[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 198 - Ether Virus

“You want to leave?” Freddy asked Lily, glancing away from her to take a look at Drake, who was looking down the wall and off into the distance. “What about him?”

She smiled at him through repressed anger and grief. “What about him?” she echoed his question. “Does he own me? Can I not make my own decisions?”

“That’s not why I asked you that, and you know it.”

Lily looked down, her lips twisting into an ugly, deeply hurt frown. “It’s like he isn’t the same person anymore. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with him, but I’m done trying to reach out.” A single tear rolled down her cheek, but she quickly, aggressively wiped it off. “Does the offer still stand?” she asked. 

Rather than answer her question, Freddy pulled out the communication crystal. 

A moment later, the adjudicator picked up, sighing deeply. “I’m not in the mood for any more bad news, Mr. Stern.”

“Does the offer to get one person out of the Northern Belt still stand?” Freddy asked.

After a small pause, the adjudicator grunted. “As long as we do it covertly, yes. It would be terrible optics if people found out.”

“Good. I have a young woman who I owe a favor, and I’d like to get her out.”

“Send her to my office,” the man said. “And consider it done.”

“Thanks.” He put down the crystal, looking back to Lily. “Are you sure you want to do this? What about your parents? You already know they can’t come with you.” 

She looked ill at that question. “Can… Can you keep them safe?”

He had no real answer for her. But he tried anyway. “I’ll do my best.”

A small, shaky smile returned to her face. “I know I’m being selfish, here. But I really don’t want to die, Freddy; I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She swallowed heavily. “I’m also sorry I can’t keep making those coins for you.”

“It’s fine. Hey, if anything, we could stay in touch. Perhaps we can figure something out through the mail.” While he did honestly want more of those coins, that wasn’t really why he was making that suggestion. The woman was about to go into the empire, alone. She would need some way to earn money, and preferably, also keep her soul construct a secret from others.

She nodded at him. “Thank you.” 

He offered her a handshake. 

She avoided it and gave him a hug, instead. “I want you to know that I respect you more than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. Thank you for staying to protect this city. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a true hero.”

Her words left him stunned. “No,” he denied. “That’s not me.” He gently pushed her away. 

“And what are you, then?” she asked him. “And why are you doing all this?”

He confidently opened his mouth, only to find no retort. “That’s a good question,” he said. “Why on New Earth am I doing all this?” He chuckled at himself and shook his head. “Come on, now. Go along. The adjudicator doesn’t like waiting.”

She gave him a final nod and hurried along into the building

As soon as she vanished, Freddy’s expression darkened as he turned to face Drake again. This time, the man was staring back, his helmet on,

“Like he isn’t the same person, huh?” Freddy muttered to himself and charged straight at Drake. 

The man didn’t budge. He simply stood there, waiting. 

Freddy stopped right in front of him. “Take your helmet off, Drake,” he said. “Right now.”

Drake remained still for a long moment, and then, raised his hand. He took the helmet off, revealing a stiff smile, and perfectly normal eyes. He chuckled. “What? You thought I’d have square eyes like one of those terrorists?”

Freddy ignored him, grabbing him by the chin and dragging him down to eye level to take a closer look at his eyes. He spotted no illusions or tricks. Truly, the man’s eyes hadn’t changed. He let him go, breathing out a tentative sigh of relief, and stepped back. For a long moment, he hesitated, his gaze dropping to the floor. “Lily is leaving for the empire.”

“Does she hate me?”

“She certainly didn’t seem like she loved you.”

To Freddy’s surprise, Drake sighed in relief. “That’s good. The sooner she forgets about me, the better.”

Freddy paused and turned to meet the man’s eye. Then, he scowled. “You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

Drake laughed. His laugh died out quickly as a sad look crossed his face. “To be honest, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing anymore.” He clenched his fists and looked down. “There’s no good excuse for my behavior. I’m sorry, man. I just… I feel like shit. All the time. My mother…” 

He pinched his brow as his eyes closed, a pained sigh slowly escaping his lips. “I’ve been having these dreams for a while already. Every damn night, she shows up to torment me, telling me horrible things. It's really getting to me, man. This stupid fucking invasion, and those disgusting square eyes!” he shouted. then rapidly deflated. “But I’m done throwing blame. I promise I’m gonna—”

Suddenly, Freddy reached out and grabbed him by the arm pulling him closer. “Square eyes!?” Freddy’s gaze was manic. “Did you mother have square eyes in the dream?” 

Drake slowly nodded. 

Freddy let him go and ran to the closest defender he could find, a short man testing a bow. “You!” he shouted.

The man nearly fell off the wall in shock as he whirled. “Huh? What—”

“Have you been having nightmares recently!?”

The man froze for a moment. “Yes? I mean, who hasn’t with this—”

“Square eyes! Did anyone with square eyes show up!?” 

After a slight pause, the man frowned and muttered, “My late sister… How did you?” 

Pushing past the man with a growl, Freddy found another person, and asked them the same thing. 

“Ah, yes, actually. A professor from my old school. How did you know?”

And another.

“My father…”

And another.

“Yes! My ex! I knew it wasn’t a coincidence!”

Freddy asked another dozen people, and pretty much everyone had the same answer for him. By the end, he was shaking so much he could barely hold the communication crystal. 

“What’s going on?” Sophia asked as she approached him. “How did things go with—”

“Shut up for a moment,” he said with a raised finger, and then, a moment later, when the adjudicator picked up, he immediately yelled, “I figured it out! I know how those workers were compromised! Dreams! This thing has been invading people’s dreams!”

