Red and the Apocalypse Chapter 74 — The Chain
The ground trembled beneath Daichi's feet.
Grains of sand rose from the floor, gathering around his legs and swirling through the assembly hall. Dust drifted from the ceiling. Loose debris scraped across the concrete as the growing disturbance spread through the room.
Daichi stood in the center of it all, his brown eyes fixed on Captain Jin.
A moment earlier, Jin had shot him in the head.
Now Daichi was standing before him without a single wound on his body.
The captain's pistol remained raised, but his finger had stopped moving against the trigger.
For the first time since he had seized control of the sanctuary, Jin appeared genuinely uncertain.
"What the hell are you?" he whispered.
Daichi didn't answer.
He was still trying to understand what had happened to him. He could feel the sand around him in a way he had never experienced before. Every particle seemed distinct, yet connected. He could sense where it was, move it, and draw it toward himself without knowing how he was doing it.
The sensation was strange, but it wasn't painful.
Then he looked at Hiori.
Her wrists were bound. Two soldiers stood nearby with their rifles trained on the civilians. Her face was pale, and tears had gathered in her eyes.
A few meters away, Raizo lay on the floor, his clothes soaked with blood from the knife wounds he had sustained while defending her.
The sight of them brought Daichi's anger back.
The sand accelerated.
"Jin," Daichi replied with an annoyed expression.
His voice was quiet.
"Release my wife. Order your men to put down their weapons. Then get out of my sanctuary."
Jin slowly lowered his pistol.
Not because he intended to obey.
Because he needed to think.
He had spent days planning the coup. He had studied the complex, identified its weaknesses, and prepared his soldiers to take control before Daichi could react. He had accounted for resistance from the residents, for Daichi's possible intervention, and even for Raizo's strength.
He had not accounted for a man who could survive a bullet through the head.
Jin's gaze moved across the swirling sand.
He could use his telekinesis against Daichi, but he didn't know whether it would work. If the bullets had passed through him, ordinary restraints might be equally useless. And if Daichi could manipulate the building's sand and debris, a direct confrontation could put every soldier in the hall at risk.
The captain had not seized control of the sanctuary only to lose it minutes later.
He needed another option.
And then he looked at Hiori.
Daichi noticed the change in his expression.
"Don't," Daichi replied.
Jin turned toward him.
"Don't what?" Jin replied.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Daichi replied immediately.
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Then Jin smiled faintly.
"You're an interesting man, Daichi. You just died, and somehow that was the trigger for your ability to awaken. Aren't you in shock? And even now, after everything that's happened, you're still trying to give orders as though nothing has changed." Jin replied.
"Everything has changed because of you," Daichi replied.
"Perhaps." Jin glanced at the civilians gathered under armed guard. "But look around you. These people are still alive. The sanctuary is still standing. The infected haven't overrun this building." Jin replied.
"You murdered people who trusted you," Daichi replied.
"And you trusted me to protect them," Jin answered.
Daichi's jaw tightened.
Jin took a step toward Hiori.
The sand immediately surged between them.
"Stop," Daichi warned.
Jin raised his free hand as his eyes glowed purple.
Hiori suddenly lifted from the floor.
A startled cry escaped her as an invisible force pulled her sideways. Her bound hands jerked against the restraints, and she struggled to regain her footing in midair.
"Hiori!" Daichi and Raizo exclaimed.
Daichi moved forward.
Jin pulled her closer to himself.
"Stay where you are," Jin replied.
The sand surged again, sweeping across the floor toward the captain. Several soldiers stumbled backward as particles struck their boots and uniforms.
Jin held Hiori in front of him.
"You're welcome to try something," he said. "But think carefully before you do."
Daichi stopped.
He could feel the sand responding to his anger. It was becoming harder to control, and he didn't yet understand the limits of his new ability.
But he understood Jin's threat.
Hiori wasn't made of sand. Raizo wasn't made of sand. The residents weren't made of sand.
She couldn't let bullets pass through her body. She couldn't repair a destroyed skull or reform herself after being shot.
One wrong move could cost her life.
"Let her go," Daichi said.
"Then calm down," Jin replied.
Jin's tone was almost conversational.
The same man who had shared drinks with Daichi the previous evening now held his wife in the air as though she were nothing more than a tool.
