The apartment complex was unusually busy that morning.

For the first time since the Black Water had swallowed the city, people weren’t gathering near balconies to watch something that had already gone wrong.

Instead, they were preparing to leave.

Backpacks were checked, ropes were packed and weapons, if they could even be called that, were passed among volunteers. Kitchen knives, metal pipes, and a few hammers were scavenged from maintenance rooms

It wasn’t much, but it was something at least.

Lucien leaned against a wall near the entrance lobby and quietly watched the activity around him.

Joy.

It was everywhere. Not the fragile, desperate kind from the days before that used to die before it could even get the chance to ignite.

It was steadier this time, for everyone knew the Black Water was gone. The city was visible again and the people wanted to believe things were getting better, and for now, nobody had the thought of something still being stuck.

"Is this what you all have decided on?"

Mark’s voice cut through the lobby.

A handful of residents shifted uneasily, but the awakeners among them moved forward and shielded them before saying, "Yes, we don’t want to work under someone who is still wet behind his ears. Power doesn’t teach one leadership, hence we can’t risk our lives."

Some nodded, while others adjusted straps or checked supplies one final time, or at least tried to as they kept diverting their eyes away in fear. Nobody looked eager, but neither did they look terrified from Lucien, and that alone was a massive change that not even Mark nor Andrew had expected.

These shameless assholes.

Andrew wanted nothing more than to scream and tear apart their eardrums, but he still held back as his eyes landed on Lucien who was watching everything calmly.

Evelyn stepped beside him. "You really think this is a good idea? We don’t even know what’s out there anymore."

"No, it’s not. But at the end of the day, it’s their choice on what they want to do and where they want to go. And you heard them too, I am not a leader of some kind."

She blinked. "Then why are you taking Andrew and the others?"

Lucien glanced towards the entrance. "Because everyone else is venturing out, and its not like I am inviting them. They are following me on their own accord."

"Bu—"

"It’s no use." He knew how Evelyn felt, but he also had to make sure that she needed to toughen up her resolve soon or else surviving in this apocalypse wasn’t going to be as easy as planned.

A few minutes later, the doors opened, and the group stepped outside.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

The city looked different from the ground level entirely because though the flood had vanished, its scars hadn’t.

Mud coated the roads and abandoned vehicles clogged every intersection there was.

Broken glass glittered beneath the morning sunlight.

And dark water stains stretched for several meters up the sides of nearby buildings, silent proof of just how high the water had once been able to climb.

The majority of the group moved in the right direction, for the nearest police station and airport were situated there, and their best bet was on any communication device they could use to reach the higher-up authorities, if they had even survived.

Meanwhile, the smaller group, now composed of Lucien, Evelyn, Mark, Mary, Andrew, and Emily advanced in the left direction.

The ferret perched atop Emily’s head, its eyes looking curiously all around.

Nobody wandered far from the others because none of them wanted to be the first one to discover what still lurked inside this city.

Their destination was simple, it was none, or to be precise, it wasn’t decided.

The only reason they had ventured out all together was to scout and check for any other places that could be stayed in and become their new homes until they figured out things.

The reason?

Obviously, because everyone remembered the final words of the king of the wind, "I’ll be back."

And as much as Lucien wanted to fight him again, he hadn’t received any massive power-up that could help him in any manner.

The journey took longer than expected, but not because of danger. People kept stopping because every street revealed something new. A crushed bus was lodged halfway into a storefront, traffic lights hanging by exposed cables, and entire rows of vehicles were shoved together by the flood as though they weighed nothing at all.

The supermarket had caught his attention from several streets away.

Maybe it has some survivors?

Looking at a sky-rise apartment was his first thought, but when he recalled the scene of people leaving as soon as they got the opportunity that he had witnessed with his own eyes, he decided to check the places where they would go.

And what better than a place that contained food to eat?

"Anything?" Mark asked.

"No survivors." But he found no one roaming around.

Nobody looked surprised at his response, for that answer had become increasingly common throughout the morning.

Together, the group entered the building, trying to check if someone had already ventured inside despite seeing the closed door.

Inside, the situation was better than expected.

Even though it was messy, flooded, and damaged, it was still usable as the water hadn’t been able to fill the store from inside.

Everyone split up immediately. Andrew headed toward the hardware section whereas Mary and Emily searched for food. Mark moved toward the storage rooms and Evelyn disappeared somewhere near the pharmacy aisle as she remembered Lucien’s injuries.

They might need it more in the future, and what if Lucien ran out of whatever amount of supplies he had left?

Surely he couldn’t have infinite.

Meanwhile, Lucien wandered deeper into the building alone because something else had already caught his eye.

The plants.

At first glance they appeared normal, that was until he noticed the vines.

They had spread far beyond what should have been possible, thick roots crawling across shelves and green tendrils wrapping themselves around support beams. Several of them had already forced their way through cracks in the tiled floor as though the concrete wasn’t concrete but mud painted in white.

Lucien crouched beside one before sensing a faint trace of spiritual energy lingered within it.

It was weak, but undeniably present.

Footsteps approached from behind, and seconds later, Evelyn stopped beside him and followed his gaze.

"That’s... definitely not normal."

"The mutation isn’t limited to animals," Lucien said, rising to his feet. "The Black Water probably affected everything."

Evelyn studied the vines for a moment before quietly exhaling. For some reason, that answer unsettled her more than she had expected, for if even plants could mutate, what living thing had remained untouched by the Black Water?

It was finally gone... but had left its mark on the whole world.

Just as she was pondering, Mark’s voice echoed through the building. "We’ve searched this side completely!"

The group gathered and left the supermarket behind. Their backpacks were noticeably heavier. The silence outside somehow felt heavier too.

The deeper they moved into the city, the more that silence pressed against them. No voices. No engines. No distant sounds of anything alive. The streets felt completely abandoned, and the longer they walked, the harder it became to pretend otherwise.

The next place they reached only made it worse.

A subway entrance.

The stairs descended beneath the city into complete darkness. Everyone slowed, and nobody volunteered to go first.

Lucien stopped near the railing and looked downward, rubbing his chin in slight thought.

The floodwater had pulled back from the entrance, leaving behind muddy steps that disappeared into shadow below.

And looking down, he got a strange feeling. The spiritual energy here was noticeably denser than anywhere else they had passed, as if the underground tunnels had been collecting it from the surface above.

Not to mention the Black Water had risen from inside the ground.

Did that mean the subway contained some clues?

"What do you think is down there?" Andrew asked, moving beside him.

"Nothing worth investigating, not today."

Mark immediately nodded, heaving a sigh of relief "Good, because I’m not going down there regardless of the decision you were going to make."

Nobody argued.

Curiosity did exist about what was inside the subway, but so did self-preservation, and the second won easily for everyone wanted to see the next sunrise.

The group turned around before changing directions. Conversations returned but it only made them realise the eeriness of the situation as everything around them was in complete silence, as if still submerged underwater.

Suddenly, a low growl rolled out from between two abandoned vehicles far on their right.

"Wait." Lucien extended his hand, stopping anyone from moving forward as he narrowed his eyes at the creature lurking between the cars.