Chapter 331: Not dead.

Zyra was not the only one worried about Taylor, everyone else on the team had started to panic, especially those who had not seen his body vanish.

Gilby and Vince had seen it, and they guessed he was in Zyra’s beast pocket. But they had no idea what condition he was in. They were not hopeful, but they didn’t dare to voice it just yet.

Etania seemed to be the most worried, she almost tripped as she ran after Zyra. "I should have teleported him back home as soon as his throat was cut. Now, we don’t even have a body to show his family. How could this happen to us? We have Soul maidens on our side."

Nero stretched his hand to calm her down. "Are you sure you did not send him to some place through a portal?"

"Silence!" Zyra shouted. "Quiet everyone. It was me I sent him to a safe place..."

Etania blinked. "Really?" She shook her head. "That doesn’t matter, this throat."

Zyra let out a heavy sigh and shouted in her mind. "Beauty answer me damn it! Is Taylor alive?"

This time, there was a chime in Zyra’s head.

[Host, the patient is doing well. I have sedated him and he is currently unconscious in a vitality cage; the medic robots I purchased on your behalf have taken good care of him.]

Zyra froze mid-step. She took a deep breath, bent over with her hands resting on her knees, and let out an ear-splitting scream. It was raw, loud, and packed with every ounce of frustration she had been holding in.

Around her, people went silent. Merchants froze, guards stopped mid-stride, and even a small fluffy dog scurried behind a stall.

She looked very angry, and they couldn’t tell why.

Straightening her back, Zyra glared at the Grimmark guards with eyes that could freeze a volcano. "Todd is dead," she announced, her voice cold and cutting through the quiet.

She slowly scanned the crowd, waiting. Come on, she thought. One of his lackeys just try to jump me. Give me an excuse to clean house.

Her entire reason for putting Todd six feet under was simple: the bastard loved torturing half-life beasts. "He was a scumbag who stole other people’s half-life beasts and slaughtered them like trash," she spat, her voice echoing off the stone walls. She unsheathed her shimmering dagger and pointed the blade directly at a group of Todd’s men who had huddled together like terrified chickens.

"Listen up! If any of you ever touch or kill another person’s half-life beast for food or pleasure again, I won’t just kill you. I’ll make sure your ancestors feel it! There are many ways to make a living. You can still sell meat just not half-life beasts you idiots. We are still fighting a war against the Somnivores, in case you have forgotten. Half-life beasts are not toys. They are soldiers, partners who fight alongside us."

She paused and growled, "If I ever hear that you anyone in this town is engaging in such a business again, I will return and finish what the flying King beast started. I will leave you and your town in ashes."

The men trembled in unison, instantly bowing their heads so low their noses nearly touched the dirt. "We won’t do it again. We wouldn’t dare!" one of them squeaked out, sweating bullets.

Satisfied with their sheer terror, Zyra lowered her dagger. "I have eyes and ears everywhere. If I hear that this vile activity is still going on. I will truly burn Grimmark to the ground. It’s not a threat, it’s a promise."

[Yes host, Tell them. They can hunt and sell dangerous beasts and ordinary animals but choose half-life beasts with human partners! A bunch of sick puppies. Shoot them. Shoot them.]

Her gaze swept past the crowd until it landed on a heavy stone building in the distance_ the quarantine zone. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Right, they have sick people too, she thought. She marched toward the building, and the crowd parted instantly, shuffling backward like she was a god of war who might turn them into ash if they breathed too loudly.

Zyra shoved the heavy doors open and stepped inside. The air was thick with the smell of damp stone and illness. Sitting in the corner were the frightened children who were huddling but scattered around the room were dozens of other civilians, all shivering and pale from the plague.

"Hey, little ones, out you come," Zyra said, her voice softening instantly. She pulled out a small porcelain bottle from her spatial ring and started handing out instant healing pills. "Take these. Don’t chew them, they taste like old socks, but they’ll keep you alive."

Her teammates rushed in right behind her, taking extra pills from her and distributing the medicine to the sick crowd. Tears of gratitude filled the room, with old men crying.

They raided Todd’s home and brought out all the food he was hoarding. It was distributed to the weak, elderly and young.

After half an hour, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in deep shades of orange and purple.

"Look, it’s getting late," Zyra said, rubbing her temples. She tossed a giant pouch of pills to a middle-aged patient who looked somewhat coherent. "You’re in charge of the sick people now. Distribute these evenly. If anyone tries to hoard them, break their legs."

The man swallowed hard and nodded frantically. "Y-yes, Mistress!"

She gave him a phone, instead of a link band. Her shelter had many phones people had thrown away when they switched to link bands. "Emergencies only. I am not an angel that will come running to save you from everything."

She turned on her heel and walked out of the damp building, breathing in the fresh evening air. She hadn’t even made it twenty paces down the path when a voice called out from behind her.

"Zyra?"

She stopped. The voice sounded way too familiar, and not in a good way.

She turned around, squinting her eyes only to see two young men standing near a light post. It was Michael Wintermere and Clifford Bellamy_ her ex-fiancés.

Zyra stood frozen, her brain completely short-circuiting. She could not believe that she was actually seeing them here, of all places.

Michael’s face lit up with a brilliant, fake smile, looking like a man who had just run into his long-lost best friend. "Zyra! Babe." Before she could even register what was happening, he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "It is so good to see you again! You have no idea how much I’ve missed you!"

Zyra was too stunned to move. She just stood there like a stone statue, her mind still trying to process the sheer audacity.

Suddenly, a sharp gust of wind blew past her as Hunter lunged forward. In a flash, he grabbed Michael by the collar like a scrawny stray chicken and yanked him backward so fast the man almost tripped over his own shoes.