The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 79: Hypocrite

Time passed like that.

The hours moved quietly inside the basement, slipping so gradually that none of them truly noticed when one moment turned to another.

Both Lia and Seraphina had completely absorbed the monster cores.

The pile that had once been scattered across the floor had gradually disappeared, as one by one, the marble-like stones had turned colourless as their mana was drawn into the bodies of the two women sitting quietly across from Lucian.

Seraphina took about twenty minutes to absorb all the energy from the E rank core.

Unlike the smaller F rank cores, the E rank core contained a much denser concentration of mana.

Absorbing it was harder than the previous ones, even though she didn’t have to struggle much.

With her high talent and natural sensitivity toward mana, she gradually managed to draw it in.

Currently, it was night.

All three of them already had dinner and were about to sleep.𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Both Lia and Seraphina couldn’t even believe that the apocalypse was really happening.

They had been inside the basement for almost a day, so it felt like nothing had happened outside.

Inside this small space, everything felt calm.

Almost normal.

But they knew that wasn’t the truth. The entire world was in chaos, with people panicking, running for their lives, while escaping from the monsters that had suddenly appeared without any warning.

Running for their lives while trying to avoid the creatures hunting them.

Meanwhile, they were here, hidden inside a basement.

Awakening, getting stronger… or at least they hoped that they did.

Both Lia and Seraphina couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

Compared to what other people around the world might be experiencing right now, their situation felt strangely fortunate.

They had food.

Shelter.

While others?

Who knew what they might be struggling for?

“Do we have to sleep here too?” Lia asked, seeing the thin mattresses laid on the basement floor.

Her voice carried a mixture of uncertainty and mild discomfort.

Lucian had brought them down earlier, along with a few blankets and pillows from their bedrooms upstairs.

But the idea of sleeping in the basement still felt strange to Lia.

“Lia, I told you, right?” Lucian said, seeing her uncertain gaze.

“The outside isn’t safe right now. There is no certainty that no monster will arrive at night.”

Lia nodded slowly, remembering the monsters terror outside.

“It has been so peaceful right now that it doesn’t even feel like there are monsters outside,” she said softly.

She briefly looked at Lucian.

‘If not for brother… we might’ve already been dead,’ she thought, seeing as her brother was placing the sheets properly, so they wouldn’t feel any discomfort.

“Both of you sleep. I’ll go out now.” Lucian said, placing pillows that he had brought from their bedrooms.

He adjusted the bedding slightly, making sure the pillows were placed comfortably on the thin mattresses.

Then he stood up and patted his clothes slightly.

“Do you really have to…?” Lia asked hesitantly, but before she could say further.

“Yes,” Lucian said calmly.

Seeing her trembling slightly, as her fists were clenched to the sides, Lucian stepped before her and held her hands slightly, making her look up at him.

“Lia, we’ve already had a talk about this before,” he said in a soft tone.

He uncurled her tightly gripped fist, which relaxed under his touch, and added gently in a reassuring tone.

“Don’t stop me now.”

Lia could lower her head as she sighed heavily.

For a moment, she remained silent.

Then she nodded her head slowly.

“But,” she said suddenly, lifting her head to look at him once again.

“If you don’t come… or if anything happens to you…” Her voice trembled slightly, as her eyes brightened for a second.

‘I’ll kill myself.’

Lucian frowned, feeling the temperature around him increase slightly.

He looked at Lia, and he felt a slight chill up his spine, looking at her manic expression and that soft, but strange smile.

But it vanished instantly the moment it came.

The temperature returned back to normal.

Lucian’s frown deepened.

“So come back as early as you can,” Lia said with a sad smile; the earlier expression on her face was no more.

Lucian felt confused.

‘Why was she smiling like that?’ he thought, clearly remembering her beautiful smile.

He couldn’t understand what had just happened, but he didn’t linger on it for the moment.

Instead, he lightly patted her head.

“I will.”

Before he could remove his hand from her head—

She suddenly lunged at him, her arms wrapping around him quickly.

Then she lifted herself slightly and kissed him on his cheek.

Lucian’s mind stopped for a second.

He looked down at her, as she hugged him tightly, as tightly as she could with her face buried in his chest.

Lucian stared at her silently for a few seconds before curling his hands around her, as one of his hands stroked her head.

Lia trembled slightly.

She didn’t remove her face from his chest, since she could feel her face burning with embarrassment.

The sudden action had come from impulse.

And now that she had done it, the realization of what she had just done made her heart race uncontrollably.

Lucian’s gaze then moved to Seraphina, who was looking at Lia.

Feeling his gaze, she turned toward him.

She hadn’t said anything this whole time, just staying quiet.

Seraphina wanted to say many things, but after a while of thinking…

She just nodded slightly.

“Take care,” she said, glancing at Lia for a second.

Lucian nodded before smiling gently.

“Both of you sleep too. Don’t wait for me.”

Both of the women said nothing.

After a while, Lucian locked the basement door and stepped quietly into the gym area of his house.

He went to his room, changed his clothes, and put on a full black outfit.

At night, it was difficult to notice him in the darkness, as he could easily blend into his surroundings.

He lifted his wrist, pulling up his sleeve slightly, and looked at his smartwatch.

