Chapter 86: Lights |
Shi Rang was pondering how else he could continue to help when he suddenly plummeted back into his own body.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the window with its drawn blinds. The sky outside was already pitch black.
For a brief moment, he thought he was still underground. His last memory was distractedly watching the camera feeds of the War Hammer squad, observing the search and rescue operations.
After a moment, Shi Rang finally realized his head was hanging off the edge of the bed. He tried to sit up, but the moment he rolled over, his hand jammed into a sharp wooden splinter. Startled, he tumbled straight off the bed, clutching his hand and looking toward the living room, intending to grab the family first-aid kit...
There was only the door leading out of the attic.
Right, he wasn't at home.
"Shi Rang!" Leader Jack jumped down from the edge of the bed, climbed up his leg, and used both hands to pull out a wooden splinter for him. "We couldn't wake you up!"
"I just took a little nap," he tried to argue, but seeing that even the streetlights in Green Island City were completely extinguished, he realized he had blacked out for at least a few hours.
Using his abilities for so long had pushed his mind to its absolute limit, forcing him away from the front lines.
After the Mini-Humans discovered he was unconscious, at The Sheriff's insistence, they hadn't attempted any drastic first aid. Instead, they worked together to stack a row of miniature logs under his head. It took them hours to slowly slide his head off the edge of the bed, relying on the sensation of weightlessness to finally jolt him awake.
The Tiny Ones climbed onto Shi Rang's hand to pluck out splinters that were barely visible to the naked eye. The Sheriff leaned in close to his ear, his voice filled with concern.
"I don't know if your condition is a side effect of that healing ability. Maybe your brain grew and got squeezed inside your skull? But we can't exactly go to a hospital. If only we had the right equipment..."
Even after his hand fully recovered, Shi Rang remained completely silent.
The difference in the passage of time between him and the Mini-Humans was simply too vast.
He waited until the Tiny Ones had all gone back to rest before walking over to the window, standing in absolute silence as he faced the direction of the quarantine zone.
It was past midnight. Few cities in the Tenth District cared much for a "nighttime economy" or "nightlife." The towering buildings were dotted with sparse lights, a quiet declaration that only a few had chosen to stay up late. These everyday signs of civilian life sharply contrasted with the searchlights sweeping back and forth across the core of the quarantine zone, looking like two entirely different worlds spliced together.
The Bureau would establish a containment zone right there to begin researching the "Divine Body," and Agent Kyle was temporarily detained there as well.
The twelve hours from the start of the operation at noon until now was usually a span of time easily passed by endlessly scrolling on a mobile phone or playing games. Yet, during those exact same hours, people had been fighting for their lives underground, fulfilling their oaths, and sacrificing everything to conquer fear and the unknown.
The vast ocean of Records in the Bureau, the seemingly casual phrases like "successfully contained"—did every single one of them hide a story just like this?
"Sheriff," Shi Rang suddenly spoke up. "Do you ever feel like the world is severely fractured? Normally, I'd definitely be asleep by now, or maybe still playing on the computer. But there are still people... Look, they're still out there flying helicopters in circles."
"Philosophy is a terrible thing. I rarely thought about these questions before I woke up the size of a sesame seed overnight. This kind of stuff only gives you a heavy heart and a messy mind. But now... Some people are cold and starving, some are struggling in the flames of war, and as for us, well, we still have food, clothes, and a place to sleep. Cherish the present, Shi Rang. Focus on your own life, and let's enjoy ourselves while we can before the Bureau throws us into prison."
Shi Rang offered a bitter smile. "You sound like a philosopher."
"Right now, I am The Sheriff, and you are a Spy. We both have higher, more distant responsibilities."
Shi Rang let out a long, heavy sigh and didn't reply.
He needed time to gather his thoughts and calm his emotions.
The Sheriff seemed to want to comfort him, but seeing the deep gloom in his eyes, he ultimately kept quiet. Instead, he jumped down from Shi Rang and went back to instruct the Mini-Humans not to disturb him for the time being.
Shi Rang continued to stand there, as still as a statue.
He hadn't witnessed the sacrifices and severe casualties of the N4 Squad with his own eyes, but he had heard everything. Initially, the N4 Squad had been nothing more than a few blocky characters on a roster to him, with the exception of Agent Kyle. Just like the squads before them, their shouts had sounded like annoying static, and their conversations had felt like pale, routine procedure.
