Operator #13 · [At Last · At Last]

"How can I break this hypnotic ability?" Jiang Xueming asked as he carried everyone into the first-class cabin.

"I don't know," Duran replied truthfully. "Don't you have any control over your spirit?"

To be honest, when Jiang Xueming learned all this, he had a strong feeling of unreality.

Teacher Wood, who can resist the [Regret Pill]'s ability to reverse time, is currently immersed in a dream and unable to wake up.

Sixty-Three must have witnessed many strange and wondrous soul powers in the endless cycle of reincarnation, but judging from his peaceful sleeping expression, he seems to have no resistance to [Fragrant Dream].

As for Benjamin, this was the first time Jiang Xueming had met him, but once he fell asleep, the pheromones he emitted were incredibly strong—a sense of peace, an indescribable sense of peace. It was like reuniting with a long-lost friend, or standing on the balcony gazing at the sunset with a warm, comfortable breeze blowing in his face; every pore on his body began to relax naturally, maintaining a very high quality of sleep at all times.

As for Flavia--

Like everyone else, this fierce-looking flight attendant, who killed without blinking an eye, gradually calmed down after falling asleep.

When Duran held her, she slept even more deeply, her breathing slowing down as if she were entering a paradise of absolute bliss.

Jiang Xueming had been hoping that Teacher Wood could break free from the control of [Fragrant Dream] and awaken from his sleep.

This visiting professor from the Galahad Magic Academy could surely teach Xue Ming how to control his soul power, but unfortunately, Professor Wood was completely still at the moment—occasionally yawning and shedding a few tears from the corners of his eyes.

At this moment, Xue Ming dared not easily call out Hun Wei's true name.

If [Fragrant Dream] goes out of control and Sixty-Three wakes up, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He simply waited quietly, pressing Ms. Duran for answers.

"Ms. Duran, you claim to be a member of the Little Brotherhood. As everyone knows, the Madness Butterfly Sect sells its goods to the people, the Skull and Bones Skull and Bones Society sells Dragon Blood to the brave, the Rose Sect sells immortal bodies to the rich, the Heaven's Ladder sells their Sun Bible, the Hand of Omnipotence sells fundamentalist messianic self-pity—what Little Brotherhood sell?"

Duran hesitated for a moment, then immediately retorted, "You want to send me to jail? To make me confess?"

"No, that's not what I meant." Jiang Xueming looked at Duran, then at Flavia in her arms. "Unlike the cultists I've met before, Claudia Ars Duran, you still have people you deeply love, and unparalleled courage and determination."

When Ms. Duran looked at Jiang Xueming, she felt a strange sense of awe.

Keep in mind that she was already thirty-one years old. She had struggled in the dark and gloomy underground world, growing rapidly in a dog-eat-dog environment where only the fittest survive, and finally arrived here after going through layers of selection.

Jiang Xueming had just turned twenty-three, and he always exuded a mysterious and transcendent quality.

When on high alert, the pheromones emitted by this young man were like those of a tiger.

During moments of leisure and rest, he is like a warm piece of jade, capable of instantly calming people down; his presence is so strong that it is almost impossible to ignore him.

This strange and inexplicable spiritual pressure reminded Duran of the Cult Leader of the Little Brotherhood.

"The Grey Robe Monk are a group of people who sell [luck]. We are proficient in divination, using coins, playing cards, tarot cards, or feng shui secrets. We believe that everything that happens has its [path], its [way]. Through observation or calculation, we can use very little force to produce very big changes. Ordinary people regard this miracle as [the favor of the goddess of fate]."

Jiang Xueming sat down, preparing for a long talk. "This doesn't sound like the style of the Madness Butterfly. Is this related to [Return to One]?"

"Yes, and it's very relevant." Duran felt the itching in his head finally subside, and his mind returned to normal. He then explained seriously, "Jiang Xueming, the reason the Little Brotherhood, as you described it, is because of its pyramid scheme model—what it initially sold to people wasn't [luck], but rather [intellect]."

As he said this, Duran bent down to retrieve the notebook next to the vomit bag.

Is the upward-pointing end of the pencil red or blue?

Jiang Xueming shook her head. "I don't know."

"[The Timeline] tells me it's red." Duran then pulled out a pencil, and the result was as she predicted. "I have the ability to foresee the future, but it's not purely good luck. What determines that the red lead is facing up is definitely not a completely random event, but rather a customary practice among the Airbus crew."

Duran gripped the pencil, gazing intently at the blue end.

