The Origin Warden

chapter 20 : Smith POV : END 1/2

Julian nodded, patting her shoulder.

“We are all the same!”

He stayed silent for a moment, watching the paper disappear into a white light between Mandy’s hands before raising his head and staring at Smith.

“You’re alive. Good!. You’ll go with Zeil and Mandy to get your item.”

Smith, who already had an ugly expression on his face, became even uglier when he heard Julian’s words, and worse than that, he did not dare object to it.

Julian approached him and firmly patted his shoulder.

He stared at him in heavy silence before speaking.

“Look, Smith. We’ve lost many lives. Don’t let their sacrifices become meaningless. Alright?”

He turned to look at Zeil and Mandy and added,

“Do not return to here. We will meet at point A.”

At that moment, the sounds of battle started getting closer and closer to their location.

The monster’s roar sent chills down the spine, mixed with the continuous sound of gunfire.

“Ok. Go now.”

The two nodded, while Smith remained frozen in place until a familiar knife was placed in front of his face.

“You might need it,” Mandy said with a pale face.

“Thank you.”

Zeil patted his back.

“Let’s go, boy.”

Smith grabbed the knife with both hands as though his life depended on that sharp piece of metal, then followed Zeil while sticking to his back like a shadow.

A fat shadow!.

“Where are we going?” he asked while staring at the white smoke beginning to surround them once again.

Mandy answered him while also making sure to stay close to Zeil.

“There’s a small private hospital nearby. That’s our main target, then we’ll head to a police station close to it.”

Smith nodded, then curiosity got the better of him, or perhaps he merely wanted to distract himself from the monsters and zombies they were passing by.

“Miss Mandy... what exactly is your latent power?. Of course, if you don’t mind?”

“In fact, yes, I do mind telling you.”

Smith’s face darkened and he felt slightly embarrassed by the rejection.

After a short silence, Mandy added,

“And in the future, if you obtain your latent powers, make sure not to go around telling every random person...”

“Shh!. Keep it quiet, you two!”

Zeil scolded them.

His wrinkled face looked somewhat pale, and he was sweating heavily due to the extreme heat.

Smith shut his mouth and kept his head lowered while following Zeil’s footsteps ahead of him.

He did not have the courage to look at the creatures surrounding them, and whenever he did, he regretted it and quickly lowered his head again.

Even though they could not see him, his brain kept telling him that they could.

While staring at Zeil’s back ahead of him, Smith could not help but feel jealous and envious of the old man’s power.

How wonderful it was to walk among monsters without being seen.

Lost in these pleasant thoughts, he failed to notice that the two had stopped walking.

He suddenly bumped into old Zeil’s back, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Sorry.”

Zeil gave him a strange look before shifting his gaze toward the building ahead of them, which was a small three story hospital.

Zombie corpses with smashed heads were scattered everywhere, especially in front of the outer gate where there was a small mountain of mangled corpses swarmed by flies the size of an adult man’s head.

It was obvious that humans were the ones who had arranged them like this.

Smith swallowed hard and quickly looked away, unable to bear the sight.

“Looks like someone was already here.”

Zeil said, causing Mandy to glance at him strangely as if saying, We noticed that already, genius!.

She pulled out a knife from somewhere, then under Smith’s stunned gaze, effortlessly slaughtered the disgusting swarm of flies, which literally had elephant trunks.

Because they could not see her, the flies did not react at all.

And just like that, more than fifteen fly monsters fell silently by her hand.

She shook the blood off the knife onto the ground and said,

“Save your energy, old man. We’ll need it.”

Zeil nodded and canceled his ability, along with the sense of safety the fat young man had been feeling.

Smith tightened his grip on the knife and began looking around with an ugly expression.

Mandy slipped her hand through the gaps in the metal gate and removed the iron bar locking it.

The gate let out a metallic creak as she opened it, then entered cautiously, followed by Zeil and Smith.

The group stopped before the building’s entrance where a large partially hanging sign was attached beside it with some writing on it.

“Roxana Zort, this is Steven. If you’re reading this message, it means you’re still alive. Thank God. You’ll find me at your father’s restaurant. I’ll be waiting for you there.”

Mandy read those words, and a trace of sadness appeared on her face.

She adjusted the sign, then gave it one final look before entering inside.

The three memorized the names written on the sign.

Perhaps someday they would meet those people, if they were still alive.

Smith stared at the chaotic hospital.

Many beds were overturned and destroyed, while wires hung from the damaged ceiling like entrails.

“Do your job, fatty.”

Mandy said, interrupting his observation of the place.

He nodded, understanding her meaning, then pointed downward with his finger.

“The power generator is downstairs. Most companies place it in the basement because of the loud noise it produces.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

Mandy said with a dark frown whose reason Smith did not understand.

She started walking back toward the exit and added,

“Let’s go. The basement entrance is on the other side of the building.”

He finally understood the reason for her scolding and quickly said,

“No, wait. Actually, there’s another entrance.”

She stopped and raised an eyebrow before shrugging and motioning for him to lead the way.

Smith nodded and pointed ahead toward the end of the dark hallway.

“This way...”

He swallowed nervously, then turned toward Mandy with an ugly smile.

“Ladies first!”

“Pathetic Coward.”

She scolded him with a disgusted expression.

“Actually, I’m a smart coward.”

Zeil let out a faint laugh when he heard that, then asked with curiosity and confusion,

“Boy, I’m a little puzzled. You seem familiar with this place. Did you work here or something?”

Smith shook his head and answered while looking around with the knife in hand, ready to stab anything that moved.

“No. I never worked in this place before. But after graduation, I trained at Alnual Hospital. Have you heard of it?. Anyway, all companies follow unified regulations, which is why power generators are always placed in the basement to isolate the noise and...”

“Shut up, fatty. You ramble like my grandmother!”

Mandy interrupted him, scolding him in the way he had already become accustomed to.

Yet he still had not gotten used to the magical displays she performed.

Because at that moment, before his widened eyes filled with shock, green light particles appeared out of nowhere and gathered in Mandy’s palm before taking the shape of...

A lantern with a shiny silver metallic frame the size of an adult man’s head.

Inside it was a crimson red flame dancing calmly between the lantern’s glass walls.

“What Next?”

she asked while holding the lantern in her hand and raising it toward him.

The lantern’s light illuminated the dark place, revealing the astonished expression on his face.

He resisted the urge to ask the thousand questions inside his head and instead said,

“Umm, our target is the technical room. If I’m not mistaken, it’s at the end of the hallway near the rear emergency entrance.”

After walking for some time through the hospital corridors filled with dust and devoid of life, the three finally stopped before a door labeled:

Technical Room.

There were many warning stickers on it.

Mandy placed her hand on the doorknob, turned it, then pushed.

But the door did not open as expected.

Instead, a strange beep sound rang out, causing all three to immediately enter combat stances.

Well, perhaps only the other two.

As for Smith, he was not afraid this time.

On the contrary, he had an excited expression on his face.

“What?. This thing still works!!”