After Leon's words, the woman's one remaining human eye opened wider,too wide, unnaturally,like something inside her was making one last attempt to seize the wheel.
Then the tension drained out of her face.
A weak smile touched her lips. Shockingly calm.
She nodded at Leon,slowly, deliberately,like someone who had just made a choice that couldn't be undone.
Leon approached her very slowly.
Each step felt heavier than the one before. If anyone had been watching closely, they would've noticed the hand wrapped around the sword hilt trembling,not from fear of her, but from fear of what he was about to do.
He stopped right in front of her, close enough to feel her uneven breath, to hear the faint rasp rising from her throat.
"Do you…" he started, then had to swallow. "Do you have any last words?"
She looked at him with that one eye that was still human,full of terror, and something else too: a desperate need to be remembered as a person, not a monster. Her body twitched, her shoulders jerking in a brief, uncontrolled motion, but when she spoke, the voice was still hers.
"Tell them…" she whispered.
Then she coughed violently, and a low, guttural sound tore out of her mouth. She crushed it down by clenching her teeth.
"Tell my kids… that I love them. That I always," Her breath hitched. She couldn't finish.
She jerked again.
"And don't let them think…" she forced out, every word heavier than the last, "that I was scared…"
Her voice cracked.
"I was… so scared," she admitted, and the honesty of it made the air feel sharper. "But I thought about them. Only them. About… about keeping them safe. About them having a normal life…"
Her head sagged for a moment, then lifted with effort.
"Please," she whispered. "If there's anywhere… where it's still normal… let them be there."
Another rasp tried to crawl out of her throat. Her whole body stiffened for a second, like something tugged from inside.
But she looked Leon straight in the eyes one more time and nodded,clear, undeniable.
Leon tightened his grip until his palms ached. He bit his lip hard enough to taste blood and shut his eyes.
He didn't allow himself to hesitate.
One fast, clean swing.
The blade cut through air,then flesh,without resistance. A short wet sound. Then the dull thump of a head hitting tile, and the heavy splash of blood spraying across Leon's already-stained clothes.
A heartbeat later, the body slumped, lifeless, collapsing onto the floor with a blunt finality.
For several seconds Leon didn't move.
Only then did he open his eyes and look down,at the body, at the head, at the blood spreading slowly across the tile. He drew in a deep, shaking breath.
"I killed her," he whispered, like he had to hear it out loud to believe it.
As if answering him, a system notification appeared.
[Essence Record , Kill Confirmed]
[Target: Half Zombie (LVL 1)]
[Reward: +1 VIT]
He hadn't even looked away when another window immediately overlapped it.
[Level Up: LVL 2 → LVL 3]
[Stat Points Gained: +4]
Leon stared at the letters without feeling. A moment ago they would've mattered. Now they were just a cold record that the world didn't care who he'd lost.
The pharmacy was silent.
And he knew he'd crossed a line he could never uncross,a line that ended any chance of being a normal person again.
It hit him a moment later, like a delayed wave. The pressure of it built all at once, and Leon realized that if he stayed here another second,if he let himself stare at the body, let himself hold the thought that he'd just taken a life,something inside him might fracture in a way that would never fully heal.
So he forced himself into motion.
He took several deep breaths, slow and deliberate, focusing only on air going in and out, like it was the only action he was allowed right now. He shoved the word murderer somewhere farther back in his mind,not denying it, but not letting it own him in this moment either.
He tore his gaze away from the corpse and made himself look elsewhere.
And that was when his eyes widened slightly.
Near the zombie the woman had killed,where the blood had already started to dry,something familiar hovered a few centimeters above the floor.
A perfectly smooth metallic gray cube.
And beside it lay a scroll, too clean, too untouched for the carnage around it.
"…Again," Leon muttered.
He stepped closer. System text appeared at once.
[Gray Box]
Then, when his eyes shifted to the scroll, another window unfolded.
[Cold Mind (Unclassified Skill) – Tier: Novice]
Leon frowned.
"Cold… mind," he read under his breath. "That sounds like a joke."
He moved closer to the Gray Box, and almost immediately the next prompt appeared, hovering in the air with the same emotionless politeness as always.
