North America post-war reconstruction area, midnight at 7:00 p.m.!.

"My friends, we are almost finished!"

The district of Los Angeles has been rebuilt after the disaster, and the one speaking is the head of this project, a burly black man named James who leads the construction team.

Glancing at the time on his wrist, he shouted, "Stop! We're done for the day……?"

"Ah...!"

Before James, the head, could finish speaking, a tragic wail came from the side, causing him, weary from the whole day, to angrily express his discontent: "Oh! Who's still in the mood for jokes? Come out and face me, let's settle this!"

"Crash, crash!"

James heard the sound coming from the direction of a villa on the third floor rooftop.

The glass window was smashed by something black, and glass shards fell to the ground.

Everyone present was stunned by the sudden event. The construction team under James retreated in fear, while James himself pretended to be brave, standing up with hands on his bulky belly.

Leading the crowd, he sternly admonished, "Hey, you're taking this joke too far, my friend. I'm going to show you some consequences!"

James furrowed his brow almost imperceptibly and crouched down in the darkness to better see the large black object among the shards on the ground. He gently flipped over the black object.

On the other side of the black object, James faintly saw the body of a man with torn flesh.

The "surprise joke" left him paralyzed in fear, causing him to fall heavily on his backside, his face pale, as he shouted for help: "Oh my God, help, call the police!"

James wriggled backward like a fat earthworm.

Ten minutes later, a police car appeared in the crowd, and several officers and two coroners in white coats emerged. The police officers dispersed the onlookers.

One of the coroners squatted down, put on gloves, and began examining the body's condition.

The other coroner carefully took notes on the side of the body.

After a moment, the coroner examining the body stood up and ran over to the captain to report, "Captain, the time of death for the deceased was an hour and forty minutes ago. As for the probable cause of death, the body's severe wounds make it nearly impossible to determine!"

No one dared to look at the mangled flesh on the ground anymore.

Not even the police officers present wanted to glance in the direction of the coroner!

"Swish, swish!!"

The one diligently taking notes failed to notice at all - the bloodied face was just a foot behind him!

"Plap!"

"Ahh!!!" The "corpse" rose from the ground in front of everyone, sinking its sharp teeth into his neck, causing blood to gush like a fountain, splattering crimson on the dark stone ground!

"This is Morning News. Just last night around 7:30 p.m., there was a time when a madman devoured others in the villa district of North America's Los Angeles. This incident caused a small-scale panic, with some believing that the disaster from thirty years ago had returned! The Alliance stated that these events were purely fictional, in order to confirm whether this is true..."

The TV channel left on from last night was forgotten to be turned off.

Amidst the white light mingled with the sharp scent of disinfectant, clothes were changed to a white shirt, and glossy black hair lay scattered on the pillow.

"Is my hair... back to normal?"

"Where am I?"

Xun Ming, who was struggling to sit up on the bed, looked listless. The tiles on the floor seemed especially glaring, prompting Xun to rub his sleepy eyes and yawn.

"Let's hope so. I can only rely on these things now."

It was a brand new morning, and everything happened so suddenly.

As I lay in bed covered by the morning light filtering through the curtains, I felt the meager blessings of winter, almost like a luxury.

"Ugh... Ah!"

Leaving the warmth of the bed, I pulled open the curtains, allowing the cold damp air to dissolve a bit.

Once again, I went through the ritual of bathing for the new day, splashing water from the pipe onto my cheeks.

It seemed to warn me that without such opportunities, there might not be much sadness.

As long as I kept moving forward, without dwelling too much on lost time, after all... what's gone is gone.

Where was the phone? I dialed the number I had memorized several times, but each time, just as the call connected, I quickly hung up.

Repeatedly telling myself, good things are meant to be sought slowly.

Staring at the face in the mirror, already showing signs of aging despite being young, I truly felt that sometimes the aging of a person is closely related to their mood.

"Yes, I know exactly what you are thinking, but..."

Life is like a bowl of buckwheat noodles, full of substance but hard to swallow!

The coastal town by the island where we once lived has now been connected by roads due to human development, and the town has expanded into a much larger city than before.

