up an innocent and harmless look. "Don't worry. This uncle is not a bad person and won't harm you."The kid remained still."It is cold in there, isn't it?" The inside of the narrow drainage was damp, with walls covered with slick brown moss glistening with moisture.A draft of cold air blew through the tunnel. He could feel the low temperature just by standing at the entrance alone.Henry's body let out a violent shudder, as if reacting to Lucas's words. His shoe

Lucas moved to the next street.He walked in the middle of the road paying zero attention to traffic rules.All around him was quiet.Cars lined the side of the road, already accumulating a thin layer of dust.He soon arrived at a T-junction.To one side loomed the ruins of what had once been a hospital. The building across it had collapsed into a massive heap of broken concrete, twisted steel, and shattered glass.Lucas's eyes lit up with recognition.Although the memories were distant, he was still able to remember some bits and fragments.This was indeed the path they took on the way to Incheon in his past life.Since the main road was blocked, they took an alternate route, winding through backstreets and even residential areas.Lucas continued to walk.Sure enough, the familiar sight of an overturned Camry greeted him upfront.It was exactly the same as back then.There were deep tire marks leading to the spot where the car was, upside down. They pressed on the road, then curved i

But Lucas wasn't escaping.He wasn't that stupid.Gabriel obviously had a way of tracking him.And even if he made it to Base C, the probability of them running into each other was high.He didn't want to provoke the psycho.He just hoped that Gabriel's interest in him would die quickly and he would leave him alone.Lucas scanned the area from a high-rise building.It was day three of the apocalypse.Incheon, which was a bustling city that welcomed foreigners from all over the world, now lay in ruins.The city stretched all the way his eyes could see. Towering skyscrapers leaned at impossible angles.Entire streets had collapsed, filled with pothole craters. Wild plants with tenacious roots grew at the side of the roads and running along concrete buildings.From where he stood, Lucas had a good view of where the dungeon gate he entered had appeared.Now it looked like every other street without any abnormality.The only way to clear a dungeon was to find its core and destroy it. If th

"I told you not to run, didn't I?"What kind of crazy psychopath is this? Lucas roared in his heart.The attack came in a blur.Lucas twisted aside just as the blade carved through the space where his neck had been.He hopped back, blocking a high kick with his left arm, returning it with a punch.Then he watched Gabriel dodge it easily.With his speed upgraded, he still wasn't a match for Gabriel.It wasn't long before he fell into a passive stance.Lucas dogged back and forth, jumping around like a monkey.His eyes darted around as he tried to figure out an escape route.He didn't know if Gabriel had already awakened his powers or not, but the speed he used to handle the bunch of gangsters from earlier gave a hint of his strength.Too strong!How did he even find him?"Curious?" Gabriel smiled at him as if able to see through his thoughts.Lucas shuddered.It didn't go past Gabriel. He narrowed his eyes. "Do you know me?"He needed to leave immediately! Lucas thought in panic.Low g

Lucas evaluated his opponent's strength and concluded that he wasn't a match.This person was strong! "The one who made the black abyss disappear was you, wasn't it?" The wind carried a hoarse voice to his ears.Black abyss?Did he mean the dungeon?Under the dimness of the night, Lucas was finally able to make out the appearance of his attacker.Black boots, a black leather jacket, and an inner white t-shirt. His long black hair curled down to the back of his neck with smooth, sharp jawlines and a pair of dark eyes that mirrored a dangerous, still lake.Lucas's breath staggered.Gabriel. It was Gabriel!His legs almost gave out under him, and Lucas's first instinct was to flee.Gabriel took notice of his reaction, and his dark eyes narrowed into two slits."That's him, boss. The one wearing black over there." A sudden voice came from ahead. Followed by the clear words. "He was the one who killed brother Ping and the rest."The people locked in a fight temporarily separated and glanc

One week later, after the Golden Arena Market."The doctor said the brain scans show stronger activities this week compared to last week. I say this is because of me." Finn waved his bandaged arm back and forth, trying to prove his point. "Research has proven that talking to a coma patient helps a lot and can even boost their recovery.""That doesn't mean you should talk nonstop all the time." Vicent scolded him; a scowl hung on his lips. "You are being a nuisance.""It is all good as long as he wakes up." "Finn said," his voice growing quieter towards the end.Rapheal watched Cody without speaking.Although his condition was now stable, he still hadn't woken up.Whether it'd take days, weeks, or months. The doctor was unable to give them a clear date.Only that the possibility of him waking up was high.Vicent and Finn exchanged a glance, and the former let out a small sigh as he picked up his coat and left quietly.When Rapheal walked out of Cody's hospital room, he ran into a famil

