Read Novel Full Chapter 575: I Need To Change
Chapter 575: I Need To Change
Anya’s arms tightened protectively around the mattress.
“So?”
“Well, you see, I have a very bad back. Sleeping on the stone floor has been absolute agony.”
“And I was thinking—since you’re young and resilient—perhaps you wouldn’t mind letting me use the mattress instead?”
The audacity of the request left Anya speechless.
This woman who had done nothing but complain and eat the food Mika had found and refuse to help when Mika was stuck—wanted to take her mattress?!
“No.” Anya said.
The nurse’s smile tightened. “I beg your pardon?”
“I said no! This is my mattress. Mika gave it to me. If you want one, go find your own in the rubble!”
The nurse’s face flushed with anger.
“Well! Such disrespect! In my day, children knew how to respect their elders. Your mother may be a Battle Angel, but she clearly hasn’t taught you any manners—”
“Don’t you dare talk about my Mommy!”
“Then perhaps you should act like the lady you’re supposed to be!” The nurse shouted back.
“Giving up a simple mattress for an elderly woman with back problems—is that really so much to ask?!”
Anya was on her feet, her hands balled into fists.
She was ready to fight this woman—to scream at her, to push her, to do something—
“Anya.”
Mika’s voice cut through her fury. She turned to look at him, and he met her eyes with a calm, steady gaze.
“Give her the mattress.”
“What?! Mika, no—”
“Give it to her.”
She didn’t understand what he was thinking.
But she trusted him.
With trembling hands, she pushed the mattress toward the nurse.
The woman’s face transformed with satisfaction.
“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? You should learn to listen to your elders, young lady.”
She took the mattress and walked away, her nose in the air.
Anya turned to Mika, tears of frustration burning in her eyes.
“Why? Why did you make me do that? She didn’t deserve it! None of them deserve anything! They’re horrible, selfish, useless—”
“I know.”
“Then why?!”
Mika looked at the adults, who had returned to their own corner of the cavern.
They were already fighting over the mattress, arguing about who got to use it first.
“Because now I understand.” He said quietly. “Now I know exactly what kind of people we’re dealing with and how are future is going to look like if we aren’t saved in time.”
“What do you mean?”
But he didn’t answer.
Instead his eyes darkened like he was thinking about a horrifying fate that awaited them.
—
From that day forward, Mika and Anya kept to themselves.
They moved to a corner of the cavern far from the adults, using fallen debris to create a makeshift barrier.
Mika continued to explore and map the cave, searching for any possibility of escape.
Anya stayed by his side, helping however she could—fetching water, organizing supplies, keeping watch while he rested.
The adults tried to approach them several times, asking for help with various tasks, demanding that Mika fix things or find things or solve problems they were too lazy to address themselves.
But Mika ignored them completely.
He walked past them as if they didn’t exist, his attention focused solely on the work in front of him.
“Ungrateful brat.” One of the attendants muttered. “After everything we’ve done for him…”
Anya almost laughed. Everything they’d done for him?
What exactly had they done, besides take and take and take?
But she didn’t laugh. She didn’t say anything. She just followed Mika’s lead and pretended the adults weren’t there.
It was easier that way.
—
On the ninth day, Mika found hope.
He had been scavenging through the rubble again, carefully this time, avoiding the most unstable sections—
—when he discovered a bunch of electronic equipment!
Broken monitors. Fried circuit boards. Tangles of wire and components that the adults would have dismissed as useless junk.
But Mika saw potential.
For the next two days, he worked obsessively.
He tore parts from different devices, soldering connections with a heated piece of metal, weaving together a machine whose purpose Anya couldn’t begin to guess.
She sat beside him the entire time, handing him make-shift tools when he asked, watching his fingers move with the precision of a master craftsman.
“What is it?” She finally asked.
“A transmitter.” He didn’t look up from his work. “Or it will be, when I’m finished.”
“The Anti-mana field is interfering with normal communications, but I think I can bypass it. If I can just get a signal through to the surface…”
“Then Mama will know we’re alive!”
“Exactly. She’ll know where to dig and we might even be able to communicate with her.”
Anya’s heart soared. For the first time since the collapse, she felt genuine hope.
Not the desperate, clinging hope she’d been forcing herself to maintain, but real, tangible hope.
Mika was going to save them. He was going to find a way!
—
He worked through the night, his small body pushed to its absolute limits.
The Anti-mana field was taking its toll; his skin had gone from pale to gray, and dark veins were becoming visible beneath the surface.
Every movement cost him energy he didn’t have to spare.
But he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.
By the next day, the device was nearly complete.
It was a crude thing, a tangle of wires and circuits mounted on a salvaged metal plate, with a small speaker and a blinking indicator light.
But Mika looked at it with something approaching satisfaction.
“One more hour.” He said. “Maybe two. Then we can test it.”
“I’ll watch over you while you finish.” Anya said. “I won’t let anyone disturb—”
“Lady Anya? Young Mika?”
Both children turned.
One of the hospital attendants was approaching, a nervous, twitchy man with thinning hair and a worried expression.
He was wringing his hands as he walked, his eyes darting toward the device on Mika’s workbench.
“What is it?” Anya asked, her voice guarded.
“I was just…I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been working on something over here. Something that looks rather…technical.”
“It’s nothing.” Mika said. “Just a project.”
“A project?” The attendant’s eyes lit up with unconvincing enthusiasm. “I have some mechanical experience, you know!”
“I used to tinker with radios and such, back in the day. Perhaps I could help?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Oh, but I insist! Two heads are better than one, as they say. And you’ve been working so hard—you must be exhausted. Why don’t you take a break, and I’ll have a look at what you’ve got here?”
