Get away from the darkness.

I have to ...... Get away from the darkness.

But why? The darkness protected me.

Hurt.

Am I bleeding?

A chaotic stream of thoughts crossed his mind, the ghost wondering if he was still alive, he felt only pain, and another emotion he didn't too want to admit.

He wanted to go back into the darkness, back to the bottom of that pit. It's humid and warm, with rats for food and mud to live in......

He didn't want to endure such torture...... He didn't deserve to be treated like that.

But a voice whispered to him, persuading him to give up such thoughts.

Stay away from the darkness, ghosts, that is not your destiny. It said.

...... Destiny?

The strange word broke into his already confused thoughts, making the place even more crazy.

Countless visions came flooding in the next second, teeth and claws, grabbing him with sharp claws, revealing to the spirits the truth they believed in.

"You don't have a choice, kid, you don't have a choice!"

They roared like a bell, and thunder at midnight.

"A fool's dream! Established facts cannot be changed, you must follow them! You are destined to have a mouth full of blood and notoriety, and only then can you be—"

Become what?

The ghost stared at the distorted scene in bewilderment, and then a light came.

-----------------

"Awake?"

The ghost sat up abruptly and began to gasp for breath. Without thinking, he got up from the ground and, with his sense of smell, returned to the corner he knew best.

After trembling for more than ten seconds, he realized who the greeting was.

And where is this.

Carlil sat in the darkness and looked at him expressionlessly, "Are you leaning against the wall, ghost?" ”

“...... What? ”

"I say, are you leaning against the wall?"

"Yes." The ghost replied with a shudder. "I'm leaning against the wall."

His shoulders were shaking at the moment, and the dread from the hallucination had not subsided. He didn't understand what those things were, and he didn't want to. He just wanted to forget about them.

"Come here." Carlil said. "Don't lean against that wall anymore, that posture is not good for you."

"No, I don't want to-"

The ghost instinctively wanted to refuse, he didn't want to leave the corner. It was as comfortable for him as it was at the bottom of the mine.

However, all instinct vanished the moment he saw Carlil's eyes.

The neon light that came through the broken door was sliced by the hollow of the wooden door itself into a series of irregular broken points of light, which struck half of Carlil's face, making his pale face look like a treacherous painting.

His eyes were glowing.

The wraith's trembling stopped.

"Come here, Ghost." Carlil repeated softly. "Don't lean against the wall."

This time, the wraith complied.

He bent over and cautiously left the corner. The pain in his back prevented him from walking smoothly, and a sticky feeling slid down his back.

Blood, my blood. The ghost thought.

He pursed his lips, in great pain.

"Your injuries are severe." Carlil tilted his head, slightly nonchalant. "They shot you with a hook and rope gun, and that thing was for hunting, and you're so lucky."

"Hunting ......?"

"Yes, there are a lot of people outside the city who have been kicked out without paying for it, and they have survived with great difficulty outside, at the cost of becoming like wild beasts."

So the nobility invented a new form of entertainment, and the gangs liked to participate, but not with the nobility. They call this process trend-hopping. Interesting, right? ”

He laughed, but there was no smile in his eyes.

"It's not fun......" the ghost whispered. And what is a hook-and-rope gun? ”

"That thing is horrible, Spirit." Carlil smiled and shook his head.

"It will explode the moment it hits, and the arrow will shatter into a dozen pieces, each with a cruel barb on it. It will jam the flesh and bones of its prey, extending as far inward as possible. So, your back is miserable right now. ”

Am I going to die? The ghost asked silently, he didn't speak, but his expression was enough to tell Carlil his doubts.

"No, you won't." Carlil said. "Actually, in a few hours at most, your bleeding wound will be scabbing over, Spirit."

“......”

The ghost didn't answer his words, and just sat down on the ground in silence. He seemed a little frustrated, and Carlil didn't miss the emotion.

He rarely makes mistakes, in fact, he almost never makes mistakes.

"Are you frustrated?" Carlil asked.

The ghost looked up, glanced at him, and then buried his head again: "...... Am I not going to be able to get an answer to that question? ”

"Yes."

“...... I forgot to close the window. The ghost said in chagrin. They...... The response is so fast. ”

"Are you trying to find a reason to defend yourself, Spirit?"

“......”

Carlil couldn't help but laugh, laughing at the ghost's reaction, but there wasn't much real happiness in the smile.

This laugh is more like a mockery of himself.

He thought, you were hit by something that could tear an adult apart, and you fell off the roof of a house more than ten meters away, and you were dragged along.

Flesh is pulled by the power of three motorcycles combined - and then you bleed almost a large bucket of blood under the acid rain.

You're not dead, and you're healthy.

Your injuries will heal even in a few hours.

You're a terrible monster, ghost, but you have a heart that only humans have.

What shall I do with you?

The smile died down, and Carlil didn't continue to speak, he stared at the ghost, his expression calming a little.