“What? Explain yourself.”

Freddy relayed his discovery to the adjudicator, explaining his theory. 

The ether virus couldn’t forcefully take people’s minds over. But it could invade their dreams, and then slowly manipulate them into accepting the virus into their soul. 

The soul wasn’t entirely inviolable. Only the central, core region of the soul was immune to outside influence. But there was a sort of “fat” layer on the outskirts of a soul, and that part could be forcefully invaded. Usually, this really didn’t matter much, even if it did happen. After all, even if something did invade the outskirts of the soul, it couldn’t affect the person’s thoughts or conscious decisions. 

But it could affect the subconscious if it stayed there long enough. 

It could affect a person’s dreams.

The adjudicator was stunned for a long moment after Freddy finished his explanation. “This is terrible news,” the man said. 

“No!” Freddy disagreed. “Think about it, Judge. This means that nobody has to leave! We know how it works! As long as we—”

“In a perfect world, you’d be right. As long as nobody succumbed, we’d have nothing to fear. But reality is different. And the people are falling into despair. Even if we tell everyone not to trust the people in their dreams, I’m guessing that infections are going to spread rapidly.”

Freddy’s hand clenched the crystal. “Can’t we get the virus out if we know where it’s hiding?”

“We could. But that’s expensive and difficult, and odds are, even if we cure someone, they will simply be infected again.”

“Is there really nothing we can do…?” Freddy muttered through gritted teeth.

After a long pause, the adjudicator said, “There is one thing.”

Freddy perked up. “What?”

“If we boosted the people’s morale, we’d make them less likely to fall for it. But…”

“But the elites are leaving. And so are the mercenary groups. The morale is going to plummet…”

“Indeed.”

The world seemed to slow to a crawl. Yet again, Freddy found the pull of insanity knocking on the doors of his mind. He didn’t need no damned ether virus to push him. Even now, he was perfectly ready to lose it. 

Sophia, who had been listening to the whole conversation, chimed in, “If this is all true, the moment the news of the elites leaving spreads, the situation is going to snowball out of control. I… I don’t think we can stop that.”

Take me out of here. 

Those words hung on the tip of Freddy’s tongue. For almost ten seconds, he simply stood there in silence, looking for even a single reason not to leave. He didn’t want to watch this. He didn’t want to be a part of this anymore. Why the hell was he even involved in all this? How did things spiral this badly out of his control? 

He was just a young adult who has been looking for nothing but a bit of peace. He had the money. He had the power. He had the status. With his talent, he would never grow old or sick. There wasn’t a single thing stopping him from living the life he’d always wanted, away from all the trouble and pain. 

So why bother with any of this shit? 

“Freddy?” Sophia called for him, and he broke out of his stupor. “You good?” she asked. 

“Mr. Stern,” the adjudicator spoke through the crystal again. “I will say it again—you should leave the Northern Belt. If you’re worried about your friends, I can keep them safe until they can be sent out.”

“I can’t leave these people to die,” he said.

To his shock, Sophia spoke up. “But can you really save them?” He turned to face her, only to see deeply sad eyes looking back at him. “This sucks, Freddy. I know how you feel. But you’re way in over your head. For gods’ sake, dude, you’re a two-star. It is a miracle you’ve been able to do this much. Nobody can judge you, no matter what you choose.”

“Excuse me!?” an aggrieved, familiar voice shrieked from behind them. They turned around to spot a woman taking her helmet off. Beneath it was Emily Umbra. “If I stayed behind just for you peasants to leave, I swear I’m going to strangle someone.”

Choking sounds came from the crystal in Freddy’s hand. “Someone please tell me that voice doesn’t belong to Miss Umbra.”

“Tough shit, geezer,” she said with a scoff, pushing herself into the small group. “Anyway, what’s all this about? Why are you guys talking about leaving?”

The adjudicator muttered something that sounded very stressed out, so Freddy took over to explain his discovery with the nightmares. 

Emily gaped at him. “Oh. Yeah, that’s pretty bad.”

“Miss Umbra,” the adjudicator’s voice finally came through the communication crystal. “Please, I’m begging you, allow me to escort you back to the empire.”

She scoffed at that. “Hell no! My father is gonna rake me over the coals. No way am I going back without something to show for it.” She looked around the group. “Besides, what’s the matter with you all!? At least try something before you go up and quit. Dear lord, you’re all acting like half the city is already possessed. 

“Uhm, newsflash—I haven’t seen a single set of square eyes on any of the defenders. Besides”—she proudly raised her chin—”you have me. Just let me handle it. If I really show off what I can do, you can bet your ass that the morale will stay up.”

“Show off…?” Freddy muttered, meeting her gaze.

She sneered at him. “Don’t tell me you want to compete? You’re talented, but you’re not that impressive. Not unless another massive, slow-moving target that perfectly compliments your strengths appears.”

Freddy turned to Sophia, his idea obvious from the look in his eye.

She winced. “Are you sure that would improve morale…? If anything, you might just end up scaring the shit out of everyone.”

“I have to try,” he said.

“Try what?” Emily asked, shuffling impatiently.

Freddy ignored her, raising the crystal. “Adjudicator, please organize the remaining defenders and have them all gather on the wall in about two hours.”

“What are you gonna do?” 

“What else? I’m gonna show off.”