Read Novel Full Chapter 357: Eric
Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Eric
Whispers buzzed like flies around a carcass, thick with doubt.
But the majority did not dare raise their voices too loudly. Their survival depended on this base.
Even so, many looked at Hannah with narrowed eyes.
"She’s lying."
"Obviously she’s lying."
"That fake pitiful expression... classic greedy survivor behavior."
"Anyone can kneel and cry if it benefits them."
Their skepticism wasn’t without any reason. The apocalypse had stripped them of naivety.
They had witnessed enough betrayals to recognize manipulation when they saw it.
Hannah’s gaze darted nervously through the crowd.
More and more people were siding with Ivy, and desperation flickered behind Hannah’s lashes.
She quickly continued her farce, her voice dipping into theatrical sorrow.
"Even when Ivy kicked out the Evans family, I didn’t question her judgment!" she wailed.
"Even though her fiancé from the Evans family was innocent and truly loved her, I didn’t hold it against her. I accepted everything. I let go of the past. As long as Ivy lets me live inside, I have no resentment."
The crowd stilled.
All eyes slid toward Ivy, waiting for her reaction. None dared speak recklessly now, not when Ivy herself was present.
Her pink hair glowed faintly in the filtered sunlight, a silent reminder of her power.
Bella, however, frowned and tilted her head.
"If that’s the case... and if you’re trying to make it look like you don’t hold anything against Ivy..." Bella motioned to Hannah’s kneeling form. "Then why are you the one kneeling?"
Her words made everyone nod.
Dozens of heads turned toward Hannah again, curiosity tightening their expressions.
The question was too logical to ignore.
"Yeah... if Ivy wronged her, why is she kneeling?"
"Is she trying to manipulate us emotionally?"
"She wants sympathy."
"Tch. Foolish behavior."
Disdain flickered among the onlookers, arms crossed, brows raised, lips curled.
Hannah’s act seemed to crumble as more people began viewing her as a schemer rather than a victim.
Hannah clenched her fist tightly against her knee, nails digging into her palm until tiny crescents formed.
’You bitch,’ she cursed silently at Bella. ’Why are you ruining everything? Just stay quiet!’
But her face instantly shifted into pitiful fragility, tears trembling on her lashes.
"I knelt to appease Ivy," she murmured shakily.
"What if her heart softens? Maybe she’ll let me return to the base. I can throw away my pride for survival. Anyone would do the same... right? In this apocalypse, who doesn’t want to live?"
A few people in the line softened at her words.
Their shoulders dipped, their expressions turning somber.
They, too, had come to this base seeking safety. Survival required desperation; they understood that part.
But others only looked more suspicious.
Bella’s frown deepened.
"Your words don’t make any sense. You fear Ivy? But why? You aren’t in the wrong, right?"
The moment her statement hit, something in Hannah snapped.
Her eyes flashed with raw irritation, the thin veneer of innocence peeling away.
"Why are you even interrupting?!" Hannah bared her teeth, voice sharp enough to cut. "Who do you think you are?!"
Hannah’s sharp outburst made several people around her frown.
Meanwhile, Bella smirked faintly, a cold glimmer passing through her eyes.
’Finally... this bitch cracked. She couldn’t hold it anymore.’
Ivy glanced at Bella with a trace of appreciation flickering in her gaze.
Bella had slipped a needle into Hannah’s performance with perfect precision, deflating her balloon of lies before it could swell further.
’Smart,’ Ivy thought. ’Sharp enough to defuse a bomb in public.’
Ivy shifted her attention back toward Hannah.
"Hannah," Ivy began with a calm, cutting softness, "why don’t you think carefully and tell everyone what exactly happened during the moment you claim I tried to take advantage of you?"
"That day... when I was in the line," Hannah stammered, "you asked me to make way for Nora... your teacher. You wanted her to cut the line. When I refused... you blacklisted me."
Murmurs flicked through the crowd.
Hannah sniffed, letting a tear slip as she gazed up at Ivy with the perfect amount of sorrow.
"I admit I was arrogant," she whispered. "You’re the representative... you have every right to decide who goes first or last. I just felt a little grievance then... but now I don’t. Truly. If you allow me back in... I’ll forget everything. I’ll never take advantage of the situation."
Brows knitted everywhere. Something felt wrong. Too rehearsed. Too precise in its victimhood.
Suddenly, a deep voice cut through the murmurs.
"That’s a lie."
Everyone turned.
A tall man stepped out from the crowd, a solid six feet, broad-shouldered with a slight belly, a well-kept beard, and a grim scholarly air.
His black hair was cropped short, and his cold eyes held the weight of someone who saw through darkness with ease.
A collective breath hitched.
"Isn’t that...?"
"Eric... Eric Demarco..."
"The psychologist?"
"The millionaire?"
Whispers sparked everywhere like electricity. Eric DiMarco, famous psychologist, respected educator, and known for solving countless cases, was not someone ordinary eyes ignored.
His public lectures had become survival guides for many; people had memorized his insights just to navigate human manipulation before the apocalypse.
Eric stepped closer, his presence steady and unshakable.
"Hannah is lying." His voice was calm, firm, terrifyingly certain.
"I can determine this not only because I’m a psychologist... but also because of my superpower. I can detect lies."
Hannah’s face drained of all color.
Bella blinked in admiration, and Ivy’s eyes flickered with genuine warmth, a rare softness surfacing from deep memory.
Ivy remembered him.
In her past life, when she was imprisoned in the Talon base and tortured endlessly, Eric had once attempted to help her.
Before he could intervene, the Talon base’s base leader discovered his intent and threatened him.... threatened his family, viciously.
Eric had no choice but to step back, because Ivy was not his responsibility.
Yet after that, he still secretly helped her survive. Food slipped through cracks.
Encouraging words whispered when no one else dared to speak. When Ivy wanted to die, Eric had made sure she lived.
That kindness had planted itself like a stubborn seed in Ivy’s memories, one she carried even after rebirth.