"The pencils were inserted one by one into the notebooks by the flight attendants, with the red end facing up. This makes the flight attendants more careful and attentive to these precious stationery items, so that guests won't find broken pencil stubs in the notebooks."

Jiang Xueming: "How did you come to this conclusion?"

"Isn't it strange that the flight attendants' uniforms are blue?" Duran drew a line on Flavia's skirt with a pen. "The uniform specifications are company regulations and cannot be changed. When placing pencils, if you're careless, you'll leave marks on the clothes. If the blue pencil tip is facing upwards, the flight attendants won't care about these details at all. Anyway, a mark or two on the clothes or sleeves won't be noticeable. That's the cause-and-effect logic."

Duran emphasized. "It is precisely because of [a sense of security] that people reveal their weaknesses, their Gate of Death. Everything, once it reaches a state of [perfection], once it is completely [secured], begins to become flawed. When we see the full moon, the perfect moon is already dead."

Jiang Xueming: "You mean, these intellectually stimulating calculations are what the Little Brotherhood initially pursued?"

"Yes." Duran nodded, then continued, "You might be thinking, since the purpose is to remind Airbus flight attendants to handle these fragile pencils with care, why not put caps on them? Or use more expensive ballpoint pens, or simply make them with red leads at both ends?"

Jiang Xueming immediately became curious.

"Yes, I wanted to ask that too."

"Because new life needs to breathe, needs space to survive," Duran explained. "This pencil is like the rules in human society. When a new life comes into this world, it knows nothing, just like the reckless newcomers in Airbus service. They need to adapt to these rules. Perhaps there are one or two chances to make mistakes, and having the blue lead facing up can save them a lot of trouble. But when the supervisors in the Airbus group see their lazy and slacking behavior, they will always correct them. Over time, it becomes a rule—everyone needs to gradually understand the workings of this world. Ultimately, they are shaped into all sorts of people by the rules of each industry. The logic is simple, right? But seeing through these things is very, very difficult."

Jiang Xueming fell silent.

Duran then continued.

"The Little Brotherhood originated from the Francis, a church founded by ascetics who imitated the Hand of Omnipotence. In the beginning, we hoped to measure the underworld with our own feet, explore various laws, deduce results from phenomena, and achieve a state of perfect harmony in all things, that is, to always be favored by [the goddess of fate]."

"But things changed later. The word 'luck' has many, many interpretations and many, many criticisms."

"We use divination to save time and superpowers to overcome insurmountable obstacles. Everything is like taking shortcuts—like a railway train. Once someone has built the tracks, those who come after can cross treacherous terrain that would take road workers years to traverse in just a few minutes."

"The Little Brotherhood utterly unable to escape the vortex of [nihilism], just as Sixty-Three cannot escape the clutches of [the Regret Pill]. It's a kind of spiritual drug; the nature of one's soul power determines that each person's skill and path cannot be inherited from one another. Unlike science and art, it cannot be passed down through master-disciple relationships. Each person's divination methods and the way their predictions are expressed are different."

"Most of the Grey Robe Monk of the Little Brotherhood are skipping the process and pursuing the result. Just like the concept of unification of the Madness Butterfly, since all life must eventually merge into one, the evolutionary path is meaningless. It is pure nothingness—we see Sixty-Three constantly using Regret Pill like an addict, because in his life journey, the process is also meaningless. Everything is up to him, and if he doesn't want the result, he can regret it and start over."

"Why do people take drugs?" Duran raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Isn't it because of emptiness? They've lost the meaning of survival, the meaning of work, the meaning of life. No stimulation can bring joy or satisfaction to their empty hearts. They seek the ultimate physical and mental pleasure, thus pushing themselves into an abyss."

Jiang Xueming muttered to himself, "Taking the long way is the shortcut."

"The Little Brotherhood doesn't take the long way around," Ms. Duran said. "What it's selling now is something for nothing, or for a small price, a random divination, to decide the most important thing in one's life—perhaps fate brought Sixty-Three to us, trying to use the power of the [Timeline] to help him complete this ritual."

"I think I understand." Jiang Xueming was completely bewildered. To be honest, he didn't understand what these people were thinking and could only barely grasp some of the common parroting. "Let's get back to the point, Duran."

Duran shrugged indifferently, looking like a dead pig that doesn't fear boiling water. "Where are you planning to send me? Anywhere is fine, as long as I can live. Making a deal with you is more worthwhile than risking my life with Sixty-Three."

