She carefully placed the charred ashes into a transparent glass jar, listening blankly to the arrangements for handling the funeral affairs, and filled out the death certificate.

With the blood-red seal stamped, Selene carried the small urn home.

She sat blankly on the sofa, clutching the cold, jagged-edged box. How had the once vibrant child suddenly turned into such a cold, unfeeling object?

The clock in the hall ticked on.

Selene’s body and spirit had reached their limit; she could no longer bear any more pressure or burdens. She felt as if she were about to collapse.

She wanted to give her son justice, and she wanted to follow her child and leave this world.

Selene took out the paternity test report she had kept in the cabinet, pressed it down with a cup, left it on the living room table, and drove away, clutching the urn.

Selene’s car eventually stopped outside a ruin occupied by high-level zombies. She got out of the car, clutching the urn, and walked step by step into the depths of the ruins.

Standing at the edge of the zombie king’s lair, she took out her communicator and sent a message to Silas with a calm expression.

She calmly removed her lady’s wedding ring, placed it aside, and said in the faintest of voices: "Andy, don't be afraid, Mommy is coming to find you… Those monsters won't be able to hurt you ever again…"

Then, clutching the urn, she leaped off the edge.

Selene’s frail figure was quickly swallowed by the abyss-like darkness. Below, the low, guttural growls of zombies echoed, only to return to silence a moment later.

It was so quiet, as if no one had ever been there; only the wedding ring lay quietly at the edge of the ruins.

The communicator beside it continued to vibrate, the caller ID flickering incessantly.

Chapter 8

The smell of burning filled the air; firelight and thick smoke saturated her vision.

Silas covered his nose and mouth, coughing incessantly. The scorching flames burned all around him; he couldn't see every corner of the training room, only calling out the child’s name: "Chenlin! Andy? If you can hear me, answer me!"

A small, thin sound of crying came from the farthest corner of the training room.

Silas frowned. Just as he was about to step forward, a small shadow lunged at him from the right.

"I’m scared! Save me! I want to get out—"

The man hurriedly hugged Chenlin, who was clinging tightly to him. He wanted to continue further inside while holding him with one hand, but Chenlin was howling and struggling to get out, the boy’s kicking and punching leaving Silas feeling incredibly irritable.

After a brief hesitation, he decided to send Chenlin out first and then come back to save Andy.

Without further delay, the man turned and left.

In a daze, the moment he stepped outside the training room door, the crying sounds he left behind were small yet clear.

"Daddy..."

Silas froze. Just as he wanted to turn back for another look, a wall collapsed with a crash, followed by the roar of a massive explosion in his ears.

In that instant, it felt as if a hole had been torn open in his chest, cold enough to make him shiver.

It seemed as if someone was asking him where Andy was.

Silas’s mind had never been clearer; he heard his own voice saying that he was still inside.

He felt as if he had done many things, yet he couldn't quite remember them clearly.

The scarlet flames engulfed him like a nightmare, impossible to escape.

Silas watched the frail woman in the distance walk away clutching the urn. Her dirty, disheveled appearance made his heart feel as if it were being sliced into countless pieces by sharp blades, and his feet couldn't help but want to follow.

A pull on his arm and Yara’s sobbing voice made him pause.

"Senior brother, can you please stay with me..."

Silas turned his gaze indifferently toward Yara, who stood beside him with red eyes and neatly dressed clothes, alongside an equally healthy little boy.

For a flickering moment, it was Andy’s clear, bright eyes that appeared before him.

If he had seen them helpless under normal circumstances, he might have felt a glimmer of compassion and pity.

But thinking that it was because of Chenlin’s crying that he hadn't been able to go back in to save Andy, he could no longer view the child before him objectively—he only felt disgust.

The man pulled his arm back, ignoring Yara’s look of disbelief, his voice raspy and harsh.

"Sorry, I need to go home."

Watching Silas’s retreating back, Yara’s face turned completely cold, her heart filled with resentment and jealousy.

It was clearly her who had met the senior brother first. Why should Selene, a useless waste who couldn't even use her abilities anymore, be with a genius like him?

Only she, Yara Vance, was worthy of the senior brother.

...

Silas had only been delayed for a moment, yet he couldn't find a trace of Selene.

He picked up the communicator, staying on the dialing screen, inputting her number, but could never press the call button for the longest time.

A genius in the world of healing abilities was reduced to such a state by a single call.

He put the communicator away, and in the end, he never made the call.

Boarding a commuter bus within the base, Silas was stuck in traffic for a long time before finally arriving home.

The familiar environment made him frown, and he stood silently in front of the door.

He had expected that upon returning home, he would be scolded by the woman, face a mess, or deal with the total collapse of their relationship and a decision to divorce.

Silas’s mouth twisted into a sneer, but he couldn't summon a single trace of emotion; he simply reached out and pushed the door open.

None of the speculations in his mind appeared.

The house was frighteningly quiet.

There was nothing broken, nor was there a heartbroken Selene.

Silas felt a sense of unease, as if something was slipping out of his control.

He didn't even change his shoes and walked quickly into the house, but there was no sign of Selene in the kitchen, the study, or the bedroom.

His inner anxiety escalated, and his sleeve accidentally brushed against the tabletop.

Clatter—the sound of a glass water cup falling to the floor exploded in the deathly silent living room.

Falling along with it was a yellowed document.

Silas looked down. On the file bag, the words 'Paternity Test Report' were clearly printed in large black characters.

He snatched up the document from the floor, his gaze scanning page after page, finally resting on the appraisal stamp at the end, and he remained frozen for a long time—

"Confirmed Biological Kinship."

Date: New Calendar Year 13, December 17th.

Chapter 9

The glaring four characters and the date were like sharp blades, piercing Silas’s eyes so deeply that it felt as if his soul were being torn apart.

He breathed heavily; the way he had unconsciously held his breath just moments ago had nearly suffocated him. Indescribable, complex emotions churned within his chest, and even his fingertips trembled slightly.

This was the day after Andy was born, and the shadow of that incident had never faded.

Selene had handed him that paternity test report—a document he had been reluctant to open for so long—and in the end, it had been coldly laid out before him, like a silent knife plunged straight into his heart.

The charred remnant of the wristband he still wore had yet to be replaced; now, it hummed faintly in sync with his trembling hands, as if mocking his wretchedness.

Silas wanted to throw the appraisal report away with all his might, but his ears caught the phantom echo of his son’s crying. That sound tore through his hardened shell like claws, exposing his twisted, broken, chaotic heart naked to the air.

For these four years, he had been trapped in the night of that day, unable to take a single step forward.

He remembered clearly that it was the day Selene returned from her final S-class clearance mission. The entire base had been celebrating her meritorious service.

He had prepared a surprise for her, gently whispering over the communicator for her to wait at the logistics department while he went to retrieve a rare ability crystal he had bid on as a gift.

But a call from Yara Vance had shattered everything—she had been attacked by mutated zombies outside the city.

The instinct of a healing ability user had driven him to turn his car around and speed toward the direction Yara had indicated.

By the time he rushed back to the logistics department, five hours had already passed.

Acid rain was falling on the road, and his black armored vehicle raced frantically across the dilapidated pavement, as if trying to chase down lost time.