[Do you want to open Gray Box?]
Leon glanced around the pharmacy,the blood, the sword in his hand,and answered without ceremony.
"Yes."
The Gray Box shattered in a familiar flash,bright, but not blinding. When the light faded, Leon felt something physical in his hands.
Gloves.
They were made from a dark, flexible material that looked like a blend of leather and synthetic fabric, with subtle reinforcement along the knuckles and fingers. Thin enough not to restrict movement, but sturdy,built for long use in harsh conditions. The inside had a faintly rough texture for better grip, and the whole thing looked surprisingly comfortable.
A message appeared the moment he focused on them.
[Combat Gloves (Normal Grade)]
[Lightweight gloves designed for sustained combat and survival. Improve grip control and reduce hand fatigue. When equipped: Agility +2, Vitality +1]
Leon set the sword down on the counter and pulled the gloves on without a word. The material fitted like it was made for his hands, snug without pinching, letting his fingers move freely. He flexed them a few times on instinct.
Another notification appeared.
[Equipment Effect Applied]
[+2 Agility]
[+1 Vitality]
He picked the sword back up and immediately noticed the difference,the grip felt surer, more stable, like the weapon sat better in his palm.
Then he looked down at the scroll.
Leon lifted it carefully, as if he expected the touch itself to trigger something. Right away, the system window unfolded again,calm, neat letters floating in the air like the blood and death around them didn't exist.
[Cold Mind (Unclassified Skill) – Tier: Novice]
[Description: A passive mental skill that stabilizes emotional fluctuations during high-stress and crisis situations. Reduces panic response, dampens emotional overload, and provides a calming, cooling sensation to the mind, allowing clearer judgment and improved decision-making under pressure.]
Leon read it slowly. Once. Then again.
His eyes opened wider as the meaning landed.
"Cold… mind," he repeated quietly.
After everything that had happened in the last few hours,the screams, the blood, the fear, the decisions sitting on his chest like stone,this wasn't just "useful."
It was exactly what he needed. Something that could keep him from breaking at the worst possible time.
"This…" he started, then his voice lowered. "…this could save me."
As if the system didn't require reflection, another prompt appeared immediately.
[Do you want to learn Cold Mind?]
Leon didn't hesitate for a single second.
He nodded once and answered simply.
"Yes."
The scroll trembled lightly in his hand, then began to break apart into tiny particles of pale, cool light. Not blinding,soft, almost soothing. The motes hovered for a heartbeat, then flowed into his body through his skin, his chest, and his head.
Leon felt it at once.
Not pain and not a violent surge.
A gentle cooling,like a cold hand placed against his mind, smoothing the jagged edges of thought, quieting the rush. For a split second, a faint bluish glow flickered in his eyes, forming into a simple geometric mark,then vanished as quickly as it appeared.
A final message appeared.
[You have learned a passive skill: Cold Mind]
Leon stood still, breathing slowly.
Only then did he realize something had changed.
The thoughts were still there,the woman, the sound of the head hitting tile, the weight of the sword,but they weren't piling up into a suffocating wave anymore. They were… arranged. Held at a safe distance, like someone had turned the volume down on his emotions without muting them completely.
"It… works," he whispered.
He looked around the pharmacy again,blood, bodies, ruin,and though his stomach still tightened in unpleasant reflex, he no longer felt like he was about to shatter.
In its place was something colder.
Clearer.
Space to think.
Leon scanned the pharmacy once more, but his gaze had changed,steadier, more focused, stripped of that trembling edge that had clung to every movement until now. The emotions hadn't disappeared. They were still there under the surface.
But they weren't flooding him anymore.
"Alright," he murmured to himself. "Time to stock up."
His eyes dropped to his clothes. They barely qualified as clothes anymore,torn in several places, soaked with sweat and grime and blood, smeared with dried streaks that marked every stage of this day. His gaze slid to his forearms, where small glass cuts were already red and slightly swollen. To his knees, burning with each movement. To the side of his ribs, where pain still flared when he took a deeper breath.
"First this," he muttered, touching one of the scratches,then instinctively pulling his fingers back when it stung.