Chapter 60: First Heroes

The emergency treatment center had stopped feeling like a hospital. It felt like a battlefield with cleaner floors. Doctors moved between rows of injured cultivators and soldiers while nurses carried supplies from one station to another. Every available bed was occupied. Several patients had been laid on reinforced stretchers along the walls, and the more serious cases had been moved into the central treatment area where the best medical equipment was concentrated.

Then Kei walked through the doors.

The room changed immediately. A nurse looked up and nearly dropped the supplies in her hands.

"Kei!"

He was already moving. "Who is the most critical?"

The head doctor pointed toward the central row. "Those three. Then the people on the left. We've stabilized most of them, but—"

"Give me everyone in order of severity."

The doctor hesitated. "Kei, you just came back from the East Gate."

"I'm fine."

"You've been saying that for a week."

"And I've been fine for a week."

The doctor gave him a tired look. Kei smiled faintly.

"Please."

The doctor sighed. "Fine. Start with the three in front of you."

Kei knelt beside the first patient. The Vermillion Bird Revival Technique ignited. A red aura spread across his entire body before flowing into the injured cultivator beneath his hands. The man's breathing stabilized almost immediately. His broken bones began shifting back into place. Damaged muscles regenerated. His depleted Qi began returning.

The doctor watched the patient's condition improve on the monitors. "Move to the next."

Kei did. The second patient. Then the third. He worked without stopping. Every person he restored came back stronger than they had entered. Their bodies were healthier. Their vitality increased. Their senses sharpened. Their Qi became more abundant. And the red aura surrounding Kei grew brighter. He was becoming stronger with every person he saved.

A nurse stared at him. "Does it ever get tiring?"

Kei looked up. "Of course."

She blinked.

"I just don't have time to stop."

Then he returned to the next patient.

---

Outside the treatment center, the rest of the four Guardians had barely made it halfway toward the barracks before someone shouted.

"Andy!"

Andy turned. A young soldier was standing beside the entrance, holding a notebook.

"Can I get your autograph?"

Andy stared at him. "Seriously?"

The soldier nodded enthusiastically. Jimmy walked past.

"Do it."

"Why?"

"Because you're famous."

"I'm aware."

"Then stop complaining."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Andy sighed and took the notebook. "What's your name?"

The soldier gave it to him. Andy signed the page.

"Here."

The soldier looked like he'd just been handed a national treasure. "Thanks!"

Andy watched him run away. "We're really doing autographs now?"

Jimmy shrugged. "You wanted to be a hero."

"I wanted to help people."

"Apparently those things come with paperwork."

Yato had already wandered away. They found him a few minutes later beside a damaged vehicle. A soldier was trying to repair one of its broken panels.

Yato crouched beside him. "Give me that."

The soldier handed him the tool. Yato examined the damage, adjusted the bent metal and began helping with the repair. The soldier stared at him.

"You don't have to do that."

"I know."

Yato continued working. Andy and Jimmy looked at each other. Neither said anything. They both understood.

---

Kei remained in the treatment center. The head researcher, Ward, stood beside him as another patient was brought forward.

"That one."

Kei looked down. The patient was unconscious. His injuries were severe.

Ward's voice softened. "He's one of the people who developed the beast beacons."

Kei's hands paused. "The beacons?"

"The ones keeping most of the beasts away from the Bastion cities."

Ward looked at the unconscious scientist. "Without his work, we'd have thousands more beasts reaching the cities every day."

Kei immediately began the treatment. The red aura spread across the scientist's body. Ward watched the monitors.

"You saved someone strategically irreplaceable."

Kei didn't look up. "He's a person."

Ward was quiet. Kei continued healing.

"Whatever he does for the war comes after that."

Ward looked at him for several seconds before nodding. "I suppose that's why people follow you."

Kei smiled slightly. "I don't know about that."

He placed his hand against the scientist's chest. "Next."

---

The call came less than 3 minutes later. The doctor answered it.

"General Ross."

"Where's Kei?"

The doctor's expression tightened. "He's treating the wounded."

"I need him."

"So do we."

"We have another Gate."

The doctor looked toward the treatment floor. "How bad?"

"Bad enough that if we don't allocate someone immediately, the city gets breached."

"Then send another squad."

"We don't have another squad."

The doctor's jaw tightened. "General—"

"I need the world's strongest fighter on that front."

"And I need the world's only healer here."

Ross's voice rose. "Doctor, if that Gate breaks isn't stopped, everyone in this city will die by the end of the day."

"And if Kei leaves this room, these people die now!"

"I don't have time for this!"

"Neither do I!!" The doctor slammed a hand onto the desk. "You want to send him because he's the strongest fighter on Earth. I want him here because he's the only person who can save the people dying in front of me!"

The line went quiet. Leon's world felt distant from this friction. Kei looked toward the phone. Then toward the patients. Then toward the doctor.

"Give me everyone who needs immediate treatment."

The doctor turned. "Kei?"

"I'll heal them all at once."

The doctor stared at him. Kei's red aura began spreading through the room.

"I'll suppress the Gate after that."

Ross spoke through the phone. "Kei—"

"Andy will get me there quickly."

Andy appeared in the doorway. "I heard my name."

Kei nodded toward him. "You'll get me to the Gate. You won't fight."

Andy frowned. "I can still fight."

"You've been fighting for hours."

"I'm fine."

"You're exhausted."

Andy opened his mouth. Kei continued.

"You'll rest on the way. I'll keep healing you."

Andy sighed. "Fine."

Kei looked toward Jimmy and Yato. "You two stay here."

Jimmy immediately shook his head. "I can still fight."

"You've been on duty for twenty hours."

"I'm still standing."

"You're overstrained."

Jimmy looked annoyed. Kei didn't move.

"Rest."

Jimmy finally sighed. "Fine."

Kei turned to Yato. "Same for you."

Yato nodded. "I understand."

Andy crossed his arms. "And what about you? You haven't slept in a week."

"I'll be fine."

Andy stared at him. "That's what you said during the first week of the apocalypse."

Kei said nothing.

"Then you fought for five days straight, collapsed in the middle of a fight and went into a coma."

The room had gone quiet.

"We barely saved you."

Kei looked back toward the patients. Andy stepped closer.

"You need sleep. You need rest. You can't keep doing this."

Kei's expression softened. "I'm constantly healing myself."

"That's not the same thing."

"I know."

"Then stop pretending it is."

Kei looked across the treatment center. At the wounded. At the researchers. At the cultivators who had been fighting to keep humanity alive. Then he smiled faintly.

"They need me more."

The red aura surrounding him intensified. Every injured cultivator in the room was enveloped at once. The Vermillion Bird's power surged through them. Bones repaired. Blood returned. Qi stabilized. Bodies strengthened.

Kei stood at the center of it all, carrying the exhaustion of an entire week behind his eyes. Then he turned toward Andy.

"Let's go."

Andy looked at him for a long moment. "You're an idiot."

Kei smiled. "Probably."

Andy sighed and walked toward the door. "Come on, idiot."

Kei followed.

Behind them, Jimmy and Yato remained in the treatment center. The four Guardians were the strongest cultivators on Earth they could resolve almost any problem but they couldn't be everywhere all the time. They needed the other cultivators to catch up but unfortunately the rest still had a long way to go.