Ghost Cats are the servants that work for the dead, and their purpose in living is to fulfill the most cherished wishes they had while alive. This is what Ghost Cats are—souls of the living dead… also known as lingering spirits!

As the snowflakes fluttered down, I woke abruptly from an endless void.

Hold on—!!

Why does the address on the flyer make me feel uneasy?

By the seaside... my home seems like it was always by the sea, but...

Anyway, I'm just idling away now. Maybe passing the time would be a good idea.

"I didn't live my past life to the fullest. Now all I can do is live well, right?"

I immediately approached the girl dressed in Christmas attire, barely three steps away, to ask her.

"Miss, please wait!!"

"Yes, sir, how can I help you?"

The girl's voice was unexpectedly pleasant and familiar, as if I had heard it long ago.

"Hmm... I think that...?"

Locking eyes with the girl's grass-green gaze, I instantly recognized her, of course—I would never forget the only girl I knew.

"Long time no see, Yu Nai."

I couldn't articulate those two words—she might have forgotten one, and the other might make her think I'm a nuisance, right?

Very unsettling... I'm really so unsettled.

In this season of snowfall last year, I understood her.

In the school that was about to close, Yukari and I sat side by side on a bench on the slope.

My heart couldn’t calm down for a long time, and she just stared straight ahead, with only a faint smile at the corner of her mouth and her eyes squinted, unwilling to talk to me.

The feeling was like being with a stranger for the first time.

"Hey, do you think what I’m doing is wrong, little brother?"

Yukari gathered her hair into a long, fluttering ponytail.

Looking into her slightly sorrowful eyes, I was already so dazed.

"Talking about your hair… right?"

I was practically asking the obvious, but I knew that's what I had to say.

"..."

Yukari didn't expose my lie or give me an answer, nor did she confirm by nodding.

This made me sit up straight even more, sweat beads the size of soybeans slid slowly down my cheeks, and finally dripped from my chin to the ground.

Even though she didn't say anything then, I already knew everything. She wanted to leave this home to achieve her goal, maybe because she and I were in the same boat now.

"Yukari?"

The inner unrest had completely taken over at that moment, and all I could do was press her hand, devoid of warmth, against mine on the narrow wooden chair as tightly as possible.

That unease had been replaced by reality.

"Do you believe in fateful encounters? Do you believe in fate?"

"I do."

"Eh? You're really naive, after all, still a child!"

Yukari looked like she was about to burst into laughter, covering her mouth.

"No!!"

I cut Yukari off, believing that I was being extremely serious at that moment.

I nearly put all my effort into conveying my sincerity to Yukari.

"Why don't you believe...?"

"Juxi?"

This time Yukari was puzzled, I clenched the buttons of my school uniform in front of my chest, with the urge to tear it off.

"No matter what kind of difficult situation we may encounter, even if we are too disappointed or even in despair, as long as you are here, none of that matters!"

I really couldn't understand. I was just thinking about something important a moment ago, but suddenly I felt frozen like a puddle of water.

Like thousands of feet of ice, lost in this world full of white silver trees...

In my eyes, perhaps this encounter is really just like reality, a chance meeting, not very beautiful.

Especially the two of us sometimes... I don't know if it's an illusion, but I always feel that I can see the invisible bond between us.

Two years ago, I still vividly remembered my presence here.

There was a family that became perfect because of a reconstruction, of course, I also remembered, there was a sister... who made everything perfect... ah, school life is far from perfect, isn't it?

Every day, besides being forced to wear a blue school uniform to study textbooks in the library, there was no fateful encounter.

But losing the most important chapter of my school life seemed to have brought me something even more important, that is!

"Hahaha!"

I burst out laughing unexpectedly, not even noticing the strange looks around me.

I felt so powerless in front of reality, and in the end, the only one who could give me a way out was myself.

"Forget about what belongs to me, at least for now."

After all, they, who I remember, no longer belong to this world, right?

I blew warm air onto my almost frozen hand, and immediately felt a surge of energy throughout my body.

I felt like I had the energy to be a light bulb again!

On the bustling streets that had changed so much, there were pedestrians everywhere, each looking different on the outside but with one common point... they were not alone!

Compared to those couples with happy smiles on their faces and families who were already married and had children.

I looked down at my shabby appearance... indeed, very unpleasant.

I wore a yellow-brown coat that I had brought from home last year, and military-issued leather pants underneath.

