Able raised his hand and looked at his watch, where the black minute and hour hands formed a slightly distorted "-" symbol on the snow-white surface, at 3:45 a.m.

From the monitor's screen, he could see Catherine kneeling in Sasha. Hopkins' side, her hands tightly grasped the child's small hand hanging by the bed, her forehead against her crossed thumbs, the corners of her mouth straightened, preoccupied, not allowing a trace of sand and sand. Hopkins is distracted by unrelated matters—and the people she cares about and help are disillusioned (the child's cheeks are sunken throughout, his hair is dull, his eyes are closed, his blackened skin is clinging to his bones, like another dried and chemically treated corpse of a child in the catacombs of Sicily, Italy), his breathing is slight, slow, and his hands and feet are involuntarily spasms (very small, if not for the lack of sharp and focused eyes, which cannot be seen at all).

"How long has this been the case?"

"You mean the coma?" The guard replied, "About fifteen minutes." He pulled up the previous image and sped up, and together the two of them saw the strange and terrifying sight on the surveillance screen—as shown in those popular science films, the rapid wilting of a flower, the child's face and bare hands and feet rapidly graying and shriveling in the distortion of pain...... As you can imagine, the place covered by the sheets won't be much better. Abel snorted, this short film was not pleasing to the eye, he had heard of the so-called "spirit affecting the body", but he had never expected it to be so terrifying.

The special object is still a child...... Abel tilted his head and glanced at the guards beside him, with ruddy faces, tall and fat bodies, and ordinary and even a little ugly facial features, but still likable - maybe because he had a very sincere and honest smile, but it was this man who controlled the entire surveillance room, from the machine to the man. When Hopkins was unusual, he insisted on watching the monitor for more than half an hour, during which no one was allowed to enter Sasha. Hopkins' room, and finally he notified not only the medical department, but also the security department.

A cautious and sensible man, Abel sincerely hopes that this excellent trait of his, will be transferred to his new partner, Catherine.

For men, women are always incomprehensible creatures, and Abel thinks Catherine is the best of them. He couldn't understand why this beautiful young girl couldn't see the facts in front of her, and after all she had been through, she still firmly believed that the little guy in front of her was a blinded little angel, a lost little lamb who, with her persistent care and love, could pull him out of the filthy abyss of depravity in time - Abel remembered very well how the child had abandoned Catherine in front of a serial murderer with blood on her hands, a woman who always protected and cared for him anyway, His mother's sister, perhaps his only relative in this world, did not have the slightest hesitation or nostalgia; Not to mention that little Martin has complained and accused him more than once about how this child has ruined his plans for revenge, and it may not be worth mentioning that the selfishness of human beings is engraved in the genes and even in the soul...... But in a life-or-death moment, it is terrible to be able to abandon yourself as well.

The Chinese have an old saying "three years old sees old", Abel thought deeply, Sasha. Hopkins has been replaced by Anthony. Hopkins, his father, the "ghoul" is completely polluted, incorrigible, irretrievable, this is a spiritually rooted, deep-rooted ghost gadget, which will directly affect the child's thoughts, judgments, cognitions, and behaviors based on it, and he has lost the opportunity to be a normal person forever, just as an adult can never be a child again. Even if he had his brain lobec, that terrible root had invaded every nerve and every cell of him.

You can love him, but you must not despise him. And Catherine just forgot the most important point, Abel shook his head, sooner or later this silly girl will be sold by this seemingly cute and docile child once, or many times.

Sasha. As Hopkins' condition stabilized, Catherine stood up and gave way to the doctor behind her, who could see that she was very tired, but she still insisted on staying in Sasha's room, her back to the camera, staring at Sasha's cot, motionless.

There's no denying that Catherine is a pretty girl. Able thought that even from behind, the woman was attractive—her hair, which had been cut short for treatment, was now curled in groups on a well-shaped skull, and looked like the head of a fluffy little lamb—golden, and down was a slender neck, thin shoulders, a well-shaped back, a round and protruding hip, strong thighs, straight calves, and her feet were delicate and small.

A friend of Abel once half-jokingly asked him if he was attracted by Catherine's beauty to accept the agency's instructions: to accept this untrusted woman as his partner, you know, almost everyone now knows what Catherine has done, she once abandoned her partner and caused his death, and the fire of Aliaú is difficult to dissociate from it; Ignoring the Agency's mission and its own responsibilities, he fled with a criminal's child to what he thought was a safe place - a slaughterhouse where he also became a victim...... Most unforgivable, she dismisses the benevolence and magnanimity of institutions as nothing.

The silly girl doesn't know anything, doesn't understand anything.

She and her little nephew are still safe and sound, thanks to her new abilities. Her abilities can be said to be relatively special and rare in the first place, and in the past few months, this wonderful and useful ability has continued to increase, change and expand, for example, before coming to Aliaou, she could only rely on the vague and single identification of residual sensations to confirm whether the object of tracking is correct, while in the small town, she has been able to manipulate her own or other people's senses to attack, and now, it seems that she can "go back in time" through the feelings left by multiple people, They were able to track down the serial killer because of what Catherine had "read" from the evidence and bloodstains. Perhaps her abilities continue to expand, and she will develop into a weapon that is difficult to match even the "mind reading technique". Because she can not only read what you are thinking now, but also learn more about the people or things you have touched.

It's a great way for the organization's leaders and beyond, but it's not a good thing for her personally, because no one wants their privacy to be exposed to others, let alone those who need to be forgotten.

Abel can almost imagine Catherine's ability being exposed to each other, this is normal, when it comes to self-interest, people tend to abandon a lot of things, love, family, friendship is not worth it. Because Abel is like this, although he still has a few friends, but except for the bold Sue, few people will be so close to him, let alone be a partner with him, well, even Sue, definitely not. Because his ability is to exchange his life for what he wants, and the stronger the vitality, the more precious the things he gets. Who can guarantee that when he is dying or in a deadly crisis, he will not grab someone close to him in exchange for a glimmer of life?

He hadn't done it before, but in the town, he did, and although only Catherine and the Black Priesthood saw it, and neither of them said anything, Abel knew very well that he had traded someone else's life for his own life, as well as money.

Maybe it's because of this that Abel agrees to the agency's instructions and accepts this stupid girl as his partner, because I'm afraid that it will be difficult for anyone other than the other party to agree to get along with such a dangerous person day and night. Without a partner, there is no mission, and without a mission, there is no money, no money - he and Catherine need money, not to mention, the Agency will not let an idle Adequacy wander outside, especially if they still have the ability to make people feel terrified.

They just take what they need. Abel only hopes that this stupid girl can be a little smarter in the future, as long as she is a little smarter, at least ...... Able to see yourself, the institution, and that damn little bastard.

(To be continued)

(I'm sorry, but I've been out of work lately.) During a business trip, I only came back from the field late last night...... Tired...... ）