Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 287: A Corpse

"I found out I was a Nova a long time ago. How many years has it been now? 30? 40? I’m 56 this year," the old woman said with a sigh.

Stanley was taken aback slightly. "You look like you’re in your mid-40s at best," he said. "You’ve aged well."

"Probably something to do with my powers I would say, not that I’m sure of it yet," the woman said.

"You didn’t kill people for your powers, I assume," Stanley said.

"I didn’t have to," the old woman said with a sigh. "Still, I couldn’t stay away from the dying. Addiction is a hell of a thing, you know. At least, I kept hold of myself and instead decided to work in a hospital where I didn’t have to kill for people to die."

"Wanted to become a doctor at first, but it was easier to be a nurse. Could spend less time studying and training in the hospital directly."

She looked toward Stanley. "What about you?" she asked.

"I was—"

"AARH!"

Red’s scream overshadowed every other sound and Stanley immediately turned around with time slowing down as he did so.

He grabbed a rock that was right next to him and was ready to attack someone, but he couldn’t see anyone at all.

He looked toward Red and saw her head tilted toward the river. ’Inside?’ he thought.

Stanley quickly ran off, arriving right next to the river where he saw what it was that caused Red to scream.

It was nothing threatening, thankfully, but it did explain why Red screamed.

Underneath the water, a corpse floated next to Red, seemingly repeatedly hitting her knees, causing her to scream out loud in surprise.

Stanley stopped the slowed time and sighed. "You scared us for no reason," he said. "It’s just a corpse."

"Huh?" Red turned around in surprise to see Stanley standing next to her, before turning back toward the corpse.

"Oh..." she said with a relieved voice. "It’s... it’s just a corpse. Damn it! Scaring me for no reason."

She struck the corpse away and it flipped underwater, moving away. Just as it did, Stanley jumped into the river and caught the corpse, pulling it out into the riverbank.

Both he and Red stared in horror as they recognized the corpse now that they could see its face.

"This... how can this be?"

The old woman had arrived by that point as well and gasped at the sight of the corpse. They all recognized who it belonged to.

It was White’s corpse.

"How... is this possible?" Red asked.

"I... don’t know," Stanley said. This didn’t make any sense at all.

White’s corpse had no physical damage to the body, except for a single stab wound that went through the chest.

"He got burned in the wall, didn’t he?" Stanley asked. "How is White’s corpse okay?"

"In the first place, how is it in the river?" Red asked. "He died up in the mountains."

The old woman frowned as well. "Forget about that for now, look at his skin," she said. She reached down and moved the corpse a little, checking its rigidity.

"He’s been dead for 12 hours at most, so his body should be rigid because of rigor mortis. But it is not. Judging by his color, he’s most certainly been dead for more than a day now."

Both Stanley and Red looked toward the old woman. "What do you mean by that?" Red asked. "This isn’t White? He looks just like him."

"He does look just like him, but he must not be. Because the white we know would not have a corpse like this," the old woman said.

Red slowly nodded. "I see," she said. "You may be right."

"I am right," the old woman said. "Anyway, don’t stay in the cold for too long. Get yourself in a blanket or you’ll catch a cold."

Red nodded and walked out of the river.

Stanley remained behind, watching the corpse. Did the corpse just happen to look like it belonged to White? Or was this actually white?

He remembered seeing White’s body burning all over as though hit by a powerful laser. If this had been White’s body, it would have burn marks all over.

But it did not.

’Am I mistaken?’ Stanley wondered. There had been another thing bothering him about White for a long time now, one that he hadn’t managed to figure out.

’Forget it,’ Stanley thought. ’It’s all over.’

He walked back to the small tent and helped the two women create a fire to keep warm.

The rain completely stopped by the time evening came around. While the three of them didn’t manage to find any proper place to stay, they still managed to remain dry and have proper fire thanks to the old woman.

Stanley wanted to ask the old woman a lot more questions about her power and maybe her past, and he was sure the old woman wanted to do the same.

However, with Red present with them at all times, neither of them could talk about the fact that both of them were Novas.

"Do we set up a watch for the night?" Red asked as they ate some fruits and dried meat produced by the old woman.

"We will have to," Stanley said. "You are tired so you should get the first—"

Stanley saw the future in a split second. A single arrow struck his neck at once with enough power to dig through it.

"Enemies!" he said quickly and slowed down time. He turned around with enough time to see the metallic tip of the arrow glisten in the firelight once Stanley moved away the curtains.

He grabbed the arrow in its flight and was surprised to find just how heavy it was. He barely managed to stop it before it landed on him.

Just as he did that, he saw figures appear in the dark, 4 of them, all of whom were coming in his direction.

Since neither of the two women were fighters, it was up to Stanley alone to either send them away or kill them all.