Mika’s expression didn’t change, but Anya saw his shoulders tense.
“I said that won’t be necessary.”
“Nonsense!” The attendant stepped closer, his hand reaching toward the device.
“Let me just see what you’re working on. I’m sure I can offer some valuable insights—”
“Don’t touch that!”
But the man’s fingers were already closing around the transmitter. He lifted it, turning it over in his hands with the clumsy confidence of someone who had no idea what they were holding.
“Fascinating design. Very…improvised. Though I must say, this wiring looks rather haphazard.”
“You really should have consulted someone with more experience before—”
POOF!
There was a spark. A sharp crackle. A puff of smoke.
“Ahhh—!”
The attendant yelped and dropped the device. It hit the stone floor with a sickening crunch, and when Mika scrambled to pick it up, his face went pale.
The circuits were fried. The delicate components he had spent days assembling were blackened and charred.
The indicator light, which had been blinking steadily moments before, was dark and dead.
“What did you do?!” Anya shouted, her voice rising to a near-shriek.
“I-I didn’t—I was just looking at it—it must have been faulty—”
“You broke it! You destroyed it!”
“Now see here, young lady—” The attendant’s initial guilt was already curdling into defensiveness.
“That device was clearly unstable. The wiring was all wrong—anyone with basic mechanical knowledge could see that.”
“It probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. In fact, I may have just prevented an even worse accident—”
“That device was going to contact my Mommy!”
Anya was crying now, tears of rage and despair streaming down her face.
“It was our only chance to let her know where we are, and you destroyed it!”
The attendant’s face went slack. “I…I didn’t know…”
“Of course you didn’t know! Because you didn’t ask! You just assumed you knew better and now—now—”
She couldn’t finish. The words dissolved into sobs.
The other staff members, drawn by the commotion, had gathered nearby.
No one stepped forward to defend the attendant. No one offered to help. They just…watched.
Amya had thought, when she first saw them emerging from the rubble, that their presence was a blessing.
More people meant more help. More support. More chances of survival.
She had been so wrong.
They weren’t help. They were a cancer!
A malignant growth that was slowly killing any chance of escape.
Every time Mika found a solution, they destroyed it.
Every time he took a step forward, they dragged him two steps back.
“Get away from me.” She said, her voice shaking. “All of you. Get away from me and stay away!”
“Lady Anya—”
“NOW!”
The adults scattered like frightened birds, retreating to their corner of the cavern.
Anya stood alone beside the ruined transmitter, tears streaming down her face.
And then she felt a small hand slip into hers.
She looked up and Mika was beside her, his eyes fixed on the destroyed device.
“Mika.” She choked out. “Mika, I’m so sorry. They—that man—he ruined it. He ruined everything. All your work, all that time—”
“I know.”
“But it was going to work, wasn’t it? It was going to save us!”
Mika was quiet for a moment. Then, very softly, he said,
“Yes. It would have worked. Another hour—maybe less—and I would have been able to contact Fauna and the others.”
Anya’s heart shattered.
“Then they…they really did ruin everything.”
“For now.” Mika squeezed her hand. “But I’ll find another way. I always do.”
She looked at him—at his pale face, his tired eyes, the slight tremor in his hands. And she realized, with a clarity that cut like a knife, that he was suffering far more than he let on.
“Mika.” She said quietly. “What’s wrong with you? I’ve seen you struggling before but this goes far beyond that.”
“Y-Your breathing is heavy. Your heartbeat isn’t normal. The Anti-mana—it’s hurting you more than the rest of us, isn’t it?”
He didn’t answer immediately. But finally, he nodded.
“The Anti-mana…it’s like poison to me. Every moment I spend down here, it’s like I’m being crushed. Every step I take is a battle. And I’m…”
He hesitated. “I’m getting weaker.”
“Then stop pushing yourself so hard!”
“I can’t. If I stop, we might never get out of here. And I made a promise.”
“A promise?”
He looked at her, and for just a moment, his mask slipped.
She saw the fear beneath.
The exhaustion, the pain, the desperate determination of a child who had been forced to become something far beyond his years.
“I promised myself that I would protect you. No matter what. And I intend to keep that promise.”
Anya threw her arms around him and held on as tight as she could.
“Y-You idiot, don’t have to protect me.” She whispered into his shoulder. “We’re supposed to protect each other. That’s what family do!”
Mika was still for a moment. Then, slowly, his arms came up and wrapped around her.
“Family.” He repeated softly. “Yeah. I guess that what a family does.”
They stood there, two children in a cavern full of useless adults, holding onto each other like they were the only solid things left in a world that had crumbled around them.
And somewhere deep inside Anya, something began to shift.
She had always been the quiet one. The timid one.
The one who kept to herself and let others make the decisions.
But down here, in the dark, surrounded by people who couldn’t be trusted and a boy who was slowly dying trying to save them all…
Anya realized that being quiet wasn’t going to cut it anymore.
Being timid wasn’t going to keep them alive.
If she wanted Mika to survive, she was going to have to become something else entirely.
Something harder.
Something sharper.
Something that would make people think twice before they ever called her weak again.
—
But before those thoughts could fully take root, Mika pulled Anya closer into a tight embrace.
Realizing the cavern’s oppressive atmosphere was affecting her as well, he softly whispered comforting words into her ear until she finally calmed down.
But unbeknownst to him, he had only delayed the inevitable.
Soon, Anya too would break, becoming someone unrecognizable from the girl she once was.
Someone who would rule over the world fear and terror.
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