Just before sinking deep into the delightful darkness, Ray noticed a woman approaching him from the distance.

"There's a survivor..."

He didn't manage to hear anything else.

----------

Ray woke up, feeling refreshed like he just had a good 15 vortexes of sleep. He looked at his surroundings, becoming confused by the unfamiliar room. It was only after a couple of splashes did he realize what happened yesterday.

'Where in the Waters of Life am I?' In Terra, there was a system of flowing rivers, all connected to a giant lake. Those rivers eventually connected to the oceans, and they together with the Lake of Life were the only sources of sweet water on Terra.

Because of that, the time frames that divided each tick were all related to water. On a faraway planet, those splashes, flows, and vortexes would be called seconds, minutes, and hours. And surprisingly, the relationship between the units was the same in both worlds.

1 vortex contained 60 flows, and each flow contained 60 splashes. And within a single tick, there were 24 vortexes. But before this trivial information finished flashing through Ray's mind, the door to his small room opened, and a woman walked in.

Wearing a police uniform, the woman could be said to be somewhat pretty, and fairly high. She entered the room with a plate of food, but when she saw Ray sitting in his bed, she seemed surprised.

"You're awake! Thank the Flowing Life, I thought you would never wake up again!" The woman seemed relieved at his awakening. Ray couldn't detect any falsehood from her expression.

"How do you feel? Your body was totally busted when we brought you here... Wait, you shouldn't be moving. Stop!" The woman's voice got was laced with a tinged of horror when she saw Ray trying to stand up from his bad.

However, her horror turned to shock when the young man stood up without a problem. He even started stretching, trying to feel his body.

"Well, I feel pretty good now. Can I have my food, please?" Ray smiled at the police officer, who handed him the tray almost mechanically.

"You... How..?" She mumbled, not really speaking to him or to herself. But then, her mind seemed to wander to something she saw recently, and she calmed down.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Meanwhile, Ray ate his food like a ferocious beast. After all, it has been a lot of times since he ate anything. Meanwhile, he glanced at the countdown in the system:

｢Buffer period: 10:01:17｣

Ray sighed when he realized that he wasted most of the buffer period unconscious. There were even two episodes of unconsciousness, this was simply embarrassing!

'Also, what's the deal with that truck driver that hit me? It didn't look like he stole anything. Is this a targeted attack?' This wouldn't be the first time Ray was targeted. After all, his parents' line of work often attracted trouble to their door.

Quickly, almost too quickly, Ray finished eating. But even though the food flew to his mouth at a terrifying speed, he still had the traces of elegance that were present in high society. 'He should really be the son of those people.' The police officer thought to herself.

It wasn't unusual for Ray to be recognized. After all, his parents were both famous people, and he had no small degree of fame himself as both a Star Graduate and a Martial Rising Star. So, he already expected that he was recognized.

"Are you Ray Growenner?" The policewoman went straight to the point. After all, the treatment he would receive would be worlds apart if he said yes. Ray simply nodded his head. He didn't need to hide his identity.

"Great." The woman had a beaming smile on her face. After all, saving such an influential figure was no small matter. She would probably receive a promotion and would have many doors opened for her.

'Poor thing. How would she feel when her entire world would shatter?' Ray sighed in his mind. He knew most people would have a hard time adjusting to the new world that was about to decent upon them.

"As you can see, I'm perfectly fine. As for the reason why, don't ask about it. I wonder if you could give me a lift?" Ray was short and to the point. Actually, he was like that with most people. Ever since that day he fought with Leyla...

He shook his head, ridding himself of those depressing thoughts. 'Right now, my top priority should be reaching her, and then taking her to the shelter with me. Even if we can't make it to the shelter in time, I should at least be by her side.'

At first, the policewoman wanted to reject Ray's request. She wasn't sure if he was pretending to be fine or not, and she couldn't afford to risk his life. But when she looked into his eyes, she didn't see any option of rejection.

'This is the look that the Captain had in his eyes when he shot the man that sold drugs to his sister three years ago. This look of steel, I don't really have a choice do I?'

"Sigh, sure thing, we can go right now." And without wasting any time, both of them quickly headed toward the closest police patrol car. They passed by many police officers and citizens, but everyone let them pass.

The officers knew who Ray was, and the citizens who were here didn't have the time or strength to get in the way of the police's business.

When they sat in the car, Ray closed his eyes and sunk deep into his thoughts. And his partner, even if she was dying to talk to him and leave a good impression, didn't dare to open her mouth, driving in complete silence.

'Looks like there have been a lot of system alerts...' Ray wanted to use the ride to organize everything he currently had. It was only after opening the system interface that he realized that a lot has changed...