Daichi clenched his fists.
"You know what you've done."
"Yes," Jin replied.
Jin's expression hardened.
"I won't pretend every decision made last night was correct. Some of my soldiers went too far. The deaths of those doctors were unnecessary, and I know that, and I'll see to it that they are punished." Jin replied.
For a brief moment, something resembling regret crossed his face.
It wasn't an apology. He didn't offer to surrender or undo what he had done.
But he didn't deny the deaths, either.
"They were useful people," Jin continued. "Their skills could have saved lives. I never wanted that outcome."
Daichi stared at him in disbelief.
"Yet you still stand there with a gun in your hand, defending the people responsible," Daichi replied.
"Because I won't allow the entire sanctuary to collapse over what has already happened," Jin replied.
"You call this protecting the sanctuary?" Daichi replied.
"I call it keeping people alive," Jin replied.
"No. You call it keeping people obedient," Daichi replied.
Jin's expression darkened.
"Sometimes those are the same thing," Jin replied.
"No, they aren't," Daichi replied.
The words came from Daichi without hesitation.
For years, he had prepared this place to survive the end of the world. He had spent his money, time, and energy building something that could shelter people when everything outside fell apart.
"You think fear will hold this place together," Daichi said. "You think that if everyone is afraid enough, they'll never challenge you."
"They won't challenge me if they understand the consequences," Jin replied.
"And what happens when they stop being afraid?" Daichi replied.
Jin didn't answer immediately.
Daichi stepped forward by half a pace.
"What happens when the people you force to obey you finally have nothing left to lose?" Daichi replied.
"That's enough," Jin replied.
"No. You wanted to be the leader? Then look at them," Daichi replied.
Daichi gestured toward the civilians.
"Look at the children watching their parents get dragged away. Look at the people who spent the last two weeks helping each other survive. Look at the doctors you killed because they refused to stand aside."
His voice grew louder.
"That was my sanctuary, Jin. These people weren't soldiers. They weren't your enemies. They were people who trusted us to protect them." Daichi replied.
For a moment, Jin's face tightened.
He looked away from Daichi.
Then he looked back.
"And what would you have done if my men had refused your orders? What would you have done if the residents had turned against you? What would you have done if your precious kindness had put four hundred people at risk?" Jin replied.
"I would have found another way," Daichi replied.
"Would you?" Jin answered.
"Yes," Daichi replied.
"Even if people died while you searched for it?" Jin asked.
Daichi said nothing.
Jin gave a short, humorless laugh.
"That's the difference between us. You believe there's always another way. I believe that sometimes someone has to make the decision nobody else is willing to make." Jin replied.
"And you decided that person should be you," Daichi replied.
"Someone had to," Jin replied.
Daichi looked at the man before him and felt something inside him sink.
He remembered the first time they had met. Jin had arrived with a handful of exhausted soldiers and a convoy that had been reduced to a fraction of its original size. He had spoken about the things waiting outside, about the infected and the creatures that had torn through his unit.
Daichi had listened.
He had believed that they could work together.
He had even defended Jin when residents complained about the soldiers.
Now Dr. Sato and Dr. Mori were dead. Raizo was bleeding on the floor. Hiori was being held against her will, and hundreds of people were waiting to discover whether they would survive the day.
Daichi had trusted the wrong man.
And Jin knew it.
"You were right about one thing," Daichi said.
Jin raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Jin asked.
"I should never have let you take control of the security forces without preparing for the possibility that you'd turn against us." Daichi replied.
For a moment, Jin looked almost surprised.
Then he nodded.
"At least we agree on something," Jin replied.
Daichi's hands trembled.
The sand around him rose higher.
He wanted to tear the weapons from the soldiers' hands. He wanted to throw Jin across the hall and make him answer for every person who had died.
Most of all, he wanted to take Hiori away from him.
But he couldn't move without risking her life.
Jin had found the weakness in Daichi's new power before Daichi had even learned how to use it.
And he was going to exploit it.
"You're going to listen to me now," Jin said. "Because we're going to have a conversation about how this sanctuary is going to function from this point forward."
Daichi stared at him.
"You think you can negotiate with me after this?" Daichi replied.
"I think you have a choice," Jin replied.
