Godfire: The Split Soul-Chapter 181: You Are Supposed to Be Dead

Inside the main hall, countless people sat there, watching. Soldiers in uniform. Volunteers in civilian clothes. Medics with red armbands. They all sat scattered there, carrying faces that seemed as if they had been pulled from the ruins of their homes.

Stepping closer to the front row, Kai’s breath caught.

In the second seat of the front row, Jinx sat quietly. Her hands were folded in her lap, her white hair pulled back from her face.

’Is that Jinx?’ Kai’s steps faltered, his mind reeling at how thin she had become.

Dark circles pressed beneath her eyes, her left arm wrapped in a sling that seemed too large for her body.

She stopped turning her head the moment she saw Kai from a distance.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then, as more heads turned toward the direction she was locked onto, her expression shifted to something Kai couldn’t name.

Jinx raised her right hand and pressed it against her chest, a sharp breath exiting from her as she breathed.

Kai moved toward her before his mind could give him the order. The soldiers and civilians standing in the way all parted without him even asking.

He stopped right at the side of Jinx’s chair, sweat dripping from his forehead. "You’re supposed to be in the hospital."

Jinx’s mouth twitched. "You’re also supposed to be dead, per what I heard."

Kai brushed his palms over his face. "I’m not."

"I can see that."

Kai stood there, shifting glances at Jinx’s face. Her eyes. Her nose. And her lips.

Jinx removed the white handbag she had placed on the empty chair at her left side.

Kai sat down so carefully that it made Jinx think he was having waist pain. The handle of the silver sword pressed against the back of the chair, yet he didn’t adjust it.

Jinx’s eyes closed the moment she saw the sword. Memories of her seeing the sword in Lena’s room flashed into her mind. "Lena gave you that."

Kai hesitated, his hand grabbing the necklace beneath his shirt. The edges of the silver heart touched his skin as he pressed it hard against his chest.

Kai lowered his head, still holding the necklace like a heart. "That’s the last thing she gave me."

Tears began to drip from his eyes when Jinx placed her palm on his back.

"She said I should go and save the world."

Jinx closed her eyes for a moment. And when she cracked them open, they were dry, unlike Kai’s own. Her voice, on the other hand, sounded rougher as she spoke. "That sounds exactly like her."

Silence moved around them as more people filed into the hall. Whispers increased. Chair-scraping sounds intensified. And footsteps sounded heavier.

Every sound faded the moment Merlin stepped into the hall from the other side. Behind him, three officers Kai had no idea of marched.

All three of them bore an insignia Kai had never seen before. And at the rear, moving with measured steps of a man who had nothing to prove, was Lieutenant Wang.

Merlin reached the center of the platform at the far side of the hall, then turned and faced the crowd.

"Yesterday, we lost seventeen soldiers in a single operation." His voice boomed in the room. Hearts calmed, souls cried, and faces turned pale.

"We lost civilians. Ones that could have been you." He paused, throwing a sharp gaze at the civilian section.

"Through that, we learned that the tactics we’ve been using weren’t enough."

Every ear was tuned in more to his voice, neglecting the small chattering sounds echoing at the back.

"From this moment onward, there will be no more reckless deployment. No more untested volunteers sent to hold lines without support."

He paused, shifting his gaze across the faces of the soldiers.

"Every surviving soldier, fighter, and healer will be evaluated. Assessed. And be placed where their abilities can increase the defense of this city, or the country at large."

Beside Kai, Jinx exhaled slowly. Through her breath, he could hear different vibrations he hadn’t been hearing since he saw Lena’s dead body.

He saw her fingers tightening against the armrest of her chair.

At the right side of the platform, Wang stepped forward. His boots clicked against the platform’s stairs as he climbed them and stopped by Merlin’s side.

"The evaluation begins today. And it will be in this fold." He began to mention them one after another.

"Psychological screening first. Physical scanning. Combat assessment. No exceptions."

He shifted his gaze fast across the faces, then stopped when he saw Kai at the front seat. His brow closed, a crackling sound echoing around him as he clenched his fist.

"Some of you," he continued in a smooth voice, "...have already demonstrated remarkable capabilities in the war field. And those abilities will also be measured."

The more seconds that flew by between his stares, the more his tone deepened. "It will be quantified. And utilized appropriately."

The moment he tilted his head toward Merlin, the crowd’s whispers shot up, louder than before.

Without turning his head, Kai heard those words flying about, loud and clear. "Titan Killer."

Jinx leaned closer to Kai, then lowered her voice. "What are they saying?"

A faint smile spread across Kai’s face. "Nothing that important."

Jinx pulled her head back slightly, then gazed at him with a dissatisfied stare. "Kai."

Kai slowly turned toward her. He focused his gaze on the lines of pain around her mouth, the sling holding her left arm, and the exhaustion she was trying to hide.

"I’ll tell you later."

Jinx held his gaze for a moment, then nodded.

After twenty minutes, the assembly ended. The soldiers dispersed in small groups. Some moved toward the medical block, while others went straight into the training grounds on the east side of the medical block.

For Kai, he stood beside Jinx, ready to move with her wherever she was about to go. But then, two medics appeared from behind her.

"We’ll take her to the evaluation," a lady with blue eyes said, her voice echoing too calmly for a human at that moment of the year.

"She needs to be cleared by the medical team first."

Jinx’s eyelids raised and fell when Kai tried to join in. She raised her hand and paused, the second medic holding her arm. "I can walk."

"Regulation, ma’am," the medic insisted. Yet Jinx didn’t allow it.

She walked with them, placing measured steps. She pressed her right arm against her side as if she might fall apart when she loosened the arm.

Kai stood behind, watching until she and the medics disappeared through the door. He turned toward the evaluation staging area.

There, countless civilians were already in the queue. Some stood still, others hopped, almost as if the psychological evaluation would be a fistfight.

White walls surrounded the area, making sure the psychological screening moved smoothly. In the narrow room at the end of the medical block, only two chairs were available.

On the first chair, a woman wearing a grey uniform sat, her hand placed on a black table. A clipboard lay beneath her left palm, a blue pen balanced between her fingers.

When it got to Kai’s turn, all those standing behind him began watching him as if he wasn’t supposed to be there.

He went inside and sat in the empty chair, then waited.

The lady asked countless standard questions. She started with his name and his date of birth, which he bluntly said he didn’t know.

But when she asked his age, and he said twenty-one, the woman began to calculate it for him.

Then she continued. She asked where he was from and what he remembered after returning from the nurses’ estate.

"I come from Gilgal Village."

"Gilgal Village?" The woman’s eyes opened wide. ’That’s the village which was destroyed years ago by the...’

Kai saw the fear folding in her eyes, but remained calm and continued answering her questions.

"I saw the flying creatures. And I fought them."

"You mean the Wingreapers?!" the woman asked in a heavy voice, then began to sit properly.

"I don’t know their names." Kai’s shoulders lowered.

"Aren’t the flying creatures the same as these?" She showed Kai a photo, then focused on the boy’s expression.

"Yes, those are the very creatures."

The woman swallowed hard. Her pen stopped moving across the paper. And when she looked up again, her expression changed completely from shock to dreadful stillness.

"Some of the soldiers who returned with you last night reported seeing you in the sky. Is that true?"

Kai’s hands slowly rested on his thighs. "I don’t know what they saw."

The woman continued to press harder. "The reports describe a purple glow. A light that drew more of the Wingreapers toward you."

"I was just fighting. I have no idea of a purple glow."

The woman placed her pen down, then inhaled sharply. "You’re not answering the question."

Kai blinked, taking a sharp breath. "You’re not asking one."