Chapter 118 Deep regret

Chapter 118: Chapter 118 Deep regret

Luna paused after hearing the first sound coming from the direction she was heading toward. It sounded violent—almost ghastly. She stood still for a moment, listening carefully, but the noise suddenly stopped. Luna’s brows furrowed. She didn’t know what was happening there or whether her men had received the signal she had sent them. But one thing was certain—she had to get them off this hill and go straight back to her island.

She couldn’t lose that place. Not after everything she had done. The island wasn’t just another place to her anymore. It was her home, her sanctuary, the one thing she had worked so hard to build after remembering the hell of her previous life. If something happened to it, it would crush her to pieces.

Luna hurried through the corridor, her footsteps echoing against the metallic walls. Then another thought suddenly struck her. She hadn’t even asked the fake Malcolm enough about the supermarket itself. Who controlled it? Who had been powerful enough to make the entire supermarket disappear from its original location? That wasn’t something ordinary. Someone had moved it. And considering the distance between the place she remembered from her first life and this hill, whoever had done it had to possess an ability that was far beyond what she had expected.

It was definitely someone around here. Perhaps somewhere near the ocean. Maybe if she had questioned the people inside the supermarket more thoroughly, she could have gotten more information. For some reason, Luna couldn’t shake the feeling that the people living in this place knew far more about what was happening than they were willing to say. But she could deal with that later. Right now, she needed to leave.

Just as she was about to get closer to the hall, Luna heard another sound. A heavy slash. Then a wet, sickening impact. Her eyes narrowed. She knew that sound—the sharp whoosh followed by the tearing noise. That was someone’s flesh.

Luna immediately became alert. As she moved closer, she tilted her head. A blade flew past her face. SHNK! It slammed into the wall directly behind her. Luna froze. She slowly turned her head. Ice. The blade had been made of ice. A small smile almost appeared on her lips. That confirmed it. Her men had received the signal. They were fighting back. They had finally gotten themselves together and were defending each other with whatever abilities and weapons they had.

But then Luna noticed something else. The scent. Her expression changed. As she moved closer, the smell of thick, fresh blood became stronger. It hung heavily in the corridor. Too much blood. Luna didn’t know why, but a sudden jolt of fear ran through her body. Her heart tightened. She immediately rushed forward. Something was wrong. Something had gone horribly wrong.

But before she could reach the exit of the corridor, a gigantic hand suddenly grabbed her. Luna’s eyes widened. The next second—BAM! Her body was slammed against the wall. Pain shot through her back. "Ah!" She almost cried out. Of all places—it was the exact spot where the goddamn fake Malcolm had slammed her earlier. But this time, it wasn’t Malcolm. It was his gigantic second-in-command. The enormous man pressed his hand around her neck and lifted her slightly from the ground.

"You whore!" His furious voice shook the corridor. "What did you do to my Malcolm?"

Luna’s eyes narrowed. My Malcolm? That was unexpected. The possessiveness in his voice was almost laughable.

"I didn’t do—" Her voice was cut off as his grip tightened.

"My neck..." Luna gasped, clawing at his hand. The pressure made it difficult to breathe, let alone speak.

"Stop lying!" the man growled. "I know you did something, didn’t you?"

Luna noticed the uncertainty in his voice. Interesting. He didn’t actually know what had happened. He was guessing. That meant he had no proof. Luna’s mind immediately began working. She needed to get out of this man’s grip before he crushed her throat. She wasn’t even sure whether her normal skills would be enough to escape someone this massive. So she needed to distract him. If she could make him angry enough, perhaps he would loosen his grip.

Luna forced herself to speak. "I thought you cared so much about this place and your master." The man’s eyes narrowed. "So why are you wishing for him to die?" His expression changed. Luna continued before he could answer, "And with all this commotion I’m hearing from the hall, aren’t you supposed to be stopping it?" She stared directly into his eyes. "Why does it feel like you don’t care about what’s happening out there?" Her lips curled. "And you’re only interested in one thing." She paused dramatically. "Oh." Luna’s eyes gleamed. "I think I know what that is."

The man’s grip suddenly loosened.

"The throne."

The gigantic man removed his hand from her neck. His expression changed immediately. He looked around the corridor, then behind himself, then toward the walls. Luna almost laughed. Who exactly was he trying to hide his intentions from? The walls? The air? There probably wouldn’t even be many people left alive in this place once they were finished, so there was no reason for him to pretend anymore.

"Oh, man." Luna rubbed her neck and smiled. "You don’t have to be shy about your intentions."

The man’s face twisted.

"You’re ambitious." She looked him up and down. "That’s actually shocking considering how animalistic you look." Her eyes narrowed playfully. "No difference from a cave man."

The man howled in rage. Luna wasn’t surprised. She simply laughed at his stupidity.

"But I must applaud you." She tilted her head. "That’s actually impressive. You managed to deceive everyone into believing you were loyal while secretly wanting to kill the leader." She chuckled. "What’s more scandalous than that?"

