"Hello? Oh... I see. Don't worry, it was expected... You? No, you don't need to act rashly for now... Okay, if there are no other issues, I'll hang up first, to avoid arousing Cocolia's suspicion."
"That was just now..." Mei had intended to remind Michael not to talk on the phone while driving, but when she heard Cocolia's name, her attention was immediately diverted.
She didn't know who Cocolia was, nor did she know about the woman's entanglement with Raiden Ryoma. She only paid attention to this name because it was mentioned in the news related to ME Corp—
Yesterday morning, her father was taken away by the police for investigation on suspicion of economic fraud. By noon, the conclusion was "evidence is conclusive," and he was directly detained. In the afternoon, the ME Corp board of directors confirmed the new president
To everyone's surprise, the new president was not any member of the ME Corp board, nor anyone from the former ME Corp management, but a name no one had ever heard of: Cocolia.
Of course, this "no one had ever heard of" had to be put in quotation marks. For ordinary people, Cocolia was indeed a completely unfamiliar name, but for the internal personnel of Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and Taixuan, this name was quite famous.
Michael knew all this, but he didn't seem to intend to explain much in the face of Mei's question. As he hung up the phone, he gently uttered a word: "Informant."
"Oh." Mei nodded obediently, but less than a second later, she asked again, unwilling to give up, "Cocolia, she and my father..."
Mei was really not stupid. Or rather, the logic that the biggest beneficiary of a bad deed is often its perpetrator was something any normal person would understand, let alone the intelligent Mei.
"Mmm..." Michael hummed noncommittally. Just as he was about to say more, as his finger slid across the phone screen, he suddenly changed the subject, "Mmm? This is..."
"What's wrong?"
"Hehe, nothing. I guess some people still have some self-awareness." Michael sneered, tapped on Komatsu's phone number, which he hadn't been able to answer because he was talking to Raven, and dialed—
"Beep—beep—beep—"
After three busy tones, a soft and indifferent female voice sounded: "Sorry, the user you are dialing is turned off."
"Mmm???" Michael's brows furrowed. Countless wavy threads suddenly appeared before his eyes. With the power of the Second and Third Herrschers, he effortlessly found the location of Komatsu and the others.
"Mei."
"Mmm!"
"Looks like we have to help someone solve some trouble before we go home today."
"Uh... you decide." Mei, sitting in the back seat, turned her body and saw the familiar street scene through the front windshield—they were already very close to home, but Michael had no intention of dropping her off first and then dealing with the matter, which showed that the so-called "trouble" was indeed quite troublesome.
"Don't be nervous. No matter what happens later, don't be surprised, understand?" Michael comforted her without turning his head. Mei nodded silently, her back straight, and her right hand tightly gripping the handle on the car door.
Almost as soon as she had done this, Michael suddenly turned the steering wheel, and the car turned into a narrow, deserted alley.
"Ah! Be careful!" Although Michael had given a warning beforehand, Mei still couldn't help but cry out when she saw a black circular hole suddenly tear in the otherwise fine space.
But instead of braking, Michael slammed the accelerator, and the car rushed straight into the "black hole." In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the scene before them brightened again, but Mei was in no mood to observe carefully, nor could she. Her whole body felt like it had been tied to an iron frame and spun thousands of times. Everything in her vision was chaotically turning like the patterns in a kaleidoscope, and her stomach was churning. Only by tightly covering her mouth with both hands could she barely suppress the urge to vomit.
"Hehe, it's never pleasant the first time you experience this. You'll get used to it." Michael even had the mind to make a small joke. Of course, given Mei's current state, it was uncertain whether she could hear him clearly.
After about another half a minute, Mei felt the speed of the spinning in her vision gradually slow down, and the feeling of nausea also weakened a lot. The reason for this was probably because the car had stopped steadily by the roadside.
"Are we there? Oof—" Mei asked, inadvertently triggering the urge to vomit again. She quickly covered her mouth again and curled her body inward a little.
"Are you feeling sick?" Michael had already unbuckled his seatbelt and was about to get out. Noticing Mei's discomfort, he thoughtfully lowered the rear window.
"No, don't—oof—" Michael's brows furrowed sharply, and he immediately closed the car window again.
"Are we too late?" Mei only felt the urge to vomit intensify the moment the car window opened. As for why, she didn't understand yet.
But for Michael, all of this was too familiar—"The smell of blood... such a strong smell of blood..."
"Xiao Hei, static defense mode." All the color-changing indicator lights in the car turned green at the same time. Xiao Hei was not equipped with a smart voice module, so this light probably meant "understood."
Michael then reached out and ruffled Mei's hair. "You stay here and don't move. No matter what happens later, as long as I don't come back, don't get out of the car, understand?"
