Chapter 174: A visit to the dead

Words : 1750 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

Noah pulled on a hoodie, shoving the hood over his head before stepping out of his dorm. The afternoon sun felt like a cruel joke, its warmth doing nothing to soothe the cold sweat clinging to his skin. He leaned against the wall outside, hands buried in his pockets, waiting for Sophie. He had five minutes. Five minutes to keep himself together. Five minutes to not think about the only solutions the system had given him. 'Kill someone or a beast to get back my void energy...' His fingers curled into fists. 'Yeah, because murder is totally an option.' Beasts? That would've been fine if he could find one—except he was in the middle of a campus. Not a hunting ground. Which left Entropy Harvesting. His jaw tightened. 'What the hell does that even mean?' As if answering his thoughts, the system displayed a new message in front of his eyes. [Entropy Harvesting: The process of absorbing the decay from dying matter, including corpses, rotting plants, and decomposing organic material. The older the decay, the weaker the energy. Fresh entropy provides the highest yield.] Noah stared. And then stared harder. Rotting... corpses? His stomach twisted violently. Before he could even process the absolute horror of what he'd just read, he spotted Sophie approaching from a distance. Five minutes were up. The Flight to the Base Inn The moment Noah settled into the passenger seat of Sophie's Clexus, the vehicle lifted off the ground with a soft hum. The anti-gravity thrusters engaged, sending them into the sky as the academy buildings shrank below. Sunlight glinted off the metallic exterior of other airborne transports, and for a brief moment, Noah let himself sink into the seat, exhausted. The smooth hum of the Clexus in cruise mode should've been comforting, but his body felt like it was running on borrowed time. Sophie turned to glance at him as she adjusted the controls. "Do you want to go see the healers now?" Noah exhaled slowly, then shook his head. "The healers can't help me. Not with this." His voice was calm, but there was an underlying finality to his words. Sophie frowned. "What?" "There's no time to explain everything," Noah said, his fingers tapping absently against his knee. "Right now, I just need to know—where do they take soldiers who are injured? The ones who are dying?" Sophie's eyes narrowed slightly as she tilted her head toward him. "Why are you asking that?" Noah turned his gaze to the horizon, watching as the academy buildings faded into the distance. He could feel her staring at him, her concern mounting. "You look—" Sophie hesitated, her voice softer now. "Noah, you look sick. Your veins are darker, and—" She bit her lip, as if debating whether to say it. "You look like one of those old-school zombie movies from the 90s." Noah huffed out a breathless laugh, though there was no humor in it. "Well, that's fitting," he murmured. "Because I'm dying." Sophie stiffened at his words, her fingers gripping the steering controls tighter. "What the hell do you mean you're dying?" Noah ignored the question. Instead, he leaned forward slightly, his hands clasped together. "Just take me to where they keep the recently deceased." She stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "Noah—" "Just take me there first," he cut in sharply. "I'll explain later." Explain? Explain what? That his system was now demanding he drain the life from the dead? That the only way to keep himself alive was to leech energy from rotting corpses like some kind of void-parasite? Sophie didn't respond right away. Instead, she exhaled slowly, her fingers tapping against the console as if she were weighing her options. Finally, she adjusted their course, circling the Clexus back around. Noah frowned. "Where are we going?" "The base inn," Sophie said, her voice oddly measured. Noah narrowed his eyes. "Why?" "Because," she replied, not looking at him, "some soldiers were recently deployed to fight the Harbingers. If they sustained heavy casualties, then... well." She hesitated. "There might be injured soldiers there." Noah sat up straighter. Perfect. "Good," he said, nodding. "We'll head there." Sophie didn't say anything after that. She just kept flying, her grip a little too tight on the controls. As they flew through the open sky, Noah pulled his hands into the sleeves of his hoodie, tucking them away from view. The sunlight pouring through the Clexus' windshield felt unbearably harsh against his skin, as if his body were being cooked alive. He gritted his teeth, trying not to let it show, but every second under the sun made him feel worse—like he was shriveling up from the inside out. His fingers curled into his palms, the dark veins standing out against his skin even in the dim shade of his sweater. Sophie glanced over at him. "You're—" She frowned. "What are you doing?" Before he could come up with an excuse, she reached out, brushing her fingers against his arm. Noah stiffened. Her frown deepened. "You were burning up earlier," she murmured, her hand lingering on his sleeve. "Now