"2049"

Chapter 13 "2-049"

It was a dark, sealed room.

After slowly adjusting to the faint light, Alice saw a puppet wrapped in oil-stained strips of cloth.

The puppet creaked as he turned over, his face painted with clown greasepaint directly meeting Alice's gaze.

That eerie face had a pair of pure black, pupil-less eyes. A crack abruptly appeared beneath them, forming the shape of a "mouth."

The split "mouth" curved distinctly, forming an exaggerated clownish grin on that greasepaint-covered face—Alice realized that the puppet was smiling at her.

Alice suddenly woke from her dream. Recalling that strange, terrifying smile, she was still shaken. Unable to sleep, she had no choice but to get up and glance at the time—good, at least it was daylight.

"A dangerous Extraordinary Item... perhaps a Sealed Artifact, with certain living characteristics."

After using a ritual to draw the puppet from her dream, Alice brought the freshly completed portrait to Dunn's office and placed it before him.

"You've seen 2-049?" Dunn had clearly recognized what the portrait depicted at a glance.

"2-049? A Sealed Artifact?" Alice frowned. The possibility of a Sealed Artifact matched one of her guesses, but the designation was not what she had expected. "Is that Sealed Artifact alive?"

"Alive?" Dunn frowned as he looked towards her. "No, 2-049 has never displayed any living characteristics."

"Then it was affected by something unknown... I understand. The important thing isn't 2-049—it's whatever affected it!" Alice suddenly understood.

After hearing Alice's words, Dunn stared at the portrait in thought for a moment. Then, as he put it away, he said, "I understand. You may go back now."

Alice nodded and was about to leave when she suddenly froze, as though she had seen something. Just as Dunn turned a puzzled gaze towards her and was about to ask, she seemed to suddenly snap back to herself and quickly left his office.

She closed the door as if nothing happened, smiling as she greeted everyone she knew along the way. Only after entering the washroom and shutting the door did Alice lean against it, close her eyes, and calm her train of thought.

She would never forget what she had seen—the shadow of death that had begun spreading around Dunn from the first time she met him, gradually drowning him and completely enveloping him. Just now, it had wavered.

"Not enough," Alice softly warned herself. "At the very least, I need to reach the point where I can see what lies behind the shadow... or its purpose, a deeper purpose."

Alice was not such a kindhearted girl, but she also had no way to stand by and watch Dunn die. After realizing that someone was trying to use Dunn's death—or his falling into some kind of predicament—to achieve some goal, Alice had considered warning him. Then her spiritual intuition stopped her.

She realized that she could not speak of any of this, nor could she reveal even the slightest trace of it. Otherwise, unknown danger would come for her.

Alice clearly would not sacrifice herself for Dunn, so she pretended she had discovered nothing. Yet Dunn had safely passed three years without incident. It looked as though nothing had changed, but as Alice watched the hidden shadow, she knew clearly—the net had long since been cast in the darkness, merely waiting to be activated.

But Alice had no way to get past the web without stepping on it. She could only quietly wait for an opportunity—until today.

But why would this affect Dunn?

Having no clue, Alice left the washroom after calming herself and began her occult studies for the day.

After recovering the Antigonus Family Notes and receiving treatment, Dunn remained alone in his office writing a report.

After checking the report once more and confirming there were no problems, Dunn was about to leave when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." Dunn replied as he considered who might be looking for him.

Alice pushed the door open and entered. She closed it behind her and studied Dunn during the motion—the tiny effect on the shadow had returned to its original state.

As expected. she thought in her heart. This is a concealed, long-term influence. To break this arrangement, I either need to plan slowly or suppress it with absolute force...

Unable to do the latter, Alice could only ask something rather unreasonable. "Captain, what did you go out to do?"

Dunn frowned at Alice. Of course, there was nothing wrong with telling her. Nominally speaking, Alice was even an official member of the Nighthawks team... even though she never took shifts guarding Chanis Gate and had never carried out a mission independently.

But that was precisely the problem—Alice knew clearly what her own situation was. Unless someone told her themselves, she would never take the initiative to inquire about such matters.

"I came to remind you," Alice realized Dunn's misunderstanding. "The thing that affected 2-049..."

As soon as it was said, Alice saw the shadow dissipate slightly, just as insignificantly as it had that morning. This showed her that her reminder was not meaningless—after all, Dunn's poor memory was no secret.

Dunn had clearly remembered what happened that morning. "...Sit down. Since you came to ask, and this was your dream after all."

Alice sat down as instructed.

"Do you remember the Antigonus Family Notes?" Dunn asked as he revised the report.

Alice nodded. Of course, she would not forget why that special new colleague had joined them.

"We successfully obtained those notes today. If there was anything that could have affected 2-049, it should only have been those notes." Dunn explained as he analyzed the matter. "If that's the case, then those notes should be quite dangerous..."

Alice did not follow up on that. She believed there was a high probability that this guess was correct, but why would underestimating the notes' danger cause Dunn's death? As an experienced official Beyonder, he should not...

Alice's train of thought halted as she remembered the pair of eyes behind Old Neil.

...Could the captain also be on the verge of losing control?

Alice quietly examined Dunn. Unfortunately, she did not have any ability in this regard, so she could only raise an even more inappropriate question. "Can I take a look at those notes? I won't open or read them, just take a look from afar."

Dunn pondered for a moment before ultimately refusing her request. "It isn't that I don't trust you, but... I think we should wait until the Cathedral has rated them before making a decision."

"...I understand." Alice looked at Dunn for several seconds, then realized that he would not agree to her request. She could only helplessly accept it and leave Dunn's office.