Chương 3: Chapter 3: Lucian The Man Who Never Sleeps

"Can you grip my hand?"

Lucian's voice was incredibly gentle, each of his words almost a serenade. His touch as he brushed his fingers across his wife's palm, lighter than a feather; warm. A far cry from the persona he shows outside his tiny little world which is his apartment.

Lucian stared at his wife for a few seconds with the most endearing and caring expression, waiting for her fingers to move and hold his hand back. But after a few seconds of her hand just trembling, Lucian very gently grabbed her fingers with his other hand and smiled,

"Well, not long now. You used to not even be able to move your fingers for even a single millimeter. I'm… very proud of you, my beloved," Lucian continued to speak to his wife even though the only response he received was her quiet but gasping breaths, "Come up, I'll help wash you."

Lucian then pressed a button to incline the bed so Malenia could sit up; holding her chest so that she wouldn't fall off-balance. He then very gently took off her wife's robes… revealing a stench that would be enough to cause someone to faint.

Lucian, however, just smiled as he stared at her wife's emaciated and shriveled body; some of her skin, almost as if they were falling off from their bones; her breasts, like a dried prune.

"Still as beautiful as the first time we met," Lucian breathed in before starting to gently wipe Malenia's body with a wet cloth he prepared beforehand.

"I hope the water's not too cold." There were all sorts of goo sticking to the cloth, but Lucian just washed them off as he continued to wash his wife's body, "You know, today, one of my colleagues seemed to have gotten mad at me, and I do not know why. People's emotions are still so hard to understand, and I think they are having a hard time understanding me too despite me speaking my mind...

...why is it so complicated without you, Malenia?"

Lucian continued to speak to Malenia, and when he was done, he clothed her up with new robes and laid her down properly again.

He then looked at his wife's face for a few seconds before nodding to himself. He checked all the monitors to see if everything was normal, and then once again nodded.

"Healthy, that's good. The Rot doesn't seem to be spreading aggressively anymore," Lucian let out a small chuckle before walking away, "...I'll just go check on how Maeve is doing, okay?"

There was a slight stutter in Lucian's voice as he left his wife's room. His steps were weak and wavering as his eyes started to close by themselves from how sleepy he was, but as soon as he reached the next door, he removed his glasses as he felt his consciousness fading away.

He started violently shaking his head to wake himself up before grabbing something from his pocket— a syringe. And without even any hesitation, he injected it right through his thigh.

"Kh…" Lucian gritted his teeth; sucking in a deep breath as the veins on his neck became visible. But soon, they faded away… and then once again, a wide smile crawled on his face as he opened the door.

"Maeve, daddy's home!" Lucian then said with the most joyful tone he could probably muster up. And there, on a bed much smaller than his wife's, was his daughter… her bones, almost showing through her skin,

"What's the world's prettiest girl been up to lately, huh?"

But like with his wife, there was nothing but peace and gentleness in Lucian's voice. Lucian also started checking on his daughter, kissing her on the forehead… despite the foul and rotten smell coming from her body, even worse than his wife's.

"D… daddy…?"

But unlike with his wife, however, Maeve was still able to open her mouth and speak; albeit incredibly hoarse, almost like grains hissing against each other. Almost a mumbling whisper, but Lucian could hear them loud and clear,

"Daddy… I… I made a wee…wee."

"Well… that's fine," Lucian let out a small chuckle as he very gently brushed Maeve's cheeks, "...Even mommy and daddy make a weewee on their bed once in a while. I'll clean you up…

…okay?"

And Lucian did just that. He washed his daughter, even gentler than he did with his wife.

"Can… you hold my hand?" Lucian breathed out as he softly held Maeve's skinny hand, gently brushing it with a damp cloth as he looked at her face.

"I'm… I'm already holding it," Maeve let out a very tiny chuckle which just sounded like a gasp for breath, "Daddy… is so funny. Daddy is so funny."

"T… that's…" There was a slight whimper in Lucian's voice, but he quickly replaced it with a smile as he nodded, "...Very good, baby girl. Do you want Dad to sing for you? I'll just go and get my guitar, okay?"

"Daddy…?" Maeve whispered before Lucian could move.

"Hm?"

"I… love you, Daddy. Like… like this big."

"Oh…" Lucian smiled. Maeve seemed to want to move her arms, but could not do so, "...Wow, you almost hit me. That big?"

"Even… even bigger," Maeve whispered, "Like… like… like…like..."