"Beep... Beep... Hello, the number you have dialed is not available at the moment, please try again later."

"Still not answering?"

Feeling dejected, I turned off my phone and pondered quietly. Suddenly, I received a very unfamiliar call, and I don't think I would have a second choice no matter who it was!

I forgot to introduce myself – I... am still the person who has withdrawn from the mundane life at school.

However, the place where I live has undergone a drastic change.

I used to be Tsubaki's useless son in the small beachfront town, but now I live in a hundred-story tower as a bloodthirsty assassin.

Beep beep...!!

The phone rang abruptly as I expected. Could it be her replying to my message?!

Excitedly, I took out my phone, but the number on the screen... what? The Sandman has another task for me again.

"Hello, Sandman... I can't believe you're calling me so early, must be..."

"ShuraShura, I'm the Sandman. Headquarters has a special task for you to handle alone. I hope you can complete it!"

The Sandman rarely sounded so serious, indicating that there must be an extremely important task at hand.

So, despite initially thinking of declining, I reluctantly accepted.

"Alright, if it's that important, I will definitely do my best."

"Good, the task is..."

Perhaps sensing the resignation in my answer, he issued a command that caught me completely off guard.

"Take a few days off and clean up those disgusting vomit for me!"

Uh, so he's afraid I might faint at the sight of blood?

That's not something I'm afraid of, but the importance of the previous task made me quite curious about this one.

"Let's not talk about that for now. What's the new mission?"

I cannot jeopardize the entire alliance's plan due to personal reasons.

Anyway, I want to ignite myself, just not be idle.

But my superior, the Sleep Demon, had an extremely strict attitude and refused to let me take on this mission.

"You don't need to worry about that... Shura, I've noticed you've been distracted lately, that's not the best mindset for carrying out a mission."

The Sleep Demon on the other end of the phone sounded somewhat disappointed, after all, it's no joke if his ace makes a mistake!

"Sigh," I had actually been planning to do that, so I replied to him, "Sure."

After a simple exchange, I impatiently ended the call.

"Hmph, should have expected to be fired, not worth the effort!"

After going around in circles, I ended up back in this small town... well, forgive my slip of tongue, it should be a big city now.

The bustling seaside town had lost its simplicity and freshness from before!

The school we once attended had disappeared without a trace after seeing off our graduating class, and now standing in its place was a hospital that was under construction.

"How nice."

Facing the direction of the school ruins in front of me was a middle-aged man in a gray robe, gazing at the emerging hospital with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"At least the diseases in this small town might finally have some hope!"

Although the man's words were excited, his expression froze.

"But...”

Tears quietly slipped down his cheeks.

Those tears contained a hint of despair, and unspeakable helplessness.

"Say, you must also be a former student of this school, right?"

The man, barely holding up his frail figure, swayed alone in the wind, because for him, this school might mean everything.

But I couldn't admit it, couldn't acknowledge that past that didn't belong to me.

Watching the workers busy at the construction site, watching as the grey trucks took away desks and chairs one by one.

I understood, their ultimate fate might be the incinerator, right?

"No," I finally chose to escape from reality, "I just pass by here occasionally... Sorry!"

"Hehe, the one who should be sorry is me..."

The man smiled kindly, but gave me an incredibly heavy sense of apology.

"Bringing unrelated people into this."

After saying that, the old man sighed and walked past me, in that fleeting moment, I recognized that face with a touch of regret.

...The chairman?!

I actually met Yu Nai's father here, the school's chairman.

Although the traces of overlap with her in this world had long vanished, I remembered that I once existed.

To be honest...

"Hello, welcome!"

"Huh?!"

Still a bit dazed, I suddenly found myself being addressed by the girl in front of me.

She smiled in a Santa Claus outfit, red mittens holding a stack of thick Christmas promotional flyers, likely for the upcoming bookstore opening.

"Hello, sir, please do visit our bookstore a lot, it's a great place for leisure after work!"

"Mm."

Taking the flyer she handed me, I glanced at the contents written on it...

"The bookstore offers both pay-per-use and monthly subscription card options... What?"