Jin gestured toward Hiori.
"You can fight me, and we can find out how much damage this building can take before something happens to everyone here." Jin replied.
"Damn bastard... you'll put the lives of kids in this too!?" Daichi replied immediately.
"Unlike you, I had to prepare if things went south, you know." Jin replied.
Daichi's eyes shifted toward the injured Raizo.
"Or you can accept that I am in control and help me keep the people here alive." Jin replied.
Daichi's gaze followed his.
Raizo was barely conscious. His breathing was shallow, and one of his hands was pressed against his side. Even now, his body remained angled toward Hiori, as though he were still trying to put himself between her and danger.
The man had fought until he could no longer stand.
And for what?
Because he had promised to protect them.
Daichi looked back at Jin.
"What do you want?"
Jin lowered Hiori until her feet touched the floor, but he kept her suspended just enough to prevent her from moving away.
"First, I want you to stop doing whatever you're doing with the sand." Jin replied.
Daichi glanced around the hall.
The particles continued to circle him.
He tried to pull them back.
At first, nothing happened.
Then, slowly, the sand began to settle. The particles dropped to the floor, and the trembling beneath their feet weakened.
The brown light in Daichi's eyes faded.
Jin watched carefully.
"Good," Jin replied.
"Don't speak to me like I'm one of your soldiers," Daichi replied.
"Then stop behaving like someone who's about to tear the room apart," Jin replied.
Daichi's expression hardened, but he didn't move.
Jin released Hiori's restraints from the air and allowed her to stand normally, though her wrists remained tied.
Then he turned toward his men.
"Bring the restraints."
Two soldiers approached with heavy-duty bindings.
Daichi's gaze shifted to them.
"You're going to restrain me?"
"Of course."
"After shooting me?"
"Especially after shooting you."
Jin's voice remained calm.
"I don't know what you're capable of. I don't know whether you can turn into sand whenever you want, whether bullets will always pass through you, or whether you can control every particle in this building." Jin replied.
He paused.
"Until I understand what you can do, I cannot allow you to walk freely around the sanctuary." Jin replied.
"You mean you can't allow me to challenge your authority," Daichi replied.
"I mean I can't allow an unknown ability user to wander through a building full of civilians when I have no way of knowing what he'll do." Jin answered.
Daichi almost laughed.
The excuse was so reasonable on the surface that someone who hadn't witnessed the massacre might have believed it.
Jin could always present his decisions as security measures.
He could call imprisonment containment, coercion discipline, and murder a regrettable consequence of maintaining order.
And because there was some truth in the dangers he described, he could convince himself that he was justified.
The soldiers stopped in front of Daichi.
One of them held out the restraints.
Daichi didn't take them.
"Before you do anything else," he said, "I want to know where the children are."
Jin's expression didn't change.
"They're safe," Jin replied.
"Where?" Daichi asked.
"Somewhere they can't interfere with the running of the complex, and I'm using them for collateral." Jin replied.
Daichi stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
"It means they're being kept under guard."
"With their parents?"
Jin didn't answer.
Daichi's stomach tightened.
He looked around the assembly hall again, searching the gathered civilians for familiar faces.
He saw mothers holding one another. Fathers with blood on their clothes. Elderly residents sitting against the walls with their heads lowered.
But the children were missing.
The realization struck him harder than the bullet had.
"Where are they, Jin?"
The captain sighed.
"I was hoping we could avoid this part of the conversation."
"Where are the children?"
"They're being held in a secure room."
"Which room?" Daichi asked.
"Near the Horde Leader."
For a moment, Daichi couldn't process the words.
Then his face changed.
"You put them near that thing?"
"The room is secured."
"That creature is chained up because it kills people!"
"And it remains under control."
"You're using children as a shield?"
"I'm using every resource available to ensure the survival of this complex."
Daichi stepped forward.
The soldiers immediately raised their weapons.
Jin lifted his hand, and the invisible force around Hiori tightened just enough to make her gasp.
Daichi froze.
"Don't," Jin warned.
His voice had lost its conversational quality.
"Do not make me repeat myself."
Daichi looked at Hiori.
She was trying to remain composed, but her fear was unmistakable. Her wrists were still bound, and she could do nothing to protect herself.
