Otherwise, this police beauty who perfectly met the System's qualification standards would die within minutes from catastrophic blood loss.
"Alright, let's move. Now."
"Mm—okay!"
"Ah!"
Lily had barely finished nodding when her entire figure—along with the heavy duffel bag packed with supplies—simply vanished.
The next instant, she found herself standing outside the destroyed supermarket entrance, blinking in confusion. Elric appeared beside her simultaneously, completely calm as if nothing unusual had occurred.
"Oh my God—that was teleportation!"
Lily stared at him with wide, sparkling eyes filled with undisguised wonder and admiration.
Her man didn't just possess overwhelming combat strength capable of killing regenerating monsters—
He could teleport instantaneously across distances.
What other incredible abilities was he hiding? What else could he do?
A powerful wave of pride flooded through her chest, warming her from the inside. Her earlier jealousy and irritation about Officer Rachel melted away completely, evaporating like morning mist under intense sunlight.
The boost in affection and loyalty was immediate and obvious.
This is MY man, she thought with fierce possessiveness. The strongest man in the apocalypse belongs to me.
"This woman's mood changes incredibly fast..."
Elric could see Lily's emotional state with perfect clarity through his Emotion Perception ability—
The bright red glow of intense affection and admiration floating visibly above her head, mixed with only a few scattered neutral sparks of uncertainty.
She had gone from complete goodwill...
To significant resentment and jealousy...
And then rebounded back to even stronger goodwill and devotion—
All in less than thirty minutes total.
A woman's emotions really did change like unpredictable weather patterns.
But Elric didn't have the time or mental energy to carefully manage Lily's feelings right now. There were more critical priorities.
Officer Rachel was located on the fourth floor of the collapsed office building directly adjacent to the supermarket.
One more spatial swap and he would reach her location.
Through his active Clairvoyance, he could see Rachel's physical condition deteriorating rapidly with each passing second.
Her face had gone deathly pale, sweat pouring down her forehead despite the cool air. Her consciousness was visibly fading, slipping away toward unconsciousness and death.
Time was running out.
Rachel Rhodes had been born into a strict, traditional, deeply patriarchal police family—
One where no matter how hard she worked, how many achievements she earned, how much she excelled, her parents only truly cared about her younger brother's success and future.
So she had pushed herself relentlessly from childhood, grimly determined to prove she was just as capable—no, more capable—than any man, including her favored sibling.
She graduated at the absolute top of her class from the competitive police academy, then fought her way through institutional sexism into the prestigious frontline detective unit.
By age twenty-seven, she had already achieved the rank of Deputy Detective Captain in the Portland Police Department—one of the youngest women to ever reach that position.
Her future should have been brilliantly bright. Promotions. Recognition. Respect.
But then... the apocalypse struck without warning.
Her entire unit was scattered and decimated by a terrifying monster during the initial Gray Mist outbreak.
She barely escaped with two junior team members, and together they began saving stranded civilians wherever they encountered them during their desperate flight through the city.
Over days of constant fleeing and fighting, none of them had eaten properly or slept safely—
But working together through exhaustion and terror, they had successfully saved more than one hundred innocent people from certain death.
And yet, their selfless kindness and sacrifice received absolutely no gratitude in return.
The survivors they rescued at Sam's Supermarket didn't thank them or support them.
Instead, those same people had held them hostage—used them as bargaining chips—and ultimately forced them into a death trap against the centipede monster.
Her loyal subordinates were both brutally killed.
Her leg was catastrophically torn apart.
And she herself had been thrown aside like worthless garbage into an empty office building to bleed out alone.
"Damn it..." Rachel cursed weakly through cracked, blood-dried lips.
She didn't want to die. Not like this. Not alone in some abandoned corporate office with her blood soaking into cheap carpet while ungrateful cowards she'd saved continued living.
Only when life was actively slipping away did she truly feel how infinitely precious existence was.
Rachel, who had always been fiercely independent and self-reliant, who had built her entire identity around not needing anyone—
Found herself for the first time in her adult life genuinely wishing someone would appear and save her.
But that was impossible, wasn't it?
Who would even know she was here? Who would come to this specific abandoned building? Who would care enough to save a dying policewoman they'd never met?
"Ugh..."
Just as her consciousness began its final collapse toward death—
The desk, chair, and computer monitor in front of her suddenly vanished without explanation.
In their place stood a tall man with a powerfully built physique and devastatingly handsome features...
And beside him, a cute young woman dressed in pastel-colored Lolita fashion holding an oversized duffel bag.
"What... what is this... teleportation?"
Rachel's fading mind struggled to process the impossibility.
"How did two people suddenly appear directly in front of me..."
Her training kicked in despite her condition, analyzing details automatically.
"Wait—isn't that the blonde girl I saved from Tucker earlier?"
"How... how is she here now?"
"And this strange man... who is he? Did he teleport here together with the girl somehow?"
Elric and Lily's sudden supernatural appearance filled Rachel with a confusing mixture of overwhelming relief—
But also deep professional wariness and suspicion.
She was a cop. Trusting strangers wasn't in her nature.
"You two..." Her voice came out weaker than intended. "What do you want from me?"
Still fundamentally unsure of their true intentions despite her desperate situation, Rachel tightened her grip on her service pistol with trembling fingers, forcing her fading consciousness to remain alert and focused.
