A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 49: Bad Feeling

After they finished eating, Shu took Nari’s hand and they began walking in the opposite direction of where Leo was.

"Sir Shu," Nari said, glancing around the street, "why are we leaving from this side?"

He kept walking and only answered after a second, "because the other side has someone annoying on it," he said. "And I don’t feel like starting my day with nonsense."

She blinked at him, then nodded, she was a clever girl, always knowing not to push things that did not concern her and he was very grateful for that.

The last thing he wanted to do was explain why a B-Rank hunter from Raniel’s guild was standing at his barrier touching it with a confused face.

’What is Leo even doing here?’ he thought, his jaw tightening a little. ’Did Raniel tell him something?’

That idea annoyed him right away, though the more he thought about it, the less it fit.

Raniel was annoying, pushy, and way too comfortable showing up in his life whenever his energy was lowest, but she did not feel stupid enough to drag Leo straight to his front door after hiding his trail in Crimson Forest.

’No,’ he thought, guiding Nari around a cracked patch in the road. ’If she wanted to sell me out, she would’ve done it properly, not like this.’

That only made Leo being there even more irritating.

’So why is he here then?’ he thought. ’Did he track something? See the lights? Notice the barrier? Or is this just my luck being trash again?’

The farther they went, the quieter the street became.

Inside the Domain, the buildings were still busted, but the space felt different from the dead city outside. The air was calmer, the roads cleaner and the whole block carried that faint sense of authority.

He reached the opposite end and slowed down when the barrier came into view, "you ready?" He asked, looking down at her.

She stared at the invisible wall for a second, then looked up at him with those big eyes that always made him feel weirdly responsible. Her small hand tightened around his fingers, and he could feel the slight tremble in her grip.

"Yeah," she said, her voice quieter than before. "I’m ready."

He gave her hand a small squeeze and stepped forward. The barrier parted without resistance, letting them through into the dead streets beyond. The air hit different out here, heavier, dirtier, carrying that stale rot that never left the ruined city.

Nari flinched at the smell but didn’t let go of his hand.

’Hmph,’ he thought, scanning the empty road ahead. ’She’s tougher than she looks.’

He pulled the folded map from his pocket and checked the first mark. West Transit overflow camp, that was where Raniel said most non-awakened evacuees got sent in the first wave.

"First stop is about twenty minutes from here," he said, tucking the map away. "Stay close and don’t wander off."

She nodded fast, her legs already moving to keep up with his stride. The streets outside the Domain were worse than inside, cracked pavement, overturned cars, and the occasional dark stain that he didn’t want to think about too hard.

They walked in silence for a while, the only sound their footsteps and the distant groan of something moving through a building somewhere. Nari kept glancing around, her grip on his hand never loosening.

"Sir Shu," she said after a few minutes, her voice small.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think they’re still alive?"

He looked down at her, then back at the road. The honest answer was he didn’t know, and in Zoxhia, not knowing usually meant the worst. But looking at her face right now, that answer felt too cruel even for him.

"We’ll find out," he said instead. "That’s why we’re going."

She nodded again, slower this time, and didn’t ask anything else after that.

’If I had to guess,’ he thought, his eyes staying on the road, ’they’re probably dead.’

The whole thing still felt fishy to him. Who just leaves their kid alone in an unsafe area and says they’ll come back? Even in the chaos of the collapse, parents usually dragged their children with them or died trying. The fact that Nari was left behind in that building, alive but abandoned, didn’t sit right in his chest.

Something about it just bugged him, though he couldn’t exactly say what. Maybe it was the way she talked about it, like she was still waiting for an answer that would never come.

Or maybe it was because he already knew how this world worked, and in Zoxhia, stories like hers rarely ended with a happy reunion.

’Whatever,’ he thought, clicking his tongue. ’Not my place to judge people I never met.’

This was the least he could do for her. She trusted him, lived in his Domain, and followed his rules without complaint. If searching three locations gave her even a sliver of closure, then the effort was worth it.

A few minutes later, the street opened into a wider intersection, and that was when he heard it.

Low grunting, wet chewing, the sound of something tearing into meat.

He stopped walking and pulled Nari behind him on instinct, one hand going to the bat on his shoulder. She pressed against his back immediately, her fingers clutching the fabric of his shirt. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Around the corner, four mutated pigs were hunched over a dead deer, their tusks slick with blood. They were bigger than the ones he remembered from the early days, bodies swollen, skin cracked in places where the mutation had pushed too hard. Red veins pulsed under their hides like something was growing wrong inside them.

Nari made a small sound behind him, something between a gasp and a whimper. Her whole body went rigid, and when he glanced back, she was trembling.

’Right,’ he thought, his grip tightening on the bat. ’She almost died to one of these things.’

The memory hit him at the same time it probably hit her, that hallway, the pig monster charging, her screaming for a mother who never came. He could feel her shaking against his back, her breathing turning fast and shallow.

"Hey," he said, keeping his voice low. "Close your eyes."

She didn’t answer, but her face pressed harder into his shirt, burying itself against his spine.

The pigs hadn’t noticed them yet, too busy tearing into the carcass. One of them lifted its head, blood dripping from its snout, and sniffed the air.

’Shit,’ he thought, stepping back slowly. ’Don’t look this way, don’t look this way.’

The pig’s eyes swept across the intersection, dull and stupid, then dropped back to the deer.

He let out a quiet breath and started backing away, one step at a time, keeping Nari shielded behind him. The pigs kept eating, and after ten steps, the grunting started fading.

Only when they were around the next corner did he stop and crouch down in front of her.

"Nari," he said, keeping his voice steady. "Look at me."

She lifted her face slowly, eyes wet and red.

"Stay right here. Don’t move until I say so."

She grabbed his sleeve. "Don’t go."

"I have to, those things are in our way."

Her fingers tightened, then slowly let go.

He stood up and rolled his shoulders, pulling the bat off his back. Something buzzed under his skin, a weird heat building in his chest.

’Four pigs,’ he thought, peeking around the corner. ’Should be easy enough.’

His grin pulled at his mouth before he could stop it.

’Oh,’ he thought, heartbeat picking up. ’These things will be the perfect test dummies.’