NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: K.O.
Chapter 32: silas is bit dumb!
{
"I feel too sad to joke. I hope this section about death is over with. Oh, yeah! I wrote it, so yeah, this is the last section about death—at least the one that impacts Vira. For now, I'm way too involved and wrapped up in Vira's character."
}
"Seeing the woman get shot, two things happened simultaneously. One was that the guards following the woman immediately stood in the corner, and the other was that Nicolas asked the doctor to sneak away.
While he was still worried about Vira, venting out his frustration on a scapegoat that had popped out of nowhere, he thought that would be enough—at least for him to talk and console Vira with some good news.
Vira woke from his impulse the moment the bullet left the chamber and the sound reverberated in the empty hallway. But he kept firing simply because, unlike the fairly important doctors who might cause him some heartache if they died, this woman wasn't of much value.
Probably because Nicolas understood some of his line of thought, he dared to send the doctor, who had been his primary target. And what could he say? Nicolas was right, as he noticed these untrained doctors slipping away as quietly as they could.
After firing every bullet in the chamber, Vira sat on the bench for a while. Then he suddenly stood up and said to Nicolas, who was just standing by his side.
Vira: "Set up cryopreservation for Viper. And make sure to put him in the statue of mine. There will be no one besides him on my neck."
He said that as he rubbed the left side of his neck with his right hand firmly, even leaving marks on it. It appeared Viper's method of calming him down, while not completely effective, was still comforting to Vira. Without him, Vira would have to take up the job himself.
Afterward, Vira stared at Nicolas's mouth, waiting to hear a word of affirmation before wandering off. He wanted to see Viper, but he didn't feel capable of holding up his emotions when he lay dead on the bed instead of having Viper's comforting presence on his neck.
Although Nicolas was a bit nervous—after all, Vira's eyes were as terrifying and unsettling as always, if not more—he still spoke.
Nicolas: "I don't think that's going to be the case. There are some who might be qualified to take his place."
Without Viper, Vira was as good as deaf. But he had trained in lip-reading during his time with Luna, so he understood what Nicolas had said. Seemingly a bit angry, he spoke in a slightly louder tone.
Vira: "I said there will be no one. Now do what I asked you."
Saying this, he walked away. But just as he was about to cross the hallway and near the elevator, Nicolas, seemingly having made up his mind, shouted.
Nicolas: "Are you going to be like your father and abandon the child after the mother's death?"
Vira turned around upon hearing the sound and, in a neutral tone, said, "What did you say?"
Nicolas knew Vira hadn't understood what he said. With Viper not there, he repeated himself in a lower voice. He knew he needed to stir Vira out of his sadness. Although loud noise might irritate him enough to temporarily snap him out of it, Nicolas didn't think that would be helpful in the long run.
So, in a soft and slow tone, he spoke once more.
Nicolas: "Are you going to be like your father and abandon the child after the mother's death?"
This time, Vira, who had been watching Nicolas's movements, understood what he said. He was intrigued by multiple things, but he asked what concerned him most.
Vira: "What child?"
Nicolas: "Viper's child—he birthed it in the room."
Vira, puzzled, responded.
Vira: "Impossible. Viper never left my side. Never once!"
Nicolas: "I don't know either, but there is one in the room."
Hearing this, Vira jolted toward the room with unprecedented agility, scaring the nurse left to take care of the snake. But she quickly composed herself and led Vira to the bed—or rather, the pillow—where the newborn had been placed.
When Vira approached the bedside, Viper's child, as if sensing him, began crawling toward him. And when Vira raised his hands to touch it, the child jolted onto his hand, using it as a ladder to climb up to his shoulder.
Then it seemed to want to wrap around Vira's neck, but its size, although remarkable for a newborn, wasn't enough to complete the circle around Vira's neck.
"Well! You're an energetic one, aren't you?" would have come out of Vira's mouth, and it would have been a gentle scene of him rubbing the serpent's head—if not for someone interrupting in the middle.
The nurse, clearly one of the younger members of the group of doctors and helpers, was also a bit foolish. She spoke when it wasn't her turn or even her place to say anything.
Nurse: "Wow! It's an energetic one! Although adder younglings are capable of movement within minutes, not to this extent."
Although Vira was a bit put off by her loud and sharp voice, he didn't mind too much. It was a compliment, and little Viper had started to do its job, repeating every word the nurse said in Vira's head.
This action from the serpent seemed amusing or reminiscent of good times with Viper, and it made Vira chuckle. I can't say how much of an effect it had on me, but I can tell how starstruck the nurse was after seeing Vira's smile.
Unfortunately, starstruck fools are not good for anyone's health—neither for themselves nor the ones surrounding them.
As she spoke out of turn once more, making both Nicolas's and Vira's blood pressure rise, Vira asked, "Where are the others? I remember an adder giving birth to multiple at a time."
This made sense with the limited medical knowledge Vira had. Aside from birthing five or more offspring, an adder didn't need such a long time. But thinking the time, while painful for him, was for the birth of multiple heirs of Viper, he was still happy and couldn't wait to see all of them.
The question, as always, was directed to Nicolas. But there was someone unhealthy and potentially suicidal in the room, and in her attempt to harm herself and others, the nurse spoke.
Nurse: "Yeah, that's the strange part. Initially, we thought the adder died because multiple children consumed too much energy, but it seems this one was the one that sucked all of its mother's energy, leading to her demise."
Hearing this imbecilic fool speak again, and such words, Vira pulled out another gun from his back, intending to give her the same treatment as the woman from before—emptying all 15 bullets of his Beretta.
But her luck was too good, as before Vira could even pick up the pistol, he was bitten by Lil. Viper, sensing the immense flow of negative emotions bursting out of Vira, reacted. It seemed as if it had taken after Viper's role—only, unlike Viper, who would crush Vira's neck to near suffocation, it preferred to bite.
Fortunately, while adders are venomous, their poison wasn't highly potent.
So, Vira, who was bitten innocently, fell to the floor, numb, his body unmoving.