"Open the door! Please!" David shouted from the outside.
Panic and fear were evident in his voice, but no one moved to help him. Some turned their gaze towards the door, but none took a step to help, afraid that they’d be kicked out as well.
But when David kept knocking, a girl couldn’t hold back.
"M-Maybe we made a hasty decision," she said. "Can’t we let them back in? Just... give them a warning?"
The moment she said that everyone turned towards her like she was crazy. Moving the barricade so frequently would weaken it.
Besides, moving it required a lot of strength and no one wanted to waste their energy since they didn’t have any food or water with them. To survive, they needed to conserve their strength.
Everyone knew that, but no one wanted to say it out loud. If they did, wouldn’t they be deemed heartless and vicious?
"Since no one objected, I’ll let them in," the girl said, approaching the door.
Just as she was about to reach for the handle, someone grabbed her hand.
"Don’t do it," Blaze said, pulling her back. "With how much noise they made, those creatures must have already heard them. If we remove the barrier, then what would stop them from entering the hall?"
A few people nodded in agreement. No one wanted to risk getting killed for two people who might already be doomed.
They only pulled the barricade apart the first time to exile Martin and David as they were making too much noise.
It was a moment of desperation, which thankfully, didn’t backfire. But no one wanted to take that risk again.
"If anyone still wants to help them," Blaze said, looking around the room. "then be my guest."
Just like that, the girl went silent, and no one dared to make a move. Most of them wanted to help, but none wanted to be blamed for it.
The mob mentality is... terrifying.
Blaze thought with a straight face but was smiling on the inside. After all, that was the mentality he wanted to foster among the survivors. Just experimenting with the monsters wouldn’t be much fun, not to mention playing around with the survivors was easier.
As much as he was enjoying it, he was also cursing himself for not letting go of his inhibitions before. Nineteen years... he wasted nineteen years trying to fit in with these pathetic fools.
Blaze didn’t know what was happening or why it was happening. It was redundant to think about those topics so soon. One could only come up with theories at this point and wait for nature to hold them true or disregard them.
Instead, Blaze was more interested in deciphering the truth of mutations before him.
"Look! Those words, they’re gone!"
Some pointed and everyone walked to the windows.
"It has to be god’s doing—!"
"Looks like David’s stupidity virus infected him too."
What are they on about?
Blaze frowned. Everyone said the words had disappeared, but he could see them just fine. Despite that, it perplexed him. Why could he see the words, but no one else?
He was wondering about it when suddenly the words distorted. Blaze thought they were disappearing for good. However, a moment later, more words appeared in their place.
Only the chosen can witness true greatness.
Blaze casually looked around. Surely if anyone else saw those words they’d react, but no one did. Everyone stood in place wondering where the words had disappeared to.
But then another thought appeared in his head. He turned his gaze towards the floating words.
Are you... talking to me?
The words flickered again, but this time it was all incomprehensible gibberish.
Y--y..u a.er abt--to... d..dii... e--vlv.e.. trnscn..d...
Before he could ask anything else, the words disappeared for sure. Perhaps it held some information Blaze shouldn’t know, but it had let out too many words for Blaze to not know what it said.
Even a five-year-old can figure it out.
Blaze sighed, repeating the words inside his head.
You are about to die, evolve, transcend.
Those people died after their heads exploded. Then they mutated, or as it said, evolved, and transcended. Blaze immediately took a step back, hiding from the sunlight.
For the first time since all this began, a hint of panic appeared on his face. He remembered people pointing in the sky right before their heads exploded.
Could it be they saw something others couldn’t see, just like he did moments ago? He cursed himself for not knowing what they saw before their heads exploded.
They were chosen... like me?
Cold sweat formed on his forehead. The more he thought about it, the more... excited he got. The thought of dying would have paralyzed anyone, but for Blaze, it was the start of a new adventure, one he wanted to embark on as soon as possible.
Calm down. Don’t run outside just yet.
Blaze thought, looking at the headless corpses before him. They had died just like those who mutated, but instead of evolving, they stayed dead. It could be they were chosen to die, but they didn’t evolve afterward.
He threw the thought of going outside from his head. He didn’t have sufficient data to make a decision yet. He had to figure out how mutations worked first. Only then would he embark on the journey of evolution.
Thankfully, he had already sent the first batch of test subjects outside.
"Look! It’s Martin!" the girl from before yelled, pointing below.
Everyone rushed back to the window, looking below.
In the courtyard, Martin was sprinting like his life depended on it, his face was covered in blood and he kept looking back like something was after him.
David wasn’t far behind, but he was much slower, given his bulky size and the gaping wound on his shoulder. Much like Martin, he too was looking behind every other second.
"Looks like they are running from something..."
"What are they running from?"
Blaze looked at the two, wondering how they were even attending such a prestigious university.
"Who’d chase them? Obviously, it’s those monsters we saw before." Someone retorted.
While others were busy talking about useless stuff, Blaze looked worried and had his fists clenched at his sides.
Why aren’t they mutating? They’re under direct sunlight, but nothing’s happening?
The words from before flashed in his mind, answering his question.
They weren’t chosen. How the hell do I find the chosen people?
A sudden crash interrupted his thoughts. He looked down, just to see that cluster-head girl chasing after them. All of her tendrils were drenched in blood. Clearly, she had been busy hunting humans.
And David was her next target.