00:06:56.
Lin'an City, Fifth Avenue.
An apartment building.
"You little brat... you're just like a pig. Fine, I'll continue."
"It was another operative who did it. They fought a pretty bad battle; He Yu died at least dozens of times. But they cooperated very well, their moves were swift and their attacks were ruthless."
“Father Andre died because of ‘Silent Poetry,’ that guy named Mellink, your savior. Once that guy draws someone, it’s like he has a Book of Life and Death, he can kill people at will. But the life forms in 346 are pretty stupid, except for you who are somewhat normal, the others are all very strange.”
"They seem to think they can create a god, then snap their fingers, put it on a plate, and get ready to feast."
"But if you can't even distinguish between what you want to do and what you want to eat—"
"Then it will become like useless data, a prisoner."
A slight noise came from beside him, and 252 turned to look at Pandora.
She was having a nightmare, 252 could tell at a glance, because he himself had had too many nightmares and was in the same pitiful state.
She sank into the sofa, very quiet, just trying to curl up into a ball as if she could hold onto something, her body trembling slightly, her hair damp with sweat.
“Pandora? Are you asleep?” 252 said, retrieving the stolen notebook.
The child remained trapped in her nightmare and did not respond, so she reached out and nudged her a few more times.
The moment her shoulder touched his, her body tensed abruptly, and she instinctively reached for the gun—the weapon she had prepared to use to commit suicide in the castle.
She seemed to still be in the dark realm of her dream, her eyes filled with fear. She didn't know what she was dreaming about, but she was terrified.
252 quickly pressed down on her hand, while placing his other hand on her shoulder to reassure her, "It's alright now—you're in the apartment He Yu bought for us, no one will come over."
The child then stopped struggling and stared at her, clearly not fully awake yet.
252 sighed and brushed aside a strand of her hair that was hanging down.
In that record book piled high with death and slaughter, the dead souls still spoke of her—Lilith's replacement, a genetic defect, one of only two vessels capable of bearing the sins of Jerusalem, as if she understood everything and was a ray of light that could tear through the darkness and bring rebirth to the city.
But lying next to her was just a girl terrified by a nightmare.
"Where did He Yu go?"
“He went to do fieldwork, and I’m here now,” 252 said.
“Okay…you’ve worked hard,” Pandora mumbled, her voice fragile and soft, a vague confirmation from a state between sleep and wakefulness.
"Mmm," she continued, her voice so gentle, "He'll be back soon. You can sleep a little longer, and when you wake up we'll go eat something delicious together."
She nodded vaguely, withdrew her hand from the gun, closed her eyes, and drifted back into sleep.
252 slowly let go of his hand and turned to look at the record book.
She felt a huge emotion welling up in her chest, choking her throat, swelling outwards, and she had to struggle to keep herself sitting still.
She thought she must have felt this way before, like something she would protect even at the cost of her life—now, it occupied everything in this night. Those things that had perished were still there, transformed into a black box, but she never dared to open it.
It's so painful, so...unbearable.
Those things that must be protected are inside—in fact, they have long since become a box of rotten, twisted, and deformed chunks of flesh. After all, they are just a mass of data, meant for people to watch and vent their frustrations in life, and they will not have a good end in death, only ridicule and contempt... She dared not even glance at them, dared not even think about them.
Even a single glance would break me.
252 sat in the darkness, staring intently at the record book, his eyes gleaming with boundless light.
After about fifteen minutes, she had completed the complete copy of the Jerusalem template—Lilith, Andrei, Beelzebub, and all the forbidden traits of the operatives.
Unify the data and make it your own.
It has reached the level of a common contraindication for ACE.
It was at this moment that the sound rang out.
It sounded a bit like a balloon being suddenly punctured by a needle, or a package being crushed, but 252 showed no surprise. She got up, found a blanket to cover Pandora, and then went out barefoot.
The subtle cracking sounds grew more and more frequent, coming from all directions, not just one.
She turned back and glanced at Pandora again, thinking—what a pitiful soul that was, created by humans, subjected to ridicule, separation, torment, dancing, death, and then it was all over, leaving no trace. Both were equally tragic, leaving no room for anything else, like disposable commodities, easily discarded by the creator, leaving only one person to suffer alone, trapped in a swamp, and ultimately forgotten by everyone.
Now, she has something new that she must protect.
"Instant dissolving agent, a product of 489, right?" 252 muttered to himself, looking at the walls around him that were beginning to corrode.
She smiled, then pushed open the door and went out.
"What rubbish."
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding walls began to erode, the cement formwork deformed, and pieces of broken debris crashed to the ground with a thud, allowing light to stream into the house.
252 pulled out a triangular military dagger from her waist. It was left behind by He Yu and was said to be a deadly weapon. If you pulled it out instantly when you stabbed it in, it would definitely make those idiots feel better. She flashed to the window to take a look.
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