The smell in the kitchen was a mix of sweat, dust, and panic exhaled by more than fifteen people crammed into the same space.
The sound of screams outside had faded, replaced by a heavy, suffocating silence.
Leaning against the counter, Daniel slowly flicked his lighter open and closed, his mind analyzing the earlier confrontation.
"A twelve-gauge sets them back a bit, but doesn't cause any permanent damage."
He began crossing options off his mental list. Bullets were out of the question for permanent kills. What was left? Fire, maybe. An incendiary grenade or Molotov cocktails. Acid.
Total dismemberment. Or perhaps finding a way to drown them and see if those smiling abominations needed oxygen to stay alive.
[New Mission Accepted: Pest Control]
[Objective: Kill 1 smiling creature.]
[Difficulty: High]
[Reward: 5 Attribute Points, 10 Skill Points, 5,000 Silver Coins, 1 New Skill.]
[Considering your little shotgun show only worked as a massage for the creature, I figured you needed some motivation. Maybe try hitting them with a dictionary next time. Might be more lethal.]
"I think you're being pretty stingy with the rewards," he muttered, noting that out of the attributes—the most important part—he would only get five.
[There's a surprise in the skill.]
"I hope it's worth it." Daniel slipped the lighter back into his pocket and lifted his head, only to meet a pair of eyes glaring at him from across the counter.
It was the tall, bearded man who had shoved Julie into the wall earlier—and who had earned a punch in the chaos.
The guy held his blood-stained shirt against his nose. Beside him, a shorter, scrawny young man whispered frantically, tugging at his sleeve.
Noticing the not-so-subtle glare, Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you? Or did you enjoy the facial massage so much you're looking for a second round, free of charge?"
The younger man's eyes widened as he pulled his friend harder. "Dilan, man, just drop it. You don't want trouble with him. You saw what he did."
Dilan ignored the warning, yanking his arm free with an aggressive jerk and stepping forward, puffing out his chest in a pathetic attempt at intimidation—one that had absolutely no effect on Daniel's relaxed posture.
"I want to know where you got that gun," Dilan demanded. "You didn't have it. I saw it. The shotgun just appeared in your hand, out of nowhere."
A few heads turned in their direction. The fleeting fear was replaced by curiosity, and two or three residents nodded slowly, confirming the bearded man's words.
Daniel didn't look surprised. He already knew using his inventory in front of dozens of panicked people would raise questions once the adrenaline wore off.
He could claim the weapon had been hidden in his jacket, but the leather wouldn't fit a twelve-gauge. So he decided to embrace the absurd.
Daniel straightened up and put on the most serious expression he could manage.
"Alright. Since everyone's so curious, I guess I can't hide the truth anymore," he said in a grave, solemn tone. "I'm not from this world."
Dilan blinked, frowning in confusion.
"Where I come from," Daniel continued, gesturing vaguely with his hands, "there are colossal creatures. Golden dragons that breathe fire capable of melting mountains, ice phoenixes that freeze oceans with a single flap of their wings.
"There, humans are not helpless prey. We soar through the skies on flying swords. And there are the Ancient Sects, schools that teach us old methods to absorb the energy of the universe and transcend mortal limits."
He paused dramatically, looking around. Half of the people present stared at him as if he had just suffered a stroke.
"I was the pride of my sect," Daniel sighed, briefly closing his eyes as if reliving a deep pain. "Until I was betrayed. A fellow disciple, jealous of my talent, poisoned my spiritual lotus tea and destroyed my dantian, the core of power located in the center of my abdomen."
"Without my cultivation, I was banished by the elders and cast into this mortal world. The only thing I have left is the spatial ring inherited from my master, where I store my belongings. And I swore vengeance."
The silence that followed was almost tangible. Dilan opened and closed his mouth several times, his expression twisting with anger.
But the best reaction came from his scrawny friend. The young man stood there with his lips slightly parted, eyes shining with the fascination of a child who had just discovered Santa Claus was real.
"Wait..." he whispered, trembling with excitement. "So... you have a cultivation method? Your spatial ring... is that why the gun appeared out of nowhere?"
Dilan snapped his neck toward him so fast it cracked. He stared at the younger man in disbelief. "Marcos, are you stupid? Seriously believe this dragon and sect bullshit?"
"If creatures of terror are real... why can't this be?" Marcos murmured, lowering his head, not daring to meet his friend's gaze.
Daniel crossed his arms and gave Dilan a sideways smile. "You know, I thought you were an idiot, but it turns out you're surprisingly intelligent for someone with that face."
The few people who, for a fraction of a second, had started to wonder if the story might be real let out murmurs of annoyance, irritated by the poorly timed joke.
Beside Daniel, Julie made a strange sound. He glanced down and saw she had both hands covering her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently.
She was doing everything she could not to burst into laughter in the middle of a kitchen full of traumatized survivors.
Only him... to make me laugh at a time like this..., Julie thought, her cheeks aching beneath her palms.
"Tell the fucking truth!" Dilan hissed, fists clenched.
