He felt himself floating in an indeterminate space.
It was black, yet not entirely black; the color black could not fully describe it. This was because things like broken mirror fragments were floating throughout the space.
Rentaro inadvertently bumped into one. Immediately, a scene from the past was projected to him.
When he was 6 years old...
"Do you understand? From now on, Satomi is my servant, so you have to listen to me, okay?"
"Tsk..."
"What's with that face? You..."
"Kisara! Run! Behind you!"
He bumped into another fragment.
"Hurry up! Move in!"
"Satomi Rentaro, can you hear what I'm saying?"
"Doctor, he's here."
"Ah... come here..."
"Tsk... his right hand, left leg, and left eye have been consumed. Completely gone, leaving nothing behind."
"Satomi Rentaro, is that you? I'm not overly pleased to meet you here, but you have two options."
"In my right hand is your death certificate. It will only take five minutes for me to end your pain and make you disappear from this world."
"And in my left hand... is the contract that can save your life, but from now until the end of your life, you will never have the life of a normal person again."
"Choose."
I want to...
Live.
He felt this place was truly quiet, peaceful. It seemed to have a certain allure, wanting to keep him here forever.
If Asahi were here, he would immediately recognize this as the unconscious sea within the mind of every individual, or in this case, Rentaro's unconscious sea.
However, he had not completely submerged in this place; a trace of clarity still remained in his consciousness.
He... wanted to live...
"Rentaro... wake up!"
"Rentaro! Rentaro!"
He opened his eyes. In front of him was Kisara's tear-stained face.
...
"To be honest, I'm quite surprised by your luck."
"Ms. Sumire, what exactly happened?"
Rentaro questioned. After waking up, he saw that his entire body was completely healed. Not to mention the dozens of broken bones, the shattered internal organs, or the two fatal stab wounds, not even a small scratch remained on his body.
What happened must have a reason, and through Sumire's expression, Rentaro thought she knew.
Sumire did not intend to be coy and spoke directly.
"You were infected with a trace amount of the Gastrea virus."
"Gastrea virus?!"
Rentaro's mouth gaped open, and he fearfully touched his whole body. Seeing this, Sumire was slightly amused and comforted him.
"No need to search. There is no more virus on your body. I've already tested you."
"Can you start from the beginning? You scared me..."
Although Rentaro had never witnessed this happen before, it did not stop him from listening to Sumire's explanation. She already had a very high level of expertise.
According to her explanation, after being infected with the Gastrea virus, Rentaro recovered all the injuries on his body, including internal organ damage. This allowed him to keep his life until the rescuers arrived. At the same time, in an extremely fortunate turn of events, the Gastrea virus was only a trace amount, not strong enough to thoroughly survive and establish circulation in his body, leading to its disappearance after exhausting its power to heal Rentaro.
Even though she could clearly explain the entire cause and effect, Sumire still felt like she was dreaming. Because even a trace amount of the Gastrea virus, even after being processed with various concoctions to reduce its potential to transform into a Gastrea and only retaining the super-healing activity, only had about a 20% chance of successful recovery without leaving after-effects.
For a direct, undiluted Gastrea virus, this rate would probably drop ten times and still not be low enough.
"Well, don't worry about this incident. You have another worry to deal with."
"Huh...?"
Rentaro stared blankly as Sumire left. Just as he hadn't fully understood what was happening, the door to the hospital room burst open with a slam. Kisara rushed into the room like an arrow, and without saying a word, immediately slapped Rentaro.
Feeling the considerable force transmitted from his cheek, Rentaro was stunned for a moment. But after his brain processed it, he understood why Kisara did it.
"Why were you so reckless?! You didn't bring Enju, you faced the enemy alone! If it wasn't for sheer luck, you would be dead!"
"Did you think about what would happen to Enju, what would happen to me, if you died? Satomi, did you ever think about it!"
"You... it's fine to abandon the mission, just return safely..."
Looking at Kisara's swollen red eyes, Rentaro was silent, then opened his mouth and said gently.
"I didn't want Enju to get hurt, and I didn't want to disappoint you..."
He wanted to say many things, but they all seemed stuck in his throat. Finally, it devolved into one side comforting and the other side reproaching.
"I'm sorry for hitting you..."
"It's my fault..."
After a while, both their emotions stabilized. Rentaro then asked.
"Did you save me?"
"No, do you remember Ikuma Shougen?"
"Ikuma... Ikuma Shougen?"
The face of a man with half his face covered by a cloth, eyes full of killing intent, a massive, muscle-bound body like a mountain, and a gigantic sword strapped to his back, appeared in Rentaro's mind.
He was also the person who had provoked him earlier in the meeting room.
Rentaro's expression was somewhat complicated. Although the conflict was quite intense at the time, he and Enju had met Ikuma a few times later. Despite his intimidating appearance, he never looked down on his Initiator, if not to say he was quite caring towards his Initiator.
A person with a sharp tongue but a kind heart.
"He was the first rescue to arrive at the scene. When he brought you to the hospital, Ikuma said..."
"That kid is still causing trouble even when he's almost dead."
"What about the briefcase? Has anyone intercepted Kagetane yet?"
"Rentaro..."
Hesitation appeared on Kisara's face, but after a moment of consideration, she decided to reveal it anyway.
"Just recently, I received information from Ms. Seitenshi."
"Kagetane Hiruko killed all the government members related to him ten years ago, then joined the Civil Security for a while before fleeing again for murder. His daughter, Kohina Hiruko, possesses the mantis gene, with extremely strong close combat ability."
"The IP rank of this Promoter-Initiator father-daughter pair before they fled was..."
"...134."
Rentaro felt like he had been struck heavily.
IP Rank 134?
It must be known that the IP rank is global in scope, encompassing all Promoter-Initiator pairs worldwide.
Even someone as strong as Ikuma Shougen was only ranked 1584.
He... couldn't possibly defeat a man like that!
Rentaro lowered his head, gripping the blanket tightly with both hands. Kisara couldn't bear to see him so devastated, nor did she want to continue to demoralize him. But there were some things she couldn't hide.
"Satomi... About Enju, this is going to be very bad news, you have to stay calm..."
Rentaro had a bad feeling.