Elric's eyes swept over the woman lying before him, his system interface flickering with data only he could see.
Name: Emily
Age: 25
Appearance: 94
Figure: 92
Quality: 100
Overall Rating: 93
Monthly Exchange Reward: 25 times
System Evaluation:If system conditions are met, retention will further enhance system growth.
Ninety-three points. In the wasteland of this apocalyptic world, that score alone was enough to prove her extraordinary value. But the system's cold assessment stood in stark contrast to the pitiful reality before him.
Emily's entire body was soaked in sweat and dried blood. Her hair clung to her face in matted clumps, her clothes were torn to shreds, and she looked utterly exhausted. The gentle nurse who had once cared for others now lay broken and discarded like trash.
"Put her down," Elric said calmly, his voice cutting through the tension. "Then clean her up."
He reached into his inventory and produced a bottle of clean water, handing it to Oli, the scarred woman who had been following him.
"Wipe her down."
Oli hesitated, her eyes widening as she took in Emily's condition. The woman's limbs had clearly been severed, her body mangled beyond what should be survivable.
"She was injured so badly just now… if we move her, won't it worsen her injuries?"
A faint smile crossed Elric's face. "Relax. Her wounds are healing rapidly."
That wasn't a comforting lie. It was the truth.
After his surgical ability had reached level three, the effect of his [Transplant] skill had improved dramatically. Back when he'd healed Rachel's leg, the process had taken an entire night. Now? Ten minutes at most.
Ten minutes passed in careful silence.
Oli worked meticulously, wiping away the blood and grime from Emily's body with gentle hands. As the layers of filth were removed, Emily's true appearance emerged—soft, unblemished skin and the delicate features of someone who had once lived in a gentler world.
Clean skin. Soft breathing. The gentle, big-eyed nurse had returned.
Her eyelids trembled.
"…I'm not dead?"
Emily's voice was barely a whisper. She lifted her hands before her face, turning them over in disbelief. Then she moved her legs, bending her knees experimentally.
"My arms… my legs… they're back?"
The disbelief in her eyes was raw and genuine. She had felt herself dying. She had accepted it. And now, impossibly, she was whole again.
Her gaze shifted to Elric, who watched her with calm, measuring eyes.
"It was you… wasn't it?" Her voice grew stronger. "You saved me."
She paused, her mind racing through the implications.
"You're a superpowered person?"
She wasn't stupid. In this new world, there was only one possible answer.
"Yes," Elric confirmed, his tone matter-of-fact. "I saved you."
He took a step closer, crouching down until they were at eye level.
"If I hadn't arrived, you would already be dead. Your body would be rotting in some corner right now."
His smile remained calm, but his eyes sharpened like a blade.
"I have two conditions."
Emily tensed, waiting.
"First: Become my woman. Follow me from now on."
"Second: Help her—" He gestured lightly toward Oli. "—find allergy medication and heal her face."
Emily froze for a moment, processing his words. Her hesitation lasted only a heartbeat, but it was enough.
Elric's eyes narrowed slightly. His smile didn't change, but the warning was unmistakable. The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
Her life belonged to him now. If she didn't understand that fundamental truth—he wouldn't hesitate to take it back.
"No—sir, you misunderstood," Emily said quickly, shaking her head with genuine urgency. "I agree to both conditions. Completely."
She paused, and something dark flickered across her gentle features.
"But before that…"
Her eyes hardened with an emotion that seemed foreign on such a soft face.
"Can you help me kill some people?"
"Oh?" Elric raised an eyebrow, genuinely intrigued.
For such a gentle-looking woman to make such a request—that was interesting indeed.
"Kill who?"
Emily's hands clenched into fists, her knuckles white.
"Behind that security door," she said, her voice trembling with barely suppressed rage. "There are more than twenty doctors and nurses. Medical professionals who should have saved lives."
"They threw me out."
Her words came faster now, each one laced with venom.
"I saved them. When food was scarce, I shared what I had. Without me, they would've starved in the first week. I treated their injuries. I kept them alive."
She looked up at Elric, her eyes burning.
"And when they needed a scapegoat to satisfy that monster—they handed me over without a second thought."
Her voice broke slightly, but the hatred underneath was crystal clear.
"I won't swallow this. Not unless they pay."
Elric studied her for a long moment, then smiled.
"Ungrateful trash," he said softly, almost philosophically.
His enhanced vision pierced through the sealed security door as if it were made of paper. Inside, he could see dozens of people huddled together, shaking in fear, probably wondering if they were safe.
"Alright," he said, making his decision. "I'll give you a chance."
Emily's breath caught.
"But," Elric continued, "I won't do it for you."
He opened his system space with a thought, and two Desert Eagle handguns materialized in the air. He placed them into Emily's trembling hands.
Her pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"Guns…"
The weight of them was both foreign and empowering. She stood up slowly, gripping the weapons tightly enough that her fingers ached.
