Splash...
Kalpas picked up a basin of rainwater collected under the eaves and doused the fire. He set the basin down and told the man, "It's cold. Get back to sleep."
"..."
"What?" Kalpas saw that the man wasn't moving.
"Nature calls."
"...Go on then."
Annoyed, Kalpas walked back inside alone. The man, however, walked to a window and, by the dim light of the night lamp, pulled out paper and pen to write a letter.
Since losing his sense of touch, he practiced writing constantly to train his control. He never expected that the first time he'd write this many words after relearning would be for a letter.
Why use such an inefficient method to communicate?
The man didn't know. Perhaps it was just a whim. He had always completed missions with absolute efficiency, but this time, the completion conditions and goals were nonexistent. Until headquarters issued a recall order, he had to stay here. So why not slow down?
After finishing the letter, he thought about putting it in the mailbox, but realized that going back would mean passing the utility room, which might alert Kalpas again. He thought for a moment, then took the letter toward Aponia room...
...
"..."
Hmm? Where am I?
"Lin" woke up quickly. He remembered he had only just fallen asleep, but in the blink of an eye, the world had changed. A familiar sense of dislocation surged in his heart.
He immediately realized his consciousness had automatically begun observing a parallel world.
What was it this time?
He rose groggily, his vision blurred. Melted snow ran down the bridge of his nose.
He faintly smelled something charred and the scent of doused charcoal, but it was quickly suppressed by the smell of rain. Lin looked at the building beside him; this place looked familiar.
Sundown Alley?
He was on a mission in Sundown Alley, and an accident had brought him to the Sundown Alley of a parallel world?
Lin didn't intend to do anything; he would likely return soon. The last time and the time before that had ended the same way.
However, doing nothing didn't mean he would stay put. He walked around to observe and suddenly heard some movement. Hiding in the shadows, he peeked out and saw a back disappearing ahead.
A person?
Though he didn't know the exact time, he could guess by the moon peeking through the clouds. To have someone out this late... it was either a thief or...
Before he could see the person's face clearly, Lin vision flickered, and the person vanished.
What happened?
Lin hurried forward to check. There were no forward-moving footprints. That meant...
He looked up and saw a second-floor window cracked open, with a clear footprint on the wall.
Should I follow and see?
Lin hesitated for a few seconds. Things in parallel worlds might not happen in his own, but most paths were similar. This might just be a simple burglary, not worth his attention.
But what if it was something important?
Always cautious, Lin decided to investigate. He tensed his knees—
Squelch...
The rain continued to fall.
As it hit the ground, it turned into a sweet, sickly blood-red.
A sharp pain in his chest and total body weakness caused Lin to cough up a mouthful of blood. What had pierced his chest was a slender arm with delicate-looking skin.
Blood dripped from pink fingernails, merging into the rainwater.
Another hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled the arm out of his body, taking his life with it.
The heart had been destroyed with surgical precision; no margin for error was left.
Lin fell heavily into the intensifying storm. In the stinging rain, his fading pupils saw the person who had killed him.
Then, shock was frozen forever in his dying brain.
The killer retracted her blood-stained arm, letting the downpour drench her body, making her ornate garments cling to her curves—yet the rain couldn't wash away the lingering resentment and fury in her heart.
Lin corpse grew dim—or rather, the consciousness that had come to this world dissipated. The original Lin was dead.
The target of her revenge was destroyed; her indignation should have ended.
Yet she only looked coldly toward that slightly open second-floor window.
Endless bloodlust, like a catastrophic flood, surged forth.
The man, having just put down the letter, suddenly felt a familiar sense of being watched. He glanced at the nun, who was sleeping deeply and quietly, then pushed the window open again and dropped to the ground to check the surroundings.
Silence.
Everything was as it had been; it had only been a few dozen seconds since he went up and came back down. Even the fastest person couldn't have left without a trace.
Was it his own problem again? He remembered during the ball, there were times he suddenly felt something was off, but it faded quickly.
It was better to be cautious.
Before him stood the "person," the fallen corpse, and the spreading bloodstain—so vivid, yet he walked forward as if he couldn't see them.
Under her gaze, the man stepped directly onto Lin corpse...
And passed right through it.
She watched as the man walked toward her. She didn't dodge; she stood her ground, and the man naturally passed through her body as well.
"..."
She didn't look back. She knew better than anyone that the man must be able to feel her gaze, even if they were in different spaces.
She, along with "Lin" corpse, vanished from the spot.
...
The nun might, from now on, feel a flicker of anticipation for the morning.
Since the events of that night, unexpected things happened every morning, bringing change to her once stagnant life.
For instance, this morning, she found a letter left by the man on her table.
She didn't even change out of her nightgown before walking to the desk to tear open the envelope. She recognized it as the one she had used to write to him; it seemed he had simply written his reply and stuffed it back into the used envelope to save trouble.
The content wasn't much—their communication only consisted of a few sentences. The letter briefly explained things about the Chairman. The man neither praised nor slandered him, but he omitted certain unnecessary events and his own specific relationship with the Chairman.
At the end of the letter, there was an abrupt sentence, completely unrelated to the content above.
"The sound of roasting potato chips is very pleasant. You should try it if you have time."
Roasting... potato chips?
The nun read those words several times, making sure she hadn't misread them.
Why roasting potato chips?
After pondering for a while, she sat at the desk to write a reply. Once it was sealed, she began to change her clothes, preparing to drop the letter.
At that moment, she realized she was beginning to look forward to tomorrow's reply.