Chapter 445 - 57 - Guilty

Chen listened to the man recount his story word for word in complete silence. His mind struggled to comprehend what he was hearing. A zombie had turned back into a human—and it had happened because of Skyy.

His eyes slowly fell on the person sleeping peacefully on the moss-covered ground. Skyy looked completely unaware of everything happening around him. He even let out a soft little snore as he shifted slightly in his sleep, his expression relaxed and peaceful.

Chen walked over and crouched beside him, carefully taking hold of his hand to examine the wound.

The huge bite mark was still there, along with the chunk of flesh that had been torn away, but the damage was slowly healing. It wasn't happening rapidly like Trexa's healing power. Instead, the process was gradual, almost painfully slow to watch. Yet there was no mistaking it. The flesh was regenerating, little by little, as Skyy's body repaired itself.

Chen stared at it in disbelief.

In his twenty years of life, he had never seen anything so astonishing.

A power that could neutralize the virus, heal the body, and even revitalize a zombie, returning it to human form.

It was like a secret elixir.

Skyy was a treasure trove, there was no doubt about that. If they could understand the secret hidden within his DNA sequence, perhaps it would even be possible to create a cure for the zombie virus that had plagued the world for so long. But Chen wasn't sure whether anyone could actually replicate such a complicated ability. Even if they understood Skyy's DNA, there was no guarantee they could reproduce whatever had allowed his body to accomplish this.

And that was exactly what frightened him.

If this secret became known to other people, they wouldn't simply see Skyy as a person anymore. They would see him as the key to a cure.

They might try to capture him.

Experiment on him.

Or worse.

Chen's hands slowly clenched into tight fists.

No.

No one could know about this.

This had to remain a secret.

Even Skyy couldn't know—not yet.

Skyy was far too innocent. He trusted people too easily, especially anyone who treated him with even the slightest bit of kindness. If someone asked him about his abilities, he would probably tell them everything without a second thought. He wouldn't understand why they might want to use him, nor would he realize the danger he could place himself in simply by being honest.

It was better if only a few people knew.

People Chen could trust.

His gaze eventually shifted toward the man sitting nearby, who was still quietly sobbing as he stared down at his hands.

He knew the secret now.

Chen's expression hardened.

What if he told someone?

What if he spread the news?

What if he realized what Skyy could do and decided he wanted Skyy's blood for himself? Even if the man didn't intend to harm Skyy, desperation could make people do terrible things. A cure to the zombie virus was something countless people would kill for.

Chen's paranoia rose sharply at the mere thought of Skyy being hurt.

He stared at the man, the rifle slowly tightening in his grip.

The man hadn't noticed. He was still hunched over himself, quietly sobbing as he stared at his moss-covered hands. Every now and then, his shoulders shook with another broken breath, but he made no attempt to defend himself or even look at Chen.

Chen raised the rifle. The barrel came to rest against the man's head. For a moment, everything inside him went frighteningly quiet.

It would solve the problem.

The thought came so naturally that it scared him.

This man was the only one who knew what Skyy had done. If he died here, no one would know that a twenty-year-old zombie had somehow returned to being human after biting Skyy. No one would know that Skyy's body had somehow neutralized the virus and begun repairing itself.

No one would come looking for him.

Chen's finger rested against the trigger.

Then he looked at the man again.

He remembered what the man had just told him. All the brutal killing he had done over the years…

Chen's jaw tightened.

He had done terrible things, but how much of that had truly been his choice? Now he was sitting here as a human being, broken by memories he had spent twenty years trying to forget.

Chen couldn't pull the trigger.

He couldn't do it.

His arm slowly lowered, and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Killing a zombie was one thing. He had done it countless times. But this man wasn't a zombie anymore, and Chen couldn't bring himself to execute him simply because he happened to know something dangerous.

That left him with a problem he didn't know how to solve.

The man couldn't be allowed to wander around telling everyone about Skyy. At the same time, Chen couldn't lock him up or kill him just to protect a secret. His thoughts began to pound against his skull until he finally gave up and sat down beside the man, rubbing his aching temples.

"What am I supposed to do..." he muttered under his breath.

His gaze drifted toward Skyy.

He had never expected that protecting someone could become this complicated.

Beside him, the man suddenly stopped crying.

Chen didn't notice at first. He was too lost in his own thoughts, staring at the floor while trying to find some answer that simply wasn't there.

Then he heard the faint scrape of metal.

He looked up.

The rifle was no longer beside him.

The man had picked it up.

"What are you doing?"

The man didn't answer. He calmly turned the rifle toward himself and pressed the barrel against his neck.

Chen's heart lurched. "Wait!"

He reached for him, but he was already too late.

The gunshot shattered the silence of the cottage.

Chen froze as warm blood splashed across his face.

For several seconds, he couldn't move.

The man's body collapsed beside him, the rifle slipping from his hands and falling onto the ground.

Chen stared at those lifeless eyes gazing back at him. His face had relaxed. The lines of pain were gone. A small, peaceful smile rested on his lips.

He slowly touched the blood on his cheek, his fingers trembling slightly.

He hadn't been able to kill the man.

And yet, in the end, he hadn't been able to stop him either.

Because now there was no one left who could tell him what to do.