The man’s face turned red with fury. He raised his weapon. He was about to attack her again. Luna immediately stepped backward. The enormous man approached her with heavy, deadly steps. THUD. THUD. THUD. Each step shook the floor. His hammer appeared in his hands.

"You’re going to—"

Before he could finish—SHRIIIK! Something tore through his leg. The man’s body suddenly froze. A gigantic pincer had pierced through his lower body and traveled upward with horrifying force. His eyes bulged. The pincer had gone through him and emerged near his shoulder. His hammer slipped from his hands.

Luna stared. "What the..."

The man was rooted to the spot, unable to move. Then Luna saw what had attacked him. A gigantic scorpion crawled out from behind him. It was enormous—half the size of the gigantic man she had just been calling a giant. Its claws snapped together as its armored body shifted. Luna instinctively moved backward. "What the hell is that?"

The scorpion began tearing into the man’s body. Luna grimaced. She had seen plenty of disgusting things in the apocalypse, but this was still unpleasant.

Then suddenly—a hand grabbed her from behind. Luna’s body was yanked backward. "Whoa!" She lost her balance and collapsed into someone’s arms. The person holding her staggered backward. Both of them fell. BAM! Luna’s body landed against him. Their faces collided. And their lips slammed together.

For a moment, everything stopped. Luna’s eyes widened. Then she slowly looked down. Rowan. His face was pale. He looked just as shocked.

Rowan sighed weakly. "I can’t stand."

Luna stared at him. "Rowan?"

"Luna..." He was breathing heavily. "I saw you coming from the edge of the hall and came right away." He struggled to sit upright. "The others are being healed by Ethan." His breathing became rougher. "Something is happening to them. They’re getting weak." He swallowed. "Same with me."

Luna immediately understood that something was wrong. She quickly brought up her system panel. She placed it directly in front of Rowan while helping him steady himself. Then she saw it. The power crystals. They were empty.

Luna’s expression darkened. "Wait..." She stared at the information. The crystals needed to be charged. That meant they couldn’t simply absorb the energy once and use it forever. They had to be recharged. She hadn’t known that.

Luna’s eyes twitched. She read the system message.

[Since the power crystals have been consumed by the target’s host, the host must charge the crystals to continuously supply the target with more energy.]

Luna stared at the message. Then everything suddenly made sense. That was why her men were becoming weak. The crystals had been consumed. They had used the stored energy. And now the supply was empty. She had thought once they absorbed the crystals, that was it. Apparently not.

"They have to be charged too..." Luna muttered. Her expression darkened. "But why didn’t the damn system tell me that from the beginning?"

Of course, there was no answer. Luna wanted to punch the screen. Now wasn’t the time. They needed to leave. Immediately.

She looked toward the scorpion, which was still digging into the gigantic man’s corpse. Luna grimaced. "What is the situation out there?"

Rowan’s expression became serious. "It’s bad." He took another deep breath. "We need to find a way to leave with the others immediately. We’re getting too much external pressure from Malcolm’s loyal followers." He glanced toward the hall. "Kai managed to buy us some time, but I don’t know how long that will last."

Luna’s face went blank. Then she slowly raised a hand and facepalmed. "Our base is under attack."

Rowan’s eyes widened.

Luna lowered her hand. "I think they need our help."

At once, Rowan’s eyes bulged. "Our island?"

"Yes."

"Damn it."

Luna pushed herself upright. "Come on. I’ll help you stand." She reached toward him. But Rowan suddenly stared straight into her eyes. His expression was filled with exhaustion. And something else. Fear.

"Can’t you see what I was telling you?" Luna froze. "We shouldn’t have left." Rowan’s voice cracked. "And now, believe it or not, we’ve lost our home." He swallowed. "We might never return again."

Luna refused to accept those words. "No." She shook her head. "We’ll return." She grabbed Rowan and helped him stand. "I’ll get our place back." Her voice hardened. "And I’ll kill them all."

Rowan leaned heavily against her as they began limping down the corridor. Luna supported as much of his weight as she could. But her mind was already racing. Everything had gone wrong.

Her past had made her paranoid. She had spent so much time believing that every person around her was waiting for the opportunity to betray her. She thought she was being careful. She thought she was making the smartest decisions. But look where those decisions had brought them.

For the first time since her rebirth, Luna felt something she rarely allowed herself to feel. Regret. Real regret. Maybe she had been too obsessed with changing the future. Maybe she had been so determined not to repeat the mistakes of her first life that she had created an entirely different disaster.

Her grip around Rowan tightened. She couldn’t lose the island. Not now. Not after everything. And deep inside, another thought surfaced. Maybe she really was damaged. Maybe what her family had done to her in her first life had changed something inside her permanently. Maybe she had become too paranoid. Too suspicious. Too obsessed with controlling every possible outcome. And now, because of that paranoia, she had dragged herself and everyone she cared about into another dangerous situation.

Luna’s eyes hardened. No. She couldn’t change what had already happened. But she could still fix it. She had survived the apocalypse once. She wasn’t going to lose her home in her second life. Not without a fight.