“Organ failure is slowing down. It’s slowing down!” the old man with white hair and Bill exclaimed excitedly, their eyes locked on the subtle shifts in the monitor’s readouts-patterns only experts could recognize.
“Seriously? Bill, are you sure you’re not seeing things?” Tiger, standing next to Bill, grabbed his arm and asked bluntly, though the slight tremor in his hand betrayed how tightly wound he was.
“I’m not seeing things. It’s real… Wait… no… what the hell is this?” Bill’s voice hardened as his initial excitement gave way to concern.
The monitor showed the lines slowing, only to suddenly indicate the failure speeding up again.
His expression darkened in frustration.
“It’s picking up again.” The old man wasn’t panicking this time. Without hesitation, he grabbed a syringe and moved toward Echo. “The serum isn’t enough,” he said in a low, steady voice.
Echo didn’t say a word. She immediately stretched out her arm. A person could safely give 500cc of blood without much issue, and even though she had already given two rounds of blood recently, 200cc was nothing. She wasn’t going to let Ryan die. He’d risked his life to save hers, and she wasn’t about to back out now-she still had a conscience.
“Failure is slowing.”
“Failure is speeding up.”
“Bleeding from the kidneys is under control.”
“Heart and lung functions are stabilizing.”
With each new injection of serum, Ryan’s condition gradually improved. His body wasn’t fully recovering, but the crucial thing was that the organ failure was slowing down, buying them time to control the damage.
“The liver’s still giving us trouble. It’s still leaking,” the old man muttered, wiping the sweat off his brow as he studied the monitors. He glanced at Bill with a frown.
Bill glanced at Echo, furrowing his brows. They were out of serum again. While most of Ryan’s organs had stabilized, the liver remained a critical problem. If they couldn’t get it under control soon, things could spiral quickly. A malfunctioning organ could drag others down with it-that much Bill knew all too well as a medical expert.
“Not done yet?” Hawk asked, his own brow furrowing in frustration as he looked at Bill.
Bill shook his head grimly. “Still missing a bit.”
Panther, who had stayed quiet up until now, spoke up, his expression hard. “Can’t you at least stabilize it? Or refine more serum?”
Bill gritted his teeth. “In theory, we shouldn’t need this much serum. Once we analyze it, replicate it, and mix the right dose, it should be effective. But we weren’t prepared for this-we didn’t know it would take this much just to hold it back. We can’t refine more serum fast enough right now.”
Bill looked at the display one more time, his frown deepening. “If I could stabilize it, I wouldn’t be this stuck. But look-there’s more blood leaking through again.”
Panther, Tiger, and the others stared silently at the screen, their brows knitted tightly.
Nearby, Adolph, still dazed that Echo’s blood was somehow holding off the virus, snapped out of it when he saw Bill hesitate. “What are you waiting for? Why haven’t you acted yet?”
Bill kept his eyes on Echo, who was barely conscious, gripping the syringe tightly. “You can’t take too much blood from a person-it could kill them. If we draw more from Echo, it’ll push her past what her body can handle,” he said, voice low but serious.
Even though Bill didn’t spell it out, everyone in the room understood exactly what he meant. That’s why Panther, Bill, and the others had been hesitating. None of them expected to need this much blood to make the serum. Ryan’s body was like a bottomless pit, endlessly absorbing what little strength Echo had left. And though they’d asked for her consent every step of the way, now what?
Adolph glanced between Echo, barely conscious, and Ryan, whose hand remained tightly locked around hers. His brows furrowed slightly. That hand-the way Ryan clutched hers-was the reason everyone was hesitating. If Ryan hadn’t latched onto Echo like that, if he hadn’t shown that connection, no one here would be hesitating. To everyone present, Ryan’s life was far more valuable than Echo’s.
But not to Ryan. To him, Echo’s life mattered. He was willing to risk everything, even trade his own life to save hers. If Ryan woke up and found her gone, he’d lose his mind.
Adolph knew Ryan too well; they’d grown up together. When Ryan committed to something, he never let it go-and he wouldn’t tolerate anyone else making that choice for him. If Ryan valued Echo’s life, everyone else had to, too. Because if Ryan was still here, it meant Echo had to stay, too.