"Let's go," Elric said, turning toward the sealed door. "I'll take you back to settle your accounts."
He stepped forward with casual confidence.
BOOM.
One punch from Elric was all it took.
The reinforced security door—designed to withstand zombie hordes and desperate survivors—melted and collapsed inward like wet cardboard. Smoke filled the corridor as twisted metal clattered to the floor.
Elric walked in first, Oli beside him, while Emily followed step by careful step.
The room beyond fell deathly silent.
More than twenty medical professionals stared in horror as their final line of defense simply ceased to exist. A man and a woman stepped through the smoke like figures from a nightmare, and behind them—
"Emily…?" someone whispered in disbelief.
Several nurses stared at the woman holding the guns, their faces going pale.
"Why are you still here? Didn't Jack take you away?"
They had all assumed she was already dead—torn apart by that monster in whatever depraved way he'd chosen.
"I came back," Emily said softly, her smile twisted and hollow. "And I'm disappointed in all of you."
Elric, meanwhile, led Oli to a chair near the wall. He sat down leisurely and crossed his legs, clearly prepared to watch the show unfold.
"That doesn't matter," he said when someone stammered a question about who he was. "There's just someone here who wants to have a talk with you."
The ones who froze the hardest were the very people who had eaten the most of Emily's food—the same ones who had shamelessly talked about "paying her back with money" after the crisis passed.
Emily raised the gun.
Bang.
The first shot tore through a nurse's shoulder, spinning her around before she collapsed, screaming.
Emily's hands trembled—but only for a moment.
Chaos erupted.
"Ahhh! Where did she get a gun?!"
"She's going to kill us!"
"Someone stop her!"
Emily didn't answer. She fired again. And again.
Her aim was clumsy—bullets striking walls, legs, chests, anywhere her shaking hands pointed. But in the confined space, chaos was enough. People fell. Blood splattered. Begging voices overlapped into a cacophony of terror.
"Emily, calm down! Think about what you're doing!"
"We can talk about this!"
"Please!"
She didn't listen. Her finger kept pulling the trigger, each shot a release of the poison that had been building inside her.
Some tried to shame her. Some threatened her. Some cried and begged. None of it mattered.
"She only has two guns!" a male doctor shouted desperately. "She'll run out of bullets! Rush her together!"
Several men summoned their courage and charged forward, thinking strength in numbers would save them.
In the next instant—their bodies simply vanished.
They reappeared directly in front of Emily's gun barrel, faces blank with confusion, having been teleported by Elric's spatial manipulation.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three more bodies hit the floor.
Elric had promised not to interfere in her revenge. But he would not let her be harmed in the process.
Twenty minutes later, the floor was soaked red with blood.
More than twenty bodies lay motionless, some still twitching in their final moments. The air was thick with gunpowder and the metallic stench of death.
Emily's breathing was heavy, ragged. At first she had been shaking, uncertain. Now her eyes burned with a terrible clarity.
Only a few remained alive.
Vice Director Lee was one of them—the man who had spoken the loudest about "necessary sacrifices" and "the greater good."
Emily stepped on his face, pressing his cheek against the blood-soaked floor, and aimed the gun at his head.
"Emily—please!" he sobbed, all pretense of authority gone. "I treated you well before! I protected you when others wanted to turn you out!"
She laughed softly—a broken, bitter sound.
"Handing me to Jack counts as protecting me?"
Bang.
His chest exploded with blood, and his sobbing stopped forever.
Emily turned slowly, her movements mechanical now.
Only one person remained.
Dr. Li—long legs, pale face, tears streaking down her perfect cheeks. She had been Emily's closest friend before the apocalypse. They had shared secrets, shared meals, shared dreams of survival.
Dr. Li knew there was no escape. She could see it in Emily's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Emily," she said quietly, her voice steady despite the tears. "I know you won't forgive me."
"But I'm not a saint."
Her voice broke.
"If it was between your life… and mine… I chose myself. I'm sorry, but I chose myself."
Emily's eyes flickered with something like pain—a ghost of the friendship they'd once shared.
Then they went cold.
"You didn't have to sacrifice yourself," Emily said, her voice hollow. "You only had to say one word. Object. Refuse. Speak up."
"You didn't."
Bang.
Dr. Li closed her eyes, accepting her fate—
But nothing happened.
No pain. No blood. No death.
Emily frowned in confusion.
"…Missed?"
She fired again. And again.
Still nothing.
The bullets stopped inches from Dr. Li's face, frozen in midair by an invisible force, then dropped to the ground with metallic clinks.
Emily froze, her mind struggling to process what she was seeing.
A calm male voice sounded behind her.
"That's enough."
She turned to find Elric standing up from his chair, his expression indifferent.
"Your revenge is complete," he said evenly. "The ones who deserve death are dead."
"She doesn't get to die."
Emily stared at him, chest heaving with emotion.
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