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“Heh, don’t give me that look. I’ve always been incredibly lucky. Maybe you should look for a reason within yourself.”

“Or maybe you should go yourself? Your injuries are lighter than mine, and you would probably be safer without me dragging you down.”

“So which one do you want: ‘I’m leaving. You’re going to die. You’ve helped me. I won’t abandon you’; or, ‘My fate is tied to yours. Our only chance is to cooperate’?”

“Hahaha, I’ll go with the first…Puh…”

“…”

Leonard Churchill attempted to laugh, but couldn’t help himself and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Under the fallen wall of a ruined building in the city.

Two ragged figures had been hiding for quite some time.

They made small talk, trying to make the best of a bad situation.

They had been making good progress initially.

But, for some reason, the city ruins suddenly saw an increase in combative noises.

Leonard and Miss Carter, not being fools, guessed that those people were after them.

So they went in the opposite direction, toward the more deserted areas.

But these deserted areas usually signaled danger.

They were unlucky and ran into a group of monsters earlier.

Among them was a Tier 3 zombie Catastrophe.

Normally, neither of them would be seriously threatened by those creatures, but unfortunately, they were both heavily injured.

After a harrowing chase and struggle against the monsters—barely managing to kill the Catastrophe—their injuries worsened considerably.

Catherine Carter could still walk, albeit with difficulty.

In the previous fight, Leonard didn’t know what had happened, but he had lost all sensation in his lower body, essentially becoming paralyzed.

If they were to engage in another fight, they’d likely be done for.

The sound of monster footsteps remained close by, so they didn’t dare to leave their hiding spot and took the opportunity to treat their injuries.

After dressing her own injured arm with a bandage, Catherine looked at Leonard—propped up by his mechanical skeleton—and said, “Your injuries are severe. If we don’t treat them quickly, it could get worse.”

Leonard, with a smile, corrected her, “It won’t just ‘get worse.’ I’m definitely going to die.”

Having now become somewhat of an expert in advanced medical knowledge, he was acutely aware of his own condition.

The external wounds were one thing, but the abnormal energy within his body felt like dancing with death itself. He could be reaped at any moment.

But he had no way to eliminate the energy.

The potions he had were useless.

The only solution he could think of was “Cellular Activity Boiling”.

But this Secret Skill—though one of the legendary Fifty-two Demonic God Forbidden Techniques—was a low-level technique that Plague Doctor Hensen had gleaned from a copper tablet.

It was not a viable solution for his condition.

Besides, the most significant threat was not the monsters, but the other human beings in the ruins.

…

Leonard seemed to discuss his impending death with such cheerful ease that one might think he wasn’t talking about himself. This caused a subtle change in Catherine’s expression.

But her own situation wasn’t any better.

She was spinning a gold coin—her grandfather’s family heirloom, the “Fate Coin”—between her fingers and her expression grew increasingly solemn.

Having struggled together, Catherine did not hide the existence of her treasured coin from Leonard.

Leonard had seen this rare level-five relic before.

But he refrained from asking about it out of respect for her privacy.

Seeing her serious expression now, he asked almost casually, “Didn’t the divination turn out well?”

Catherine shook her head. Her crystal-clear eyes were filled with a profound depth as she replied uncertainly, “Things are pretty bad. But it seems like fate has been disrupted somehow. I can’t divine what our next move should be.”

This was something she had never encountered before.

Previously, when she used the Fate Coin for divination, a simple divination of good or bad fortune should have shown a clear direction.

But now everything was muddled.

It felt as if something was obscuring her vision, leaving the future completely hidden from her.

She was just about to give up when it occurred to her to ask Leonard, “Why don’t you give it a try?”

Leonard showed genuine interest, “Can I try too?”

“Yes. Sometimes, having another’s luck bestowed upon you makes the divination more accurate. Besides, our fates are linked now.”

She passed him the Fate Coin without a second thought, “Just give it a toss. Heads are for ‘luck,’ letters are for ‘misfortune’.”

“All right.”

Leonard took the coin without hesitation and tossed it into the air.

The coin tumbled in the air, chiming melodically before landing in his hand.

The side showing “letters” faced upward.

Seeing this result did not surprise either of them.

Considering their current situation, a prophecy of ‘luck’ would have been astonishing.

However, just as Catherine was about to retrieve the coin,

A sudden abnormality occurred!

The coin, which should have settled down in Leonard’s palm, strangely trembled.

Then…

To the astonishment of both of them, it magically stood up!

“???”

Seeing this, Catherine’s blue eyes narrowed in surprise.

She looked, incredulously, at the standing coin for two whole seconds.

Then she looked up at Leonard.

Suddenly, it was as if the world lost all its color, turning monochrome.

An oppressive feeling, as if death itself was coming, weighed heavily on her, making her breathing ragged.

Their eyes met, and Leonard could vaguely guess what had happened from seeing her trembling eyes. But he asked calmly, “What does this mean?”