Silas was first bandaged up before he was flown off the island to a hospital.His breaths were feeble and his face was as pale as a sheet from all the blood loss.He looked like he was about to ascend to heaven at any moment.Raphael's feelings towards him were complicated.Their relationship was complicated. Whether they were allies or enemies was unclear.To be honest, regardless of what it might be, Rapheal didn't like Silias one bit.But he also didn't want him to die.He watched as the stretcher containing Silias was hurriedly pushed into the OR.It was his second time watching someone being wheeled in for emergency reasons in less than two hours.Running a hand through his hair, he turned around and walked away.A pure stream of golden sunlight streamed in through the ground-to-ceiling windows, and the morning sun was visible in a cloud of whitish-blue skies.The past hours almost seemed unreal to him. Everything had happened too fast. He was still wearing the suit he wore to

Rapheal wasted no time and directly asked her. "They didn't come out?""No. I have been tracking them, and they should still be inside the building." Lean and they exchanged a glance, and their expressions changed at the same time.The sound of the blades of a helicopter whipping the wind was particularly loud."They are actually going to land a helicopter on the half-collapsing building." Silias cursed. "We can't let them escape. Who knows what godforsaken thing they will try to do again?"They couldn't let them escape. Rapheal agreed.With Lean, the three of them raced back into the building.The cold morning breeze whooshed past Rapheal's ear, and bits of moisture in the air clung to his skin.His feet barely touched the ground with each step he raced forward.Silias suppressed the shock in his heart and hurried after him.The door of the roof has been put out under Rapheal's one kick. The top system security door that required an access code was defeated so easily.Grey and Doc s

When Rapheal opened his eyes, he was met with the sight of a spotless white ceiling above him.His lids snapped shut at the intense light and a low groan ripped out of his mouth.Where was he?His brain struggled to link the fragment pieces of information that were floating in his mind.His head throbbed with a sharp pain.He seemed to have been hit with something hard.Rapheal struggled to sit up but immediately felt a tug back.He looked around and saw that his limbs were restrained by thick black belts.Raphael didn't know what the belt was made of, but it was able to restrain his strength."Uh...doctor, the patient is awake." He heard a female voice coming from his sides.He looked towards the direction and saw a mass of white.It was someone dressed in white overalls. The head was covered with a white hat with just a small space where the eyes could be seen.Then another face popped into his vision.Raphael felt an uncanny familiarity from it.Then it came to him.During one of t

Rapheal glanced at the watch on his wrist.It was 4:09am.They had less than two hours to carry out everything before they lost the cover of the night."Boss, reporting on the facility's outer perimeter survey. Security is tight." A tough voice flowed out of the earpiece connected to his ears.It was the diversion team. "Everything is in place, and we are now awaiting orders."Raphael glanced at the guards dressed in nighttime black suits besides him. He nodded briefly and then advanced from his hiding spot. At the same time, he issued the awaiting command. "Begin."Ahead, the facility stood with countless short and stout buildings. The walls were washed and green. Like something that has been abandoned for a long time.An unregistered research facility that ran illegal research on people.Rapheal scanned the narrow corridor in front of him with cold eyes. There was no surveillance camera visible, but he couldn't be sure.'System.' He called out in his head.The mechanical voice fl

Meanwhile, as Rapheal walked out of the hospital, the system was panicking in his mind.Host: What are you doing? Host, you aren't really planning on going, right? It yelled at him coldly. [I agree to what your friend said earlier. You are acting in the heat of the situation which will do you no good.]Rapheal ignored his words. He plugged the key into the ignition and watched the car roar to life. "You know where the research center is, right?"This is a death sentence, host. Did you forget how you died in your past life? There won't be any miracle this time.]Raphael's hand on the steering froze.The system thought it had managed to convince him and quickly added. [Why don't you think this through? Do you really plan on throwing your life away?Then it watched Rapheal fish his phone out of his pocket and dial a number.The line connected after one ring."Rapheal." A respectful call rang from the other side of the phone. The voice carried a hint of laziness. "How come you didn't stay