CHAPTER 332: CHAPTER 332: BROKEN BARRIER

But then... Something impossible happened.

The zombies bit into Ivy again and again... and the moment their teeth touched her skin, several of them collapsed violently.

Their bodies crashed to the ground in spasms, limbs twitching as if they had swallowed poison. One by one, they fell, convulsing, frothing, until the entire swarm lay motionless around Ivy.

Silas stared, stunned. ’What... is happening? Why are they reacting like this? ’

Before he could understand, Ivy’s unconscious body trembled under the scorching sun. Heat waves distorted the scene, blurring the horizon around her.

"Ivy!" Silas shouted, trying to shake her awake, but his hands still passed through her. She didn’t stir. She remained perfectly still... too still.

Just as dread suffocated him, Ivy’s body rose into the air.

Silas froze.

Her hair shifted color in a smooth cascade, pink... silver... white... then back to pink, each shade shimmering like liquid light.

Her skin grew paler, almost translucent, and an aura surged outward from her, cold and ancient, yet divine. It didn’t feel human at all.

A chill prickled Silas’s spine. ’What is this? What... is Ivy?’

The aura was overwhelming, part authority, part fear, and part something indescribable that made him want to kneel.

Suddenly, several figures appeared at the edge of the dreamscape.

Their forms were blurred, distorted like shadows behind frosted glass. Silas tried to focus, squinting, but their faces remained hidden from him.

They approached Ivy’s floating form, and he heard their muffled voices.

"Supreme..." one figure said.

The rest of the sentence warped into static, too muddled for him to catch.

Another figure spoke, clearer this time: "Supreme Beep has gone too far. He played dirty this time. If we had found her sooner, she wouldn’t have suffered this much."

Silas stiffened. ’Supreme? Who are these people? And why are they speaking about Ivy like she... like she belongs to them?’

He stepped forward. "Who are you?" he demanded, looking around in confusion. His own voice echoed strangely, as if underwater.

The figure continued speaking as though he hadn’t said anything.

"Ivy is the key to our success. She can’t die. Fortunately, her powers awakened right before the zombies bit her."

Silas’s pulse hammered violently. She awakened... right then? She wasn’t supposed to die that way...?

Another blurry silhouette murmured, "We are lucky. If the activation had been any later... her existence might have ended."

Silas’s throat dried.

Fear. Confusion. Anger. All tangled inside him.

He stepped forward again. "Who are you?! What is Ivy to you? Answer me!"

He positioned himself between Ivy and those strange figures, as if protecting Ivy from these strange figures with no face.

This time, the figures slowly turned toward him. His blood ran cold.

They stared directly at him, their eyes glowing faintly through the blur.

A distorted voice said, "Don’t rush to form a bond with her. Once the connection deepens... they will know."

Silas’s entire body went rigid. A coldness ran down his spine so violently that he felt dizzy.

"What connection?" he whispered.

The figures tilted their heads, as if amused. "Just do what must be done."

The world blurred. Cracked. Shattered.

The scene crumbled like broken glass.

A whisper brushed against his ear... so close he jolted.

Then everything went silent.

Silas’s eyes flew open.

He gasped, sitting upright in the dark room. His heart pounded so violently he thought it might break through his ribs. He looked around quickly... nothing. No blurry figures. No zombies. No voices.

Just Ivy. She lay peacefully in his arms, asleep, breathing softly, warm and real.

But the whisper... he knew he had heard it.

His hands trembled as he brushed her hair back. She looked so innocent, so utterly unaware of the nightmare he had witnessed.

What was that dream? Was it even a dream? Who were those people? Why did they call her "Supreme"?

He swallowed hard, mind spiraling with questions.

When Ivy finally woke naturally, she blinked at him with sleepy eyes before smiling softly and leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

Silas felt his chest tighten, relief washing through him. He kissed her lips gently.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

Ivy nodded, but Silas didn’t relax, not truly. He hesitated before asking, "Ivy... how did you die in your previous life?"

He might not have asked her such a harsh question in the early morning; however, a voice in his mind urged him to do so.

She froze, startled. Her lashes trembled as old memories flickered behind her pupils.

"A group of zombies bite me," she said slowly. "They surrounded me. I... I died."

Silas frowned, his grip tightening slightly.

"That’s impossible," he said firmly. "Your safe-zone power should’ve repelled zombies. They shouldn’t have been able to surround you."

Ivy stopped breathing for a second.

Then she frowned deeply, confusion washing across her features.

"That’s... true..." she murmured. "It should have been impossible. Unless... unless something happened before my death that caused my power to disappear."

Silas leaned in, voice tense. "What incident?"

Ivy pressed her fingers to her temples, wincing in pain.

"I... don’t remember," she whispered. "It’s like something is blocking it. I feel like... something happened. Something big. Something terrifying. But I can’t..."

Her voice cracked.

Fear flickered in her pink eyes.

"My powers should have protected me. Even lower-level zombies couldn’t touch me. So why... why was I surrounded? Why could they bite me?"

A sudden pain stabbed through her skull. Ivy gasped, clutching her head in agony.

"Ahhhhh! Silas... my head, it hurts!"

Silas panicked immediately.

"Ivy! Ivy... look at me! What’s wrong?!"

She could barely speak, trembling violently.

"I...I don’t know... it feels like... like my head is splitting apart..."

Silas didn’t waste another second.

He scooped her into his arms, heart pounding wildly.

"Hold on. I’m taking you to a healer."

Without hesitation, he bolted out the door and sprinted toward the hospital with Ivy cradled tightly against his chest.

Alana, one of the few full-time healers left, was already working through the night due to the rising heat-related cases. She barely leaves the hospital these days.

When she heard Silas shouting her name with urgency she had never heard before, she rushed out instantly.

"What happened?!" Alana exclaimed.