69 They'll die
Dilan had a lot more to say, but he let it be for the time being.
Everyone was still shocked because he had cruelly beheaded Leon.
As such, it was best to wait a little bit and let everyone calm down.
Even if others didn’t call him a leader, boss or something like that, Dilan knew that he had just become the self-proclaimed leader of the group by indirectly demanding the title for himself.
This and the fact that he had beheaded someone was more than enough to turn him from an ordinary survivor to a leader in half a day.
With that in mind, he decided to return to the corner of the room, where he lied down to sleep.
Dilan was exhausted and not in the mood to say anything else.
Thus, he ignored the others as he shut his eyes and entered a deep sleep that lasted several hours.
Meanwhile, the old man in his 60s, who had asked Dilan the question if it was really necessary to kill Leon, had quieted down and returned to sleep as well.
‘He might not be the smartest, but it looks like he has some morals. In the end, he is definitely better to stay with than being with Max and his group, or outside the cafeteria… Everything should be fine, right?’
Asking himself the last question, the old man fell asleep not knowing what fate would bring upon him.
Contrary to him, many other Survivors were too shocked to fall asleep.
Because they were in turmoil, some gathered in small groups to start gossiping.
Everyone had their own opinion about the given situation, Dilan’s behavior, and his answer.-.
However, in the end, most agreed that the example he made out of Leon was impactful enough to prevent others to do something as stupid as trying to **** a member of their group while thinking that they would be able to get away with it.
As such, while Dilan slept soundly, others were either sleeping as well, gossiping, or even considering leaving the group.
And this was something Dilan figured out when he woke up a few hours later.
He had missed waking up before sunrise, but that was fine, considering the harrowing event of the previous day.
Dilan rubbed his drowsy eyes and stifled a yawn while looking through the cafeteria before he saw that a small group of five people was staring at him with scared expressions.
But even if they were afraid, they approached him with careful steps, just for one of them to gather his entire courage at once before he muttered an apology,
“W…We are s-s-sorry…Sir, but we would…like to leave….”
Dilan had not expected everyone to stay, at least not after the incident yesterday. It was obvious that most of them wanted to reunite with their family.
Furthermore, if they felt uncomfortable with him, or anything else inside the hospital, it was for the best to leave.
This was something he simply accepted, which was why he nodded his head.
“If you guys want, we can give you one Kobold weapon, some rat horn daggers, a little bit of food and something to drink to survive outside for the time being before you find a shelter for yourself.”
Dilan had no idea where the others wanted to go, but he didn’t feel like throwing the small group out of the cafeteria without a weapon or resources to survive even for a day or two.
It was harsh outside the hospital, and Dilan was not sure what was the situation on the other floors inside the Rian mountainside hospital.
But even if he wanted to help them a little bit more, it was not like he had the means to provide them with more resources.
‘Well, it should be more than they should have hoped for.’ He thought before shrugging his shoulders.
Afterward, he walked over to the batch of Kobold weapons from which the group of five could choose one weapon.
“I doubt that you guys fought against zombies before, so a longsword or spear would be the best. Killing a few zombies and leveling up shouldn’t be a problem with the Kobold’s weapons!”
The small group belonged to the new batch of Survivors he had recently rescued. As such, Dilan doubted that they knew a lot about the Primordial Ascension.
However, because they wanted to leave, Dilan didn’t bombard them with questions, but merely let them walk after Bianne provided them with some food to last for two days.
After they walked out, Dilan sighed deeply before shaking his head.
“Why are you sighing? Are you sad about them leaving, or that you gave them our scarce resources?” Someone asked all of a sudden.
It was Kathrine who had appeared next to him, with her sister Yvonne and asked the question. She had heard him sighing and wanted to know what caused him to feel like this.
For a moment, she thought that it was because he had beheaded someone of their own group just a few hours ago, but that was not the case.
“They are going to die.” Dilan just said, looking at the retreating figures of five that left the cafeteria forever.
They would never return, and Dilan could tell that they didn’t want to stay in the hospital anymore.
He was pretty sure that this small group would try their luck outside the hospital, and that they would probably search for more food in the supermarket.
