Chapter 129: A survivor.

Shortly after, Kai arrived with Shino at the beach, then ran to a small plateau near the forest, covered by a high wall of hardened earth. Inside were stretchers, chairs, tables, some screens that weren’t working very well, and even communication equipment—which wasn’t very useful given the electromagnetic interference.

“Kai, are you sure nothing happened to you?” Once Kai set her down in the temporary base, Shino asked worriedly, feeling around her beloved’s body. He answered with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. I didn’t protect the sweatshirt and mask because my father couldn’t do that, but I did protect my pants—since I didn’t want to end up naked, hehehe.”

“Dummy.” Shino retorted with a pout, then gave him a quick kiss. But her expression swiftly turned serious again, and she asked in a firm, grave tone befitting the leader of the Pussycats, the hero Mandalay.

“Kai, do you really think all the scientists are dead?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but ever since I arrived, I’ve had a strange feeling I just can’t shake. And the fact that there aren’t even any mosquitoes in a forest—no matter how damaged it might be—is too strange. Not to mention, I didn’t sense or see anything that could suggest the presence of ‘monsters’.”

“You’re right about that. It’s very strange…” Mandalay commented pensively, bringing a hand to her chin. But she quickly shook her head, looked into Kai’s eyes again, and added firmly.

“But for now, go back to exploring. With your perception range, together with Ragdoll, it shouldn’t take long to search the entire island.”

“All right.”

After nodding, Kai rummaged through one of the boxes. He found a new gas mask and a simple black shirt, which he quickly put on before heading back into the forest. He extended his Observation Haki to its fullest range, though this time he did not dare use the Lightning Mantle, since the explosion had been quite strong. If it were not for his future sight letting him cover himself in Armament Haki in time, he might have been seriously hurt.

Not long after, Kai managed to map almost half the island with his Observation Haki, but instead of feeling relieved, his expression grew more and more grim. He couldn’t sense anything alive—not even with [En]—which only worsened his bad feeling. Something very strange was happening on that island, and he wasn’t about to let it go. Suddenly, a telepathic message from Shino reached his mind.

[Kai, Ragdoll just found a survivor trapped in a narrow cave several meters underground. Pixie-Bob will bring him up to the surface and then bring him over to the operations base.]

[Got it. Then I’ll head back to the base. I want to ask that person what happened here; this is all too strange.] Kai quickly answered through the mental link. He immediately changed direction and hurried to the base, eager to find out what had occurred. At that moment, Shino replied in a firm tone.

[Finish exploring the island first. Finding survivors is more important—that way we can get a clearer picture of what happened.]

[Right, you have a point. I’ll do it as quickly as possible and come back.]

After responding, Kai changed direction once more and started sprinting across the island with all his might, still without using his Lightning Mantle. Eventually, he returned to the operations base wearing an extremely dark expression. After all, he hadn’t found anyone else alive on the entire island—not even a single corpse.

Upon landing on the platform Ryuko had created, Kai found all the heroes gathered around what appeared to be an unconscious lizard man on a stretcher. The man was breathing with obvious difficulty and wore typical explorer’s clothes: sturdy pants full of pockets and a matching vest, both of which were torn and bloodstained in various places. All the heroes had grim, solemn expressions on their faces.

“I didn’t find anyone else alive.”

The moment he arrived, Kai announced in a serious tone, which caught the attention of all the heroes. They turned to look at him with somber expressions and nodded, having already been informed by Mandalay, who asked in a serious yet grim tone.

“Kai, could you check his condition? We haven’t managed to wake him up.”

“Of course.”

Kai quickly nodded and approached the man to take his pulse, check his pupils, feel around in various places, and so on—at the same time examining the holograms Sage had displayed in front of him containing the lizard man’s information.

“Does the kid know first aid?” Seeing how professionally Kai examined the man, Mirko asked in slight confusion. Next to her, Chatora replied in a serious tone.

“Actually, quite a bit more than that. Kai has been studying medicine for years and is very good at it. If he had the certification, he could even be a surgeon—something recognized by Recovery Girl herself and several medical schools.”

“Seriously?”

Mirko asked, clearly surprised. Although she hadn’t studied at U.A, she knew Recovery Girl was considered one of the pillars of the school—thanks not only to her incredible quirk, but also because she was one of the best doctors in Japan.

"Very serious." Ryuko, who was on the other side, commented in a serious tone without taking her eyes off Kai, who quickly headed toward the area where the medical team was stationed and grabbed several items.

“The kid is pretty smart...” Mirko commented in a low voice, to which Tomoko, who was standing next to Ryuko, firmly stated.

“Kai is the best.”

At that moment, Kai pulled a modular wheeled table over to the stretcher, placing on it everything he had gathered. Among the items were a small scalpel and what looked like a plastic tube in vacuum packaging, which he set aside. He then tore open the lizard man’s vest and shirt, revealing his chest—which had no scales.