"The truth?" Daniel mimicked Dilan's outrage in an exaggerated way. "The truth is I'm the tooth fairy and I keep weapons under naughty kids' pillows. What do you want me to say, genius?"
"I think you're connected to them," Dilan accused, pointing a trembling finger toward the double doors. "You're not afraid of them. Knew exactly what to do."
"I take back everything I said about your intelligence," Daniel replied, his voice now sharp, stripped of any humor. The cold glint in his eyes made Dilan instinctively step back.
"You're not worried about weapons or creatures. Your ego's bruised because you got hit, and now you're just looking for a reason to get the crowd on your side."
"Grow up. Or at least wait until sunrise before trying to act like an alpha male."
Before Dilan could spit out more accusations, a heavy hand slammed down on the aluminum counter with startling force.
"Enough!" Donna barked. The leader of Colony House looked pale, her hair completely disheveled. She glanced from Dilan to Daniel, her eyes overflowing with exhaustion.
"If I hear one more word about dragons, flying weapons, or any other bullshit, I'll throw both of you out that door myself. Sit down. And shut up."
Dilan swallowed hard, backing away to the opposite corner of the room, while Marcos muttered quiet apologies.
The rest of the night dragged on. Some residents cried quietly, hugging their knees. Others stared at the ceiling, completely catatonic.
Daniel considered taking a nap, but it was mathematically impossible to lie down on that crowded floor without using someone's face as a pillow.
Boredom began to irritate him. With a quick thought, he opened the System Shop. The catalog of mundane utilities was massive.
He navigated to the electronics tab and bought two Chinese handheld gaming consoles packed with games, featuring emulators for PS2, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive, among others.
They cost 50 silver coins each. An irrelevant expense to maintain his sanity.
He shoved his hands into the empty pockets of his jacket and activated the inventory transfer. When he pulled them out, he was holding the two gray plastic devices.
Daniel nudged Julie lightly and handed one to her.
Julie held the console, her eyes narrowing in deep suspicion. She glanced at the boy's jacket pockets, which obviously didn't have the volume to store those devices.
He leaned in, his lips brushing against her ear, his warm breath sending a small shiver down the back of her neck. "I'll explain later. Just play."
She bit her lower lip, pressed the buttons, and started playing Donkey Kong.
On the other side of the room, Dilan watched the scene with a sharp glare, something Daniel simply ignored.
When the first rays of sunlight finally slipped through the cracks, announcing the morning, the silence of the house was broken by the sharp sound of creaking hinges. Fatima threw the door open, running in desperation.
"Ellis! Ellis!" she shouted, her voice hoarse. Donna followed right behind her.
Daniel turned off the consoles. In a smooth motion as he stood up, he stored them back into his inventory—pretending to slip them into his jacket—and grabbed the shotgun with his right hand.
"I'll take you to your parents while they deal with this mess here," Daniel instructed, touching Julie's elbow.
"No," she shook her head. "Let's go see how Ellis is."
Daniel saw the stubbornness on her face and didn't insist. He simply nodded and followed the women, climbing the grand staircase to the second floor.
The scene looked like something out of a horror movie. The carpet was soaked with dark, sticky blood, and the metallic smell of oxidized copper mixed with feces filled the air.
In the middle of the hallway, the aftermath of the invasion was on full display. Two bodies lay on the floor. Or what was left of them.
One of the men's ribcages had been torn open, and his intestines were sprawled across the carpet.
Julie froze. Her face turned pale.
A second later, she doubled over and vomited onto the floor.
Daniel had expected that reaction, and it was exactly why he wanted her far away from this. But at the same time, he saw it as a painful necessity.
She needed to understand that this was the world they lived in now. Innocence was a luxury that got people killed.
A flicker of discomfort also hit him at the sight of the exposed organs, an instinctive human reaction, but it quickly passed with the help of the Hunter's Mind and his past-life experience.
Kneeling beside her, he used his free hand to draw small circles on her trembling back.
"Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth," he instructed, pulling her hair back so it wouldn't get dirty.
When Julie finally wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, trembling from head to toe, they resumed walking.
As they reached the third floor, they passed another body—a woman whose form was unrecognizable—and Julie turned her face sharply into Daniel's chest, refusing to look.
At the end of the hallway, Fatima and Donna came out of one of the rooms, holding Ellis by the shoulders. The young man was covered in cold sweat, his features twisted in pain, limping with only one foot while the other ankle was swollen and bruised.
"Daniel..." Fatima panted, her expression filled with relief. "Please... can you take him to the clinic? In your motorhome?"
"Of course."
Donna took the opportunity, her eyes heavy with the weight of a shattered leadership. "Stop by the sheriff's office first. Tell Boyd what happened here as soon as possible. He needs to know."
Daniel nodded. He helped carry Ellis.
The descent and the walk toward the motorhome on the front lawn were a macabre parade. At least four more bodies were scattered across the dew-covered grass—those who had ignored Donna's warnings and run into the night trying to escape.
The golden morning sunlight made the brutality of the scene seem ironically serene.
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