He looked at Raizo.
Then at the children who weren't there.
He understood.
Jin hadn't simply seized the sanctuary.
He had built a system in which every attempt to overthrow him could be turned against the people Daichi wanted to protect.
If Daichi fought, Hiori could die.
If he attacked Jin, the children could be endangered.
If he killed the captain, the soldiers might panic, and the entire complex could descend into violence.
Jin had made himself the center of a trap.
And Daichi had walked straight into it.
"You're a coward," Daichi said quietly.
Jin's face tightened.
"Perhaps. But I'm a coward who's still alive."
He turned toward the soldiers.
"Take him."
The men moved forward.
Daichi looked at the restraints, then at his wife.
Hiori shook her head.
She didn't want him to surrender. He could see it in her eyes. She knew what Jin was doing, and she knew that giving up would leave him at the captain's mercy.
But she also understood the alternative.
Daichi closed his eyes.
The sand lay motionless around his feet.
For the first time since his awakening, he stopped trying to fight the situation.
Not because he had accepted Jin's authority.
Because he had finally understood the price of challenging it.
"All right," Daichi said.
Jin watched him.
"What was that?"
"I said all right," Daichi replied, his gaze now normal.
Daichi held out his hands.
The soldiers secured his wrists.
One of them pulled the restraints tight enough to make the metal bite into his skin. Another checked the bindings before stepping away.
Jin studied Daichi's face, searching for any sign that he was preparing another attack.
There was none.
The captain exhaled slowly.
"Good. I'm glad we're being reasonable."
Daichi looked at him with cold eyes.
"Don't mistake this for surrendering to you."
Jin's expression hardened.
"Then what would you call it?"
"Protecting my people."
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Jin turned toward the soldiers.
"Take him downstairs. Keep him separated from the other prisoners until I decide what to do with him."
Two men moved to escort Daichi.
"Wait."
Jin stopped.
Daichi turned his head toward Raizo.
"You're taking him, too?" Daichi asked.
"He's a security risk," Jin replied.
"He's injured," Daichi replied.
"Then your guards can make sure he doesn't die before we have time to question him," Jin replied.
Daichi's fists clenched inside the restraints.
"Don't touch him unnecessarily. He has already suffered enough."
Jin studied him for a moment.
Then he gestured toward two soldiers.
"Get a stretcher. Have the military medical staff examine him before he goes into the cell," Jin replied.
Daichi stared at him.
It wasn't kindness in any meaningful sense. Raizo was a potential threat, and Jin needed him alive for questioning.
But the order could still prevent the injured man from dying.
That was the problem with Jin.
Even now, after everything he had done, Daichi couldn't reduce him to a simple monster. There were moments when the captain made decisions that could save lives, and there were moments when he destroyed those same lives in the name of order.
Jin could recognize a practical reason to help someone without admitting that the person deserved help.
And sometimes, beneath the calculations, there was still a trace of the man Daichi had once trusted.
That didn't make him safe.
It made him harder to understand.
The soldiers lifted Raizo onto a stretcher. He stirred, opened his eyes slightly, and searched the room until he found Daichi.
His expression changed.
He tried to rise.
"Don't," Daichi told him. "Save your strength."
Raizo's jaw tightened.
"Daichi..." Raizo said.
"I'm all right," Daichi replied while smiling.
It was a lie.
But Raizo was in no condition to argue.
Daichi glanced toward Hiori one final time.
She was crying now, silently, her face turned toward him.
He wanted to tell her that everything would be fine.
He couldn't.
He didn't know whether he would survive the day, let alone whether he would ever see her again.
So he gave her the only promise he could make honestly.
"We'll see each other again."
Hiori shook her head, tears running down her cheeks.
Daichi tried to smile.
"Keep looking after everyone. They need you."
"Daichi..."
"I love you."
The words came out quietly.
Hiori pressed her bound hands against her mouth.
Jin turned away, allowing the soldiers to lead Daichi toward the exit.
He didn't interrupt them. He didn't mock the farewell or make another threat.
For a moment, he simply watched.
Then he looked toward the remaining civilians.
"Everyone will return to their assigned quarters. Security personnel will escort you. Anyone who cooperates will be treated fairly."
A few residents stared at him with open hatred.