Jiang Xueming: "I will hand you over to my teacher."

Duran: "David Victor?"

Jiang Xueming: "Yes, he can identify your crimes. After reading your book, you will have to plead guilty and serve your sentence."

Duran: "I have a request."

"You want to plead for Flavia?" Jiang Xueming shook his head. "No chance."

Duran tensed up. "She's the love of my life, Jiang Xueming —she killed so many people, good and bad, the Lapis Lazuli Guards and others from the Madness Butterfly Sect. She can't go to prison; she can only be sent to the execution ground. She doesn't even have the chance to redeem herself through labor reform."

"This isn't something I can decide," Jiang Xueming said, showing no mercy whatsoever.

Duran: "I'd be willing to be tortured for her."

Jiang Xueming: "There's no such thing. She is her, and you are you. If your life could be exchanged for hers, countless criminals in the world could find scapegoats. My teacher even taught me that people don't hate evil, they only hate their own powerlessness."

Duran pleaded anxiously, "My lord, please listen to me! Flavia's power is extremely vicious; what she possesses can only be used to kill. It's like a baby getting a gun. She..."

Jiang Xueming interrupted, "It's pointless for you to say this to me, Ms. Duran. The person who decides whether you go to prison or to the execution ground is not me, but my teacher."

"I... I understand," Duran said hesitantly, a fleeting, resolute ruthlessness crossing his face before vanishing just as quickly. "I understand."

"The plane will land in fourteen minutes," Jiang Xueming said, dialing Professor Victor's number. "Ms. Duran, you need to be prepared. The dead cannot be brought back to life; we all have to look forward."

Duran shook his head dejectedly. "Jiang Xueming, you should be able to understand me. Some people in life are irreplaceable."

The phone remained dialed without a clear signal, which made Xue Ming uneasy; perhaps Teacher Victor was outside the service area.

Why do you say that?

Duran murmured, "Sixty-Three lost Bailu, lost 9527, and Bu Liuxing never even appeared from beginning to end—I ask you, if you lost these crucial people, lost Bu Liuxing, lost these friends, lovers, and family..."

"There are no 'ifs'," Jiang Xueming interrupted immediately. "No assumptions."

"You're a truly cold-blooded and ruthless scumbag," Duran gritted his teeth. "Even more cold-blooded than my Soul Might!"

Jiang Xueming immediately retorted, "How many people did Flavia cause to lose their loved ones? How many people did she cause to lose their lovers and friends?"

"So what!" Duran screamed hysterically, finally erupting into madness. "I only care about her! I don't want anything else!"

Jiang Xueming immediately said, "Ms. Duran, think it through. Your soul power is not capable of combat. Struggling is futile."

"I tried so hard, so incredibly hard." Duran pursed her lips, her face full of grievance. "I walked for so long, going around in circles on this path, scheming and maneuvering among you powerful figures. I finally managed to escape this terrifying cycle, all I wanted was to live on with her."

"Try to think positively, Ms. Duran," Jiang Xueming said immediately. "She doesn't care about you. In my friend's words, she's not fickle or promiscuous; her heart is just broken into many pieces, and leaving you with even one piece is already a great favor."

"How do you know!" Duran roared. "If she doesn't survive, I will do everything I can to wake Sixty-Three in these last ten minutes!"

Jiang Xueming raised his gun. "Really? Although I'm very curious about what you'll do, I have to control my curiosity."

Two streams of tears fell from Duran's eyes. "You dare to kill me?"

Jiang Xueming flipped the hammer and released the safety. "You should know me very well."

"Yes, Your Majesty the Demon King," Duran sneered, "Spread out the lives you've taken; you can't sleep peacefully until you've killed three every day."

"Hmm." Xue Ming's eyes were serious and determined, his dark pupils revealing no pity. "You're right."

The silent standoff lasted for a very long time.

As the plane began its descent, the walled city came into view once again.

The familiar scenery gradually became incredibly clear.

Xue Ming saw the rental housing complex and high-rise buildings next to Hung Hom MTR station.

"You executioner!" Duran's expression twisted, contorted in a terrifying grimace, yet he dared not utter a single step, only able to hurl the most vicious curses. "Fuck your mother! Fuck! Fuck your mother! Bastard! You little bastard!"

Jiang Xueming: "Go ahead and curse."

Duran's tears flowed more and more freely.

"Please, please let her go. Please."

Jiang Xueming: "Keep cursing, don't stop. The more tears you shed, the more panicked I become."

