By the time the tattooed man opened his eyes for the third time, the sky had begun to brighten with the pale light before dawn. A glow was spreading on the horizon, and the starlight was fading along with it.

Even if the stars could no longer be seen clearly, it didn’t mean they had ceased to exist.

Bullet comments drifted clearly across the air above his head, one after another—

[(-灬-) Life is short enough as it is, and yet you insisted on taking the shortcut]

[Heaven’s road was there for you to walk, and yet you forced your way through a door to hell — was it stubbornness?]

[(‘_’) What gave you the courage to keep coming back?]

[I stayed up till now just to see this moment of his waking: three parts shock, three parts fury, three parts disorientation — and one part existential confusion about life. Good. Now I can finally sleep in peace. z Z]

…

The tattooed man: “……”

He opened his personal display panel and immediately turned off his stream.

His head still felt heavy. Repeated electric shocks had left his body aching and drained. He looked to either side — A’Ping and Big Fatty were both near him. Little Seven was nowhere in sight. He’d presumably escaped.

But if he’d escaped, why hadn’t he come back with help? That guy hadn’t gone home and gone straight to sleep, had he?

The tattooed man reached into his coat for his phone, tried pressing it a few times — nothing. After being electrocuted so many times last night, his phone was certainly dead.

“You’re awake?”

Bai Youwei’s voice reached him.

He turned to look, and saw Bai Youwei standing at the cafeteria door with a refined-looking young man and a girl carrying a bow.

The cafeteria’s rolling shutter had been closed all last night — but now it was open, and the warmth of food drifted out.

The tattooed man felt a pang of hunger. After a whole night of running around, he’d burned through a great deal of energy.

“Your physical condition is quite good — better than these two followers of yours. They’ve been unconscious since being electrocuted and haven’t come around yet.” Bai Youwei walked over and handed him a sandwich. “Here, consider breakfast on me today. I’ll transfer the points to you shortly. But since you didn’t make it out before dawn, I can only give you a tenth — call it compensation for your effort.”

The tattooed man took the sandwich and looked at her with suspicion.

What was this…

Did the cooperation still count?

But she had clearly meant to end him last night. He hadn’t forgotten that blade — it had nearly split his skull open.

Perhaps his expression was too strange. Bai Youwei tilted her head slightly and asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

The tattooed man moved his lips, and asked hesitantly, “Last night, you almost killed me.”

“How could that be?” Bai Youwei looked genuinely surprised. “I always keep precise control over my strikes.”

The tattooed man: “……”

Bai Youwei thought back. “Oh — you mean when you were hiding in the locker?”

She smiled and raised her hand to gesture. “Usually when someone’s hiding in a locker, their head will be near the gap to keep watch outside. Given your height, bent over, your head would be at roughly… this level. So as long as I aimed above that level, I’d definitely avoid hitting you.”

She glanced at the top of his head and gave a nod to herself. “See? Your head is perfectly intact.”

The tattooed man couldn’t help asking, “But what if you’d miscalculated?”

Bai Youwei insisted, “The result proves I didn’t~”

The tattooed man: “……”

Not far away, Yi Zichu gave a low, somewhat awkward cough.

Bai Youwei pulled up her panel, selected an in-person transaction, and transferred ten thousand points over without much thought.

“Alright, take your people and go. I’m going in for breakfast.” She turned back toward the cafeteria, giving a wave. “If you need anything, come by again sometime~”

The tattooed man watched her retreating figure in silence and thought to himself: Never again. Not in this lifetime.

…

On another front, the flush-with-funds Bai Youwei finished breakfast and went to the service station at the first opportunity, posting a heavily-funded missing-person notice across the entire district.

Confident that money could move mountains, she put up the notice — and indeed, a great many tips came in. But they were either cases of people who shared Shen Mo’s name, or outright false leads from people trying to scam points.

After several days of searching with nothing to show for it, Yi Zichu asked her, “Are you certain the person you’re looking for is actually in this world?”

“Absolutely!” Bai Youwei said with conviction. “He clearly came here with me!”

Yi Zichu thought for a moment, then said carefully, “It’s possible… he’s not in the same district as you.”

—