<h4>Chapter 406: 406-So, What’s Next</h4>


    <strong>Clementine:</strong>


    We kind of ran away from the Hollow Man, mostly just circling around the theater before we returned to sit on the front porch again.


    "So, what is next?" I asked Ian, noticing how hard he had been staring at me.


    "I just want to tell you that I’m d you were in the prison next to me," he told me.


    As soon as he said that, I let out a smallugh and shook my head at him. I did not know why I was so happy. I had been shot, I had been betrayed, and here I was, sitting on the front porch of a possessed clown’s theater with a Hollow Man circling around every few minutes, yet I had the brightest smile on my face.


    "Are you d I betrayed you there as well?" I reminded him of our first interaction.


    He nodded andughed, bobbing his head. Whenever he moved like that, his thick hair bounced up and down.


    "So, Miss Rue basically sent you there to fetch myatose or dead body, correct?" I asked, noticing that every time I mentioned anything that hinted at my death, he clenched his jaw.


    "I’m going to make her life very hard," he muttered, clenching his fists in front of me.


    "I’m sure you will," I replied confidently, and he gave me a blunt, judgmental look that made meugh quietly.


    "But I don’t understand. Why did she want me to fetch your body? Was she trying to confirm you’re really dead?" Ian asked, and I gave him a very sneaky smile.


    "You know she wanted the watch from me," I mumbled. Then I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out the real one.


    After that, I told him exactly what had happened at the fence. When she showed interest in the watch, I switched it with the fake one. Thankfully, I had kept both of them when I was choosing the right one, and it worked in my favor.


    "Miss Rue must be so anxious," I remarked,ughing as Ian kept staring at my face.


    "So you’re not only physically strong, you also have the mental capacity of a genius. Wow, our kids are going to be so good," he said.


    As soon as he said that, I bit my bottom lip and looked away.


    "Ian," I started, but suddenly my mood changed. "We need to do something about the North. This cannot keep happening."


    I realized that someone had to put an end to this game.


    "I know what you mean. I don’t want to keep going like this either," he replied. "It was brutal enough that normal people were turned into monsters. But now kids, who had no connection to the brutality, are being sent to pay for their parents’ sins."


    Ian nodded in agreement.


    "So what do you say? What can we do?" I asked him.


    "See, we can stop the Academy, but that wouldn’t help the North. The North is gone," he mumbled, gently touching the ground beneath him. "These monsters, most of them, are innocent people, Clementine. Do you think they would have been okay with their bodies being used to harm others? They deserve to be put to rest, finally."


    I looked down, staring hard at my fingers. It was difficult to imagine that these people were once normal, forced into this state just because their leader decided to put an end to something cruel.


    "Is your father going to be any help?" I asked, looking up at him.


    "I don’t think so. We had a conversation. He thought it would be fine to help me out, because everyone only thinks about themselves," he muttered. He reminded me of the deal his father was trying to make, to keep him alive during the final wipeout session and then send him somewhere else to start over.


    "But I can’t help wondering how your father nned to pull this off," I said. "Wouldn’t anyone have asked for proof of your death? You never went to the North with the other Crusaders. There would be no body. How was he going to manage that?"


    Ian shrugged, looking confused.


    "Besides, nobody even knows you have a twin brother except for those alphas," I added. "So if they saw you and you tried to convince them you were Zian, how would anyone believe it? They’ve never seen Zian. They’d think you just changed your name and thought they were fools."


    All this time, Ian looked genuinely clueless."There’s one thing we can do," Ian uttered very softly.


    "And what is that?" I asked him.


    "We can wipe out the North."


    I could tell it was not easy for him to say, but it seemed like the right thing to do.


    "You’re not shocked," he remarked, sounding confused.


    "Do you think we have any other choice?" I asked him.


    When he shrugged, I gave him a look.


    "Exactly. I agree with you. However, do you think wiping out the entire North will be the answer to this situation?" I asked, and he started shaking his head.


    "Of course not," he replied confidently. "We’ll need to do more than that."


    "The dark side of the North is where most of the monsters are," he exined. "They slip through the cracks to reach the other side. That’s when we’re sent there to fight them. This seems to be the main staging area." he paused as if trying to choose his words carefully.


    "And the other side of the North is what they’re trying to keep clean, just so the entertainment goes on," he added. I had already realized how crazy that sounded.


    In this dark side, every few minutes a monster appears, and any normal person or Crusader with no knowledge of how to kill it would not survive here.


    "How would we kill everyone here?" I asked, and he took a deep breath.


    "Well, remember how my grandfather used to draw pictures? I told you about that," he stated. "I’ve learned a lot about these monsters."