Chapter 31 - A Close Shave

Sui gritted her teeth as she charged forward even after knowing the obvious outcome that would happen if she clashed with the deviant Sui in front of her.

But the Deviant Sui's expression suddenly froze as if she noticed something but…

*Bham!*

An energy blast from the side suddenly struck her body, sending her flying by a few meters before she rolled on the ground.

"Ethan! Oh my god!" A woman's worried shout echoed from the side, making Ethan, who was barely conscious, turn his head over to the side to see a woman dressed in a gown running towards him.

And behind her were some men in armored suits and helmets with guns and flashlights in their hands. Everything was blurry and bright, so he was not able to get a clear look.

Hearing the familiar voice, Ethan couldn't help but think of one person, 'Aunt?'

However, the next second, his mind slipped into darkness as he fell unconscious.

Ethan didn't guess wrong, and it was indeed his aunt, Alina, who was running towards him with a frantic expression. If he were conscious now, he would have become shocked again by this fact.

"Ethan, don't worry. I will take care of you now!" Alina said with misty eyes as she crouched to pick up Ethan onto her lap while Sui's expression relaxed, seeing that backup had arrived.

However, she frowned when she saw that the Deviant Sui was nowhere to be seen anymore, and obviously, she had escaped.

"Sigh…who would have thought he would meet a Deviant right off the bat?" An old man dressed in neat white clothing and well-trimmed beard said with a sigh as he stepped forward and looked at Ethan. He was none other than Nuan Moon, the Head of the Divergent Department.

He then took a glance at Sui and said, "Alina, please heal Sui before her injuries worsen. Ethan is fine."

Alina nodded before taking a look at Sui and had her brows seeing how wounded she was.

"Sentinels, please escort him outside and her too once she gets patched up," Nuan instructed as he briefly turned his head in the direction of the people in armored suits standing behind him.

They immediately nodded as the two of them picked up Ethan from Alina's hands and carried him away. Alina already sensed that Ethan was alright and was simply unconscious and so she wasn't worried about his state anymore.

"Sui, please stay still. Let me heal you," Alina said as she held Sui's arm, who was looking at the people taking away Ethan before turning to look at Alina and nodded silently.

Alina hovered her hands right above Sui's stomach as a faint energy indiscernible by the naked eye enveloped the injured area on Sui's stomach.

The bleeding seemed to have already stopped despite the injury being so deep, and if Sui was just an ordinary person, she would have long since died.

However, the moment Alina's power began to work its magic, Sui regained some color in her face and saw her punctured wound slowly closing up gradually. If any doctors from even the top-notch hospitals saw this, they would be shocked out of their wits to see such a severe wound healing up so fast.

"Sui…thank you for protecting Ethan…Without you being here, I can't imagine how wrong things could have gone…" Alina said in an emotion-rich voice while conveying her gratitude.

"I did what I had to…" Sui said in her usual cool voice without a change in her expression, making Alina softly smile. She was happy that Ethan had someone to protect him like this, but at the same time, she was feeling bad that she couldn't do the same as well.

Still thinking about the Deviant Sui that tried to take away Ethan, Alina couldn't help but wonder about what was really going on the entire time.

After making sure Sui's wounds had healed sufficiently, Nuan stood before her as he asked, "Sui…that was your deviant self. And this is the first time in 50 years since a deviant somehow punctured through the fabric of our reality and entered our world. We are getting a bit careless. This was truly a close shave. It has been a long while since we came across a deviant powerful enough to slip into our world. She was trying to kill you, right? Any idea what she was planning to do with Ethan or why she suddenly showed up now?"

Sui's eyebrows squeezed together but then relaxed them as she said in a reserved tone, "I don't know..."

Alina observed Sui's expression and pressed her lips together as she said, "Mr. Moon, let's let her rest for now. She had been through a lot. Fighting your own deviant self is not an easy thing. You know that, right?"

Nuan narrowed his eyes, but then he sighed and waved his hand, "You are right. Sui, take some rest. You have done good work by protecting Ethan. Let's get out of here."

—

After a certain while, Ethan began to stir awake as he felt his body resting on a comfy bed with a quilt covering half of his body.

'Was my bed always this comfortable? And this cool air…when did we ever get an air conditioner?' Ethan slowly opened his eyes as his blurry vision slowly cleared up.

There was a slight sense of disorientation as he tried to look around. But it also disappeared as his vision cleared up, only to be surprised to see that he was sleeping in a spotless white room.

He then suddenly remembered what happened to him before he fell unconscious and inwardly shouted, 'Where the hell am I??'