A Feast of Potato Chips / Blood-Red Rainstorm

"It seems you still have unfinished business, so please allow me to say goodbye and go complete my 'experiment'."

"Experiment?" The word came out of Gray Serpent's mouth, causing the man to slowly turn his head and look at the mask under the hood.

"Yes, it's an experiment that will allow me to gain a more comprehensive understanding of humanity, learn about humanity, and analyze humanity. After I complete it, I will return to you and Doctor Mobius for a period of time."

"What kind of experiment is it?"

The man turned around completely, his deep voice piercing through the rain. His previously indifferent gaze sharpened as he stared at the Artificial Lifeform before him, an artificial being that had learned autonomously in human society, whose values and worldview were unknown.

"... You and the Doctor have given me a second life and complete freedom. I believe that these should be given even greater value." The Gray Serpent bowed gracefully. "Humans exist in groups. During my studies, I have seen countless groups, including the Fire-Chasing Moth, which is also a group organization. Therefore, by starting with their mode of existence, I should be able to understand humans the fastest."

"..."

"Even if you kill this body here, it won't stop me. I have already become a human being, existing as a group."

The man was unaware of any gaze. He raised his head, his gaze traveling hundreds of meters before settling on a black dot standing on a rooftop.

Another "Gray Serpent" gave him a slight salute before retreating into the darkness behind him.

"Well then, goodbye, Mr. Lin... And your mask is quite interesting."

Gray Serpent, holding an umbrella, walked into the blizzard under the man's gaze.

"Call..."

The man inhaled and exhaled, preparing to pass through the sanatorium back to the base.

The mission wasn't over yet, but the man didn't know what the Firemoth wanted... No, he knew the information the Firemoth wanted: information about a traitor.

The existence of a schemer who needs to conjure things up out of thin air.

"Mr. Ultraman?"

As he walked around the spiked fence, he heard a faint voice. He turned his head and saw Nun with an umbrella standing at the entrance of the sanatorium, holding a letter in her hand, about to put it in the mailbox.

The rain was still falling, and his ridiculous mask was dripping wet.

"Are you also the brother that Sister Aponia picked up? Why are you wearing a mask like Chrono Brother?"

Naturally, the man was surrounded by a group of children by the fireplace, who mistook him for a poor, homeless man the Nun had recently brought back.

They curiously observed their older brother, who was even more silent than Chrono. His cold and aloof demeanor, so different from Chrono's, attracted the attention of these children who found him very cool.

Mobius never understood why Griseo preferred Lin to her, as if Lin was naturally attractive to children. Even if he just sat there without moving, children would circle around him, climb onto his lap, and touch his helmet.

However, the man didn't understand either.

"Why are you wearing Ultraman mask?" one of the older children, who stood out from the other children by two or three years, asked, waving.

"..." The man remained silent as always, but since he didn't say anything, the children could ask the Nun. So they all gathered around the Nun who had been watching, chattering incessantly.

"Sister Aponia! Who is that big brother? Why isn't he saying anything?"

The Nun looked up at the man, then lowered her head again and said calmly, "He is Mr. Ultraman."

Then the children exploded like water splashed into a pot of oil.

"Huh? Aponia? Who have you picked up this time!"

A burly figure appeared in the doorway. Hearing the children's commotion, he entered the house and asked the Nun impatiently.

Then, Chrono stared at the man for two seconds.

Terrible Corrugated Paper masks and hilarious Ultraman masks.

"... What's going on?" Chrono realized what was happening and asked instinctively.

The man calmly greeted him, "Hello, I'm Ultraman."

"I can tell... wait, are you kidding me?"

Chrono looked at the Nun suspiciously, but the Nun was not paying attention to what was happening and was deep in thought.

"What a nuisance... This woman always brings people back without permission..." Chrono snorted and raised his chin at the man. "Come with me, I'll take you to where you sleep."

The man wanted to say that he had a place to stay, but Chrono was walking ahead, so it seemed he wouldn't have a chance to say it.

Chapter Nine: Potato Chip Feast

The man opened his eyes. Not far away, Chrono was already fast asleep on another bed. He lowered his voice, got dressed, got out of bed, and pushed open the door to leave the room.

He and Chrono slept in the same room, a storage room next to the sanatorium's warehouse. The rooms in the sanatorium were cramped, so they had no choice but to share a room.

The night was pitch black, with no stars.

The man walked through the courtyard to the gate of the sanatorium, reached into the mailbox and pulled out a letter. He opened the envelope and walked to the unclosed streetlight to read it.

Because of his loss of color vision, he had some difficulty reading the letter in the dim light, and five minutes had passed by the time he finished reading the whole letter.

To Mr. Ultraman:

Thank you for your help, and may God bless you. Perhaps I don't know your identity, and you don't want to tell me, but I will remember this kindness and hope you find what you are looking for.

You seem to have some connection with that kind person who once helped the nursing home. Could you tell me what kind of person he was?

—Nun Aponia.

The man folded the letter and put it in his pocket. When he turned around, he saw a silent figure standing quietly under the eaves.

Chrono stood with his hands clasped behind his back, seemingly waiting for him.

The man thought for a moment, then walked over.