Duran: "Damn! You're a fucking freak!"

Jiang Xueming: "No, no, no, I don't have such a special hobby, Ms. Duran. It's just that social experience tells me that I can only use one of my hands and mouth at a time. If you stop scolding me, I might do something foolish."

The plane bounced the instant it touched down.

--At the critical moment, Duran almost managed to snatch the deadly weapon from Jiang Xueming's hand!

But her frail and powerless body repeatedly warned her, and the loyal little White Snake reminded her that there was only one outcome for doing this, but many ways to die, and the ending would not change.

When the tire touched the ground again, it was as if her heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, had suddenly touched the ground.

The love of one's life must eventually come to an end. She was utterly powerless, as if her heart had fallen from mid-air back into her chest. Everything became empty, everything returned to nothingness.

The plane began to taxi, and the demon king before them remained unchanged, a cast-iron statue.

Just like when Sixty-Three first arrived at Zero Platform of the Little Brotherhood and looked at the icon of the Madness Butterfly, their expressions were exactly the same when they stared at something.

Duran just kept cursing, roaring with all his might before the finish line of the journey, uttering the most offensive and vicious words.

Then it seemed like he was possessed—

"--I want to adopt a child with her."

"Even a great man like you has a family. I've seen it in my memories of Sixty-Three."

"Family can change a person, right? Even you, even at Sixty-Three, will become gentler after you start your own family. Right?"

"This child has two mothers, you can't take the child away from his mother, you can't do that."

Duran opened his eyes wide and swallowed the tears from the corner of his mouth.

"Flavia will get better, she'll get better. I'll definitely find a way, I'll find a way. There will always be a way."

"Her blood-soluble toxins and her [Yin Yang Demon Realm] are very powerful. Perhaps she could go to the Research Station and help the researchers make medicine? Right? She'll be useful eventually, won't she? It's impossible that Ming De really wants to kill her, is it? She's killed so many people. Let Ming De order her around and have her save so many people. That will pay off all her debts! Wouldn't that be better? Wouldn't that be better?"

"That's not right. I helped you, my [Modern Siren] helped you. Without it, you couldn't have won at all!" Jiang Xueming

"It's not Flavia's fault, it's not her fault. It's clearly those people's fault, they're blind. They were asking for it themselves. What did she do wrong? She did nothing wrong! She didn't."

Jiang Xueming: "We've arrived. Duran."

It felt like all my strength had been drained by those five words.

Duran plopped down on the ground, as the roar of the plane engines gradually subsided.

She doesn't remember how she got off the plane.

All that is known is that Jiang Xueming found a large truck and transported all the unconscious people away.

Billy the Kid and Fuyanni embraced each other, lost in a dream under the influence of the Fragrant Dream, awaiting their judgment at the Balason Inquisition.

Wood Plark is still unconscious. It seems that this superpower, this sense of security, is more effective against people with strong obsessions.

The truck drove into the Hung Hom- Harbour Tunnel and eventually stopped at the junction of the tunnel and the circular highway.

Xue Ming couldn't possibly drive that kind of car onto the highway; only the Volga sedan at Nine Realms Station could safely travel inside the large drum.

He kept calling, but it seemed like he couldn't get through.

Duran held his lover tightly, feeling the bone-chilling cold in the damp, cold temporary maintenance passage of the undersea tunnel during the sweltering summer.

At 5:40 a. m., just as the sun was rising.

The tunnel welcomed its first car heading south.

It suddenly changed direction and accelerated, crashing into Jiang Xueming, who was making a phone call for help, amidst a hail of bullets.

Flavia hadn't even recovered her senses when she saw the bullet and the front of the car crash into the wall of the tunnel maintenance passage, almost crushing Xue Ming to pieces, and even the light of his Soul Power was no longer visible!

Three men stepped out of the twisted and deformed car door; they were all contacts for the Little Brotherhood.

They picked up their guns and opened fire on the truck, then killed everyone inside, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

The young man in the lead shouted at Duran, "Big sister! Where's the stuff?"

"What is that?" Duran finally snapped out of his dazed state.

The young man dug Jiang Xueming's body out of the wall and found a package of hallucinogens.

"It's nothing, I found it."

Immediately afterwards, Flavia heard a loud whistle and woke up from her dream.

The brigades of the Little Brotherhood flashed their insignia. "Let's go, big sister, hurry up!"

