The Exiled Saint
"Drop the serum! David, you hopeless psycho!"
Ethan’s frosty rifle barrel slammed against my forehead.
The cold metal bit into my skin, blending with the faint stench of sulfur in the air.
Outside the shattered alloy doors of the bunker, dark green alien toxin surged like an oncoming tidal wave.
It was a chemical hell.
It dissolved a man's lungs in three seconds flat.
Behind me, a mutated scavenger gasped for air.
Minutes ago, he had been a mindless beast, slashing at our guards with a shiv. Now, as the toxin partially metabolized, his mind cleared, only to bring him sharper, raw agony.
And in my hand, I held the bunker's absolute last vial of detox serum.
【WARNING: Injured human detected. Host must administer aid unconditionally within 10 seconds. Failure to comply will result in immediate termination.】
The system’s cold, robotic voice shrieked in my skull, nearly tearing my nerves apart.
I had zero choice. In this selfish, frozen wasteland, I was forcibly bound to this godforsaken "Saint Savior System."
Meeting Ethan’s murderous glare, I didn't say a word.
I shoved his gun barrel aside, turned around, and plunged the needle straight into the scavenger’s vein.
That serum was supposed to be the second life of the bunker’s elite.
I injected it without a hint of hesitation.
"Dammit! You’re out of your mind!"
Ethan roared. The veins on his forehead bulged. He swung his rifle, smashing the buttstock hard into my shoulder.
A sharp crack echoed. My bone snapped. I didn't even blink.
Standing to the side was Alice—my biological sister. Right now, she stared at me with pure disgust, looking at me like I was some kind of freak.
She took three massive steps back, burying herself into Ethan’s chest. Her voice turned shrill and venomous.
"Brother David, you are so damn selfish! Are you going to sacrifice all of us just to feed your holy, twisted savior complex?!"
The rest of the bunker crew raised their weapons. Their eyes burned with raw anger and contempt. They looked at me like I was a pile of trash.
They lived by cold utility. To them, my "borderless generosity" was a ticking time bomb, a lunatic liability that would bring total ruin.
Ethan let out a cold laugh.
He barked an order, and his thugs stripped me of my sidearm and combat knife.
Then, he slammed his hand onto the release valve of the airlock door leading to the outside world.
"Since you love playing the savior so damn much, go out there and save those alien monsters!"
A violent rush of depressurized air hit me. I was kicked down the steel steps, tumbling heavily into the pitch-black, suffocating fog.
The airlock door slammed shut behind me, severing the last shred of warm light.
I collapsed into the toxic mud.
The agonizing pain in my shoulder locked with the freezing numbness creeping into my limbs.
The lethal gas tore into my body. My breathing hitched.
I was stripped of everything.
Even the sister I had protected since day one had stabbed me in the back.
To anyone watching, I was a pathetic, discarded pawn.
But they didn't know a damn thing. They didn't know what kind of game-breaking rewards were hidden behind the system's brutal rule of termination.
【Ding! Host has perfectly executed a Saint Action!】
【Savior Privilege Activated: Divine Light Ability Awakened! Current Level Up!】
The system's cold notification exploded in my mind.
This time, it wasn't a threat of death. It was absolute power.
A strand of pure, blinding white light erupted from my mangled chest. Corroded muscle regenerated over bare bone instantly.
I stood up slowly. I flexed my perfectly healed shoulder and took a step forward.
The thick, black toxic mist, which could dissolve an ordinary man's lungs in seconds, slammed into my body—and violently split down the middle, recoiling in absolute terror.
