Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 105: He’s Dead, So What Now?

Leon dashed forward and wrapped his arms around the lieutenant. His heart turned into a frantic drum in his chest as he stared at the blood seeping out of the man.

He tilted a final glance at the beast, then hurled himself and the body at great speed out of the Leviathan’s sight.

The roaring sound from the creature thundered, shaking the world as it followed like a curse.

With a speeding mind, Leon darted into a cavern shaped like a colossal human skull. He neglected the structure and bashed straight inside.

Slowly, he lowered the lieutenant’s pale body to the ground, tore the remnants of the suit he wore, and then wrapped them around where the blood gushed out most.

"Don’t die on me, please." He screamed, pressing hard on the wrapped wound.

Pisssh! Pissssh!! Pissssh!!!

Like a broken pipe, more blood gushed out from the left wound when Leon’s weight increased on the one on the right.

"Leon," Prince said, smiling. "I thought you were mad at first." He coughed out a glob of blood.

"Don’t say anything," Leon instructed in a tear-filled voice. "Reserve the strength you have."

The lieutenant shook his head. "There is no more strength left in me, Leon," he said, and raised his bloodied right arm to Leon’s face.

"Promise to live for the universe and..." He paused as a seizure struck him.

"No! No!! No!!! Don’t leave me here." Leon screamed, trying so hard to stop the seizure. But he couldn’t.

The left arm of the lieutenant slipped and slammed onto the ground hard.

Leon’s eyes rolled in their sockets as he tilted his gaze between the entrance of the cavern and the pale, stiff body.

"No, you can’t die like this." Leon squeezed his eyes shut, raised his arms, and slammed them hard on the lieutenant’s chest.

Slam.

Leon stood up abruptly and screamed. "I promise." His knees buckled and slammed hard onto the ground beside the body.

Silence ruled in the cavern for the remaining three days.

Ding! Ding!! Ding!!!

A mechanical sound erupted from the dust-covered kneeling form beside the slightly raised, human-shaped ground. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Leon coughed three consecutive times, his eyes closed. His vision phased as he slowly cracked them open.

He stared at the shimmering screen of the wristband on the lieutenant’s left arm.

[Congratulations. The sixty days have ended. Care to make the call?]

[Prince.]

Make the call? Leon thought, then said it in a dying tone. "Make the call." His body wiggled for a while, then slowly landed on the ground like a half-chopped tree.

Another mechanical voice erupted from the lieutenant’s wristband.

[Your location has been transferred. Stand in an open area.]

Darkness ruled over Leon’s eyelids as he passed out. After a while, he saw the two Sentinels looming on each side of him, their massive forms poised as if ready to strike a condemned man.

"Welcome back, Creator." They said with one voice and bowed their heads. There, in the dream world, memories of the academy poured in.

First, the mocking laughter passed by like a sharp sword, followed by Vera’s face. But this time, the face and body structure of Vera had changed.

Now she looked like a young adult and stood in a vast plain, screaming and throwing her arms forward, as if fighting an invisible being like a madwoman.

Then Tiger followed, standing in a vast land at the center of men dressed in sleek black suits. For his own part, he wasn’t screaming but held the same death stare in his eyes.

Lastly, Jade followed. For Jade, his human form was no longer visible. The only thing visible was the long white-brown hair dangling in the air. He floated in a vast expanse, a place that looked nothing like Earth.

The moment Zoe’s form reeled into the dream, everything collapsed into nothingness, including the Sentinels.

Meanwhile, inside a large room filled with hospital beds, Darian walked boldly toward the exit.

She exhaled, then smiled. "He’s dead, like we wished for," she said, giggling.

From the window on the right side of the hallway, Zoe’s face saddened. "Don’t say that, Darian. I thought you also liked him." She closed in on Darian, then stared at him with sharp eyes.

"Liked him?" Darian’s giggle turned into loud laughter. "I was just letting him enjoy his last hours."

Zoe stood there, shocked. "But—"

"But what?" Darian placed his left arm on her shoulder, then shook his head. "... as Kira stated earlier, it’s just that his father was Andrew Storm."

He moved away from her and spread his arms wide. "Since both of them are also dead, I think it’s time we change the papers of the clan."

"What are you implying, Darian?" Zoe stiffened. "I never knew you were also this rude."

"See who’s talking about rude." Darian laughed cunningly. "It’s in the blood. And," he placed his right hand on his chin, "...you are more than everyone in the family, pretender."

"Seriously?!" Zoe screamed and tilted her head toward Hu Qing, who sat closer to the window, tending deaf ears to his children.

"Dad," Zoe called out and neared him. "What are they going to do now?" she asked, then exhaled sharply.

"Don’t ask silly questions, Zoe." Hu Qing’s soft expression reddened. "Are you now in love with the boy you wanted to kill the first time you brought him?"

Without much to say in response, Zoe curled her mouth inward and stared at her father with wet eyes.

"Kira! Call me the doctor and Mr. Lee." Hu Qing tilted his head and gestured at the lady standing closer to the wall.

Kira nodded, smiling, then dashed out of the hallway.

"Who does she think she is now? Dad’s second wife?" Kira ranted about Zoe’s reactions as she opened door after door.

After opening the main door leading to the large hall, she halted. "Where can I find that Mr. Lee?" she thought for a while, then smiled.

"He’ll be with the other lieutenants." She exited in the same direction she came from, then went straight to the proctor’s door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She entered without waiting, then called out, "Lee, you’re needed by my father."

Needed by your father? Mr. Lee glanced at the girl with a sharp gaze, then rose from the stuffed chair and followed her.

After a short while, they stopped at the front of the mortuary.

Mr. Lee closed in on Hu Qing. "Hello, sir. Your daughter said—"

"He’s dead, so what now?" Hu Qing interrupted.

"Sir, are you sure he’s actually dead?" Mr. Lee’s face glittered with a smile as he remained in the loop of tilting his head from the Prime Minister to the dead boy, now standing and staring in their direction.