Nikke, something’s seriously wrong with this evacuation point! Chapter 52 52: The Final Tenderness

A faint disturbance ca from behind the door. Even the purple force field enveloping the space flickered slightly. Fortunately, it held firm and didn't collapse, sparing Charon from an unpleasant surprise.

About ten seconds later, the lock clicked, and the door slowly opened a crack. Through the gap, slightly lower than eye level, Charon saw a large bluish-gray eye.

A child?

He was just about to speak when fear, and a trace of instinctive disgust, suddenly appeared in that eye. The door was about to shut imdiately. Charon quickly wedged his foot in, then turned his head and spat out the blood that had been building up in his throat, clearing it slightly.

"Miss A… Although I don't look like a normal person right now, for the sake of delivering your package, could you at least sign for it?"

As he spoke, his trembling hand reached forward, offering the gift box that was already nearly destroyed.

After everything he had gone through, the box had less than 5% durability left. Fortunately, as long as it hadn't reached zero, it could still be opened intact without affecting the item inside.

Charon forced a smile. But with his face covered in blood and filth, reeking horribly, Ana couldn't help but frown repeatedly. Still, she didn't shut the door again. Holding a shard of mirror in her hand, she watched him cautiously.

She said nothing, clearly still wary of him.

But she did take the package.

At that mont, the system countdown froze at 0:37.

A close call.

[Mission Complete: The Final Order]

[Base Reward: 500,000 Zero Coins]

Seeing this line, Charon grinned. His body swayed, and he collapsed forward.

Ana instinctively stepped aside, and he fell onto the carpet inside the room. As his tense nerves relaxed, the accumulated fatigue and wounds burst forth all at once. Blood quickly seeped into the carpet.

In that instant, Ana seed to understand sothing. She looked outside, the purple barrier, the writhing red flesh beyond it, and the endless mountains of garbage.

She imdiately ran to the door and shut it tightly.

Charon's body reeked. His face was obscured by blood, sared with mud from the garbage piles. In her entire life, she had never been this close to soone like him.

Her instinctive cleanliness made her almost unable to approach. She shrank into a corner near the door, observing him through the reflection of the mirror shard.

Five minutes later, after confirming he was truly unconscious, she carefully crawled out and began checking the gift box and the ssage card.

The mont she saw it, her whole body trembled. Almost instantly, tears stread down her face. She covered her mouth tightly, forcing her grief to remain silent.

'Mom… Mom… I'm sorry, Mom…'

She sobbed soundlessly, carefully placing the box back into the corner where she had been hiding.

She knew this wasn't the ti to cry. Judging from the situation, that person had indeed co to deliver sothing to her, and clearly ended up in a near-death state because of it. Before opening the package, she had to treat him first. That was the most basic courtesy.

If she rembered correctly, there were injectable dicines in the dical kit. She hadn't needed them before, but he did.

However, when she picked up the syringe and tried to approach, she noticed that almost no part of Charon's body was clean. It was either covered in mud or dried blood. Instinctively, she didn't want to get close.

In the end, the will to save him overca her disgust. She administered the injection, then imdiately sprang back, fleeing awkwardly into the bathroom.

She herself wasn't in good condition either, her injured foot still hurt, but there were things she had to do.

Ana… had to clean him.

It would be better if he woke up and handled it himself, but she simply couldn't stand it. Her obsession with cleanliness was instinctive, sothing her will could hardly resist.

In the spotless bathroom, she climbed into the bathtub and took a clean white towel from the rack.

The water heater still worked. She soaked the towel in hot water, then carefully returned to Charon's side, kneeling in a spot that hadn't yet been soaked with blood.

The dicine had already been fully injected into his body, and the syringe had fallen aside. At least his life was no longer in imdiate danger.

Ana lowered her head and stared quietly at this "human-shaped filth," frantically convincing herself:

"It's fine… it'll be clean soon…"

As if what lay before her wasn't a filthy person, but a ticking bomb about to explode.

Then she began cleaning him.

Her movents were anything but gentle–almost rough, completely at odds with her appearance. Every few wipes, she would fold the dirty side of the towel inward to avoid touching any gri.

Each ti a towel beca too dirty, she threw it into the bathroom corner and grabbed a new one, continuing her work.

Finally, she managed to clean his face enough that it looked sowhat human again, and she slowly retreated to her corner.

At that mont, she confird:

He was human. Not a monster.

Seeing that his complexion had improved, she stopped. In her mind, at the very least, a person's face should be clean when eting others.

Only then did she finally turn her attention to the package.

She didn't know how it had been delivered, but she had indeed received it, her stepmother's final love.

With trembling hands, she untied the filthy ribbon. The mont it opened, a dazzling light burst out, filling her with warmth and comfort.

Charon's eyelids twitched. Even he was affected by the light. Though he should have remained deeply unconscious, he miraculously woke up.

He instinctively checked his HP bar, it had already recovered to 50%. His wounds and debuffs were disappearing one after another, and his HP continued to rise.

Was it because of that light?

Then he saw it.

Within the light appeared the outline of a pair of Mary Jane shoes, crystal-like, semi-transparent, with glowing streams of light flowing inside.

...

[Na: Eternal Love · Crystal Shoes]

[Type: Exclusive Equipnt]

[Quality: Red]

[Recycle Value: Non-tradable]

[Usage: Unlimited]

Effect 1: A force field covers the shoes. No form of filth–even conceptual "impurity"–can adhere to the wearer.

Effect 2: Ignores basic physical laws, fixing the wearer's gravitational anchor to the contact surface.

Effect 3: When about to receive fatal damage, generates a 3-second invincible shield, granting complete immunity.

Effect 4: The wearer makes no sound while walking or running.

Note:

"Don't be afraid of getting dirty, child. Put them on and keep moving forward. Don't look back. Even in hell, we will protect our most beautiful little princess."

– From a package that was never delivered. A mother's final tenderness, turned into the strongest armor in this cruel world.