"... Can't sleep?" Chrono asked abruptly as he approached.

The man nodded. "Yes, insomnia."

"It's best not to leave the sanatorium area at night, otherwise... never mind, come with me."

Chrono seems to be on par with a certain pink-haired woman in terms of talking to himself, except that Elysia is beautiful and likes to smile, while even if Chrono covers his face with a mask, people will still think that he must be doing things with a sour face.

The man thought Chrono was going to take him back to his room, but instead he went straight into the warehouse, rummaged around in the dark for a while, and finally brought out... a barbecue grill?

Chrono gestured for the man to follow, then carried the barbecue grill with one hand to the backyard of the sanatorium, set it up, and put some charcoal inside.

The man didn't see clearly how Chrono lit the fire. It seemed that he moved closer and fiddled with it, and then the charcoal, which should have taken a while to burn, suddenly burst into flames.

Did they pour some alcohol?

"Hello."

Chrono tossed a bag over, and the man caught it casually. In the firelight, he saw that it was a bag of potato chips.

Barbecue-flavored potato chips, small package.

She then found some metal skewers, Chrono open a bag of potato chips, and skewered the yellow snacks together. Since the chips seemed to have been damp and weren't as crisp, the whole process was relatively easy, and she didn't break any chips.

Potato chips are already deep-fried, so grilling them will only cause them to burn quickly, as they already contain a certain amount of calories.

The man didn't say that. After watching for a while, he silently imitated Chrono by tearing open the packaging, then took some iron skewers, strung them together, and placed them on the hot coals.

Chrono glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Two masked people silently roasted potato chips in the freezing cold.

Whether they were men or Chrono, they were dressed in thin clothes, yet none of them felt cold.

Chrono brushed oil on the potato chips to ensure they heated evenly and didn't burn completely. Then, he took out a few bottles of seasoning from his pocket and asked the man in front of him, "Do you want them spicy or salty?"

Are there different flavors of baked potato chips?

Do you have any sweet ones?

"... Your taste is really strange."

Men don't care what they eat, they don't care what it tastes like, they can't feel it.

"You were picked up by Aponia, so I can't be bothered with what happens between you two." Chrono flipped the potato chips, staring at the flickering flames that made his Corrugated Paper mask glow red. "But if I find out you're doing something 'not so good,' hehe..."

He laughed without any attempt to hide it.

A surge of frenzied killing intent erupted and then vanished in an instant.

The man didn't reply; he seemed more interested in the potato chips than Chrono.

After giving a cold snort, Chrono didn't want to make a fool of himself. The potato chips didn't need to be baked for long at all; they could be eaten after just being heated a little and sprinkled with seasoning.

Chrono watched with a subtle expression as the man picked up a string of potato chips sprinkled with white sugar, lifted up some of his mask, and then crunched them down in two bites before swallowing.

It looks perfectly normal.

A strange person, just like Aponia.

Chrono shrugged, picked up a string of potato chips covered in chili peppers, and finished it in two bites.

But as soon as he swallowed, the man had already finished two skewers and reached for the third...

He was holding a bunch of potato chips in his hand at the same time.

Chrono and the man exchanged a glance, then simultaneously grabbed potato chips and started eating.

"..."

"... Hahahahaha."

It wouldn't take the two of them a minute to finish the potato chips, and Chrono couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Is there any point in doing this? Absolutely not. Two grown men setting up a grill to bake potato chips in the backyard of a sanatorium in the middle of the night when you can't even see the stars, and even fighting over them, sounds like something only patients in a mental hospital would do.

However, such meaningless things do not need to be given any extra purpose.

The man licked the condiments off his fingers, put down the metal skewer, and suddenly asked, "Is there any more?"

"Um?"

"Your voice is very pleasant."

Chrono didn't understand what he meant at first. What did he mean by having a nice voice?

"The sound of eating potato chips is quite nice," the man explained.

What a strange person! Instead of commenting on the taste of the food, he comments on whether the voice sounds nice.

But potato chips really don't need to have any flavor.

"Here." Chrono tossed him another packet. "The last one."

"Um."

The man quickly skewered the meat and placed it on the grill.

"... Why are you baking potato chips?" the man asked while turning them over.

"Hmph, do I need to ask why? Because I want to."

Chrono casually found a rock to sit on, looked at the grill, and then at the sanatorium.

How long have you been here?

"I can't remember, two years? Three years?" Chrono answered casually. He seemed to be in a good mood, so he wasn't too resistant to answering the question. "Remembering the time is meaningless."

"I might need to stay in a nursing home for a while, is that alright?"

"Tch, I told you, you were picked up by that woman, it's none of my business."

"Thanks."

"..."

Chrono muttered something under his breath, but the man couldn't hear him.

Chapter Ten: Bloodstained Rain

"Whoosh..."

Chrono used the rainwater collected under the eaves to extinguish the fire. He put down the basin and said to the man, "It's cold, go back to sleep."

"..."

"What's wrong?" Chrono asked, seeing that the man remained motionless.

"I need to pee."

"... Go ahead."

Chrono, annoyed, went back to her room first, while the man walked to a window and, by the dim light of the night lamp, took out paper and pen from his pocket and began to write a letter.