MMORPG: Rebirth as an Alchemist Chapter 905 Prelude to the Apocalypse 4

"I told you we would find him here."

Ren shifted faintly, his motions heavy as though crushed by an invisible load. Gradually, he directed his sight toward Joker and Angelica, yet his eyes lacked any vitality.

Merely turning his head felt like a tremendous effort for Ren. He stayed quiet, letting his stare fall to the floor below.

Positioned in that spot, he looked devoid of spirit, content to just wait out the hours until his being dissolved into nothing.

Ren failed to register Joker and Angelica's presence. He didn't wonder how they tracked down his place or showed curiosity about their arrival. His thoughts wandered far away, disconnected from the world nearby.

Deep in his reflections, Ren barely noted the flow of days. In his utter isolation, time meant nothing at all.

His only wish was to vanish into nothingness.

"Snap out of it, Ren!" Angelica's shout shattered the quiet like a bolt of thunder, charged with desperation. "We must escape this place and head to Tower A! The world's end is here!"

Yet Angelica's fervent call bounced off Ren's ears, leaving him unmoved, sunken in his profound sorrow.

Ren stayed still, his face unaltered.

Joker released a weary breath. "No point. Let's leave. He lacks a [Green Card] regardless. Evolve or not, he's doomed."

Hearing "Green Card" made Ren's head tilt slowly in his grip, exposing the card Evie had slipped into his hand prior to her deadly jump from the window.

Joker and Angelica gaped at Ren in shock as understanding hit them.

"That's . . ."

"A [Green Card]!"

Angelica hurried closer to Ren and demanded, "Where'd you get that?"

Yet did that matter right now?

Ren flung the card their way and shut his eyes. "Want it? Take it. Just go away."

Joker gave a soft laugh. "I do want it, sure. It saves lives, after all. Everyone would fight for it. But . . ." His face grew stern. "I'm not low enough to snatch something so vital from you. Count yourself fortunate I hold onto some decency."

"Ren, hear me out," Angelica urged, striving to yank him from his gloom. "I don't know the details, but I can imagine. Still, it's not over."

Ren uttered a hollow, joyless chuckle. "It's all finished! Evie is gone!"

SLaAapP!

A sharp slap echoed through the room, cutting off Ren's outburst.

"Listen up. Quit moping and dragging your feet. Evie, your buddies—they're not gone. They might exist in a parallel realm!"

"Hey, Angelica," Joker cut in, picking up on her direction, though she halted him short of his protest.

Joker tsked irritably and rubbed his scalp. He disliked the path Angelica tread.

A spark ignited in Ren's gaze as he eyed Angelica. "You're just fooling me."

Angelica denied it firmly with a head shake. "Truth is, Joker and I died already. Our souls shifted to our duplicates' forms in another world, and the [Green Card] kept our memories whole."

Ren mulled over Angelica's claim. Perhaps that explained his own revival sensation?

Though he hadn't found a [Green Card] himself. He'd recall such an odd, high-tech item if he had.

"So . . . Evie and the rest . . . could they be out there alive?" Ren rasped, a glimmer of hope budding within.

Angelica affirmed with a nod. "Exactly. Survive and join us in the next world, and you've got a strong shot at meeting them again. But remember, they may not recognize you, with memories possibly altered."

Ren stood up, vigor flooding back into his eyes. "That works for me."

Seeing Evie and the others once more justified any effort, even crossing dimensions to track and rejoin them.

Ren retrieved the [Green Card] before dipping into his pocket.

Out came a tiny box with a ring—an engagement band intended for Evie post-Heaven Realm unlock.

Sadly, the moment to propose never arrived.

Ren searched the drawer and fetched a silver chain. He threaded the ring onto it and hung it round his neck, tucking it beneath his shirt for security.

Facing them, he declared, "Let's head . . . to that tower."

In the next world . . . he would surely hand it over to her.

=======

Ren, Angelica, and Joker dashed down the stairs from the building, their footsteps resounding through the shadowy hallway.

Tension filled the air heavily as they stepped around the dead bodies scattered on the ground, prey to the weird monsters that now roamed the corridors.

Endless corpses of those alien beasts littered the area, their ugly traits stuck in different phases of mutation.

A number still held traces of human shape, caught mid-way in the nightmarish change, while others rested fully morphed, bug-like limbs and stretched jaws standing as scary proof of the nightmares they'd become.

"What's happening here? You didn't mention these . . . creatures," Ren asked.

"They're humans who failed to evolve in time. Their bodies twisted into mutations instead," Joker clarified, voice dark as he peered back to make sure no one trailed them.

"So you can turn into that even without a bite?"

"Correct. It's unavoidable. Only a matter of when," Angelica replied, her tone quiet and heavy.

Ren cast a grave look at the corpses, their twisted faces painfully evoking thoughts of Evie.

He gripped the pendant on his neck hard, the metal pressing into his hand as he battled to drive away the tormenting visions.

If Evie still breathed life somewhere in this chaos, Ren promised himself to track her down and bring them together again, whatever it took.