Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 156. Ascend

"As we discussed, everyone will make it outside, so let the elderly, children and women go first!" A thin man in the middle loudly proclaimed. Without glasses, his dirty body was skinny and unshaved; I nearly wouldn’t have recognized him, but that was really my attorney.

He looked at me for a moment, but then covered his eyes too—yeah, if they had truly spent these two months in absolute darkness, they would need time to accustom themselves to the light again.

I had spoken with my grandma earlier; she and Chelsea would give everyone who came to the surface something to eat (they had even brought a can opener that they had apparently found in the kitchen some time ago) and explain to them that there were monsters in the forest, so they shouldn’t leave the vicinity. If they see someone dazed, they will bring them aside for us to later take with us. Additionally, they would also note down everyone’s names.

They would be busy, and I would be busy as well.

"Make some space for me; I’m coming down!"

"Everyone, clear the room! We will all go up, but we must do it in order!" Ethan loudly announced. The moment there was space, I conjured up a rope and gave it to Henry, for him to let me down.

Once I had solid ground under my feet, I immediately wanted to go up again. It was so damn smelly and damp in here. I thought my nose and stomach were already steeled against any kind of atrocity, but oh goddamn hell, apparently that was not the case.

In the absolute darkness, the people here had randomly used the floor as a toilet; they were dirtier than anyone I had ever seen on the surface. It was like a real-life hell.

I could feel a few hands touching my head and back, and I shivered at the contact. What the hell?

Ethan pulled me to his side and patted me on the shoulder. "Good to see you again, Mr. Howard."

"Mhmm." I didn’t want to speak, so no dirty air would enter my mouth, but there was no other choice. After patting Ethan on the shoulder in return, I addressed the people.

"Everyone has two minutes to use the ladder. Upstairs, there will be food for everyone! But only if you move orderly and don’t cut the line! Don’t panic; everyone will get out today! Tell the others!" This time, there were finally cheers after my speech.

I conjured up the ladder, and while positioning it, the elderly people who had meanwhile entered the room among the onlookers didn’t give shit about my red eyes or where the hell that ladder came from. Everyone grabbed the ladder here and there, while an older woman pushed through to my side and seized the metal as if her life depended on it. There was no way to peel her trembling body away, so I told her to climb up.

She did so, slowly and weakly, but still within two minutes. Henry helped her up and guided her out of the expanded earth hole. Meanwhile, I let the ladder disappear and conjured it up again. This time I heard some murmurs, but nobody said anything specifically.

The next skinny old lady was quickly found, and although they didn’t stand in line as they were told, the one who grabbed the ladder was chosen to be next.

This reminded me of a scene from a movie—I can’t remember which—where a man crawled out of the dirty ground into freedom while screaming animalistically.

It was the same feeling, and I felt touched when these old people crawled out of the dirt, back to the surface, to the light to which they belonged to. One after another, I had never seen so many old people at once, so many old hands that gripped the ladder with a strength beyond their years, all with the most intense will to live, even though they were already at the other extreme of their lifespans.

After over sixty old, emaciated people had climbed up, the first young man, part of the onlookers inside the small room who refused to leave, tried to climb the ladder. I pulled him back by his collar, and he stumbled into the mass.

Letting the ladder disappear, I looked at him.

"No queue jumping; if this ladder disappears now or while you climb up, that’s for me to decide."

Ethan, overseeing everything, also nodded, and the man pushed himself out of the room with a grumble. However, I saw no more old people when I looked around.

"Now the children!" I bellowed, and a few women brought the kids, aged four to fifteen—well, that’s only two years younger than me, so not really a child, but I let it go. After making sure that each of them could climb the ladder themselves, there were soon another fifty children gone upstairs.

"Now the women!" One funny guy wanted to tell me he was a woman, but after I threatened him to make it come true if he was lying now, he behaved again and went to the back. The women nearby also gave him a good piece of their minds, so the work had its fun moments.

Until now, I found nobody possessed, but considering that I had to conjure the ladder up over four hundred times, I was busy enough not to mind. When the women were upstairs, I started to feel really weak. It seemed my dog would have to carry me home.

Not getting a ladder from the mansion was a conscious decision. I had really feared that there would be mass panic if I didn’t show them that the ladder was coming and going at my command. Like drowning people who became a danger to others, I didn’t want that to happen here. In hindsight, I might have overestimated my ability. On the other side, there was still hope to level up on my own, maybe becoming able to conjure more things or for them to remain longer in the presence; stuff like that would be especially nice.

"The men!" There was loud cheering and hollering as they began to climb. Ethan and I stood on each side of the ladder until everyone was upstairs. It had truly taken some time, and by some time, I mean around five hours or so. However, I was thanked often–with tears, profusely, or with a happy laugh, so it wasn’t that bad.

"You don’t look good." Ethan came closer and stared at me.

"Yeah, you don’t look so great either." I chuckled.

"Should I come down?" Henry asked us from above. I was in the midst of agreeing when he had already jumped down.

"Is he your friend?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah. Henry, Ethan here is my attorney."

"Oh." Henry smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Henry." Ethan proved himself to be the only polite one here.

The room we stood in was now empty, giving me the possibility to look around without conjuring up a flashlight, because of my leveled-up sight. It was something like an attic, made of wood; on the ground there were urine, feces, debris, black earth, blood—everything one can think of.

"Ethan, go up. Henry, follow me to search everything."

"I can lead you." Ethan offered, but I shook my head before I conjured up the ladder again.

"Go up; there is the younger cousin of my grandma; they look and behave very similarly; you’ll recognize her. Tell her we need more time to look through this place, and they should go back one by one." Everyone knew they should slip back to the mansion, and that while making sure nobody followed them.

"Okay. Be careful. And... things aren’t exactly pretty in there." Ethan warned before climbing up.