After cleaning the area on the side of the man’s chest with alcohol, Kai opened the scalpel and tube packaging, then washed his hands up to his forearms with the same alcohol. He sprayed some more on the scalpel and made a small incision in the side he had just cleaned. Then he inserted the tube, causing a burst of dark, dense blood to shoot out.

As the blood was released, the lizard man’s chest began to expand more steadily, though he remained unconscious. Kai quickly grabbed more of the items he’d placed on the table: a syringe, an ampule, a bag of saline solution, and an IV catheter. After filling the syringe with the liquid from the ampule, he injected it into the saline bag, then inserted the catheter into a visible vein in the man’s forearm and adjusted the drip rate.

Immediately afterward, Kai took the last item he had brought—a manual pump mask—and fit it over the lizard man’s face, which worked even with his unusual facial structure. At that point, Kai turned to look at Shino and spoke in a serious tone while pumping the manual respirator at regular intervals.

“Mandalay, could you help me pump? You just have to do it at the same pace I’m doing.”

“Sure.” Mandalay nodded quickly and stepped forward to squeeze the manual pump at the same rhythm Kai was using. He nodded in satisfaction.

“Perfect, keep that pace.”

While Shino did the pumping, Kai began methodically applying gentle pressure to the lizard man’s chest, prompting him to breathe more deeply. This visibly brightened the expressions of all the heroes, especially Shino and Ryuko, who seemed to be restraining themselves behind their serious faces to avoid pouncing on Kai—so much so that they failed to notice the glitter in the eyes of a certain turquoise-haired heroine.

After a few minutes of this procedure, the lizard man began letting out pained groans, until he was finally able to open his eyes. Kai nodded with satisfaction, then hooked the tube he’d inserted in the man’s side to a sterile bag and secured it with some tape so it wouldn’t move. At that moment, Mirko couldn’t hold back an admiring gaze and said in a soft voice.

“You’re really impressive, kid.”

“It’s nothing out of this world. The most important thing is to find out what happened.” Kai remarked, without giving it much importance. Then he looked at Shino and spoke in a calm tone.

“Mandalay, you can remove the mask now. He should be able to breathe on his own.”

“All right.”

Mandalay gave a serious nod and stepped back with the mask in hand. Kai approached the lizard man, who was looking around with a lost expression, then snapped his fingers in front of him while speaking, drawing his attention.

“Hey, buddy—over here. Focus.”

Little by little, the lizard man’s gaze focused on the snapping fingers, until he managed to steady himself enough to speak in a hoarse, broken voice, taking long pauses for air as his face contorted in pain.

“Where… am I?”

“You’re in a temporary rescue camp. We found you in a narrow cave. A helicopter will be here soon to take you out.” Mandalay answered quickly. Kai shook his head and spoke in a serious tone, looking the lizard man in the eyes.

“That’s not important. What’s important is that we need to know what happened. Can you remember anything? Did you see anything? Hear anything?”

“What about the others… are they okay?” the man asked with great difficulty, looking at Kai, who fixed him with a very serious stare.

“I need you to focus and tell me everything you remember—be as detailed as possible.”

“…” The man fell silent and stared back at Kai. Ryuko tried to approach, but Chatora stopped her by extending a hand and shaking her head.

“… This morning, we woke up to a slight tremor…” A moment later, the man began to speak in a weak voice. He closed his eyes, paused to breathe several times with difficulty, and continued.

“That tremor… it was strange, since it didn’t match the records we had… so Professor Kimura and Naoki started investigating… planning to send a report back inland… while the rest of us went on… with our normal activities… in my case… I continued my study of some strange fish in one… of the newly discovered passageways in the northern caves…

“Through the communications system… I managed to hear Professor Kimura reporting… strange heat signatures that appeared out of nowhere… and asking everyone to return… but on the way… there was a strong earthquake and communication started failing… so I rushed to get out… but then… the ground beneath me gave way… and I fell into a new passage… where I was trapped… until I passed out…”

After finishing his story, the man began breathing deeply with evident discomfort, while Kai had an unreadable expression on his face. However, after a few seconds, he sighed softly and commented in a calm and formal tone.

“I see. Rest for now. In a few minutes, the helicopter should arrive to take you to a nearby base.”

“Al… Alright.”  The man responded with difficulty, then completely relaxed on the stretcher and significantly steadied his breathing. At that moment, Mandalay signaled for everyone to leave the room.

…

“What do you all think?” Mandalay asked in a dark tone once they had reconvened far enough away not to be overheard. Ragdoll spoke in a heavy, regretful voice.

“I think Kai’s right. I didn’t find anyone else alive…”

“I didn’t find any trace of any ‘monsters’ either…” Mirko added, her tone serious. Mandalay turned to look at Kai, who was deep in thought, and asked.

“Did you find anything, Kai?”

“That’s the thing: not only did I not find anyone alive, I didn’t find any more bodies. And unlike Ragdoll, I can actually sense them.” Kai replied solemnly, causing the other heroes’ faces to darken even more. Pixie-Bob, clenching her fists, asked.

“What happened on this island…? They couldn’t have just vanished into thin air…”

***

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