Damian seemed to have shrugged off an immense burden. The tension that had left him struggling to breathe for so long vanished. He looked at Vanessa with unprecedented solemnity and pleading in his eyes. "Vanessa."
"Wh-what is it?"
"Could you do me a favor? Please save Flora. Please save my-"
"My-"
Damian's voice abruptly grew strained beyond measure, as though heavy chains dragged at every syllable! He could barely force out one word after another through clenched teeth, an invisible pressure throttling his throat!
Vanessa stared at him in surprise, confusion and bewilderment in her eyes.
What was wrong with him?
Suddenly, her pupils contracted sharply!
Beneath the skin of Damian's forehead, specks of pure white light were faintly shining through!
Countless tiny points of light writhed and gathered across the upper half of his face like living things, as though doors leading into nothingness were about to force their way open through his flesh!
Alarm bells rang in Vanessa's mind. Her intuition told her this was an extremely important moment, that she ought to do something, yet her body hesitated, unsure how to act.
Suddenly, a familiar sensation descended.
Under its control, Vanessa raised her hand, drew it back slightly, and then-slap!
The sharp crack of the slap was especially piercing in the silent basement!
Damian's head snapped to one side, his cheek swelling red.
And the eerie white light gathering on his forehead, on the verge of erupting, vanished without a trace like a snuffed-out candle!
Both of them froze.
Elliot scratched his head.
"So-what exactly did I interrupt?"
He had only just come over to the Difference Engine when an [Interrupt] bar inexplicably popped up.
Then a countdown suddenly appeared before him, its duration absurdly short, and the page-turning mechanism flipped frantically as though it had gone