That conversation stayed with him for a long time.
Silar never became fully comfortable with the corruption he saw., but he learned to navigate around it.
Instead of trying to fight the entire system, he focused on the places where he could still make a difference.
They were local programs, education, community support.
Small victories that actually helped people.
Over the years, that quiet persistence earned him respect.
Not everyone liked him, but many trusted him.
Eventually he gained enough influence to oversee larger projects.
The irony of that thought made Silar almost smile.
He had come to encourage students.
Now he was walking through a ruined campus while infected creatures hunted them.
Life had a strange sense of humor.
His thoughts shifted again to his family.
His older sister had been the first to leave home.
She married young and moved to another city with her husband. At the time Silar had worried that she was rushing into things.
But her marriage turned out well.
She had two children now.
Silar had always enjoyed visiting them.
His younger brother had taken longer to find his path.
There had been a few rough years after their parents started getting older.
But eventually the boy matured and found stable work.
The family was not wealthy.
But they were stable.
And maybe that was the greatest luxury anyone could ask for.
Silar did realized something then.
If the world truly collapsed after tonigt,he hoped his family was safe.
The thought lingered in his mind like a quiet prayer.
His vision blurred suddenly.
The hallway walls seemed darker.
The sounds around him felt distant.
Silar stopped walking.
At first he thought it was just exhaustion.
Then his entire body trembled.
A sharp pain exploded through his chest and spread outward like fire.
He grabbed the wall to steady himself,his breathing became uneven.
Something was happening.
The infection had reached a new stage or so he thought.
Silar tried to move forward again, but his legs refused, they didn't budge, he started losing feelings in them.
The darkness around him seemed to grow thicker.
His thoughts were still clear,Strangely clear.
But his body felt like it no longer belonged to him.
His fingers twitched.
Then his entire body jerked violently.
He collapsed to his knees.
The sound made the students behind him shout in panic.
"Sir Silar!"
Someone stepped backward.
Another student screamed.
But Silar barely heard them.
The pain inside his body continued growing.
Muscles spasmed uncontrollably.
His arms jerked and his back arched as if invisible hands were pulling him apart.
Yet something strange was happening.
Even though his body convulsed in agony…
He did not feel the pain the way he expected.
It was like watching someone else suffer.
He could sense the damage.
But his mind remained calm.
The hallway around him faded as darkness filled his vision.
The darkness felt deep, way too deep he couldn't even see the shapings of anything.
It was as if it was a space where nothing existed.
Yet somehow…he could still think.
Silar tried to move his arms.
Nothing happened.
He tried to speak.
No sound came out.
He was trapped inside his own body.
Alone in the dark.
Time lost meaning.
Seconds felt like minutes.
Or maybe hours.
Then something changed again.
The darkness shifted.
Something inside his body moved.
Not like the infection spreading earlier.
This felt… different.
Like something new was forming.
Something that had not existed before.
Up ahead in the hallway, Josh turned around when he heard the commotion.
He saw Silar collapse to the floor.
The older man's body jerked violently as his limbs convulsed against the ground.
Mira gasped.
"What's happening to him?!"
The remaining students immediately backed away.
One of them shouted in fear.
"He's turning!"
Another student grabbed a metal pipe nervously.
Josh's eyes narrowed as he watched Silar's body.
Something felt wrong.
This did not look like the normal transformation they had seen before.
Inside his mind, Aegis suddenly activated.
A faint interface appeared at the edge of his vision.
*Anaomlydetected*
Josh focused on it immediately.
Then the system displayed something unexpected.
*Biological anomaly detected....evolution in progress*
Josh's heart skipped a beat.
Evolution?
Behind him the students were already panicking.
One of them shouted, "We have to kill him before he gets up!"
But Josh raised his hand.
"Wait!!!!"
On the floor, Silar's body continued jerking violently.
His back arched and his fingers clawed at the air as if fighting against something invisible.
The hallway filled with the sound of terrified breathing.
No one moved closer.