They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World

Chapter 227: Three Days!

The first thing that registered wasn’t pain. It was the smell.

Instead of the choking, metallic stench of pulverized stone and demonic miasma, my nose was met with the sharp, clean scent of medicinal herbs and fresh linen.

Then came the warmth...

I wasn’t lying on the freezing, frost-covered bedrock of the eighth floor. I was resting on something incredibly soft.

Wait.

The realization hit me like a physical blow.

The absolute, suffocating terror of the demon.

The blinding cyan code of the Administrator Mode. The sickening crunch of Garf’s chest caving in. The terrifying, empty void of my final attack.

My eyes snapped open.

"Gah!"

I shot straight up in the bed, my chest heaving with a violent, ragged gasp as if I had just broken the surface of the water after drowning.

The sudden, explosive movement instantly triggered a localized riot in my torso.

A sharp, burning agony flared violently across my ribs, completely stealing my breath.

"Argh!"

I groaned, instantly clutching my chest and hunching forward.

As my vision stopped swimming, the blurred shapes around me sharpened into focus. I was in a small, sunlit room.

Thick wooden beams lined the ceiling, and warm morning light poured through a simple glass window.

I was sitting in a modest but comfortable bed, stripped of my tattered coat and dressed in a clean, loose-fitting linen shirt.

I’m alive. The Root Access... it actually worked. I didn’t die.

Click!

Then suddenly, the heavy oak door to the room slowly creaked open.

Tessa stood in the doorway, holding a small wooden basin of water and a folded cloth.

She was out of her dungeon gear, wearing a simple, clean tunic.

The dark circles under her eyes spoke of severe exhaustion, but the moment her gaze landed on me, sitting upright, awake, and breathing, she completely froze.

The basin slipped from her hands, clattering loudly against the wooden floorboards.

Water splashed everywhere, but she didn’t even blink.

"Jin..."

Before I could even process the disbelief in her voice, she crossed the room in three frantic strides.

And threw herself onto the edge of the mattress, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and burying her face in my shoulder.

"Ack—!" I winced sharply as her desperate grip squeezed my bruised ribs.

Tessa instantly recoiled as if she had been burned.

She shoved herself back, her hands hovering in the air, her eyes wide with fresh panic.

"I’m sorry! Oh gods, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—"

"Hey, hey. It’s alright," I rasped, forcing my facial muscles to relax.

"I’m okay."

She didn’t look entirely convinced, her hands wringing nervously in her lap.

"How... how are you feeling?"

I took a slow, deliberate breath to test the limits of my chest. The ribs ached like hell, but they didn’t feel shattered anymore.

I raised my hands, slowly clenching and unclenching my fists.

My joints were incredibly stiff, but the terrifying numbness was gone.

"I seem fine," I finally answered, looking back at her.

"My ribs are aching pretty badly, but otherwise... I’m good."

Tessa let out a long, shuddering exhale, the sheer relief practically liquidating the tension in her shoulders.

"Good," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "That’s... that’s so good."

She shifted closer, carefully sitting beside me on the mattress.

Tentatively, she leaned her head against my shoulder, being mindful not to press any weight onto my chest.

"You scared me there for a moment," she murmured, her voice barely louder than the breeze outside the window.

"When you collapsed... you were so cold, Jin."

I looked down at the crown of her head, a heavy knot of guilt tightening in my throat.

"I’m sorry."

She immediately shook her head against my shoulder.

"You don’t need to apologize," she said firmly, tilting her head up to look at me, her eyes shining with absolute sincerity.

"That whole mess wasn’t your fault. You saved us. You saved all of us."

I swallowed, looking away. Not all of us, I thought bitterly.

"How much time was I unconscious?" I asked, needing to change the subject before the memories dragged me back there.

"For three days," Tessa replied softly.

I frowned, my brow furrowing. Three days?

"Where are the others?" I asked, my voice dropping an octave.

Tessa sat up a little straighter.

"Scarlet is back at the inn, resting. Whatever you gave her, it managed to completely subdue the corruption. She’s fine for now, just exhausted."

Her gaze slowly dropped to her lap, her fingers picking nervously at a loose thread on her tunic. The warm atmosphere in the room instantly chilled.

"But the others..." she started, her voice breaking slightly.

"Edric and Yenna aren’t here right now. They... they went to Garf’s funeral this morning."

I closed my eyes, my jaw clenching so tight my teeth ached. The image of the massive, jovial tank with his chest caved in flashed violently behind my eyelids.

"And Mira?" I asked quietly, almost afraid of the answer.

Tessa offered a small, reassuring, but incredibly sad smile.

"She woke up just a few hours after we got back to the surface. The guild master brought in a high-tier healer. The healer said she’ll be fine. They said... whatever you did down there to reattach her arms, it preserved the tissue perfectly. She’s going to keep them."

I let out a slow, shaky breath. It was a small victory in a sea of catastrophic losses, but right now, I needed every victory I could get.

We sat in comfortable, quiet silence for a few minutes, the heavy weight of survival shared evenly between us.

Finally, Tessa sniffled slightly, wiping a stray tear from her cheek, and stood up from the bed.

Leaned over, gently brushing a stray lock of hair from my forehead, and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my cheek.

"I’ll go bring the healer up for a proper checkup," she said, her voice regaining a bit of its usual warmth.

"And I’ll bring you some actual food. You must be starving."

Before I could respond, she leaned down just a fraction more and pressed a quick, gentle peck directly onto my lips.

She pulled back before I could even blink, a faint blush dusting her cheeks, and quickly turned toward the door.

She slipped out into the hallway, the heavy oak door clicking shut behind her, leaving me alone with the sunlight and the quiet ghosts of the dungeon.