The Eternal Night Arrives

A single sentence was enough to stop Kallen in her tracks. Her intuition and reason told her that this man was likely to lie, but... what if he was?

Even with only a one in ten thousand chance, Kallen didn't want to give up.

"How do I do it?" Kallen stared at Lin, who was engrossed in eating a simple fried rice.

Lin stuffed the rice grains coated in oil into his mouth, then twirled the spoon in his hand and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Actually, I am a member of Schicksal."

These words startled Kallen, while simultaneously revealing her wariness and hostility.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Kallen never told Lin who resurrected her or where they escaped from. However, after learning about Schicksal's existence from Himeko, the answer became clear when the three key points—related to the Honkai, having the technology to create vampires, and not being able to explain in detail to others—were combined.

"You... no, if you're someone destined for Schicksal, how could you..."

"In fact, my mission in Canghai City is to retrieve you and her. Without the support of Schicksal, it was only a matter of time before she lost control." Lin buried his head in his rice again, then picked up a cup of hot tea to moisten his throat. He coldly pointed his spoon at Kallen, "I am the intended captain of the Hyperion, which Schicksal is currently building. I have been tracking you to Canghai City for three days."

"I can tell you the location of the Schicksal branch in Canghai City. I was initially investigating the serial vampire case with another member. Because the mission to recover you was classified, she didn't know that my purpose was to investigate you through the serial vampire case."

"Later, I met you when I encountered vampires. You were all alone, and the test subject was nowhere to be found, so I approached you to get information about what happened to you after you left Schicksal."

As Lin Binglen uttered those cold words, a hint of resentment flickered in Kallen's expression.

She thought this person was genuinely trying to help her, a truly good person, but she was wrong.

He was merely a pawn sent by that person to bring them back under their control.

"I should have just taken you back."

Lin slowed down his speech and changed the subject.

"However, I don't know the story of your birth. After hearing it, I've decided to give you a chance."

"..."

A hint of doubt flickered in Kallen's eyes, but she remained silent, watching Lin and waiting for him to continue.

Lin finished the rest of the fried rice in a few bites, then wiped his mouth and picked up his hot tea. "He knew from the beginning that without the help of Schicksal, the experimental subject would gradually lose control, so before he left he gave me a way to temporarily maintain the experimental subject's sanity."

"I want to ask you a question now."

His deep black eyes, so dark that even light could not penetrate them, radiated a bone-chilling coldness as he stared at the pale-faced Kallen.

"Would you be willing to give your life for her?"

Cold.

After Lin woke up, perhaps due to amnesia, he was not very sensitive to some parts of his body. For example, he was very insensitive to temperature changes and did not know when to add or remove clothes. Rita was always the one helping him add or remove clothes.

It's as if I've never experienced cold or heat before.

He walked into the alleyway, where a fierce wind whipped his hair and clothes.

The pristine white moon disc, at some unknown time, had a trace of crimson spreading along its edges, like flowing blood, quietly creeping in.

Lin was actually quite puzzled about what kind of person he was. He thought he could calm down and think things through most of the time, but he always did things that were illogical or even extreme.

He shouldn't have gotten too involved in Kallen's affairs. At most, he should have just confirmed that the distortion of the World Bubble was related to her and her vampire sister, dealt with it, and then left.

One's life should not be decided by oneself, nor should one want to participate in the lives of others.

But this time, he interfered in Kallen's affairs.

Why?

Because her appearance gave Lin a familiar feeling?

Because she was so pitiful and overly compassionate?

Or is it because...

The light in her eyes as she recounted her past filled him with envy.

Kallen is the meaning of her sister's life, while she herself is Bird in a Cage that has broken free from its cage, using a name and body that are not her own to search for her own value in life.

She deserves a new future, not just a shadow of someone else; she is simply herself.

In the darkness, Lin Duxing touched the weapon at his waist, the icy touch so familiar.

I feel like I've done this kind of thing many times before.

"Gurgle... whoosh..."

The heavy yet familiar sound of a child's panting, like an invisible shadow in the darkness, quietly crept into Lin's ears from afar.

"Clatter..."

Kallen is very similar to me, but she is also different from me.

"Clatter..."

Lin drew his heavy black twin pistols from his waist, gripped them in his hands, and the moonlight spilled onto his feet, casting a longer and longer shadow behind him.

"Clatter..."

A young girl, clutching her chest, lay in a desolate and messy garbage dump, staring blankly at the sky.

She seemed to have completely stopped living; apart from her rising and falling chest and the sound of her breathing, anyone would probably think that this was a corpse that God had meticulously crafted but then abandoned.

A figure obscured the moon.

"..."