"I'll… just go get the guitar, okay?" Lucian closed his eyes.

"O…okay. I love you, Daddy."

Lucian stood up and quickly walked away, but not before glancing at the monitors beside Maeve's bed; his eyes, slightly trembling before just leaving the room and coming back with a guitar.

He had been doing this every single day. He was tired, of course — but it was nothing compared to what his family was going through. He needed to survive, in order for them to survive.

Lucian spent a few more hours taking care of his wife and daughter, and after he was done, he finally entered his own room. But unlike the rest of the house, his room looked like a storm just went through and ravaged it — there wasn't even a bed, only a thousand books littered everywhere; all of them tattered.

He wasn't there to rest, not at all.

He pushed them with his feet as he made his way to his desk. And there, a lithum crystal was inside a glass box, along with a lump of flesh resting close to it—no. Perhaps it wasn't a lump of flesh at all, it was some type of animal. What it was before it turned into this lump of flesh, perhaps only Lucian will ever know.

"Well then…" Lucian then grabbed the recorder that was beside the glass box, "...Day 1,263, Subject 93A injected with T93A seems to be showing signs of improvement and the Lith no longer attacks the subject aggressively compared to 240 hours ago… but not fast enough."

Lucian pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a long and disappointed sigh, but he once again shook his head.

"Proceeding to check Subject 1A." His frustration did not last long, however, as he rotated his chair and moved toward the other side of the room, where a cloth was covering something large and rectangular in shape. And as Lucian carefully removed it, it revealed an even larger glass box, as long as a door.

This glass box, however, was completely weathered; littered with cracks of different sizes. One would wonder what was being kept in this large aquarium, but one did not need to — as a little tiny squeak revealed its inhabitant.

It was a tiny mouse, just the size of a thumb.

It was just there, idling right in the very center of the glass box; not even acknowledging or hiding from Lucian. The only thing it did was chomp on its food without care—no. It wasn't exactly the mouse's food, no—it was the lithum that Lucian placed beside it.

"Subject 1A injected with T1A seems to be showing signs of lucidity," Lucian once again spoke to his recorder, "T1A still remains the most effective altered corticosteroid, preventing the rotting of the muscles and skin. But it causes the levels of epinephrine to become extremely unstable and—"

And before Lucian could finish his words, the mouse finally turned to look at him. And without even any warning or sign, the mouse lunged toward him, instantly cracking the glass.

"—and also causes a still unknown effect. Change of diet, primarily the sudden need to consume lithum, an element with no nutritive property. Subject also shows signs of…

…an abnormal rise in strength, with no change in the energy core—dantian. Subject 1A, a mouse, which I previously believed to have become a Cultivator due to the effects of T1A, upon further research, is an entirely new specimen altogether. T1A…

…is not a cure for the Rot. Will proceed to terminate the subject."

Lucian then pressed a button near the confinement, and as he did so, smoke started to fill the inside. And very slowly, the mouse started to become weaker and weaker until it just fell down. Lucian then opened the glass cage, but as he did so, he felt himself losing consciousness; his vision fading as he dropped the cover of the glass cage.

The sound of the cover hitting the ground woke him up, however, and he once again quickly grabbed a syringe from his pocket and quickly injected it to himself; not on the thigh this time, but on the neck.

And this time, he removed it without emptying the contents inside and then just quickly moved closer to the glass cage again…

…and injected the very same syringe into the mouse.

"I am truly sorry for this. May you rest in peace, and thank you for everything," Lucian then whispered before getting his recorder again, "Termination of Subject 1A, Successful. I'm…

…running out of time."

Lucian spent hours and hours more inside his room talking to himself, only leaving to check on his wife and daughter from time to time, making sure he was completely sterilized while doing so. And after he was done with whatever he was doing in his room, he just fell on the sofa in their living room, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds before just standing up again with his eyes wide open.

"Okay…" Lucian whispered to himself before just washing his face on the sink, and then grabbing his Looter equipment again and heading to the door outside before injecting himself with a syringe again.

"Malenia, Maeve…" Lucian opened the door… and the rays of the sun entered their apartment and with all the light shining upon his smiling face. But as he stepped outside, his expression once again fell; exhausted, weak, dead.

"...Daddy's off to work again."

Lucian needed the money, the lives of the people he loved solely depended on it… and he will never sleep.

***

"I am sorry, Lucian. But you're fired."

"Why...?"