"Mmm... mmm!" Mei nodded vigorously. With Michael's touch, her physical discomfort gradually subsided.
Thud— Michael jumped out of the car and quickly closed the door.
The car was parked close to the wall of a residence. After getting out, Michael first looked around. This area was surrounded by low-lying bungalows. And from the mottled paint on the walls and the unusually quiet atmosphere despite it being dinner time, it seemed that not many people lived here. Otherwise, those fools wouldn't have chosen this place to hide after a kidnapping.
He continued along the base of the wall. After about twelve or thirteen steps, he saw the closed gate of the residence.
Here, the smell of blood was even stronger. But since there weren't many people living around anyway, and Michael's sense of smell was not something an ordinary person could compare to, most people, like the clueless Mei, would be unaware.
Clang! The copper lock on the gate was directly torn off by Michael, making only a crisp, low sound.
"Creeeak—" Michael slowly pushed open the gate. He had only pushed it a hand's breadth when the door was blocked by something.
He didn't recklessly use brute force. Instead, he turned sideways and carefully pushed open the other half of the gate.
"Creeeak—" The grating sound rang out again. Fortunately, this time the door was not blocked.
"Mmm?" As soon as he entered, there was a string of splattered blood on the sandy ground in the courtyard. Michael pushed the gate back with his hand, pressed it closed with his back, and then the entire courtyard was soon filled with only the irregular "rustling" sound, as if of wild grass and bushes rustling.
"Hmph..." Michael looked at the bloodstains in the courtyard. The splatter pattern was like water being splashed, but occasionally there were irregular splatters in the opposite direction, which meant the direction of the blood splatter had changed at one point...
Of course, the most important thing was that the blood trail was pointing diagonally at Michael—at a position half a step to his side.
Michael looked down at his feet and finally found what was blocking the door—a severed hand.
Michael bent down and picked up the severed hand, which had not yet completely lost its warmth. As the hand was lifted up, several long tendons twitched and danced in mid-air like lifted noodles.
"The cut is not smooth, and it's dragging out these tendons... this hand wasn't cut off by a sharp weapon, but... torn off... it really is her... huh..." Michael casually threw the severed hand on the ground and continued towards the largest house in the courtyard.
Thud— As soon as his foot stepped on the wooden floor, he felt the unique stickiness of blood. Michael readjusted to the gradually dimming light after sunset and saw a long trail of blood under his feet, with some small fragments mixed in.
After confirming the other party's identity, Michael was not as anxious as he had been at the beginning. If she had really woken up, there was no need to worry about her safety, and the tragic scene confirmed this.
Michael slowly squatted down, picked up a small solid fragment wrapped in the bloodstain, and gently crushed it between his fingertips.
"A piece of liver..." He picked up another piece. This time, the texture was completely different, hard. It took a little effort to crush it into powder.
"Bone fragments? So hard, it seems to be from the skull." He pressed his palm into the bloodstain again. As expected, even in such cold weather, the blood, and the previous liver fragments, as well as the severed hand at the door, had not yet completely cooled down.
"From the time Komatsu called me to the time I hung up on Natasha, it was a total of twenty-three seconds. From hanging up the phone to arriving at the scene, it was no more than two minutes. In a maximum of two minutes and twenty-three seconds..." Michael looked at the shape of the bloodstains, felt the difference in temperature, and then walked to his left. He turned a corner and saw a blurry mass of flesh crawling on the sandy ground. Its movements were arrhythmic, sometimes wriggling like a worm. What was constant was that every time it moved, its body would rub against the sand, making a "rustling" sound.
"This is..." Michael quickly walked to the pile of flesh and finally saw its shape—it was indeed a person... well, it used to be a person. It only had its upper body left, and the alveoli could be seen constantly expanding and contracting at the severed end. It was crawling forward with its arms, but the front of its left arm was empty. Half of its skull was missing, and the pinkish-white brain was shaking like jelly, it was unclear whether it was following the rhythm of breathing or heartbeat. The fracture of the skull was still irregular, and there were four obvious semi-circular holes, probably the marks left by fingers being forcibly dug in.
Perhaps hearing the footsteps, its movements suddenly froze. Then, it turned around extremely slowly and slightly raised its head. This movement made Michael afraid that its brain would just flow out from the opening in its skull.
Its eyes struggled to open a slit. Injured to this extent, Michael didn't know if it could still see him clearly... probably it could. Michael saw a glimmer of life in its eyes, and then its lips moved slightly: "Michael..."
"It's you? Komatsu?" Mei's former driver, who had been very good to her, but...
A series of thoughts flashed through Michael's mind, but Komatsu didn't respond. He just stared at Michael and then habitually extended his empty right arm towards Michael, subconsciously muttering, "Save... me..."
It seemed to have spent a great deal of effort to open its mouth, which was constantly pouring out blood, to its widest, but unfortunately...
