Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 27

"....."

"What do you mean by ’I think’?" Asher questioned as his hand subtly moved towards his pocket.

The woman’s eyes darted towards his hand, then she smirked.

Inhaling the smoke from her cigarette, she puffed it back out with a loud exhale.

"Tell you what," the woman began as she lifted her head to stare at the bulb for a moment.

".... I don’t have all day, so tell me what you want exactly."

’Did she just deflect my question? Is-Is she really a Shadow?’

Recalling what he had faced at the hands of Nuel made his skin begin to crawl.

His heart pounded with every passing second.

The longer he stared at the woman, the more Nuel’s face began flashing through his mind.

He didn’t want to be as helpless as he was last night.

Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment.

’Don’t show any signs of weakness. In horror movies, the monsters feed on fear.’

Then he breathed out while simultaneously opening his eyes.

It didn’t take more than two seconds before his aura changed and became more stable.

He leaned forward with a stoic, almost unbearable expression.

The woman lifted a brow as she sensed the change almost immediately.

"I want to know everything there is about this nightmare, the city, the shadows, and why the fuck you have been keeping an eye on my house and family. What is going on? I need everything."

The woman cocked a brow for a fleeting moment, then settled back down and stared at her dwindling cigarette.

Her gaze rose to the wall clock, which was still ticking normally.

It showed the time: 6:50 p.m.

"It’s getting late."

"So?" Asher raised a brow.

The woman heaved a sigh and then looked his way.

"I haven’t been keeping an eye on your family for the sake of being a stalker. I’m too beautiful for that shit."

"Then?"

The woman inhaled the smoke from her cigar and breathed it out.

"I thought that you all were a family of Possessed. In this city, you can’t trust any single soul you see."

She paused, then furrowed her brows at him.

"... Even if they are your family. Trust no one."

Asher was more than confused by this strange woman’s words, but he didn’t let any of that show on his face.

"Why?"

Puffing her cigarette, the woman breathed it out again.

"A month after settling into this cursed city, a week before the month ends, one begins having strange visions and distorted dreams. On the fourth week, you get pulled into the Nightmare."

"...."

She paused dramatically while looking at the boy again before continuing her words.

".... The survival rate of surviving a Nightmare is less to none. One can barely survive. So anybody who enters a Nightmare is classified as good as dead.

And if they die—"

"Their soul and body perishes and their Shadows remain." Asher replied with a frown. "Yeah, I know that."

The woman’s lips curled up in a smile.

".... But what you don’t know is there are different types of Shadows with different types of functions."

"Meaning?"

Puffing her cigarette, the woman tapped it for a moment, then breathed out the smoke.

".... There are Shadows with the natural ability to impersonate a human after killing them. You won’t even be able to tell the difference between a cloned human and a real human if they stood before you.

They clone the human to the latter. But there’s a disadvantage of doing that for them."

Asher was obviously intrigued.

If he had heard of all these before he was attacked by Nuel, he would have thought the woman before him was crazy.

Or she had watched too many movies.

But from his past experience, he knew she was as honest as she could be. So he listened.

".... The disadvantage is that the human they clone, they get all their stats."

"Stats?"

The woman nodded.

"Yes. Which means they can only be as strong and fast as that said human. These guys are called ’Hollowed.’"

She paused dramatically as she took another professional puff of her cigarette.

"... We have the ’Shades.’ These ones are just mindless, restless, and wandering Shadows. Then up after the ’Hollowed’ are the ’Possessed.’"

’Like Nuel? I heard that strange woman from yesterday call her that.’ Asher mused inwardly.

The woman dropped the cigarette in her hand to the side, then rubbed her tired face.

"Honestly, you don’t want to ever face a Possessed. A single Possessed has the strength to take out a whole town."

Asher gulped almost instantly as sweat began forming across his temples with every word that slithered out of the woman’s mouth.

She smiled and continued.

"Up comes the ’Heralds.’ These bastards have the strength to level entire cities on their own. Honestly, pray you never come across one or you are toast."

Asher’s heart couldn’t take it anymore. It began pounding so loudly that even the woman glanced at him for a second before continuing.

She then leaned back into her chair and sighed.

"Unfortunately, there’s no way to stop someone from entering a Nightmare. As long as you are in Vespers, you are prone to enter. The only thing you can do is to delay it."

Hope!

Asher’s face lit up instantly.

"Delay? How? With what?"

"...."

The woman shook her head.

"You can only delay with the Pills. One of these things can keep one awake for two days before they need to pop another one. But unfortunately, a bottle of these pills costs so much that you could be wrecked financially within a week.

So you see that you are just delaying the inevitable?"

Asher’s brows knit instantly as frustration began to bubble within him.

"Why are the pills so expensive? The fuck are they gatekeeping for? Why not share it for free or even less than the normal amount so everybody can afford and stay alive?"

"Then what, huh?"

The woman shot him a sharp glare.

"How many pills will you pop to stay alive? If it was free or less than the normal price, do you realise that within a month, nobody will have pills again?

People will get addicted; people will keep consuming constantly and demanding for more. And soon, demand will far surpass supply."

"...."

Ding!

The clock hit seven p.m. almost instantly.

The woman sighed and then rose up.

"Besides, these pills are not in full supply because it costs a fortune to make them. Hence, whichever store sells them, they price them incredibly high."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!