you're cold." She pulled her hand back, looking at him in disbelief. "Noah, this isn't normal. I don't know what's happening to you, but I'm turning this thing around. We're going back to the Academy's clinic." Noah exhaled sharply. "No." Sophie set her jaw. "Noah." "Keep going," he said, keeping his voice level. She shook her head. "You're not okay. You were overheating, now you're freezing? What's next? I'm not just going to—" "Sophie," he said firmly, his eyes meeting hers. "Keep going." Her hands clenched around the controls. "Noah, you're scaring me," she admitted. "You won't tell me what's happening, you look like you're rotting, and now you're acting like this is all normal?" "It's not normal," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But stopping now won't help. The clinic won't be able to fix this. They'll just waste time trying to figure out what's wrong while I—" He hesitated. While he what? Wasted away? Let the void consume him? Sophie exhaled through her nose, clearly torn. The silence stretched for several tense moments. Finally, she sighed, gripping the controls again. "Fine," she muttered. "But if you collapse or something insane happens, I'm taking control of the situation, whether you like it or not." Noah managed a weak smirk. "Deal." Sophie rolled her eyes but kept flying. Noah exhaled slowly, stealing a glance at the system overlay only he could see. His chest tightened. [Void Entropy Syndrome has progressed to Stage 2.] He swallowed hard as new lines of text appeared, analyzing his symptoms in real-time. [Symptoms:] Veins turn jet black and pulse erratically. Rapid cellular decay—not permanent, but every minute in this state accelerates body's aging. Severe light sensitivity—direct sunlight causes burning sensations on exposed skin. Aura of emptiness—anyone touching you will feel a cold, lifeless void instead of a human body. Noah's fingers twitched inside his sleeves. 'Shit. Shit.' His mind reeled as he matched each symptom to what he was feeling right now. The veins. He didn't have to check—he could feel them pulsing under his skin like tiny fractures in a shattered mirror. The burning. That explained why the sun felt like it was roasting him alive. The cold touch. Sophie had noticed it when she touched his arm. And the worst part? Cellular decay. Noah clenched his jaw. 'Every second like this, my body's breaking down—rotting while I'm still alive.' His hands trembled slightly as he forced them deeper into his hoodie. If he didn't fix this soon, he wouldn't even have a body left to fix. The Clexus descended smoothly onto the landing pad outside the Base Inn, a massive structure that served as both a soldier's barracks and a medical facility for those returning from battle. The place was alive with activity—medics rushing between stretchers, soldiers limping toward the entrance with bloodied bandages, and transport teams moving bodies in and out with practiced efficiency. Some were still breathing. Others... weren't. Noah inhaled deeply, pushing down the unsettling weight in his gut as the car settled. "Now what?" Sophie asked, unbuckling her harness and turning to him expectantly. Noah glanced out at the scene below, his hoodie pulled tight over his head to shield himself from the afternoon sun. Even in the shade of the Clexus' interior, his skin still itched like it was being slowly peeled away. Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire "We need to go inside," he said. "Specifically—where the dead soldiers are taken." Sophie froze mid-motion. Her head turned slowly toward him, eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" "The morgue." His voice was firm, but he avoided looking directly at her. "That's where I need to be." A long silence stretched between them. Then—"What the actual hell, Noah?" She shifted in her seat, fully facing him now. "What could you possibly need from a room full of dead soldiers?" He didn't answer. Because he couldn't. "Sophie, please," he said instead, voice low. "Just—trust me." Sophie's jaw clenched, her foot tapping against the floor in irritation. Trust him? After he'd spent the entire flight evading her questions? Looking half-dead, hiding his hands, and refusing treatment? She wasn't stupid. "...No." She folded her arms. "Not until you give me a real answer." "Sophie." His tone was pleading now. "I don't have time for this. I just—I just need you to help me get inside." "For what?!" She wasn't going to just let this go. But Noah? Noah wasn't giving in either. A tense standoff settled between them. And then—Sophie sighed, rubbing her temples before muttering, "Unbelievable." She looked at him, hard, before shaking her head. "Fine," she said. "But you're following my lead." He exhaled in relief, but she wasn't done. "I swear to god, Noah—if you're dragging me into some crazy shit, I will kill you myself." Sophie Reign didn't take risks for free. But she also knew how to get what she wanted. As soon as they stepped out of the Clexus, all eyes were on them. Well—not on Noah. On her.

Chapter 174: A visit to the dead

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