End of the World? I'm the Boss novel Chapter 366

Chapter 366 Breathing Underwater

Theobold’s words came out in halting fragments. “There was this one time…”

Finished

His face flushed deep red. “When you weren’t around, those guys… they shoved my head into the dirty water tank.”

Willow erupted. “When? When did this happen? Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Water was one of the scarcest resources in the apocalypse. Not a drop could be wasted.

Rolf had ordered a crude water recycling system built inside the base. Every bit of water was used until it couldn’t get any filthier, then funneled down to the basement filtration system for settling, purification, and reuse.

The instant Theobold mentioned a dirty water tank, Willow knew exactly which one he meant. The basement cistern.

That water was disgusting.

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Her eyes rimmed red in an instant. “I should’ve been there. I should’ve protected you.”

Theobold panicked, shaking his head. “No, it wasn’t your fault. Those guys were just horrible. And I’m useless. I’m supposed to be a boy, but I can’t even protect myself. All I do is make things harder for you…”

Robin cut across the siblings‘ exchange with a raised hand. “Save all that for later. Right now, I need you to focus.”

Theobold flushed with embarrassment, swiped quickly at his eyes, and nodded. “I know I’ve been a burden on my sister for a long time. So when they held me/under, I didn’t fight back. I figured, why bother? Maybe it’d be easier to just… let it happen. Someone like me, there’s no point in being alive anyway. But…”

His expression shifted to something strange, almost bewildered. “When I was under, I had this feeling. Like… like I could breathe. In the water.”

“Really?”

Every pair of eyes around him sharpened.

Robin leaned forward. “Keep going.”

TR

Theobold scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know if it was real or if I was just losing it. Everything was so chaotic. At first I thought they were trying to drown me, but I figured out later they were just messing with me.

“They kept shoving my head under and yanking it back up, over and over. I swallowed so much of that water. Honestly, it was worse than just drowning would’ve been.” He swallowed hard. “By the time they got bored and left, I was so wrecked I couldn’t think about anything else. After a while I just… forgot about it.”

Willow’s eyes were blazing, her voice raw. “This is too much. This is way too much.”

She’d had no idea. Not about any of it. What those people had done to her brother was something she’d

11:41 am

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Chauter 306 Breathing Underwater

only ever seen on TV, in scenes where interrogators tortured prisoners.

The thought of Theobold going through that alone made her stomach turn.

Frushed

Theobold seemed to read the anguish on her face. He forced a stiff, crooked smile. “It’s okay, sis. I’m the one who’s sick, but I know you’ve had it harder than me. And look, I’m still here, right? I’m still alive.”

Willow broke. She threw her arms around her brother and sobbed.

Robin’s mind was already racing.

Breathing underwater. The growths on Theobold’s skin looked far too much like real scales. If his ability actually let him breathe beneath the surface, then everything lined up.

The scales, the change after the apocalypse, the lessened discomfort. It matched the pattern perfectly.

There’d been talk in her past life about people who carried pre–existing conditions. Their abilities, when they manifested, tended to be directly connected to whatever disease they’d had.

Vivian and Vance were textbook cases. Both had suffered from mental illness, and after the apocalypse, their psychic abilities had amplified to terrifying levels.

As for Theobold’s ability, it was still just a theory. Confirming it would have to wait until she had the time and the right conditions to test it properly.

“Alright. I’ve heard enough,” Robin’s voice brought the siblings back. “Go back to your room for now. Come find me tonight.”

This was Tyrant Base, after all. On someone else’s turf, caution was the only smart play.

Willow nodded eagerly, gratitude pouring off her. Yes, okay. We’ll be there.”

Her eyes were already brimming with something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Hope. If Robin was willing to help them, things had to get better. They had to.

Night came quickly.

When the siblings arrived, they’d deliberately timed their route to avoid the guards patrolling the hallways. The patrols weren’t exactly rigorous, but Willow and Theobold took every precaution anyway.

They stepped inside Robin’s room and stopped short. In the center of the floor sat a large bucket of water. What stunned them wasn’t the bucket itself. It was the water inside it. It was clean.

The bucket was white, and through the perfectly clear surface, they could see straight to the bottom.

Neither of them had laid eyes on this much clean water in longer than they could remember.

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