Shing— What greeted him was not rescue, but the tip of a spear that pierced through his open mouth and out the back of his head.
"Swoosh—" Michael twisted the spear tip, and Komatsu's body instantly turned into flying ash, scattering in the winter night wind.
"Save you? Well... but living in this world is too painful. It's better to find peace early than to experience death again later. Anyway, at the end of the story... at the end of the story, everyone dies." Komatsu was already dead, his body and soul gone, but in the suddenly chaotic night wind, Michael murmured to the flying dust.
After saying this, he didn't hesitate any longer and turned to walk towards the house.
Thud— He stepped on Komatsu's lower body at the door but kicked it aside and pushed open the door of the house.
"Drip... drip... drip..." The sound of dripping liquid echoed in the darkness, a little duller than water droplets, because blood was thicker than water.
Michael stood at the door, staring at the darkness for a full second. Of course, he wasn't in a daze. The moment the door opened, the faint sobbing could no longer be concealed. Michael just used this second to determine Seele's location. Once the location was confirmed, he immediately stepped into the pool of blood that was as deep as his instep.
Along the way, he stepped on many stiff yet soft objects. He didn't have to think to know they were unrecognizable pieces of flesh. He walked to the door of the innermost room. The closer he got, the more obvious the sobbing became.
"Seele..." Michael reached out, slowly turned the doorknob, and then slowly pushed the door open.
In the completely dark room, the smell of blood and smoke mixed together, lingering. The girl was curled up in the corner farthest from the door, her head buried between her knees, crying.
Michael's other foot hesitated to step into the room.
What should he say?
What could he say?
What attitude should he have towards this completely strange Seele?
And what attitude should he have towards the... long-unseen Seele?
Only at this moment did he realize that he was completely unprepared for this reunion that wasn't a reunion.
Was it because he had been looking forward to this moment so much that he had forgotten how to face everything after the reunion, or had he not taken this reunion to heart at all, so he wouldn't make any preparations?
He, who possessed the power of Sentience, didn't know what he was thinking. He just took another step into the room out of habit.
"Thud—" This step was too heavy, and the sound it made was so noticeable in the silent night.
Seele shivered and slowly raised her head.
There was no more room for thought. Michael walked up to Seele, step by step, not too fast, not too slow.
Seele's body desperately shrank back, but the hard wall left her no room to retreat.
"Swoosh—" Michael yanked open the curtains in the room. The same gentle moonlight and the light from the streetlights mixed together, slanting in through the window, illuminating Michael's silhouette for Seele.
"You... you are..." Michael half-knelt in front of Seele and reached out his hand to her.
"Seele, we..."
"Aaaargh!!!" Michael's words were cut off by Seele's hysterical scream. She looked at Michael's blood-stained right hand in horror, slapped it away, and shouted in terror, "Go away! Demon! Go away!!"
"Seele! I..." The moment their eyes met, Seele's pupils instantly turned blood-red. All the terror disappeared in an instant, and the not-yet-faded scream soon turned into a roar of gritted teeth: "It's you! It's you, it's you!! How could it be you, it's actually you, it's really you... you... die!!!"
A sharp red light flashed in the darkness, but Michael unthinkingly reached for the light.
Splurt—
---||---
"Three hundred and thirty-one, three hundred and thirty-two, three hundred and thirty-three..." Mei sat in the back seat of the car, her back straight.
The dizziness and nausea had long since dissipated. She was now silently counting not the time since Michael had left, but the time since the streetlights had turned on, although the two were not far apart.
But in this neighborhood, besides the rows of bright streetlights, there was not much other light. As far as the eye could see, it was pitch black. The whole street seemed to have no houses with people living in them.
Mei was a little scared. No, in this environment, it would be abnormal not to be scared.
Thud—
"Ah!" The sudden sound made Mei almost jump in the car. Even so, her head still hit the roof of the car, and the pain made her grit her teeth.
"Michael, is that you?" Her question was a bit redundant, because the next moment, Michael's face appeared at the suddenly opened rear door.
"It's me, Mei. Move over a little." Although she didn't understand what Michael was going to do, Mei obediently moved to the other side of the car.
Then, she saw Michael carry a sleeping girl into the back seat.
Mei's gaze lingered on the girl's somewhat familiar face for a moment, then she quickly noticed Michael's right arm.
"Michael, your hand..."
"Ah? This..." Michael touched his right shoulder. The clothes on his entire right arm were gone from that point. "Don't worry, I'm not injured. I'll tell you more when we get back."
After saying that, he returned to the driver's seat without waiting for Mei's reaction. "We're going home."
His gaze looked at the back seat through the rearview mirror.
"Okay!" Mei thought the gaze was directed at her, so she nodded vigorously.