Guilt / "Me"

The distance was great, and it would be difficult for an average person to distinguish the source of the scream in a noisy environment, but Lin remained alert to any sudden situation and rushed toward the direction from which the scream came.

The crowd quickly thinned out, and as the area ahead became increasingly familiar, Lin realized he had made a mistake.

On his first night in this World Bubble, he was arrested by Himeko as the perpetrator of a series of vampire cases, and the two of them went to the Schicksal branch for interrogation.

But this time, he did not appear at that place, nor did he contact Himeko.

In other words, Himeko is very likely to continue her search, and that's where she met Kallen and Theresa. What will happen to Himeko, who didn't return to the Schicksal branch tonight?

Forcing himself to think, Lin kept his brain active as he hurried along, running past alley after alley and stepping over puddle after puddle.

"Bang!"

Was this his mistake?

Or is it...?

Two figures, one tall and one short, suddenly crashed out from the front. The two, one in red and one in white, separated in the instant of their clash. The red-haired figure was clearly at a disadvantage, with blood gushing from her neck like a burst dam, but she still fought desperately to kill the vampire princess in front of her.

The vampire princess retaliated without mercy, grabbing Himeko's wrist with one hand while twisting it behind her back, and stabbing Himeko's heart with the other hand!

"Bang!"

Just as they were about to be pierced through the chest, someone rushed between them, grabbed Himeko's shoulder, and threw her aside!

"Bass!"

The hand, with its blade-like lethality, accurately sliced open the intruder's face, starting from his right cheek and stopping at his forehead, almost slicing off half of his face along with his right eye, revealing bright red muscle fibers and white bone!

The vampire princess shuddered, a look of confusion appearing on her youthful face. She then quickly turned and fled into the darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Guilt

"Hey! Are you... are you alright?!"

After the vampire princess escaped, Himeko didn't even have time to care about the bloody gash on her own neck. She rushed forward to support the man who was covering half of his face.

This person suddenly rushed out and blocked the fatal attack for her. Everything happened too fast. Almost instantly, the vampire princess disappeared without a trace, and the person's face was covered with a lot of blood.

The trauma from the past took over her mind in that instant. She held the man's hand and trembled violently. Her breathing became heavy, and the man's appearance blurred into something else entirely.

"... I'm fine."

"Tick-tock".

Blood dripped down his forearm to his elbow.

A cold breeze blew into Lin's right cheek, floating on his muscles and bones. A burning pain? No, only a tingling sensation, like something wriggling around in the wound. He tried to open his right eye, but couldn't even manage the simple act of "opening" it.

This is the first time I've experienced this in so many World Bubble.

"Tick-tock".

As the adrenaline subsided, the pain began to take over her brain again. Lin raised her head and looked at Himeko with the last of her eyes, staring intently at the bloody hole on her neck where she had been bitten. "Are you alright?"

"You're asking me if I'm alright?" Himeko frantically tried to carry Lin on her back, but he gently swayed her backward to avoid her. She looked anxiously at the injuries he couldn't even cover with his hands. "Come with me now!"

Himeko grabbed Lin's hand, pulling him towards the Schicksal branch with a mixture of urgency and reluctance. Her worried expression caused Lin's mind to have a strange feeling.

Some tiny, almost vanished fragments of memory lingered in my mind for a while before quietly crumbling into even smaller powder.

"Okay, lie down and rest."

Seeing Lin Cong the operating room alongside the surgeon, Himeko, whose wound had already been bandaged, pulled him to lie down on the bed beside her. She noticed that this stranger's entire right cheek was completely covered, and bit her lip in sympathy, glancing at the doctor beside her.

The doctor then gestured for her to come with him to the side corridor to talk.

After arriving at a place where Lin couldn't hear the conversation, the doctor first shook his head at Himeko: "That man is very strong, and you brought him here in time. He just had some severe bleeding, but it's not life-threatening."

"However, his right cheek was almost completely cut open, and even his skull was shaved open. Even if the wound heals in the future, he will not be able to return to a normal appearance. His right eye has also been completely removed."

