Seven people walked to Floor One. When they arrived, they saw the crowd. Not only people from Floor One and Two, but those from Floor Three were also present.

Women sat around Claire, patting her back and consoling her. Everyone in the building knew she was in a relationship with Matthew.

They watched her go from being a wooden person to being able to smile and laugh, holding conversations. They were all heartbroken for her.

Claire sat in the middle of it all, head bowed. There were no tears in her eyes; it was as if she had gone back to being the same wooden person she had been before.

When the family of five entered the scene froze. Dominic, held in his father’s left arm, looked around the room. His gaze was flat. Ashton, held in his father’s right arm, also scanned the room. He saw the various bone tools, and his eyes lit up.

Kain scanned the room with an indifference that made people shrink back. His posture was lazy, but it radiated power. Kain was coming into his own. Not as a survivor of the past life, but becoming a leader in his own right.

Amelia, standing beside him, was a regal queen. Years in high society have given her an air of superiority. She was never one to flaunt herself, but in front of the people who may be their future subordinates, she would not hold back.

Avery, in her arms, looked around the room. She wasn’t very interested in anything here. After looking around, she leaned into her mother’s arm, resting.

"Claire," Amelia called out. "How are you feeling?"

Claire looked up to see the family of five standing before her. She opened her mouth but didn’t say anything. A single tear fell from her right eye before she lowered her head.

Kain glanced at her. "Where is the body?" he said to the room.

They pointed to a specific bedroom.

Kain brought Ashton and Dominic, while Amelia stayed outside with Avery.

Stepping into the room, he closed the door.

The trio walked up to the body. The man’s eyes were closed, and his skin was pale. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. He didn’t look dead. The only things that showed he was were the lack of breath and how cold his skin was.

"Remember what we talked about before we left? You two are in charge. Let’s find out how he died."

"Dad, put me on the bed," Ashton said.

Ashton scrambled towards Matthew. His obvious eagerness made Kain chuckle softly.

"What about you?" he asked Dominic.

"I can see his number," Dominic responded, confused.

"Oh, so he’s not dead?" Kain lifted an eyebrow.

Ashton was quick to shake his head. "He’s dead. But he’s weird."

Ashton held a small, clear bead in his hand. It still had the residual blood.

"I took it from his finger. The two people and the cat dad gave me before didn’t have it in their fingers."

"What’s that?" Kain asked. It wasn’t the first time Kain had seen it. Ashton had one he walked around with not long after getting the mindless.

"It’s a body bead. I found one in the cat’s stomach. The two people had one in their brains, at the thalamus-insula axis. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The brainstem triggers the neurons, the thalamus relays the information, and the insular cortex tells it where to go."

"I can see the number from the bead," Dominic said.

"What?" Kain asked incredulously.

"I can see the number, Dad, it’s a zero," Dominic replied. Then he looked back at Matthew’s body. "I can’t see it when I look at him."

Back and forth, Dominic’s eyes scanned the two things. From person to bead.

"Brother, so does that mean you see the beads in everyone’s brains?" Ashton’s eyes were shining.

When Kain heard this, he was confused. If Dominic could see the beads, then what was he seeing before the apocalypse happened? He used the number to see a person’s life value. Then was it not life value all this time?

No, it’s still life value. Matthew is dead; his value is zero

But he could see it before the collapse. That means everyone has a life value, and their life value is most likely related to whether they can awaken or not.

But Matthew’s value when they first met was eight. Then it started to decrease.

It meant someone or something was draining his Source Energy, which decreased his life value and the energy in his body.

But why was the bead found in his finger?

"Ash, what do you think? If the bead should be in his brain, why is it in his finger?"

Ashton looked at the bead, his face scrunching as he thought.

"Maybe someone sucked it out?"

The idea sounded absurd, but it was the best thing he could come up with.

"Aunt Claire," came Dominic’s voice.

He had been looking at the bead and Matthew for some time. He hadn’t said a word, trying to figure out why it was happening.

"Dad, I think Aunt Claire sucked it out."

Kain and Ashton looked at Dominic, waiting for him to continue.

"Aunt Claire’s number had been glowing. When we just went to see Aunt Claire, her number was changing from eight to nine. I think Aunt Claire stole Uncle Matthew’s number."

Ashton’s eyes lit up again at the prospect of future research. He thought about whether his Aunt Claire would let him take a look at her brain. Completely unconcerned with whether or not she would be able to live afterwards.

Dominic was frowning. His thoughts revolved around the changing numbers. And if he could change a person’s number or transfer it to someone else.

He cautiously looked at his father. There were two numbers above his head. One was the regular gold, and it was 10. Then there was another number that alternated between red and black. It was higher than 10.

That number kept changing. And it looked like it was trying to eat the 10.

Kain smiled at Dominic, not sure why he was looking at him with a frown. "What’s wrong?"

"Dad, I’m worried." This was the first time Dominic openly stated his emotions.

"What are you worried about?"

"I’m worried about the numbers." Dominic didn’t openly say he was worried about his father’s numbers. He wouldn’t know how to explain it properly to him.

"You don’t need to be worried. You’re five. As you get older, you can think about it more. Plus, the stronger you get, the better you will be at controlling your powers. You’ll learn everything step by step."

Kain ruffled his hair. When his hand fell, it met another head. He looked down to see Ashton pouting.

"You’ll learn too." Then he ruffled Ashton’s hair.