Chapter 130 - - Contacting The World (Part 1)
Meanwhile, Chin-Hwa watched the entire interaction with a frown on his face. Seeing Hyun-Jae hug Talon out of nowhere took him by surprise.
Not only did she willingly do it, but the hug was also so intimate, akin to that of two lovers rather than acquaintances. His heart ached greatly from that sight and he didn't know what to do.
On the one hand, Hyun-Jae had severed their friendship so he couldn't speak even if he wanted to. On the other hand, she probably didn't even know that he had feelings for her, and that made his frustration grow even more.
'Goddamit…' Cursing to himself, he clenched his fists tightly.
In the end, he could only look away from the two. The sight pained him greatly and it was too much to handle even for someone as stoic as he was.
Talon, who was focused on Hyun-Jae, noticed that. So, he slowly and gently pulled Hyun-Jae away. "Are you ok?" He asked.
"Mm… I'm fine." She replied with a small blush on her face.
'I really hugged him… Again…' She thought to herself.
This was the second time Hyun-Jae's emotions took over her and she ended up throwing herself at Talon. She could only feel embarrassed realizing how awfully close she was to him. The times she hugged people could be counted on one hand throughout her life, and yet, she ended up hugging him multiple times willingly. It was confusing how her mind worked.
"Ok. Anyway, is the rest of the group fine?"
"They're waiting on the other side. When I heard that you stayed back to fight the monsters… I rushed here." Hyun-Jae gave him a glare.
"Ah, haha, yeah. Ehem, my bad about that. But, no worries, I killed them all." Talon replied with an awkward smile.
"Wait, what?" Chin-Hwa turned around. "You killed them?"
"Yeah."
"The entire horde?"
"Yeah."
"..." Just hearing those responses made the cold prince blink speechlessly.
That's when Hyun-Jae realized something. "That huge crater… Was it your doing?"
"It was. Luckily, that attack was strong enough to wipe out the entire army and I got myself some pretty nice rewards."
"..." (x2)
The duo stared at him in awkward silence. They didn't know how to react at all.
'What kind of attack generates a hole of that size?' Just trying to imagine what he did made the two shudder. How was he able to do such a thing?
The shock was deep… Very deep. Talon's strength had truly become something straight out of a fictional world. The ability to create such devastating attacks.
"Yeah, in any case, everything is over now. Well…"
*CRACK*
"Except for the expansion…" Talon looked around him at the expanding cracks.
Even though the intensity of the earthquakes finally subsided, it was still very dangerous to move around with how fragile the ground was.
'The world probably already expanded a lot. But, the gravity didn't increase yet… I wonder when that will happen.' Talon thought to himself.
"Wait, everything is over? What about that woman?" Hyun-Jae asked curiously.
"I found her and… Finished her off." Talon thought for a moment before he replied.
"Oh…"
Hyun-Jae didn't need any other hints to understand what 'Finished her off' meant. Still, she could only look up at Talon. She knew that this was his first ever kill so she naturally expected him to feel something different about it.
However, surprisingly, he shook his head. "I'm really fine. You don't have to worry. I thought killing her would make me feel bad. But, I didn't feel anything at all. It was just like killing monsters."
Staring at his hand, Talon could vividly remember how it felt the moment his spear went through her heart. His heart rate didn't increase nor did he feel anything out of the ordinary. It was as if this wasn't the first time he killed a human in his life and that confused him.
'Is this because I killed many monsters?' He asked himself and yet didn't know the answer to that.
In the end, he gave up thinking about it as it turned out to be far more confusing than he expected and he had no time to contemplate such stuff. If he didn't feel bad then that was good since that meant he won't have a hard time killing humans in the future if necessary. That was his biggest concern this entire time and it finally got cleared up.
Hyun-Jae noticed those subtle changes in his expression and sighed. Even though he probably didn't realize it, she could see that Talon was a little worried that he might have something wrong with him. After all, normally, killing another human would affect one's mind whether they realize it or not.
But, she decided not to say that for now. She didn't want him to end up overthinking it. So, instead, she looked down at the three unconscious scientists.
"What about these three? Who are they?"
"Hm? I found them inside, held hostage by that woman. They don't seem familiar to me but I think they're scientists of some kind." Talon rubbed the back of his head. "I thought we could ask them for help establishing contact with the outside world when they wake up."
"That's a good idea. They would do a better job than us."
"Hnng…"
At that moment, they heard a small groan coming from one of the unconscious people. The man slowly opened his eyes and looked around him in a daze.
"Are you good?" Talon crouched down as he helped him rise up.
"Hu… uh? Where am I?" The man asked.
"Outside the building. Do you feel anything weird?"
"No… I'm… Fine… Who are you?"
"We used to be students here. We've been looking for a way to contact the outside world and look for our families. When I came here, I found you and your peers held hostages by that woman."
"That woman… Oh! Oh no! Where is she?! Please, hide me!!" Just hearing the word 'that woman' made the man lose his composure as he started panicking.
"Calm down. She's dead. You're fine."
"Dead… Huh…" For a second, the man didn't understand what Talon had said. But, it slowly dawned on him. "She's…dead… Hah… Hahaha… Hahahahaha!"
Then, he started laughing hysterically as he held his face. Tears welled up in his eyes as his laughs mixed with his sobs.
"I can't believe it… We're saved… We're saved! Thank god! Truly… Thank god!"
All of his bottled-up emotions came out all at once. He felt so happy that he didn't even know what to do at that moment.
'It must've been really hard on them… I don't know how long they've been there for.' Talon pursed his lips.
"Were you the one who contacted us a month ago?" He asked after a while when he noticed that the man finally started calming down.
"*Sniff* Contacted you? We didn't…" The man wiped his tears as he suddenly realized what he meant. "Wait… You were the ones who received our message?"
Hyun-Jae and Talon nodded their heads.
"Wow…" The scientist blinked. "To think that the small message we sent… Would make the difference…"
"We would've not had the idea of coming here if it wasn't for it." Talon rubbed his chin. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
'Pfft… If it wasn't for it… All of this would've not happened.'
Smiling wryly at the coincidence, he stood up. "Well, I guess destiny brought us here for a reason after all. To help you and in return, we can finally get your help too."
"Our help?"
"We want to contact the outside world, as I said. I believe that's possible using the equipment inside this building, no?"
"Yeah, it's definitely possible. We can definitely try doing that. But, there is no guarantee there could be anyone that would receive the signal out there."
"Well, there is no harm in doing it. Whether we find a signal or not is up to fate." Talon shrugged. "In any case, I would prefer if we can do this as fast as possible. This building won't hold on for long with how much damage it sustained." Talon said as he looked up at the structure.
Even with its resilience, the research center was still in very bad shape after the multiple earthquakes that hit it. With a simple look, it had a few days at most before it collapsed too.
'Hopefully, our efforts won't go down the drain.'
***
After that, the group waited for the remaining scientists to wake up. They were naturally shocked to see that they were still alive after what happened.
Turns out, Terren had used them to heal her wounds with the helmets she had. They were capable of sucking the life force out of them and in consequence, they would slowly die.
It was a painful torture that they thought they would never wake up from. In the end, their lives were saved and they ended up bowing in front of Talon in gratitude.
"It's fine, you don't have to thank me. Instead…"
"Hm?"
"Just help me get in contact with my family. If you do that, I will consider it as you returning the favor."
The trio looked at each other in confusion. "That's it?"
"Yeah, just getting to know that they're fine is more than enough for me. If you give me that good news, then it's akin to saving my life."
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