Chapter 51
There was a sound.
Distant. Metallic. Humming.
I wasn't in the City of Blood anymore. The red skies, the whispering towers, the bone bridges—they'd all fallen away like ash in the wind.
I was... home?
If you could call it that.
My eyes blinked open to a dim, sterile ceiling. Soft lights hummed overhead. The scent of old iron, disinfectant, and burnt rice filled the air. My limbs felt heavy—like my bones had been replaced with lead.
"You owe me two ribs and an entire operating table," a voice muttered nearby. "Also, who the hell grows a third heart mid-surgery? What kind of parasite-possessed mutant does that?"
I turned my head slowly.
And there he was.
Doctor Jiji.
Bald, hunched, and wearing goggles three sizes too big for his face, with a greasy apron stained with blood, oil, and what looked suspiciously like soy sauce. He was sitting on a cracked stool next to me, holding a noodle cup in one hand and a bio-scanner in the other.