The accumulated dirty water dripped from Shu's hair, flowing down his cheeks.
Upon landing, Shu had protected the others well. Only Shu himself rolled somewhat messily on the ground twice, getting soaked in the process.
The fog pushed far away by Shu, now facing no resistance, surged madly towards them.
At this speed, it would take five seconds at most for the fog to cover their location, engulfing them.
Shu looked at the train about a hundred meters away, then at Kiana and Mei seven or eight meters from him. Gritting his teeth, he prepared to raise another hundred-meter barrier.
But the moment Shu raised his hand, he froze.
He stared blankly ahead, his raised hand trembling slightly.
Barrier... how do I raise it again?
A water droplet dripped from Shu's chin onto the ground, splashing faintly.
Bronya in his arms was still breathing with difficulty. The [Wish] helping Bronya breathe, he still remembered...
But... barrier... what was that?
"Mei!" Kiana's cry instantly snapped Shu back from his sudden confusion. Shu whipped his head around to look at the two, then at the surrounding fog, and the distant train...
Five seconds... No, four seconds!!
"Kiana!" Shu pushed himself up quickly, simultaneously shouting loudly at Kiana.
--- Three point seven seconds! ---
[Hope] surged towards his legs and Bronya in his arms. Shu stared intently at the distant train and Mei, who was already painfully bent over in a straight line towards it.
"Stay put!" He braced himself, gritting his teeth as he ordered.
--- Three point four seconds! ---
"Huh?" Kiana, squinting, looked up. She had just been trying to figure out Mei's exact location.
She was practically blind now. The slightest relaxation of her facial muscles sent unbearable stinging pain through her eyes.
But she endured the pain, straining to keep her eyes open just enough to see... though it was almost the same as not seeing at all.
Hearing Shu's voice, Kiana immediately stopped moving, staying put.
"I got it!"
Almost simultaneously as she spoke, she felt a fierce wind rush past her, carrying a vaguely seen dark shadow directly towards the distance.
--- Two point five seconds!! ---
Shu slammed directly into the train door. The door, seemingly unlocked, allowed them to tumble straight into the carriage.
Bronya and Mei collided with him, barely kept steady by his arms.
"Mei, listen to me!" Shu gritted his teeth, injecting [Hope] into Mei's body with one hand while rapidly speaking, "Take Bronya to the Titan cockpit! There's equipment there that can assist breathing!"
Bronya's armor could directly connect to the Titan cockpit... Once there, Bronya would be out of danger!
Mei weakly coughed up another mouthful of blood, her face pale, but nodded firmly, taking Bronya from Shu's arms.
--- One point five seconds!!! ---
Watching Mei stumble away holding Bronya, forcefully resisting the urge to look after hearing the sound of her hitting the wall, Shu turned back towards Kiana, still sitting in the fog.
At this moment, the fog was less than ten meters away from Kiana, needing less than half a second to envelop her.
And Shu was currently nearly a hundred meters away from Kiana!!
One hundred meters... one point five... no, one point four seconds... need to make a round trip...
Must bring Kiana back before the fog rushes into the carriage!
--- One point three seconds—! ---
Taking a deep breath, Shu's figure shot out instantly. The air exploded past his face, forcing Shu's eyes shut.
--- Zero point nine seconds!!! ---
Kiana nervously clenched her fists, biting her lip, kneeling halfway on the ground.
He told me, stay put. He told me, stay put...
Kiana repeated the words incessantly in her mind, her body trembling nervously.
The blurry surroundings, the grayish-white backdrop, made Kiana curl up uneasily, fists clenched protectively before her.
What's the captain doing? Don't know... How are Bronya and Mei? Don't know... Can they even leave this place... Don't know either.
This state of knowing nothing tormented her unbearably, yet she could only wait.
Wait...
Wait... myself... haven't I been forgotten?
An absurd thought suddenly arose in Kiana's mind.
She instinctively wanted to raise her hand to wipe her eyes but was captivated by the few lines of black text right on her palm.
[As long as I...]
Just then, Kiana suddenly felt her body lift off the ground. A hand supported her under the knees, another supported her back. She was probably being carried horizontally now.
It felt very unfamiliar... yet had an indescribable familiarity...
She instinctively wanted to struggle but heard a murmur beside her ear.
"Zero point four seconds..."
What zero point four seconds?
The next moment, she felt a very warm power envelop her, shielding her from the subsequent acceleration load, alleviating the wind from the high-speed movement.
And incidentally, moisturizing her stinging eyes.
So... she opened her eyes.
But... forgotten...
Forgotten... who... is he?
...
In the vast white hell, the moment Shu scooped Kiana up from the ground, the dense fog enveloped them both, swallowing them whole.
This time, the fog made contact with both of them without reservation.
And Shu clearly felt the instantaneous discomfort transmitted from his brain, contrasting sharply with the high-speed thinking he had been maintaining.
Wait... what is high-speed thinking?
Shu paused. Time instantly slipped by zero point one seconds.
Looking at the surrounding white fog, Shu calmed his mind, focusing on the direction he came from.
Come on... Let's race, see who reaches the train faster!!
Time remaining...
"Zero point four seconds..."
Go!
A human-shaped void was instantly left in the fog. Shu gritted his teeth, chasing the edge of the fog, advancing at extreme speed.
He had to outrun the fog... He had to bring Kiana back into the train before the fog reached the door!
80 meters—zero point three seconds!
50 meters—zero point two seconds!
10 meters—zero point one seconds!!
Can make it!!
Charge—Get me into the train!!
Shu had already surpassed the edge of the fog! He could see the door's location!!
5 meters!!
Zero point zero nine seconds!!
Get—
Shu's steps halted. His body instantly froze in place, maintaining the running motion, stopped 3 meters from the train door.
He had forgotten how to run...
However, the fog didn't stop, mercilessly engulfing the figures of both Shu and Kiana...
...
"Get—Inside!!"
Kiana's figure flew abruptly out of the fog.
Her eyes widened. In that brief instant, watching the hand reaching out from the fog, she instinctively reached out her own hand too, wanting to pull that hand along with her.
But it was too fast...
She didn't even have time to react...
By the time she extended her hand, the train doorframe was already in her line of sight.
In the slow-motion world, she watched that hand gradually swallowed by the white fog, watched the flame patterns extinguish within the white mist, watched the gradually closing train door shut the white fog, that hand, that coat outside...
She saw—
The words on her palm.
The person who will definitely come save us if we cry and make a fuss!
Important;
Important;
This is a very important person!
...
Meanwhile, Mei, who had successfully connected Bronya to the Titan's life support system and was slumped against the Titan, suddenly looked up.
"Shu... Who was that again?"