Others lowered their eyes.
Nobody answered.
Jin straightened his uniform.
"The sanctuary remains operational. Food and water will continue to be distributed. Medical treatment will be provided where available. The security measures are temporary, and anyone who follows the rules will have nothing to fear." Jin replied.
The words sounded almost identical to the assurances he had given when he first arrived.
But the people listening to him had seen what happened when someone challenged his authority.
They knew better than to believe that cooperation guaranteed safety.
The soldiers began moving the residents out of the hall.
Hiori was escorted in another direction.
Daichi watched until he could no longer see her.
Then the doors closed behind him.
And the man who had built the sanctuary was taken below ground as a prisoner.
The Prison Beneath the Sanctuary
The underground corridors smelled of concrete, dust, and old machinery.
Daichi had walked through them countless times before the apocalypse. He knew where the storage rooms were located, where the maintenance passages led, and which sections of the complex connected to the underground parking area.
He had designed much of the building's internal layout himself.
Now armed men were marching him through it with a rifle pressed against his back.
The irony was almost unbearable.
They passed a reinforced door and descended another flight of stairs. At the bottom, the corridor opened into a section of the complex Daichi had intended for storage and emergency supplies.
Jin had converted part of it into a holding area.
Metal doors divided the corridor into several cells. Some were occupied by residents who had resisted the takeover. Others held people accused of stealing supplies, disobeying orders, or interfering with military operations.
As Daichi passed, faces appeared behind the narrow openings.
Some residents recognized him.
"Mr. Kazuma?"
"Daichi!"
"What happened upstairs?"
He couldn't answer.
A soldier struck the bars of one cell with the butt of his rifle.
"Quiet!"
The voices stopped.
Daichi continued walking.
He saw a young man sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. An older resident leaned against the wall with a bandage wrapped around his forehead. In another cell, two people sat close together, whispering to each other.
These were the people he had promised to protect.
He had opened the gates when the world outside had collapsed. He had given strangers food, shelter, and a place to sleep without demanding anything in return.
Now those same people were prisoners in a building designed to keep them safe.
The guards stopped at the end of the corridor.
One of them unlocked a cell door.
"Inside."
Daichi looked through the opening.
The room was small, with bare concrete walls, a metal toilet, and a thin mattress on the floor. There was no window. A light fixture buzzed overhead.
He stepped inside.
The door slammed shut behind him.
A lock clicked.
For several seconds, Daichi remained standing in the center of the room.
Then he slowly looked down at his hands.
The restraints had been removed, but his wrists were red where the metal had pressed against his skin.
He flexed his fingers.
A few grains of sand slipped from his palm.
Daichi stared at them.
He could still feel them.
Even in the cell, even with the door locked, he could sense the particles lying in the concrete dust around him.
His ability hadn't disappeared.
He was still capable of becoming sand. He was still capable of healing wounds that should have killed him. And somewhere beyond the walls, he could feel the faint presence of more particles waiting to respond.
He could probably escape.
The thought came naturally.
He could turn his body into sand, slip beneath the door, reform on the other side, and move through the complex before the guards understood what had happened.
But then what?
He would have to find Hiori.
He would have to locate the children.
He would have to deal with Jin and more than a hundred armed soldiers who had already demonstrated their willingness to kill anyone who resisted.
And if the captain decided that the best way to regain control was to execute prisoners, Daichi might be forced to watch the sanctuary destroy itself from the inside.
He had power now.
But power alone wasn't enough.
Daichi sat on the mattress and pressed his hands against his face.
For the first time since his awakening, he allowed himself to feel the full weight of what had happened.
Sato and Mori were dead.
Raizo was badly injured.
Hiori was still in Jin's hands.
And the sanctuary was no longer his to protect.
He had spent years preparing for the end of the world.
He had never prepared for this.
Three Days Later
The first day passed slowly.
Daichi received food through a narrow opening in the door. The portions were small, but sufficient. Nobody explained what was happening upstairs, and the guards refused to answer his questions.
He asked about Raizo.
They told him the prisoner was alive.
He asked about Hiori.
They told him to stop asking questions.
On the second day, Daichi heard shouting somewhere down the corridor. A door slammed, followed by the sound of boots running across the floor.
He pressed his ear against the cell door.