Never let your guard down. That was survival rule number one.
Elric stepped forward calmly, completely relaxed, not even remotely concerned about the weapon pointed vaguely in his direction.
"I'll make a deal with you, Officer Rhodes."
His voice was steady, businesslike, pragmatic.
"I will save your life and restore your leg.
But in return... you'll have to pay a price."
He didn't spare even a single glance at the gun trembling in Rachel's weakening hand as he crouched down directly in front of her, meeting her ice-blue eyes with absolute confidence.
"Oh?" Rachel asked, forcing steel into her fading voice despite the agony. "Tell me clearly. What price are you demanding?"
Her tactical mind raced through possibilities.
"Do you want money? Cash? The equipment I'm carrying? My service weapon? Badge? What?"
Even in her severely weakened state, Rachel's eyes still reflected a desperate flicker of hope.
No one wanted to die—especially not like this, alone and abandoned after saving so many ungrateful people.
But the price mattered enormously. If she was going to be saved by this mysterious stranger, she absolutely needed to know the terms before agreeing.
Elric shook his head slowly.
"I don't want anything material you currently possess."
He paused deliberately.
"I want you. Your loyalty. Your service. Yourself."
Rachel froze completely, her mind stuttering.
"Me... myself? My... person?"
Her gaze drifted downward involuntarily toward her mangled, nearly severed thigh. The limb was barely attached, hanging by threads of tissue, soaked in blood.
Reality crashed into her like a physical blow.
She forced a bitter, self-deprecating smile despite the pain.
"You should look more carefully at my condition. In this state... do you honestly think I'm even capable of fulfilling whatever you want from me?"
She wasn't stupid or naive despite her current vulnerability.
A lifetime spent fighting to prove herself—against her dismissive family, against institutional sexism, against violent criminals—had made her strong, independent, and utterly unyielding.
She had never wanted to depend on any man for anything.
But survival instinct changes everything.
If giving herself to this stranger meant she would live... she would grit her teeth and pay that price.
Except—
Her leg was effectively gone. Not just wounded or broken—catastrophically torn apart, flesh missing, nerves destroyed, blood vessels severed.
The critical golden rescue window for reattachment had passed long ago.
Even if she somehow survived through some miracle... she would be permanently crippled forever. Wheelchair-bound. Useless.
What could this man possibly want with a crippled woman?
Elric didn't hesitate for even a moment.
"Don't worry about your injury.
I can completely reattach your leg."
Rachel stared at him as if he were absolutely insane or cruelly mocking her.
Reattach her leg? After this much time had passed? After this much damage?
That defied every fundamental concept of medical reality and biological science.
She opened her mouth to argue, to tell him that was impossible—
But Elric didn't waste time explaining or debating.
He simply acted.
His Clairvoyance ability locked onto the severed portion of her leg—the chunk of flesh that the centipede had torn away and discarded earlier.
Then—
"ROOM."
The invisible surgical space opened instantaneously, encompassing a spherical area around them.
A gentle, almost musical hum filled the air—
And suddenly, the severed limb materialized out of nowhere, floating in the space beside him as if summoned from another dimension.
Lily nearly dropped her heavy supply bag in pure shock, her mouth falling open.
Elric raised one finger with surgical precision.
"Transplant."
A soft blue-white glow washed over Rachel's damaged body as the severed leg section floated smoothly into position—
Then reattached itself perfectly to her thigh, as if guided by invisible divine threads stitching reality back together.
Blood vessels aligned with millimeter precision.
Bone ends fused seamlessly.
Torn muscle fibers reconnected.
Severed nerves regenerated and linked.
Skin sealed over the wound without even a scar.
Rachel gasped sharply as intense sensation suddenly raced through her restored limb—warmth spreading rapidly from her hip down through her knee to her toes.
"It's... it's real!"
Her voice trembled with disbelief as she reached down with shaking hands to touch her thigh, feeling whole flesh instead of the mangled ruin.
The leg was back. Completely back. Attached. Functional.
Lily stood speechless beside them, her mouth hanging wide open in shock.
A miracle was happening right in front of their eyes. Something that shouldn't be possible—that violated every law of medicine and biology—was casually occurring as if it were routine.
Even knowing supernatural abilities existed, witnessing something this profound was overwhelming.
Elric stood and exhaled lightly, his expression showing mild dissatisfaction despite the incredible feat.
"Unfortunately, my Surgical Fruit ability level is still relatively low—only Level 2.
Even though the leg is successfully reattached and functional... you'll need approximately eight to twelve hours of rest for the nerve connections and blood vessels to fully heal and stabilize completely."
He said this as if it were a limitation—as if instantly reattaching a severed limb and restoring it to functionality wasn't already godlike.
To any normal person witnessing this, it was an absolute miracle beyond comprehension.
To Elric... it was simply work in progress. An incomplete result that could be improved with higher ability levels.
Rachel stared down at her restored leg, flexing her toes experimentally.
They moved. Sensation returned. Blood flow normalized.
Tears suddenly welled in her ice-blue eyes—the first tears she'd shed in over a decade.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Thank you..."
Elric extended his hand downward.
"Can you stand?"
Rachel took his hand without hesitation this time, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
There is 50 chapter Advance, in my patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
patreon.com/B_A_3439