“Her blood… is it special?” Adolph wasn’t clueless-he had noticed that Bill and the others hadn’t tried replenishing Echo’s blood from any external source, which gave him a hint.
Bill gave Adolph a sideways glance, realizing there was no point hiding the truth now. With a nod, he explained, “It’s an extremely rare blood type. There are barely any known cases worldwide. It has properties that block radiation, which is why we can’t replace it with blood from a regular supply. Her body has to generate it naturally, and that’s the biggest problem. You know what Boss is like.”
Adolph paused for a moment, processing the information. “So, it’s not completely unique?”
Bill shook his head. “No, it’s not one of a kind. There have been a few rare cases, but they’re incredibly hard to find-just a handful.”
Adolph nodded slowly and glanced at Ryan’s monitor. The blood vessels were slowly thickening, and if they didn’t keep things under control, they’d start leaking again. If that happened, they’d need even more of Echo’s blood-and there was no guarantee it would be enough to save him.
After steadying himself, Adolph walked over to Echo and crouched beside her. He gave her cheek a light tap, but when she didn’t respond, he tapped harder.
Echo, her brain foggy from blood loss, furrowed her brows, and slowly opened her eyes.
When she saw Adolph crouching in front of her, she rasped, “Is he okay?”
Adolph lowered his voice. “The kidneys and lungs are stabilized, and the other organs have stopped deteriorating. Things are slowly improving.”
Hearing that, Echo forced a faint smile and glanced at Ryan’s hand still gripping hers. In a weak voice, she whispered, “That’s good.”
She hadn’t expected to need this much blood. Bill had drawn from her again and again, and the initial pain in her body had turned into numbness. Her head felt foggy, and even breathing had become labored, like her mind was freezing over. But knowing Ryan was improving gave her a small sense of relief, and she let out a long, shaky breath.
Adolph noticed Echo starting to drift off and reached out, cupping her face. “Don’t sleep,” he said firmly.
Echo blinked, surprised. Adolph, who normally wouldn’t even touch her, now had the nerve to hold her face? But when she looked into his serious, heavy gaze, her brows furrowed slightly.
Meeting her eyes, Adolph said in a low voice, “Echo, it’s not enough. Ryan still needs more.”
Her head swam, and she rasped, “Not enough?”
Adolph gave a small nod. “I’m sorry, Echo. We need to take one more vial. But don’t worry-this will be the last one. Bill said if we can just get his liver under control, we won’t need any more. Time’s running out, though-his liver is starting to bleed again. Can you do it? We can’t let him crash when we’re this close.”
Echo shook her head slightly, trying to clear the dizziness clouding her mind. She glanced around the room at Hawk, Bill, and the others, who stood silent, watching her.
Bill clenched his jaw, and Echo’s voice came out soft but steady. “Will it kill me?”
Bill hesitated before answering. “I don’t know. Taking one more vial will push your body beyond its limit. Some people survive severe blood loss, but some don’t. I can’t say for sure.”
Before Bill even finished speaking, a cold, dry voice broke through the room, laced with anger and finality.
“No.”
Everyone flinched slightly at the sound of it.
“Boss, you can’t get up!” Bill rushed to Ryan’s side as he slowly opened his eyes and tried to sit up, holding him down before he could move any further.
Ryan turned his head, his sharp gaze landing on Echo. Her pale face and limp body made his frown deepen. He’d never seen her like this before.
Echo was always full of energy, even when she was hurting-always pushing through, no matter how bad things got. But now, she looked so fragile, like a gust of wind could blow her away, and it unsettled him in a way he couldn’t shake.
“Ryan, you need another vial of serum. Without it, you-”
“I said no,” Ryan cut off Adolph coldly.
His grip on Echo’s hand tightened as he tried to pull her closer, but his strength was gone-he couldn’t even lift her. Frustration flickered across his face, and he clenched his jaw. That damned radiation. It had knocked him out without warning, and now he was too weak to even hold Echo properly.
“Ryan…” Adolph’s voice rose in frustration. “You need it!”