Duran stood there dumbfounded, letting Flavia slip away from his arms. He then saw this hot-tempered, silly girl rush to Jiang Xueming's corpse to challenge him, and then run to the body of that traitor Billy the Kid, intending to take off her skirt and urinate on the spot.

"Flavia!"

Duran just kept shouting, still unable to believe it was real.

Flavia rolled her eyes, squatted in the truck, and yelled, "Don't stop me! You have some self-respect, but I don't! I won't calm down unless I do something!"

"Let's go, Second Sister!" The young man said anxiously, glancing at his watch. "Let's go! Let's go!"

Duran grabbed his colleague and kept asking, "Am I dreaming? Am I dreaming?"

The three young men from the Little Brotherhood exchanged a smile, suddenly realizing they couldn't continue the conversation.

Immediately afterwards, the squad leader was slapped hard across the face by Duran, and was immediately knocked unconscious, his mouth full of blood.

"Big sister, why did you hit me? I'm here to save you!"

Claudia Ars Duran felt a deep fear. "Don't try to fool me! Fragrant Dream!"

This sense of fear originates from [Fragrant Dream], and from Jiang Xueming's soul power.

Is there a possibility--

She never woke up from beginning to end.

From beginning to end, all her guesses and assumptions about [Fragrant Dream] were wrong.

Even with intense self-destructive urges—jumping off buildings, beheading, shooting herself—none of these actions could awaken her. As long as she was attacked by Jiang Xueming's soul power, she simply couldn't wake up!

But this sense of security...

This--

" --Duran! Don't stand there like an idiot! Do you need to pee? Come with me!" Flavia yelled, "These guys have made us suffer so much! And I have to keep smiling like a waitress! I've never been treated like this in my life!"

After a moment's thought, Duran first ran onto the truck and, together with her best friend, took a deep, satisfying urination, venting all her fear and anger onto Sixty-Three's bloodied and mangled face.

Then Duran's eyes widened as he took the gun from his Little Brotherhood colleague, carefully examined the G33's bolt and magazine, and cocked it.

"Bang--"

He shot himself in the head.

"It's strange." David Victor placed his hand on Ms. Duran's forehead. "It's as if she's always trying to wake up from a dream, but she can't."

The four-sided terrace was bustling with people. For the BOSS's rebirth ceremony, most of them were armed employees making security preparations in advance and clearing safe evacuation routes.

Jiang Xueming looked at the other sleeping people with a worried expression.

"Can I actively summon Soul Power?"

Victor: "It's best not to let FE204863 wake up; the situation will only get worse."

Jiang Xueming looked at Duran: "How is she?"

"She shot herself in the right eye, and eighty-eight days later," Victor recounted, word for word, following the vision written in [Hell Highway]: "She woke up in the perfume shop of the Rare People Mansion, with Flavia by her side, crying bitterly—begging her not to do anything foolish again, for flesh heals easily, but a broken heart is hard to mend."

Jiang Xueming: "How could this happen?"

"Your soul power is extremely strong, extremely terrifying." Teacher Victor's expression turned serious and tense. "Claudia Ars Duran simply couldn't resist her lover's tears, not even in a dream—she couldn't refuse, and even accepted the terrifying idea of living in a dream."

Jiang Xueming exclaimed, "My God!"

"She hopes you won't release the power of Fragrant Dream." Victor gripped Duran's hand, growing increasingly nervous. "The perfumer at that little shop was the one who introduced these sisters. They were born and raised in the underworld, came to the Rare People Mansion looking for work, and incense was an important tool in their ritual divination. Ultimately, by fate's arrangement, they found themselves in the arms of the Little Brotherhood —and from then on, they fell in love."

"Jiang Xueming, this illusion of revisiting familiar places, this warmth and tenderness, she simply cannot refuse or resist."

"She prayed to heaven, almost treating you as a god."

Victor's gaze swept over the people around him.

Billy and Fuyanni, Sixty-Three with Wood Plark, and Benjamin Black.

"Like these people, she didn't want to wake up."

Robert Tang Ning sat next to Xue Ming--

-- Became the only comedian with a sense of joy.

"Boss! Please!"

Jiang Xueming: "No."

Tang Ning: "Please."

Jiang Xueming: "No means no."

Tang Ning: "I want to see Masha, just once! Just this once. I won't do drugs, I absolutely will not relapse."

Jiang Xueming held his breath—

Finally, a slap landed on Tang Ning's face, and as the young man went off to his Tender Paradise with satisfaction, he mentioned Teacher Wood's catchphrase.

"Genius."