Liem groaned, his eyes fluttering open. The harsh glare of blue and red lights pulsed against his eyelids. A sharp pain shot through his left shoulder. He lay on cold asphalt, not the ethereal pavement of the Shadow Boulevard, but the cracked, familiar surface of Bolsa Avenue. The air smelled of burnt rubber and gasoline.
He pushed himself up, his head swimming. A wrecked car, undeniably his Camry, smoked against a concrete light pole, its front end crumpled beyond recognition. Its radio, miraculously, was still active, hissing with low static at 00.0 MHz before a paramedic swiftly turned it off.
Paramedics swarmed the scene. Liem was gently helped onto a stretcher, his fractured shoulder throbbing. He searched frantically through the chaos for Kevin.
“My son! Where’s my son?” he rasped.
A paramedic pointed. “Over here, sir. He’s stable, but…”
Liem struggled to his feet, ignoring the pain. Kevin lay on a separate stretcher, his body perfectly still. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the night sky, unblinking. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, but his face was devoid of expression.
“Kevin?” Liem knelt beside him, reaching for his hand. It was limp and cold. “Son? Can you hear me?”
No response. Kevin’s gaze remained fixed, empty.
A doctor, a grave expression on her face, approached Liem. “He suffered what we can only describe as a catastrophic neurological shutdown,” she explained softly, her voice heavy with regret. “His brain function… it’s entirely wiped clear. He’s stable, physically. But he’s non-responsive to voice, touch, even painful stimuli.”
She shook her head. “There’s no electrical activity in the areas that control consciousness, speech, or recognition. It’s as if… his mind simply ceased to be. He’s a living shell, Mr. Nguyen.”
Liem stared at his son’s vacant eyes, the words echoing in his ears. A living shell. He had pulled Kevin from the physical car, saving his body from the wreckage, but the spiritual shock, the backfire of his own greed and malicious intent, had consumed his son’s mind instead. The true cost of the Shadow Boulevard had been paid.
➡️ Read CHAPTER 16 to continue the story
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