They rolled out of the ventilation duct like a pair of grease-stained rats, tumbling into an abandoned tool storage room.
This place used to be a maintenance worker's lounge, and the age-old smell of machine oil mixed with mildew clung to the air like a sour rag pressed over the face. The heavy soundproof door cut off most of the deafening roar from outside, leaving only a low hum that lingered like tinnitus.
"Ugh—"
Sara's knees went weak, and she dropped onto the dust-covered concrete floor, clutching her chest and dry-heaving violently. There was actually nothing in her stomach, and she only vomited sour water that burned her throat like fire.
The scene from just now was branded onto her retinas like a hot iron. Xiaoya's mouth stretched to its limit, her bloodshot, bursting eyeballs, and that child who grew cold in her arms.
"Why..."
Sara abruptly raised her head, her red hair plastered messily against her pale face, her expression a mix of terror and the anger of being abandoned. She looked at Naruto, who was currently inspecting the surrounding environment; that profile was as calm as a dead man's, or rather, like a machine.
"How can you be so calm?" Sara's voice was torn from dry-heaving, and she stumbled to her feet, rushing over to shove Naruto hard. "That was a life! It was gone right in front of your eyes! You didn't even blink! Is your heart made of stone?"
Naruto didn't budge an inch. His feet seemed welded to the ground, and Sara's shove didn't even make his shoulder sway the slightest bit.
He didn't look back, simply walking over to a dust-covered workbench, picking up a piece of industrial insulation cloth stained with rust, and checking its thickness against the light like he was picking