After a moment, he spoke again.

"For a newbie, you're doing a good job. You bypassed the guards and the sentries on the roof, you opened the window, and you didn't make a sound......"

"It took you less than a minute to kill those three bosses. These are all good. ”

"But don't look at me like that, ghost." Carlil said calmly. "I'm not complimenting you, you're not a novice anymore."

The ghost nodded in frustration and agreed with Carlil's statement. He didn't refute because he knew Carlil was right.

Carlil was always right.

He lowered his head again.

"You've been in the job six months ago. You're not a newbie, ghost. You've killed a lot of damn people, but you still haven't learned the most important thing about the job. ”

"You have to be cautious at all times, Wraith. Take my words to heart and always be cautious. ”

"If killing the person in front of you will expose you, don't make a move. If the enemy's whereabouts are unknown, wait until they appear before starting the operation. If you don't know what's in the dark...... Don't go in. ”

"But—"

"No but, Ghost." Carlil said softly. "Listen, if you don't understand it, write it down, sooner or later you will understand, and you must understand it too...... I don't have much time to go on and you have to learn it all. ”

The ghost's eyes widened, it was the first time he had been so caught off guard.

"What does that mean?" He asked at a brisk pace. "Why don't you have time? Are you leaving? ”

"No, I'm not leaving. I don't have time because I'm dying. Carlil replied calmly.

"But you're healthy!"

The ghost said urgently. "I can see that I know a lot of things, Carlil - you won't die, I know these things, just as I know how long I've lived! Do you know how long you've lived? ”

Carlil didn't answer the sentence.

The ghost's incoherent speech made him laugh again, and his smile was pale. Then he moved on to something else.

"Do you know what a ticking time bomb is, Spirit?"

"It's a funny little thing, a normal bomb explodes quickly within seconds when it's triggered. This is not the case with time bombs. ”

"It's artificially timed, a countdown that keeps beating...... The moment the countdown goes to zero, it explodes. ”

The ghost looked at him with great trepidation, waiting for the next word.

"And I'...... I just have a countdown. Carlil said. There are two problems here. First, I don't know when the countdown will end. I couldn't see the exact numbers, only vague inductions. ”

"Second, I'm much more dangerous than a time bomb, I can detect it—you too, Spirit, remember? You say the kind of power I'm using is dangerous...... Yes, it is indeed dangerous. ”

The ghost bared his teeth in anger at his words, his teeth neat and white, his face stained with acid rain and dirty with his own blood. But Carlil could see the truth.

Beneath this filth, the ghost is perfect.

There is no doubt that he is not human.

But he's angry at the moment.

"You say the time bomb is man-made!" The wraith roared. "Countdown? Who set the countdown for you? I'll find out, I'll kill him! ”

Anger enveloped him, and Carlil's eyes narrowed, and he sensed an obvious terrifying threat.

The wraith is not hostile to him, in fact, the wraith's anger at the moment is to protect him. However, the mere aftermath of anger had already begun to make Carlil want to swing his knife.

Perfect, perfect, ghost. You can definitely change the world.

"Take it easy, ghost." Carlil said with a smile. "Nobody sets a countdown for me, and in fact, if you had to figure out one person to be responsible for, that person would have to be me."

“...... What? ”

Faced with his doubts, Carlil didn't explain—or rather, he chose to explain it in another way.

"In this world, everything has a price, ghosts. Some are obvious, others are hidden. ”

"Like the kind of power I use. It's convenient, it's responsive, it's so powerful that it doesn't need to obey the logic of reality, and it can even evoke a revenant soul floating through the universe......"

"And the cost is often linked to these things."

"It's changing me, Ghost." Carlil said softly, in a tone that bordered on dreaminess.

"I can perceive this subtle change...... And in my experience, the price I have to pay for such a powerful force must be staggering. ”

The ghost looked at him in confusion, completely unable to understand what he was saying. Still, that's fine. Carlil didn't want to tell the whole truth in just half an hour.

There are some things that must be acted upon to make the ghost understand that he is already wary of the world. However, for a world like Nostramo, his vigilance is not enough.

He was still too naïve.

He should have a resolute cruelty towards his enemies, and treat them as the most terrifying monsters in the world before he decides to do so.

A person's attitude towards the world should depend on how the world treats him. If the world kisses you with pain, you don't have to sing in return.

But...... You don't have to burn the world with fire.

"Go ahead and rest, Spirit."

Carlil stood up. "Your first solo hunt wasn't a complete failure, but you didn't succeed either. As for the answer to that question...... I'll consider it later as I see fit. ”

"Where are you going?" The ghost asked.

Carlil looked back with a smirk: "Where do you think I'm going, return the car?" The night in Nostramo never ends, Ghost, and your terrible hunt clearly needs an end. ”

The ghost watched in silence as he departed, the dark corners less comfortable for the first time.