Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 195: The Unseen Threat

Ethan had always thought the situation was strange, but after hearing Williams' words, an even weirder feeling settled in his chest.

When they arrived at the hospital room, JJ was crouched awkwardly, peering through the observation window. Ethan walked up and tapped him on the shoulder, causing JJ to jump in surprise.

"Dude, you scared the hell out of me!" JJ exclaimed, clutching his chest.

Ethan gestured toward the room. "How's he doing?"

JJ shook his head. "Rowan was just brought back, but we still don't know much. It's all up in the air."

"What about their families?" Ethan asked.

"I heard the hospital called some kind of emergency meeting for the four of them. Their families were all pulled into it," JJ replied.

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Ethan nodded, then turned to Williams, who was still staring intently through the window. "Williams, see anything?"

Williams straightened up slowly, his expression serious. "It looks… familiar."

Ethan's brow furrowed. This wasn't just some ordinary illness.

Focusing his mind, Ethan quietly released his Soul Sense, allowing it to penetrate the ICU's protective glass. Suddenly, a bizarre scene unfolded before him.

Lying in the bed was his dorm leader, Rowan. From his nose and mouth, a dark mist flowed—inhaled and exhaled in a continuous, eerie cycle.

Ethan looked closer. The mist wasn't just smoke or vapor. It was made up of countless tiny insects, so small and numerous they were almost invisible to the naked eye.

'What the hell is this?'

Ethan moved to the next room, where Greg, his second dormmate, was also lying in a similar state. The same black mist swirled around him.

Ethan quickly shared what he'd seen with Victor and the others. They all looked equally baffled.

"Insects? You mean like… a curse?" Leo blurted out.

Everyone turned to him, and Leo shrugged. "What? You know, like in those TV shows and books. Evil bugs that mess people up—curses, right?"

"Seriously?" Williams rolled his eyes, and the group dispersed, muttering under their breaths.

Ethan turned towards Williams direction. "Head back to campus and dig around. Find out where they went that night. See if anyone knows anything."

"Huh?"

"Got it."

Both JJ and Williams responded at the same time.

"Uh… I meant him," Ethan said awkwardly, pointing to JJ. "Williams, meet JJ, our dorm's sixth."

After the introductions, JJ, being the overly friendly type, immediately latched onto Williams, chatting him up like they were old buddies. Ethan wasn't sure why JJ was so eager, but Williams didn't seem to mind. In fact, he offered to go with JJ to their school.

With that, the two of them left, leaving Ethan to refocus on the four lying in the hospital beds.

For a moment, Ethan just stood there, staring at his dormmates. He felt helpless. He'd tried using his Soul Sense to manipulate the insects, to disperse them, but it had no effect. The creatures seemed completely immune to his abilities.

Ethan's anxiety grew. These four had been his bros, sharing the same cramped dorm room, sleeping in bunk beds. Back then, when Ethan was constantly bullied, they'd always had his back

Even if Ethan hadn't known these guys personally, he wouldn't have stood by and done nothing. This kind of situation was exactly what the Ninth Division was supposed to handle.

Wait, the Ninth Division…

Someone there had to know how to deal with this.

But how could he even contact them? If he had a way to reach the Ninth Division, he would've already asked them about the location of the Silverwood family's territory in the Ironvale Mountains.

The day dragged on until the families of the four returned in the afternoon. The hospital still hadn't come up with a solution. In fact, they'd issued critical condition notices, and Greg's mother was beside herself with grief.

Ethan desperately wanted to get closer, to examine the strange black mist more carefully. There was something eerily familiar about it, like he'd seen it before… but where?

Without the families' consent, the hospital staff wouldn't let him into the ICU. When the families finally returned, Ethan approached Rowan's father and explained that he wanted to go in and take a look. At first, the man refused, but after the critical condition notices were handed out, Ethan tried again.

This time, a doctor intervened. "It's not necessary. They'll be moved to a regular room soon."

The families erupted in protest. "What do you mean? Why are you giving up on them?" one of them shouted.

The doctor hesitated, then said, "Even if they stay here, there's nothing more we can do…"

His words hung in the air, heavy and final. It was as good as saying, "Take them home and wait for the end."

Rowan's father snapped, and the other families began to argue loudly. Despite the uproar, the hospital proceeded to transfer the four to a regular room.

Finally, Ethan could get close enough to observe them properly. He released his Soul Sense, focusing intently. Rowan's pulse was weak, his breathing shallow.

Seeing his once-strong dormmate—the guy who'd carried him on his back during a five-mile escape drill in basic training, lying there so frail, Ethan felt a deep pang of helplessness.

Just then, Victor walked into the room. He was about to say something when Ethan suddenly shot up from his seat beside Rowan's bed.

"Ethan, what's wrong?" Victor asked, startled.

In Ethan's vision, the black mist that had been swirling around Rowan's nose and mouth suddenly contracted and vanished into his body. Ethan thought Rowan's condition was about to take a turn for the worse, but to his surprise, nothing happened. Rowan remained still, his condition unchanged.

Ethan was baffled. He'd always been careful with his Soul Sense, keeping it tightly controlled since developing his Energy. Back when he first unlocked his Energy, Morzan had warned him that while Energy could mask the fluctuations of his Soul Sense, it wasn't foolproof.

During one of their conversations, Ethan had asked Morzan why having Energy made him less likely to be detected. Morzan explained that while Energy users were rare, their Soul Sense could grow stronger than that of ordinary people. However, if someone's Soul Sense became more powerful than their Energy, it could still draw unwanted attention.

Ethan had always kept his Soul Sense in check, but seeing the black mist suddenly disappear, he couldn't help but release it fully, his focus sharpening as he tried to understand what was happening.