Chapter 147: The Burning Drug (6)
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was this cozy brick wall glowing softly. It had little cracks, and through them, I could see fire swaying like it was dancing just for me. The ceiling was all red flames too, kind of like someone had draped a big red cloth over it, and there was black smoke swirling up, moving like it was putting on a performance.
Ugh, the air was so harsh! A human would’ve probably choked on it. The smoke was so thick and creamy, I could barely see a thing. My poor eyes were stinging like crazy.
I turned my head slowly—it wasn’t easy, not with that heavy, stifling air—and there they were. The Golden Reapers, lying in a neat little circle around me, looking all peaceful, like they were just taking a nap. Their firewood wasn’t glowing anymore. They had chosen to stay asleep, not wanting to wake up and put any more strain on my poor, dwindling firewood.
Feeling grateful, I tried to raise my hand to pat them. That’s when I really realized how bad off I was. My hand felt so heavy, and when I finally managed to move my fingers, they crumbled like sand. Even my skin was flaking away, falling apart like dry, fine grains.
Yep, I was literally falling apart. On the verge of death, actually. My firewood had almost completely burned out. Honestly, the last time I’d been this drained was when I met Sehee. Even though I wanted to give the Golden Reapers a pat or share what little firewood I had left, my hands just… disintegrated.
So, I just lay there, staring blankly, waiting for my firewood to refill. If I moved too much, my wrists would snap, and if I tried to stand, my ankles would probably crumble.
The ceiling was still burning away, but… at least my firewood started to come back pretty quickly.
Just like that time during the Central Research Institute mess, all the fear and confusion from the people around me started to flow into my firewood reserves.
Something was definitely going down outside.
Yerin… was Yerin okay?
I was worrying about her, feeling that creepy tension in the air, when I noticed my firewood had recovered enough. Slowly, I got up and gathered the scattered Golden Reapers into my arms.
I carefully passed some firewood to them. One by one, their little bodies flickered back to life, like a fluorescent light turning on after being off for too long.