Her unfocused eyes gradually brightened, and upon seeing the person in front of her, she smiled foolishly, "Sister... you're here... let's go see the sea..."

"You said... we would go... to the world in the book..."

"There's a sea..."

"Amusement park..."

"Stars..."

Some streaks of blood were scattered across her jade-like neck, as shocking as cracks.

Lin squatted down, reached out and gently stroked the white-haired girl's head, making her smile even more beautiful, like... a flower about to wither.

Do you want to... live?

The girl's eyes widened suddenly as she saw the person in front of her. A primal urge stirred within her body once more, and she gritted her teeth, enduring the desire that tore at her.

"I... I want... I really want to keep living... with my sister... we still want to go to so many places..."

Crystalline tears slid down her delicate face as she cried and laughed, looking at the stranger before her.

"But... but I don't want to hurt anyone... I'm so scared..."

"When I came to my senses... my mouth was full of other people's blood... they were lying on the ground... motionless."

Same as before.

The past that I can't even remember.

Just like back then.

"Can you... grant my wish...?"

The man nodded gently and stroked her hair tenderly. "Close your eyes, take a nap, and your wish will come true."

With her last ounce of strength and reason, the girl revealed a radiant smile, unlike the joyful smile of the night.

Then, she closed her eyes.

That's right, the same as before.

The man stood up, raised the pistol in his hand, and pointed it at the girl's forehead.

Fingers were on the trigger.

Trembling.

Then, stop trembling.

"Theresa!"

The girl opened her eyes.

"Bang!"

Blood splattered on Lin Lengmo's face, on the girl's soul, and on the moon.

Chapter Twelve: The Dawn of Eternal Night

A person's life is a constant replay of childhood. What one cannot obtain in youth will become a lifelong longing. Some people think they have grown up, but they are just escaping the deficiencies of their childhood.

Are vampires cold-blooded animals?

No, when the smear was applied to Lin's face, he could feel the temperature, the same temperature as a human's. Something warm seeped out from his blood; that was probably what is called life.

The girl lay motionless on the ground, the last glimmer of light fading from her eyes, which Lin saw very clearly.

He and she were complete strangers, but when he took her life, Lin felt an unprecedented, deep-seated pain.

The pain is all too familiar.

As he looked in the direction the girl had last gazed, an even more chaotic feeling welled up inside him.

Kallen stood not far away, half of her face illuminated by the moonlight, the other half shrouded in darkness.

"What... did you do..."

She looked at Lin, who was expressionless, her expression gradually becoming numb.

"Would you be willing to give your life for her?"

"I do."

Without any hesitation, Kallen answered Lin's question, and this answer was exactly what Lin expected.

He took some medicine out of his pocket and placed it in Kallen's hand, saying in a calm tone that sent chills down one's spine, "I will replace everything of hers with everything you have. Essentially, her vampiric properties come from the Honkai Beast within her body. So, as long as all the Honkai Beast are removed and replaced with normal human parts, she can live as a normal person."

"... Is this alright?" Kallen hesitated, waiting for Lin's answer, but all she received was Lin's seemingly indifferent response as he spread his hands.

"If you don't believe me, that's fine. I'll only offer one option: you can only be replaced if your genes are similar to hers. Others can't do it."

And that person, of course, would not trade Kallen's life for Theresa's.

Lin's cold gaze finally made Kallen nod in agreement. Without hesitation, she picked up her water glass and swallowed the pill, showing no reluctance to leave her life.

"Thank you, Lin, for helping me. Although we haven't known each other long, I can sense that you're different from others." The potent drug took effect immediately, and the girl with the white braids revealed a relieved smile as she gazed at the indifferent man before her. "Even if you lied to me and gained my trust, but..."

"That's not a lie."

With trembling lips, Lin uttered a sentence that puzzled Kallen, who was gradually losing strength.

He turned his head to look outside the door.

I can't see it clearly.

"I do have amnesia, just like you, I only have scattered memories of the past."

An ominous premonition crept into Kallen's heart. Her eyebrows trembled as she tried to say something, but wave after wave of weakness made her unable to utter a single word.

She braced her hands on the table, staring at the expressionless man.

Who exactly is he? What does he want to do?

The doubts that had disappeared stirred up in her heart again, but she no longer had the ability to question him.

"Kallen".

However, at the very last moment, the instant she closed her eyes, she heard the sound of this cold man's iceberg melting.

"Don't try to be anyone else, just be yourself."

"..."

"..."

In this situation, no words are needed. The pistol in Lin's hand, the blood on his face, and the motionless girl lying on the ground have already said it all.

After her initial shock, Kallen gradually calmed down. She felt neither anger nor pain, but rather... a sense of relief.