Upon hearing this, Himeko's heart skipped a beat. "Is there no way? What about Schicksal's technology? Can it cure him?"

"... Schicksal does indeed have the technology to heal his scars, but he is just an ordinary person, and Schicksal cannot reveal its existence to the general public. This is a rule we knew when we joined Schicksal, Mugentou Himeko."

"Couldn't we just inject him with anesthesia and then cure him?"

Himeko raised her voice; she simply couldn't contain the fire in her heart. She had been saved by a complete stranger, yet she couldn't even heal his wounds.

Mugentou Himeko simply could not tolerate such a thing.

"That's the rule."

"Rules are rules, but people are flexible!"

However, when faced with her near-hysterical roar, the doctor simply stared at her calmly, as if he were staring at a lifeless piece of flesh.

Himeko hated that look.

Some people destined by Schicksal are like the doctor before us, devoid of joy or sorrow, like robots without any emotions, only able to perform tasks according to pre-programmed procedures.

The doctor—this middle-aged man in a doctor's uniform—didn't even bother to say another word and turned to walk in another direction.

"..."

Himeko stared at the man's back until he left the corridor without looking back. Only then did she slowly loosen her creaking fist. Turning her head, she saw a man with his hands in his pockets, looking at her expressionlessly.

"Did you... did you hear everything?"

Is this person made of iron? He suffered such serious injuries, had dozens of stitches, and even had his eyeball removed, yet he still acts like nothing happened.

"...You were yelling too loudly." Lin pressed the bandage on his right cheek; the pain was so intense that even he couldn't completely ignore it.

"I'm sorry, you..."

Are you alright?

I can no longer bring myself to ask that question.

Are you alright? Do you think I'm alright?

Asking such a stupid and pointless question at this point is practically an insult.

"I'm sorry." Himeko apologized to Lin with deep remorse, but Lin gave her a slightly puzzled look in return.

Why are you apologizing?

"Because I caused you to be disfigured and lose an eye, you can tell me what compensation you need, and I will try my best to meet your needs."

It sounded like some kind of unspeakable plot was about to begin. Lin looked at Himeko with a blank expression as she bit her lip and trembled. He pondered for a few seconds and coldly replied, "No need. This is my own choice."

If he acted for some purpose, he probably wouldn't have decisively saved Himeko at that time, and might not have been able to save Himeko at all in the end.

"You... alright, I'll take you home first. I'll take care of you during this time until your injuries are completely healed."

"..."

Send Lin home? You're kidding. He didn't buy a house as soon as he entered Canghai City. He's practically homeless right now, but Himeko has already been refused help, certainly won't accept that he doesn't need a ride.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Seeing that Lin had been silent, Himeko thought his wound had reopened and quickly asked.

"No... I just came to Canghai City recently because I had nowhere to stay."

Lin decided to tell the truth. One lie requires more lies to cover it up, so it's better to tell the truth from the beginning... at least the unimportant truths can be told without any harm.

"Then you can stay here." Himeko made the decision without hesitation, and Lin had already anticipated this outcome, so he sighed softly and nodded.

In the end, it still got involved with Himeko.

However, it may not be a bad thing. Today Theresa attacked Himeko, and tomorrow we can use Himeko to investigate the situation in Canghai City. It would be best to find Theresa or Kallen before the next attack.

"Oh right, I haven't asked your name yet."

"Forest."

"One word? That's quite a strange name... My name is Mugentou Himeko, and I'm currently... a trainee police officer. It's nice to meet you."

Lin touched his right cheek. "It's nice to meet you."

But Lin miscalculated one thing.

Lin knew she would be staying here.

But why is he sharing a room with Himeko?

Please watch the video.

I requested a break today, not because of anything else, but because I wrote a long 10,000-word special today, which was to supplement the action scenes of the Kiana special, so I'm a bit too tired to write tonight and will have to continue tomorrow.