"How many?"
"Two this time."
"Where did they go?"
"Orders from the captain. Keep moving."
The conversation ended.
Daichi waited until the footsteps disappeared, then called for the guards.
Nobody came.
Later that evening, he heard a woman crying in one of the neighboring cells.
He couldn't see her, and he didn't know her name. He called out to ask if she was injured.
She didn't answer.
He heard her crying for several minutes before the sound faded into silence.
On the third day, Daichi noticed something else.
The voices in the corridor were becoming fewer.
At first, he assumed the prisoners had been moved to different cells. Then he began to recognize familiar voices disappearing from the conversations around him.
A man who had complained about the food on the first day was no longer calling for the guards.
The older resident with the bandaged forehead had vanished from the cell across the corridor.
Two people who had whispered together through the night were suddenly gone.
When Daichi asked where they had been taken, the guards told him they had been transferred.
He didn't believe them.
That afternoon, he heard two soldiers speaking outside his cell.
"Another group came in through the garage."
"How many?"
"Three survivors. One woman and two men."
"Did they pass inspection?"
"Clean. No bites."
"And the captain?"
"He wants them processed immediately."
Daichi listened carefully.
More survivors were arriving.
Jin was still bringing people into the sanctuary, just as Daichi had done during the first week.
But the difference was becoming clear.
Some of the new arrivals were being taken away before the other residents even had time to learn their names.
That evening, a guard delivered Daichi's food.
Daichi caught the man's attention before he could leave.
"I need to speak with Captain Jin."
The guard shook his head.
"Not possible."
"Tell him I know people are disappearing."
The man's expression changed.
Only slightly, but Daichi noticed.
"Keep your voice down."
"Why?"
"Because you don't know what you're talking about."
"Then tell me where the prisoners are being taken."
The guard glanced down the corridor.
For a moment, Daichi thought he might answer.
Instead, the man stepped away from the door.
"Eat your food."
The opening slammed shut.
Daichi remained still.
He could hear the guard walking away, his boots echoing against the concrete floor.
Then, faintly, another sound reached him.
A heavy metallic clank.
Chains.
Daichi lifted his head.
He knew that sound.
He had heard it when Jin first brought the Horde Leader into the complex. He remembered the enormous cage, the creature's unnatural stillness, and the soldiers who had watched it with a mixture of fear and fascination.
He remembered Jin's explanation.
The creature attracted infected.
It drew them toward itself, gathering them into groups that could overwhelm smaller settlements. Yet under Jin's supposed telepathic control, the Horde Leader had become a barrier that kept other infected away from the sanctuary.
Daichi had accepted the arrangement because the alternative seemed worse.
Now he began to wonder what Jin had been doing to keep the creature under control.
He rose from the mattress and walked to the cell door.
"Guard!"
No answer.
He struck the door with his fist.
"GUARD!"
Footsteps approached.
The guard stopped outside.
"What?"
"How is the Horde Leader being sustained?"
The man stared at him.
"That's none of your business."
"It's my building."
"Not anymore."
Daichi gripped the bars.
"What is Jin feeding it?"
The guard's face tightened.
"Shut up."
"Is he feeding it animals?"
The man didn't answer.
"Is he feeding it the infected?"
Still nothing.
Daichi felt coldness spread through his chest.
He remembered the missing residents. The newcomers who vanished before anyone knew their names. The prisoners who were supposedly transferred.
He thought about the Horde Leader's size, its strength, and the way it had remained inside the complex without tearing through its restraints.
Then he remembered Jin's explanation of the creature's needs.
It needed to remain sustained.
And Jin had promised that the children would be safe.
Daichi stepped back from the door.
"No," he whispered.
The guard watched him for a moment, then turned and walked away.
Daichi didn't call after him.
He already knew enough to understand what was happening.
But he needed proof.
The Truth Behind the Chain
That night, Daichi couldn't sleep.
He sat against the wall with his knees drawn up, listening to the distant sounds of the sanctuary.
The generators continued to run. Water flowed through the pipes. Somewhere above him, people were eating dinner, moving through the corridors, and trying to convince themselves that life under Jin's rule was still survivable.
The sanctuary was functioning.
That was the cruelest part.