And my hair, which I hadn't cut in over a year, had grown long enough to cover my shoulders!

Compared to those people, the appearance of me and the old man seemed out of place, creating an indescribable sense of discord.

Even with long boots on, my feet were still stiff from the cold, not to mention the old man's wooden sandals.

Unbelievably, his sandals were just thin socks soaked through by the snow, his feet probably already numb from the cold.

"What a strange old man, isn't he cold dressed like that?"

As I said this, I thought it over carefully, then fell silent.

Perhaps he had lost all sense of dependence and had become completely numb?

"The new year is almost here, and I have become different from everyone else. Is that something I should be happy about?"

At this moment, this statement seemed more like self-consolation, rather than a reason to live in this world.

(A week ago)

"Ow, that hurts!"

I struggled to prop myself up with my arm bones and looked up.

The newcomer, who was slightly younger than me, lay unconscious about five meters ahead.

"Tsk tsk, he actually passed out for the whole afternoon!"

I didn't even care about my clothes, which were covered in ice and frozen into armor, and ignored their dirty faces. If they hadn't undergone the Ranger strengthening back then, most of them would be disabled by now!

"Damn, the unfortunate events ruined my day! You know?"

But at that moment, I was too lazy to think about all that. Instead, I struggled to crawl to his side and flipped him over, observing as we had scaled this towering three-zhang high ice wall, a faint smile inadvertently appearing on my lips.

I exerted all my strength, dragging the unconscious teenager along with trembling and sorrowful movements on the cold cement ground.

When we reached the corner, I slowly leaned his head against the wall we had jumped down from.

"Bro, if it weren't for you, man, I might have been done for today! Heh heh, the things I said earlier, I take them back, bro."

Glancing at the unconscious newcomer beside me, I didn't want him to keep sleeping like this.

After a careful observation of the surroundings, I realized that we had broken into a large artificial warehouse, even with a parked truck inside.

"Although I'm not sure where we are... Oh, the company's garage seems pretty upscale!"

The garage on the ground floor of the company was as large as a basketball court, and who would have thought that such a large factory could hide in this frigid ice cave.

I frowned slightly and sighed, "It's a good thing there is a meter-high gap in the wall of this garage, or we would have ended up buried with those people outside today!"

Before we arrived, we had encountered some strange creatures, which seemed to have emerged from ancient ruins.

Well, now is not the time to complain...

Originally, I had planned to go to the Hyderia Grand Hotel at noon today at the invitation of the sleeping captain to welcome the commander of the alliance troops, but the current situation...

Rubbish! It definitely won't happen now.

After sleeping for almost half a day, I couldn't help but feel a burning sensation in my throat and my mouth was parched.

I had to lean against the wall to struggle to stand firm and slowly walked towards the haphazardly parked small cars in the garage. One of them, a red one, turned out to be a pricey Elena card.

Since the owner and the enforcement bureau personnel are both out of the picture, wouldn't it be considered a crime to find some necessities for oneself?

So, after rummaging around for a while, I pulled out the keyring from my body with great effort and straightened it into an iron wire.

With a few clicks, the doors of the cars were pried open.

"Tch, it's quite a hassle for me, huh!"

I scratched my head and shifted my gaze to the other scattered cars, busy for a full half an hour, but unfortunately, the first few cars were overturned, and I only got a few bottles of mineral water and four bags of bread.

Furious, I grabbed a piece of bread and threw it into my mouth, savoring it carefully, thinking - this may be our last food!

Just as I reached out to insert the wire into the handle of the Ferrari, I suddenly withdrew my hand, shaking my head and smiling, "Aiya aiya, the owner's vigilance is everywhere, this lock is an electric anti-theft lock."

But just because the main door couldn't be opened doesn't mean I can't do anything about it. This Elena card is just an official beta version.

Even the most indestructible thing would have its fatal weakness, which is...

Huh? As for Elena Corporation's technology being here... Let's not discuss this for now, and I don't want to know.

"Phew, hope there's something in this car! Hey!"

I exerted all my strength and pried open the rear cover of the car, revealing a box of compressed biscuits right before my eyes!

The exciting gift filled me with a sense of excitement.

"The heavens are really helping me. It seems I can't die yet..."

"Now we have plenty of food to live on!"

Although I was only slightly injured, I still struggled to drag the box to the back of the car.

"....What's this?"

In the moment I took the box off the back of the car, I noticed a glint of silver deep inside, and curiously reached in to explore.

"Brass knuckles?"