Half an hour earlier, Central District.
The acid rain was still pouring down in torrents. The streets on both sides were already empty; everyone had taken shelter beneath the eaves.
Only an old beggar still trudged through the curtain of rain on somewhat weak legs.
"Hey, old man, are you trying to get yourself killed? Soaking in rain like that—by tomorrow, the skin all over your body will be ulcerated!"
"Hurry over here. Come this way."
"Why won't this old man listen? You're not young anymore. A young person might survive even if their skin rotted once, but if your skin rots, you might as well have one foot in the grave!"
"Forget it, forget it. If he won't listen, he deserves what he gets."
The people sheltering from the rain beneath the eaves kept talking, but the old beggar walking through the downpour seemed not to hear them at all. He merely gazed from afar at the Tina Entertainment building and muttered under his breath, "Almost there... It's only a little acid rain. Just losing some hair, that's all..."
Compared to such minor problems, Zuniga wanted more than anything to reach Tina Tower quickly.
According to the prompt from "Targeted News," that "Outsider from Beyond the Heavens" was highly likely to be near Tina Tower.
Zuniga limped onward. Before he knew it, the rain seemed to be growing heavier and heavier, splashing against the ground and raising sheets of watery haze. Combined with the luminous mist around him, everything ahead was dazzlingly bright.
Zuniga instinctively shielded his eyes. Then, in the next second, he felt something rush out from the rain curtain and bore into his body.
His body lost all weight, and darkness swept over him.
"This familiar feeling..."
"Here it comes again."
In the instant before he