The special feature was posted directly in the group chat, group number 338143240. Please be sure to read the group announcement if you want to join!

Chapter Twenty-Six: "I"

"..."

Lin sat on the edge of the bed, hesitating like a shy young girl, reluctant to take off her clothes and get into bed. On the other hand, a red-haired girl had already cleanly and neatly taken off her clothes, leaving only a fitted vest and hot pants, and lay on the bed, asking curiously, "Why aren't you in bed yet?"

"..."

"What kind of look is that? I'm not going to eat you." Himeko seemed to see through Lin's thoughts and rolled her eyes. "I was planning to arrange for you to be closer to me so I could take care of you, but initially I planned to put you in the next room. However, something unexpected happened, so we can only share a room now. I can't let a seriously injured person like you sleep on the sofa, and I don't want to sleep on the sofa either."

"Anyway, I'll just make do. The bed isn't small anyway."

... Can't she sleep on the sofa? She really can't stand to be wronged.

Lin shook his head, glanced around the clean and tidy room, and turned to walk towards the sofa. "I'll sleep on the sofa..."

"Just sleep when I tell you to!"

Himeko was always a woman of her word, especially since he was the one who had saved her. How could she let him sleep on the sofa? She grabbed Lin and pulled him onto the bed, covering him with a blanket. She then covered herself with a blanket and prepared to sleep.

Lin lay on the pillow in the darkness, his expression still indifferent. Even with a beautiful young girl sleeping next to him, he felt no romantic feelings... No, he seemed to have never had any feelings for that kind of thing, as if a piece of his heart was missing.

Lin thought of the braided girl, like a caged bird, wondering if the last smile that bloomed in the darkness belonged to her or to "Kallen".

He thought of the vampire princess, like a puppet on a string, and whether the promise she made to him had found meaning in the life of a tool.

So... what about him?

Lin suddenly realized that, in the end, they had placed their hopes on him.

Even if they don't remember anything.

Even if the world has erased the traces.

But Lin thought he would never forget and would always keep his promise to them.

But who exactly is he, the man who carries the hopes of others?

What kind of person should he become?

"In the past, you would have killed her without hesitation. You wouldn't have even thought about it for a second."

Lin's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and he stared at the silver-haired man who had somehow appeared by the bedside, looking down at him with a mocking gaze.

"Don't look at me like that, as if I'm your enemy." The man picked up a chair and sat down, leaning back and tapping his fingers on the wood, his eyes burning with an unstoppable torrent of light. "We should be friends, shouldn't we?"

"... You?" Lin asked coldly.

"That's right, didn't I help you in Delta's World Bubble before?"

Like Lin, the man was unable to smile, but his extremely stiff face, as eerie as a wax figure, allowed one to discern that he was "smiling."

"If you want to sever ties with the past and keep your pure hands free from any filth, I am fully willing to help you. As long as you need me to do the things that only a 'wicked person' would do, I will never refuse."

Dark pupils met Prismatic Eyes: "Do I need someone of unknown identity to help me?"

"I already said that."

The light flickered, and the Prismatic Eyes suddenly disappeared into the darkness, then in an instant, it appeared before Lin's eyes in a heart-stopping way.

A hoarse voice sounded in my ear, "I am the you of the past."

"Then why are you in my mind?"

"Because you chose to abandon me." The man reappeared on the chair, crossed his legs, and stared at Lin, who was becoming increasingly indifferent. "Your guess about your past is not wrong. You are indeed a sinful villain. You have killed hundreds of millions of humans. In the end, 'you' and 'your' self had an irreconcilable contradiction in their hearts, which is why you and I were split apart."

"..."

"I said that if you want, I can put together your fragmented memories and give them back to you. Everything you want to know about your past is there."

"Unnecessary."

"You don't need it? You're clearly searching for your past, yet you choose to reject it when it's presented to you. You really just can't accept your sinful past, can you?"

The cruelty in the man's eyes was like a soft knife, silently piercing his neck, slowly cutting through the blood vessels, both cold and burning.