One hundred and twenty Leo

Vanessa stumbled back to the hospital.

The goods were smeared with plenty of filth, but at least they were still more or less intact. Old Razi glanced at the wooden club in her hand, still dripping blood, and signed without a word.

Only when Vanessa finally curled up again in the morgue's cold metal drawer, enveloped in layer upon layer of darkness, did her muddled mind clear a little.

The terror and bloodshed of that long day had kept her wound tight as a spring stretched to its limit. Only now could she let a little of it out.

At last, muffled, broken sobs escaped through the fingers she had clamped over her mouth.

She had nearly died.

What would have happened if that madman had caught her... she dared not think too deeply about it. Had the will that controlled her not descended again at the most critical moment, she could never have survived.

Only now did the girl see the brutal reality as though waking from a dream: she had naively believed that a job would bring stability; that as long as she was careful enough and worked hard enough, she could scrape by in this jungle of steel and concrete.

It had all been wishful thinking!

She had simply been lucky. Growing up in the orphanage had been luck. Surviving in this city had been luck. Everything she had thought she could rely on was nothing but an illusion. The only thing that had truly kept her alive this long was happening to be lucky.

Only then did Vanessa recognize her own naivety and weakness.

She had chosen to run away, and that meant a day would inevitably come when she could no longer escape and would have to face fate's judgment.

Only now did she fully awaken to that truth.

In the icy drawer, the girl clenched her fists and forced a sentence through gritted teeth.

In the mansion.

Elliot raised his head and looked at the brass dial above.

Delicate gears turned silently, cold metal characters fitting together one by one until they formed a declaration filled with resolve:

[I will survive!]

Elliot gave a satisfied smile.

Vanessa did not wake until almost noon the next day.

She had dreamed all night.

She dreamed that she had become a beast that knew only slaughter, roaring and fighting fiercely, crushing every enemy who charged at her, scooping up flowing blood in both hands and laughing wildly as she watched it stream between her fingers.

Then, in a blur, she became a slave. Countless fine chains pierced her flesh and were nailed into her body, controlling everything about her.

She tried to escape, but when she looked up, she found that she had somehow ended up on a card table.

A giant who blotted out the sky stared back at her, but where his features should have been, there was only a deep, star-filled sky.

Terrified, Vanessa turned and ran, only to trip after a few steps and fall to the ground.

She looked down. It was a card, with words written on it in exquisite calligraphy:

[Clue · No. 37 Rosin Alley]

Description:

"A mysterious old man left you a clue. His book collection is hidden in the old house at No. 37 Pine Resin Alley."

Her consciousness seemed to pause for an instant.

The girl suddenly opened her eyes and sat bolt upright.

But she had forgotten that she was lying in a drawer for storing corpses, so she was only halfway up when she struck the sheet metal with a bang.

Thud!

"Hiss-ow, ow, ow!"

Holding her forehead, she pushed the drawer out. Stars danced before her eyes, and it took her quite a while to recover.

She raised her head and looked around. It was already broad daylight, and the midday sun spilled across the floor. The whole room was warm-it was next to the cremation furnace, so she had the dead to thank for that.

Vanessa ached all over. The aftereffects of yesterday's fight still had not faded.

As on every morning just after waking, her dreams quickly dissipated, melting like snowflakes in sunlight until not a trace remained.

How strange. Why would I have a dream like that?

Being controlled was one thing, but dreaming I had become a bloodthirsty monster? With my weak personality? Impossible.

As for the excitement during yesterday's fight?

That must have been because I was being controlled.

The girl barely paid any attention to any of that, instead turning her focus to the clue.

Yet that sentence from her dream had left a deep impression on her.

She knew the place. It was the location the old man who had died earlier had mentioned. Vanessa had not forgotten about it; she simply had not wanted to go.

She kept feeling that going there would be like scheming to get the old man's inheritance, making her no different from the children who had abandoned him.

But now, the urgency of survival left her little room for such concerns. She wanted to survive in this city, to survive no matter what. Like a drowning person, she reached desperately for every straw that came near.

I might as well take a look.

Vanessa rose from the drawer, only to stagger. Her legs felt as heavy as lead, sore and aching.

It seemed yesterday's fight had affected her more than she had thought.

Getting to her feet with some difficulty, Vanessa walked to the drawer beside hers and pulled it halfway open.

Inside were the "goods" she had risked her life to retrieve yesterday.

A corpse.

Vanessa looked down at the corpse, then her face twitched, her expression making it clear that things were very bad.

That man had damaged the corpse far more than she had imagined. A large hole had been bitten into its abdomen, and the flesh around it had already turned black.

Damn it, I saw him bite it with his teeth. How could he have made such a huge hole?

It looked as though a lion had torn it open. The wound was a full foot long.

I'm done for! If the hospital holds me responsible, will they throw me straight out?

For a moment, the girl panicked.

"Right, Mr. Razi... he signed the receipt yesterday! He must have a way!"

Vanessa knocked rather timidly on Old Razi's door.

Only after a long while did Lachi's aged face poke out through the gap, looking at Vanessa with an unfriendly expression.

"What is it?"

"Uh, Mr. Razi, as you saw, there were a few small problems with the goods I brought in yesterday..."

Old Razi said nothing, merely staring hard at Vanessa before narrowing his eyes slightly, as though weighing something.

"One hundred Leo."

Vanessa's face twitched violently again.

She was indeed grateful that Old Razi was willing to cover it up, and paying something in return was perfectly reasonable.

But... one hundred Leo?! That's outright robbery!

Her nominal weekly wage was only thirty-five Leo. That was almost three weeks' wages!

Besides, that money never reached her hands. Most of it was deducted directly to pay her debts, leaving her with only ten Leo, barely enough even for food!

Lately, Vanessa had begun considering a money-making sideline. Her current idea was to use the cremation furnace to roast sweet potatoes to sell.

She would have to scrimp and save for more than half a year to put aside those hundred Leo!

"Well... could we negotiate a little? I'm really short of money lately."

Old Razi sneered. "One hundred and twenty Leo."

Vanessa's eyes widened.

"What? Not satisfied? If you have another option, go right ahead." Old Razi did not even lift his eyelids, looking as though he had her right where he wanted her. "I'm telling you, I'm the only one who can sort out this corpse!"