Jin hadn't destroyed the building. He hadn't shut down the food supply or allowed the infected to flood the entrance.
He had kept the systems running.
The lights remained on. The water continued to flow. New survivors were still being admitted.
From a distance, someone looking at the complex might have believed it was one of the safest places left in the city.
But beneath that appearance, people were disappearing.
Daichi pressed his palms against his eyes.
He thought of Hiori.
He wondered whether she was eating properly, whether Jin had allowed her to see Raizo, whether she was still trying to help the residents despite the danger.
He wondered whether she knew what was happening to the missing people.
And he wondered how much longer he could remain in the cell without doing something.
His new ability was the only advantage he possessed. It had saved his life, but it hadn't given him a way to save everyone else.
If he escaped, he might be able to reach Hiori.
If he attacked Jin, he might be able to defeat him.
But if the captain was telling the truth about the Horde Leader, killing him could unleash a threat that would destroy the sanctuary.
The children would be the first victims.
Then the residents.
Then everyone else.
Daichi lowered his hands.
He had built this place to be a sanctuary.
Jin had turned it into a chain.
And every link was attached to someone Daichi loved or had promised to protect.
He couldn't simply break it without knowing who would be crushed when it fell.
The door opened.
Daichi immediately stood.
A guard entered carrying a tray. He placed it on the floor without looking at Daichi.
"Eat."
"Where is Captain Jin?"
The guard ignored him.
"Tell him I want to speak with him."
The man straightened and moved toward the door.
"Please."
The guard paused.
It was the first time Daichi had used that word since being imprisoned.
The man looked back.
Daichi held his gaze.
"I need to know what is happening to the residents."
For a moment, the guard seemed uncomfortable.
Then his expression hardened again.
"You should have thought about that before you challenged the captain."
He left.
The door slammed shut.
Daichi stared at it.
He could feel the sand in the concrete around him, waiting for his command.
He could escape the cell.
He could probably escape the prison.
But the sanctuary wasn't a cell with a single door.
It was a building full of people whose lives had become entangled with Jin's control. Some obeyed because they were afraid. Others believed the captain's methods were necessary. Some had no idea what was happening behind the locked doors.
And others were being used to keep everyone else obedient.
Daichi had once believed that protecting people meant giving them a safe place to live.
Now he understood that a building could be secure while the people inside it were anything but safe.
He sat back down.
He would wait.
Not because he trusted Jin.
Not because he accepted the coup.
And certainly not because he had abandoned the sanctuary.
He would wait because he needed to understand the entire trap before he could dismantle it.
The people upstairs were still his responsibility.
Hiori was still his wife.
Raizo was still his friend.
And the children were still waiting for someone to save them.
Daichi closed his eyes.
The sand shifted quietly beneath his fingers.
He looked down at his hands, watching the fine particles gather against his skin. After a moment, he raised one hand toward his face.
An unfamiliar thought crossed his mind.
He hesitated before touching one of his eyes.
The pain came immediately as he pulled it free. His body tensed, and he instinctively reached toward the wound. But before he could do anything else, the eye began to break apart, dissolving into fine grains of sand that drifted away from him.
Then the pain stopped.
Daichi stood motionless.
Something felt different.
His vision blurred. Through his remaining eye, he could still see the cell, the walls, and the floor beneath his feet. But another view had appeared alongside it—a separate perspective that didn't match what stood in front of him.
Confused, he closed his remaining eye.
The cell disappeared from his vision.
Instead, he saw another part of the apartment complex.
He could see through the eye that had dissolved into sand.
Daichi slowly opened his remaining eye again. The cell returned, but the other viewpoint remained, showing him a different location within the building.
He stared into the darkness, barely breathing.
His ability wasn't limited to turning his body into sand or repairing his wounds.
Even after separating from his body, the dispersed particles could still allow him to see.
For the first time, Daichi began to understand that his new ability could do far more than keep him alive.
Jin believed that he had chained Daichi by taking away his freedom.
But the captain had misunderstood something important.
Daichi wasn't staying in that cell because Jin had broken his will.
He was staying because, for now, his freedom mattered less than the lives depending on him.
And one day, when the time came to act, he would make sure that breaking the chain didn't destroy the people trapped inside it.
End of Chapter 74 — The Chain