Godfire: The Split Soul-Chapter 175: She’s Dead

A strong weight of doubt lanced Cassy’s shoulders. As her lips parted, ready to relay the information to Jinx, the door to the female ward swung open.

Two men in military uniforms stepped inside, followed by a woman in a fitted dark-blue medical coat. The older man wore a captain’s insignia on his right shoulder, his face shaved clean of any hair.

The younger one, who held a black tablet against his chest, had a slight beard, thin like an arrow.

The doctor had a tired look, her hair tied back, almost as if she wanted to tear it apart.

"You’re awake." The calm voice flew and joined the antiseptic smell as she moved toward the bed. "Good."

Jinx turned her head slightly toward them and immediately regretted it when pain stabbed her eyes.

With confusion filling them, she turned toward Cassy. "Who are they?"

The man with the captain’s insignia closed in more. "Captain Jin. Military response team." He gestured to the younger man. "This is Officer Jinwoo. We only need a few answers from you."

Jinx shifted her gaze from the older to the younger, then back to Cassy.

Cassy straightened in the chair, then tried calming her expression as she tore her gaze toward them. "She just woke up."

Jinwoo stepped forward. "And the city is still under active threat." He paused, gave the captain a swift glance, then looked back at the lady. "Every detail matters. Only if you want to live to see the future."

The doctor stepped closer to Jinx, pressed a button on the monitor screen, then folded her arms across her chest.

She continuously nodded as she glanced at the fluid lines. "Her body has barely stabilized."

The captain cleared his throat. "We won’t keep you long."

Jinx swallowed hard, staring at the man’s fierce face. "What do you want?"

Jinwoo tapped the tablet in his left arm once. "We need you to recount your engagement with the Titanaboa from the instant of seeing it to the moment it died."

Jinx blinked, then gave a dry, humorless laugh that stabbed her ribs and made her flinch. "That’s what you came for?"

Captain Jin’s eyes shifted to the strange expression of the laughing lady. "You survived direct contact with a high-class threat. That is no small matter."

"No," Jinx whispered bitterly. "The small matter is that people died."

Heavy silence landed on the ceiling of the room. Then Captain Jin broke it. "Miss Jinx, have you ever been trained or received any Hunter combat manual?"

"No."

"Then how were you able to wield the swords effectively?" The captain’s tone intensified.

Cassy stood there, lost in every direction, even in her own thoughts. ’Is she telling the truth? Why am I even asking this question? It may be survival instincts,’ she thought.

Jinx turned her face away from the captain and stared at the wall in the far distance. "I picked them up and used them."

"That’s not sufficient—" Officer Jinwoo countered, but paused when he saw the lady’s face.

"It’s the answer you’re getting." Jinx sighed in dissatisfaction, then blinked.

The doctor looked between the lady and the soldiers, already displeased.

Captain Jin inhaled slowly. "Fine. When the Titanaboa appeared, did it respond specifically to you?"

Jinx’s brows crammed together. "What?"

"Did it react as if drawn to your movements, your voice, your presence, or anything else about you?"

Cassy’s voice lanced through. "That thing was trying to kill everyone."

The captain turned to her, then placed a hand on his lips, shutting her up in an instant.

’Uhm... well, let me just keep my words to myself.’ Cassy closed her lips, her chest rising heavily as she inhaled sharply.

"Miss Jinx, that is not what I asked."

Jinx turned her head sharply toward the captain. Even though the pain doubled, causing her face to twist, she did not care. "I’m telling you it was on the verge of killing everyone."

Her heart began to beat faster as adrenaline heated through her veins. "It smashed buildings, crushed people, tore through the road, and exploded a man right in front of me. Do you want me to describe how his blood looked too?"

Officer Jinwoo stiffened, a crackling sound echoing as his grip on the tablet increased.

Captain Jin’s jaw tensed, yet he didn’t flinch.

Cassy folded her arms and stepped closer to the bed, then broke the chain she had been wearing on her lips. "SHE’S IN PAIN."

The doctor also stepped in. "Enough."

Captain Jin’s eyes stayed on Jinx’s face in an eerie manner that made her feel as if he was measuring not just her words but the kind of danger she might become if she got off the bed.

"Why are you asking me these stupid questions?" she demanded, her face reddening. "Shouldn’t you be out there killing the things that are still alive?"

Jin closed his eyes and cracked them open seconds later. "We are trying to understand everything before we take action."

Jinx laughed through pain. "Understand everything, really?" Her upper body shot up without her consent, then she sat straight.

"Then understand this," her voice turned rough.

"People freeze. People scream. People die. And sometimes the only reason they keep breathing is that someone stupid enough decides to run toward the monster instead of being a coward and selfish."

Officer Jinwoo looked down at the tablet. Captain Jin’s face stilled. The doctor moved toward the monitor again.

Joy lanced across Cassy’s face, her palms shaking, almost as if she wanted to give applause.

Jinx shifted her gaze from the captain to Officer Jinwoo, then finally to Cassy. "Tell me."

Captain Jin’s face filled with confusion. "Tell you what?"

But Jinx ignored him and locked eyes with Cassy after noticing her glancing at the brightly lit screen. "You’ve been avoiding something."

A growl echoed from Cassy’s throat as her lips parted, yet no sound came.

"My phone."

Cassy looked like she might break apart as a cold liquid lanced through her spine. Then she tried to hide the device from everyone.

The doctor stepped closer. "Miss Jinx, you need to remain calm."

Jinx turned, but her gaze never left Cassy. "Cassy."

Tears gathered in Cassy’s eyes so fast that they came out like violent rain as she began to bring the phone for everyone to see. "I didn’t want you to hear it like this."

Her eyes closed as she wiped the tears and sighed at the same time. When she cracked them open, she moved her left arm from the bedrail and curled the sheet into it.

"Hear what?" Jinx’s anger began to dissipate, slowly getting replaced with dreadful fear.

Cassy shook her head once, the tears now dripping down her cheeks. "Lena..."

Jinx’s breath stopped the moment Cassy handed the device to her.

On the screen, the very CCTV which had been installed by Lena replayed over and over.

’No! Not this time!! No!!!’ Jinx screamed in her thoughts as she watched how Lena fought the three huge winged creatures to her last breath.

As if in synchronization with the last moment, Cassy’s voice echoed.

"She’s dead."