Rin’s confession was followed by an awkward silence. Shelly did not say anything at first and kept looking at him with a blank expression.

He had no idea what she was thinking, but Rin decided not to rush her. He needed to give her time to come to a decision on her own.

Finally, after thinking for some time, Shelly’s eyes hardened and she made up her mind.

"You...really want to see the real me? Then I don’t need to hide myself any longer, right?"

Shelly asked in a small voice, and Rin nodded at her.

"That’s right. You no longer need to hide how you feel. I promise I will accept you no matter what you do or how you turn out."

Rin promised Shelly, and her eyes shone in a way that told Rin she wanted to cry, yet no tears escaped them.

Shelly looked away, but the smile on her face was enough to tell Rin that she was truly happy about what had happened.

"I see. So I don’t need to hide myself anymore. I...need some time to process this. I will take my leave now."

Before Rin could say another word, Shelly left the room.

The matter she had originally come to discuss was still left unresolved, but Rin did not bring it up.

Honestly, too much had been discussed already, and it made Rin’s head hurt. He needed time to come to terms with what had just happened as well.

After Shelly left, Rin closed his eyes to relax and clear his mind. However, he ended up falling asleep before he realized it.

...

[We have a new announcement for you.]

[Starting from the next task, the local servers will be merged. A new era will come for the human race.]

[Communication channels will open. Local rankings will be merged.]

[A new era of the apocalypse is upon us. We wish you the best of luck.]

Rin woke up to these messages and instantly checked the rankings. His world immediately felt unstable as he looked at Shelly’s name on the list.

[Hunter Name: Shelly

Hunter Rank: 2 (Global), 1 (Local)]

’Shelly...dropped to No. 2? Then who is No. 1?’

Rin immediately looked through the list and noticed that the person in first place was someone named Kyle. But that was all the information provided.

He had never heard of this "Kyle" before. But if he was powerful enough to overtake Shelly, then he must have been an important figure in the original novel.

So why was he never mentioned in it?

"It looks like this ’merge’ caused a mess. So what’s our plan from now on?"

Albus asked as he looked at the rankings as well. He looked just as pale as Rin, indicating that this was not something that had happened in his future either.

Was this...a new development? But why was it happening all of a sudden? Maybe the system could explain more...

[(’’❛ ؂ - „)ᕗ]

[Sorry, Rookie, but the reason behind this merge is confidential. The system cannot help you this time.]

[But rest assured, it is not something that will cause you trouble. In fact, now that the borders are open, achieving your KPI should be easier for you.]

The system tried to help Rin find a silver lining in the situation, but he was not amused by its carefree attitude.

Still, there was nothing he could do to change the situation.

Rin decided to take charge because everyone else was panicking even more than he was. He slapped his hand against the table, causing everyone to turn toward him.

"This is not the time to worry about useless things. This merge does not change anything about our current situation. For now, our priority should be making sure this settlement survives whatever comes next."

Task Eight was almost upon them, and Rin had no idea what it would involve. So he had to remain vigilant at all times.

His calmness affected the others as well, and they slowly nodded to show they understood what he meant.

It did not matter who was No. 1 or how many more settlements appeared. Their main goal was to ensure that their own settlement survived what was happening.

"Still, shouldn’t we try to make contact with these other settlements? They might have more information about the situation."

Teressa brought up a good point, but unfortunately, they did not have the time or resources to focus on that right now.

"We’ll have to wait and see if that’s something we can do in the future. But for now, we need to focus on the task at hand."

Rin pointed out, and the conversation shifted back to the main topic.

However, Rin noticed that Teressa’s expression looked strange. She usually carried herself confidently, but he could tell that something about this whole situation was bothering her.

’Should I ask her what she’s thinking?’

Rin considered it, but ultimately decided against it. There were some things Teressa needed to work through on her own, and if she needed help, she could always come to him.

__________

’My dear, won’t you come back to me? I miss you so much.’

Invisible hands reached out toward Serena, and she felt a phantom-like cold touch against her face. It made her shiver, and she instinctively turned to grab the hand.

But all she grasped was empty air.

"Serena, did you notice something? You suddenly moved..."

The person on patrol with her asked the question, but Serena barely heard him. Her attention remained fixed on the phantom touch that had felt so real.

This was happening more and more frequently these days. She could feel her mother reaching out to her, asking her to come back.

But Serena knew this was only a fragment of her imagination. This was not her mother...it could not be.

Her mother had died at the very start of the apocalypse, and it was all Serena’s fault for not being fast enough.

’Don’t think like that, Serena. None of it was your fault. You did everything you could. You were the best daughter I could have asked for.’

The sweet voice whispered in Serena’s ears, making her want to cover them.

It would have been easier if the voice had accused her instead. But because it sounded so gentle and encouraging, Serena could not even bring herself to hate it.