A Retrospective Farce

"Kind person, please help me!" The woman was already in tears. Sobs clogged her throat, distorting her voice, and her hands had turned red from pounding on the door. She was desperate and helpless.

But the deductionists of the Dark Star Guild were naturally very cautious. When faced with a situation like this, they stayed as still as turtles tucked into their shells.

The woman still couldn't get the "Cold One" to open the door.

She collapsed to her knees, hugging the child as she wept uncontrollably.

This was the truest kind of helplessness a mother could feel when she couldn't protect her child. No matter what kind of being the woman really was, or what memories she had from before she began moving around only after midnight, in that moment Yu Xing could feel that every emotion she showed was real.

How strange...

Was this what a "person" looked like after their perception had been distorted? She didn't wonder why she hadn't seen daylight in so long. She simply followed her deepest obsession and did what she had to do.

But...

Yu Xing sighed.

No matter how genuine the woman's desperation was, he could hear only one person breathing.

The woman's breathing grew more erratic as she cried and shouted, but the baby in her swaddling clothes remained perfectly still.

That baby wasn't breathing at all.

Another invisible branch slipped into the hallway and slowly crept toward the woman's arms.

The swaddling cloth was indeed thin and rather haphazardly wrapped. It was clear the baby hadn't received very careful attention, but the woman had done her best.

The woman pressed her fingers tightly against the back of the swaddling cloth, cradling the child like a treasure. If a calm, rational person had been standing nearby, they would have noticed