Wang Yanfei stared at the pile of charred flesh on the floor, and at the black-and-white smiling mask lying beside it, silent for a long moment.
From inside his collar came Alvina's voice. "Human, what's wrong with you?"
A small head pushed against his skin, trying to squeeze out.
Wang Yanfei briefly explained what had just happened.
Alvina's eyes lit up halfway through, as if she were listening to something amusing.
She flipped over in one motion and jumped out from his collar, landing on the floor and crawling toward the mask.
Wang Yanfei wanted to stop her, but thinking she had already messed around plenty of times before, he let it be.
Alvina circled the mask, tapped it with her tail, pressed an ear against it to listen, then even stuck out her tongue to lick it.
Wang Yanfei felt his scalp tighten. "Can you be a little civilized?"
"Zzz," the little white snake flicked her tail impatiently. "Shut up, I'm analyzing."
A few seconds later she lifted her head and announced with certainty:
"This is an anomaly."
"An anomaly?" Wang Yanfei raised a brow.
"Mhm. Same kind of thing as me." Alvina tapped herself with her tail. "Those weird things that suddenly appear in your original world. More or less the same type."
"So what ability can it give me?"
Alvina spoke with full confidence. "I don't know."
"…You don't know? Then how'd you know it's an anomaly?"
"It told me."
"…"
Wang Yanfei was silent for three seconds. "Then why didn't you ask what its ability is?"
Alvina thought about it, decided he had a point, and crawled back to the mask. She tapped it again and pressed her ear against it.
A moment later she looked up. "It says it wants to replace your face."
"…What?"
Alvina nodded. "Yes. It sticks on you, then you become it, it becomes you, that kind of thing."
"Then why would I wear it?"
"Ugh." Alvina looked disgusted. "If you wear it, won't you find out what it does?"
"Thanks a lot."
Wang Yanfei ultimately did not put on the mask.
His instincts told him the thing was no good.
Alvina did not insist and was about to crawl back.
Pa, pa—
A crisp clapping sound echoed from the doorway.
"Wonderful. Truly wonderful."
A lazy voice drifted in.
Wang Yanfei snapped his head up.
Somehow, the door had been pushed open from outside. A figure leaned against the doorframe, completely swallowed by the hallway's shadow. The person's face could not be seen.
His body reacted before his mind could. He raised the gun again, pointing it at the newcomer.
In that instant, his whole body tightened.
His limbs were pulled taut, as if something invisible had seized them. He couldn't even muster the strength to pull the trigger.
He looked down. At some point, a layer of almost transparent threads had wrapped around him.
Those threads extended from his sleeves and pant cuffs, piercing straight into the wall and pinning him in place.
A heavy feeling settled in his chest.
He had fallen for it.
At that moment, a faint scent drifted from behind him.
Something soft pressed against his back. A slender hand reached from behind and gently wrapped around the hand holding his gun.
Clink.
The Bullet Ant slid from his fingers and fell to the floor with a crisp sound.
His body sank backward, pushed down by a force, and he was guided to sit on the bed.
Only then did he see the shadow at the door walk into the room—
It was a very beautiful woman.
Her hair was neatly tied back. She wore a sharply tailored black suit.
She moved around to stand in front of him, then took a few steps back and gracefully sat down in the chair across from him.
She crossed her legs at the knee, unhurried, openly looking him up and down.
"No need to be so tense." She smiled lightly. "It's not like I'm here to eat you."
She paused, then added:
"At least, not right now."
Wang Yanfei stared at her and slowly spoke. "Who are you?"
"Oh my," she made an exaggerated expression of regret. "Asking someone's name the moment we meet… sounds like you're already interested in me."
"But before asking someone to introduce themselves—"
She lifted a hand and gently hooked one of the threads binding him.
"Benjamin?"
Her smile deepened.
"Or should I say…"
"The real you under Benjamin's skin?"
Wang Yanfei said nothing.
Damn, she basically ripped my underwear off. How the hell am I supposed to respond to that?
Alvina, however, shot up from the floor and lunged at the woman, jaws wide as if ready to bite.
Before she got close, threads appeared out of nowhere and wrapped her up like a dumpling.
She rolled twice across the floor and immediately began cursing.
Too bad she only had a few curse words.
Two seconds later, even her mouth was sealed by threads, leaving only a pair of furious golden eyes darting around.
Oddly enough, seeing that made Wang Yanfei relax a little.
At least the woman hadn't killed him right away. She clearly needed him for something.
"How did you find me?" he asked.
The woman gave him a sideways glance. "Maybe I don't need to explain."
Wang Yanfei nodded and said cooperatively, "Then let me introduce myself. My name is Alvina."
The snake on the floor: "???"
As expected, the woman's brows lifted. "Oh? That sounds like a woman's name."
"Yeah, my parents wanted a daughter," Wang Yanfei said seriously. "Then I was born. They were too lazy to change it. Maybe it's a form of commemoration."
The woman pressed her lips together and smiled. "Interesting."
"I am Goldwater, one of the Board members."
"I see." Wang Yanfei nodded. "Then why don't you unbind the two of us, and we can chat properly?"
Goldwater shook her head slowly. "I thought you were smart. I expected you to first wonder why a Board member would come to see you personally."
"Maybe." Wang Yanfei shrugged. "Too bad I'm dumb. Didn't think of it."
Goldwater suddenly laughed. The smile was bright, but her eyes were like a snake watching prey.
"You really are amusing." She examined him. "Now I'm even more curious what the real face under that skin looks like."
Wang Yanfei ignored that comment and instead asked, "That mask. Is it yours?"
Goldwater glanced at the black-and-white smiling mask on the floor and said lightly, "It is."
"What does it do?" he asked.
She raised a brow. "Is that your last request?"
"It doesn't have to be. Think of it as satisfying my curiosity."
Goldwater was clearly pleased and nodded. "I enjoy talking to smart people. Fulfilling this little thing isn't impossible."
She cleared her throat softly, her expression shifting into something slightly more serious.
"But first, you need to do something for me. Then I will tell you, perhaps even more than that."
"Something related to the skin? Or to the Restart Society?" he asked.
Hearing the name Restart Society, Goldwater froze briefly, then gave a playful smile.
"You may not understand the power structure of the Lighthouse City," she said slowly. "Or rather… you give the Restart Society too much credit."
"But yes. It's related to them." She changed her wording. "Call it a personal request."
Goldwater lifted one finger and tapped lightly in the air.
"At the next gathering, you only need to press one tiny, tiny button."
"When the time comes, they will vanish into smoke."
"And you—"
"Will be able to live as yourself, openly and proudly again."