“Huh?! Then why didn’t you stop then?” Yvonne exclaimed all of a sudden, her gaze following the group of five.
She had lived with them from the days when she had woken up after the Primordial Ascension.
Even if they were selfish, their heart was in the right place.
Flicking his gaze at Yvonne, Dilan sighed once again before answering,
“I already said that I won’t hold anyone back from leaving. There is no need for me to protect someone who doesn’t want my protection. If someone doesn’t think that my behavior or actions are correct, they can leave.
And if everyone thinks that, I will leave instead. I might consider myself as leader of this group right now, but a leader without trust and loyalty is just an empty title, maybe even a marionette in some ways.”
He shrugged his shoulder afterward, only to remember something upon seeing the sister duo.
“Your name is Yvonne, right? Do you mind talking to me about your situation during the Primordial Ascension? There is something I want to understand about Origin abilities, and I think what we did during the Primordial Ascension might be quite important.”
During the Primordial Ascension, Dilan had a near brush with death, and he only survived due to his miraculous fortune.
Because he was closer to death than life, it had been a necessity for him to heal, and recover from the lethal injury of having a hole in his chest.
That was why he had received the Origin ability [Regeneration].
At least, this was something Dilan presumed.
As such, he wanted to figure out what Yvonne’s situation was.
She was the first human with an Origin ability, who he encountered, or rather, the first one he knew about.
Yvonne looked at Dilan for a few seconds, and only now did she realize that she had spoken to a man, which made her quickly hide behind her sister.
Even if Dilan seemed decent, Yvonne’s body reacted instinctively to the presence of a male owing to the trauma that was terrorizing her mind.
Quite a few women had faced the same trauma, but all of them endured it in a different way.
And all of them would either overcome it and start afresh or succumb to the trauma!
Understanding Yvonne’s reaction, Dilan didn’t move toward her. He simply smiled before saying,
“If you don’t want to talk right now, that’s fine as well. I don’t want to force you to tell me something about your personal life if you are not ready for it.
I just wanted to compare a few facts such as our situation, how we awoke our abilities, how big the relation to the ability’s function to what exactly we were doing at that time, and what we were doing when the Primordial Ascension occurred.
For example, I was flung away and punctured by a huge old tree trunk in a small ravine on the mountain. I gained the origin ability [Regeneration] and I survived thanks to it. [Regeneration] increases my Health stat, gives me a passive improvement in my natural regeneration, and a huge boost when I activate my Origin ability with the use of mana!”
Dilan wanted to gain Yvonne’s trust and make her comfortable around him.
He didn’t really need much information from her, but just the things he mentioned.
However, that was already quite encroaching on her privacy.
A few seconds passed, in which Yvonne simply looked at him. Her long silky black hair almost covered parts of her hazel brown eyes as she stuttered while answering him.
“I…was in a coma…The Primordial Ascension…woke..woke me up…”
Speaking to Dilan by staring straight into his sky blue eyes, Yvonne felt chills running down her spine.
Thus after the first words tumbled out of her mouth, she was unable to say anything further.
Fortunately, Kathrine was still there.
She turned to her little sister before asking,
“Is it okay if I tell him? If you don’t want to, we can postpone that as well…”
For Kathrine, Yvonne’s health was the most important. As such, she wanted to help her little sister in every possible way.
After all, she had not been able to actively help. Nine days ago, Kathrine had been helpless, and unable to find a way to reach Yvonne.
She had been worried sick, and could only wait anxiously to find her while dreading that her sister’s condition had worsened over and over again.
Thus, it was for the best that she could help Yvonne right now, and be her pillar of support.
Nodding her head, Yvonne cowered behind her sister, only to peek out from behind her older sister’s back to take a glance at Dilan.
“My sister was in a coma for around 3 months. She was involved in a car accident, but I don’t really think that helps you. Either way, she was also on the verge of dying, and the doctors said that she would be dead by now.
A day before the New Year, they said she had one week, at most…”
Dilan connected the dots and nodded his head in interest upon hearing that Yvonne was about to die.
However, the moment he heard the name of Yvonne’s Origin ability, the theory he was coming up with lost all its reasoning.
“The Origin ability of hers is called [Angel of Death]…!”