But as time passed and his understanding deepened, they had transformed into living, breathing people.
Now, that connection had been ruthlessly severed, ending with a single "Final Report."
It felt as though he had lost many newly made friends.
If there truly was an afterlife, surely the fallen would find solace in knowing they had fulfilled their mission, wouldn't they?
Yet, even though he had been inside the Bureau Main Station, accompanying them, deeply moved and anxious over the bravery of the Mobile Task Force members, helping them confirm intelligence, and ultimately delivering the critical strike—he could never openly join their ranks.
He didn't belong there.
Even Agent Kyle, the Field Agent with whom he shared a certain bond—if Kyle ever found out that Shi Rang was the main culprit who triggered all of this... Shi Rang could easily imagine just how terrifying that hatred would be.
He really did have to take responsibility for everything.
Now, he was absolutely certain. Tampering, this inexplicable ability that had suddenly come to him, was much more of a curse than a gift.
Shi Rang was like a picky customer sitting behind a curtain, making demands based on the silhouettes cast by the light. The Anomalies would then mold themselves into a "silhouette" that perfectly matched his descriptions. However, behind that curtain, whether the thing forming the silhouette was the elegant sculpture he imagined, or a horrifying amalgamation of grotesque creatures mashed together, could only be known once the curtain was drawn back.
The first entity to stand behind the curtain and serve him was none other than the "Divine Body."
The Visitor needed a ring of inexplicable sharp teeth, and since the Blood Red God's Summoning Ritual was rife with elements of torture and abuse, it attached rings upon rings of fangs to the Visitor. Aside from being utterly terrifying, they were also perfectly designed to flay skin.
The Visitor needed to dissolve into toxic gas upon death. As a result, it utilized the mountains of corpses to create Scythe Monsters, converting them into poisonous gas to serve as the Visitor's raw material.
The Visitor had to come and go without a trace. So, combining the toxic gas with the memories of the victims who first gave birth to the "Midnight Visitor," it began transforming the entire neighborhood into a "gaseous product," turning every building and every wall into a conduit for delivering the lethal gas.
It had satisfied Shi Rang's requests and sent the contented customer on his way. Then, clutching its surplus "funds" and extra cards, it started working for itself.
Warping space, Summoning cultists, and expanding recklessly... until it was finally crushed by the courage and fearlessness of humanity.
This was everything that Shi Rang had inadvertently caused.
Shi Rang slowly untangled his chaotic thoughts, coiling them back up and weaving them back into the reality of his own life.
He had done everything possible to make up for his mistakes. He was filled with profound guilt toward the N4 Squad and the other fallen agents. Vouching for Agent Kyle was the very last piece of compensation he could offer.
It was time for him to bow out of Green Island City.
The dust had finally settled on this entire affair.
If he ever had to use Tampering in the future, he had to be cautious. Extremely cautious.
He probably couldn't use this ability to search for Ying Shang. He feared that to fulfill his request, the Anomaly might apply a Locking procedure on her, "finding" her for him in some wildly unpredictable and dangerous way.
Even if there was only a one percent chance of that happening, he absolutely refused to put Ying Shang at risk.
Shi Rang stood by the window for a long time, clearing his head, finally letting go of everything that happened today as if setting aside a finished session of Tabletop RPGs.
Right now, he was no longer Dump Truck.
No matter who Assistant "Harvey" had mistaken him for, the person who had directed and helped resolve the crisis in Green Island City was merely that lucky Council Member.
For his own sake, and for the sake of others, it was time to fade away from this incident.
Outside the window, Green Island City hadn't changed at all in response to his inner turmoil. The dividing line between light and darkness remained as stark as ever. Shi Rang watched as several helicopters lifted off, carrying the wounded toward the Bureau's specialized hospital. Alliance vehicles were already circling the perimeter, waiting for an opportunity to spy on what was happening behind the Isolation Wall.
A single Record, a piece of a Divine Body, a mass evacuation, a successful containment, a swath of death, and a sprawling sea of lights.
In this world teeming with Anomalies, he had survived yet another day.
'Thank you, everyone in the Bureau, for giving me the chance to make up for my mistakes.'
'It is time to deal with my own troubles.'