“12:47,” he muttered, looking at the time.

He glanced out the window. It was dark outside, and there wasn’t even a moon outside today.

After checking the house again, he looked at the lock on the basement door again.

“Everything check,” he muttered, stepping out of the house.

And the moment he got out into the outside.

“Wow…” he mumbled in amazement.

The change was immediate.

“The night vision really works.”

He could clearly see his surroundings despite it being night currently.

The road stretched ahead of him.

Everything was visible.

Lucian slowly turned his head from side to side, testing the limits of his new ability.

However—

The moment he scanned his surroundings, his excitement died instantly.

The faint amazement faded from his face, as a solemn expression replaced it.

He walked forward, stepping onto the road.

His shoes made a quiet sound against the road with each step he took.

Then he looked down.

Because of his [Night Vision], he could clearly see the blood stains on the road, and also—

“Bodies.”

Lucian muttered, his fists clenching tightly, as his eyes turned slightly cold.

Some lay near the sidewalk, while some were collapsed beside vehicles.

He bent over slightly, placing one knee on the ground before one of the corpses.

It was a woman, who seemed to be in her early 30s.

Her eyes stared lifelessly toward the sky, with her lips parted slightly.

Her expression was frozen in what had likely been fear.

One of her legs was missing, as it was torn apart—or perhaps chewed out from her body.

There were many more patches of torn flesh across her body, deep bite marks.

The sight would have been utterly disgusting to any normal human.

Her clothes were slightly torn. The fabric around her chest had been ripped apart, making her breasts visible.

But Lucian didn’t look at that.

His gaze remained fixed on her face. On her dull, lifeless eyes.

She was the same woman who had been running with her child, the one he had seen in the morning.

“Our lives are so futile,” Lucian muttered, his voice filling the quiet and heavy environment.

He could hear faint sounds coming from far away, like howls… or perhaps screams. It was hard to tell.

“We smile, we play, we argue, we love…” his words trailed slightly.

“But at the end, there is just death.”

His clenched fingers loosened as he slowly stretched his hand toward her, laying his fingers gently on her forehead.

“Her body will rot like this.”

Lucian closed his eyes for a second.

The night air brushed lightly against his face.

After a moment of silence, he opened them again, his gaze turned heavy as he looked at her with a slightly detached gaze.

“Akasha,” he muttered solemnly.

“Do you think I’ll be a monster if I devour her?”

The question hung in the air.

He had devoured the middle-aged man before, but at that time, he hadn’t felt the guilt he was feeling right now.

[…]

For a moment, Akasha didn’t say anything.

Lucian thought that she had nothing to say, but then suddenly—

[Why does it matter?] She suddenly asked.

“Huh?”

Lucian tilted his head, not understanding her words.

[You know the path you’re walking. Then why are you asking such questions?] she asked, a bit ridiculed by such a question.

[And you know… you are a hypocrite.] she added, her words blunt and direct before she fell silent again.

“…”

Lucian looked at her corpse for a while before his calm, composed, and detached facade broke.

At first, his lips twitched slightly before curling upwards.

“Hah.”

A small smile appeared on his face as he chuckled lightly.

Then—

“Hahaha…”

Suddenly, he started laughing, a soft, unrestrained laugh, loud enough to echo faintly through the empty street.

“I guess you’re right,” he said, his tone much more lighter now, almost casual, like the corpses before weren’t even there.

“I’m a hypocrite.”

He looked down at the woman’s body again.

“I could’ve saved her earlier. I could’ve saved many others.”

He paused.

“But I didn’t.”

His smile turned slightly gloomy.

“I’m a hypocrite.”

He let out a quiet breath.

“I don’t even have to care about her, which I don’t… or maybe I do, I don’t know,” he said in genuine confusion, like he himself wasn’t sure.

“I might not even care if the other corpses rot. They aren’t my responsibility.”

His fingers gently brushed through the dead woman’s bloodied hair.

“But this woman…”

Lucian knew the reason.

He knew why he had wanted to save her earlier.

Why he wanted to devour her now. Why he didn’t want her body to rot in this disgusting place.

When he had wanted to save her earlier—

It wasn’t because of the child, or that he was more concerned about the child.

He had actually wanted to save her more than the child.

Why?

Because—

The woman slightly reminded him of someone.

She reminded him of another woman.

Someone who had taken care of him her entire life.

Someone who had sacrificed her freedom for him.

Someone who endured years of physical and mental torture… just for him.

Lucian’s heart ached just by thinking that.

But he still smiled.

“So yeah. You are right.”

“I’m a hypocrite.”

[…]

Akasha didn’t respond.

Lucian didn’t wait for any reply either.

“Devour,” his voice echoed through the quiet night.

Instantly, his hands turned ink black, as dark energy spread outward like liquid shadows.

It crawled across the woman’s corpse.

The black substance covered her entire body.

Then—

Within a couple of seconds—

The black ink-like energy retreated back into his hands.

The woman’s corpse was gone.

A message panel appeared in front of his eyes.

[You have devoured a human.]

Lucian silently looked at the screen for a while, not moving from his place.

Finally, he straightened his posture and stood up.

“Let’s kill some fucking monsters.”

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