Number Two really was Alice’s friend!

  Am I dreaming? Well… technically, yes, this is a dream…

  Alice could never have imagined that I’d find a way to contact the friend she lost in the future. She probably never even considered trying. Not because she didn’t care, but because the very idea existed in a blind spot.

  It’s like protagonists in rebirth novels: they rarely stop to wonder whether the original future timeline continues to unfold after they go back in time—and how it unfolds. If you asked them whether they’d want to speak with people from that original future, they might feel a flicker of interest. But if you don’t ask, the thought itself barely forms. And even if it does occur to them, treating it as a practical, real-world issue is almost impossible.

  I deliberately spoke the words aloud: “So you’re the little girl Alice mentioned—the one who traveled with her as a pair?”

  Number Two froze for a second. Then, as if she’d momentarily forgotten her grief, she burst out in a mix of shock and joy: “Mr. Number Three… you’ve met Alice-neesan? You’ve actually talked to her?”

  “Yes, I’ve met her.” I carefully chose my words as I spoke. “And there’s one thing you’ve misunderstood.”

  “What is it?” she asked urgently.

  “I’m not from the apocalyptic era,” I said. “Like Number One and Number Four, I live in the time before the apocalypse ever arrives.”

  “That’s impossible…” She sounded incredulous. “If you’re not from the same era as me and Alice-neesan, how could you have met her…?”

  “You might find this hard to believe, but Alice… she crossed over to our era.”

  I told her everything that had happened between Alice and me.

  Naturally, I edited the story heavily. There was no way I could openly admit that I was a villain who wanted to exploit Alice to satisfy my own desires. Instead, I painted myself as a kind-hearted person who simply couldn’t stand by and watch a frail, vulnerable girl walk alone into the darkness.

  I couldn’t help but notice how much lying I’d been doing lately. Lies to Chang’an, lies to Alice, and now lies to a ten-year-old girl.

  When I thought about it, the only person I’d spoken to with anything close to honesty recently was Zhu Shi—and our relationship wasn’t even that deep.

  Still, the lies I was telling now weren’t born of malice. I genuinely intended to help Alice. Especially after hearing confirmation of the “God Seal” and “apocalypse” from other people’s mouths, a real desire to investigate the end of the world had taken root inside me.

  More importantly—if Alice learned that I possessed a God Seal fragment, and that I could even communicate with Number Two through it, maybe this time she wouldn’t leave me. Maybe I wouldn’t have to resort to keeping her captive.

  During my narration, Number Two occasionally interrupted with questions.

  Her voice was innocent and childlike, her way of speaking perfectly matched her apparent age—but the angles of her questions were surprisingly sharp. Some carried subtle probes, testing whether I was lying, especially about my relationship with Alice.

  Yes—in her eyes, even if I’d spoken with Alice, it didn’t necessarily mean we were friends. I could be her enemy. She needed to figure out my stance first.

  The excitement and joy she’d shown earlier when she thought I was from the apocalyptic era might have contained an element of performance.

  For a child her age, it was impressive—perhaps a kind of precocity forced by the apocalyptic environment. If her acting skills had been paired with a visible child’s face, I might not have noticed at all. Fortunately, right now she was just a blurry shadow, letting me judge her words more objectively.

  When I finished speaking, she fell silent. I patiently gave her time to process everything.

  She must have been feeling conflicted. Here she was, having lost even her own name, facing the near-certain fate of soon becoming a karma demon—while Alice, her protector, had been unexpectedly sent to a peaceful world before the apocalypse ever began.

  A world without madness. Without karma demons. A world where she could eat delicious food and enjoy every convenience of modern life.

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  Very often, what breaks a person isn’t poverty itself—it’s inequality.

  After a while, Number Two let out a long breath. The sound carried unmistakable relief: “…So that’s what happened. Alice-neesan really did go to the past…”

  There was no resentment in her voice. Some people really are that kind-hearted—or maybe children simply don’t think in such twisted ways. Seeing the person Alice had protected react this way upon learning Alice’s whereabouts filled me, for some reason, with quiet happiness.

  It made sense. Even though Number Two had forgotten her own name, she still clung tightly to Alice’s. That alone showed how genuine her feelings were.

  At the same time, a detail in her words caught me off guard.

  “You said ‘really did’?” I latched onto the phrase. “You already suspected she’d gone to the past?”

  “It’s not exactly that I knew… more like I had a feeling…” She seemed to be searching her memory. “…I’m sorry. I’ve forgotten so many things. I can’t even remember my own name now… I only remember that Alice-neesan returning to the past had something to do with me, but… I really can’t recall why I felt that way.”

  “If I remember correctly, the two of you got separated while fleeing from the Great Demon, right?” I asked. “Alice pulled you into one final spatial transfer, but something went wrong. The result was that her soul was sent to the modern era—into the body of a soul-loss syndrome patient who looked and was even named the same as her… Are you saying that ‘something went wrong’ was because of you?”

  “I can’t remember…” She shook her head. “It’s not that I’m lying. I really can’t remember.”

  “Then the first step is helping you recover your memories… at least enough to remember your own name.” I thought aloud. “If I find Alice, I should be able to ask her what name you used to go by. Then I can tell it to you… Would that work?”

  “It would,” she said. A faint spark of survival instinct seemed to return to her voice as she made her request. “If possible, Mr. Number Three… please hurry. I can only hold on for about ten more days at most.”

  “Ten days…” I nodded. “Understood. Though—if you’ll forgive me for asking—your current mental state doesn’t seem like someone who’s only ten days away from becoming a monster.”

  “Yeah… normally I wouldn’t even be able to have a normal conversation like this. I don’t know if it’s because of this dreamscape, but right now I can somehow speak clearly and think normally.” She sounded puzzled by it herself but had accepted the situation. “The moment I return to the real world, though, it’ll be hard to stay lucid.”

  “I see…” I had no choice but to accept her explanation for now. Then I asked, “By the way—wouldn’t ‘Number Two’ work as a name? Alice told me that as long as you have any name—even a temporary one—it’s enough. When you were with her, you probably weren’t using your real name either, right?”

  “Yes… Alice-neesan gave me a name back then. And it’s only because I still have ‘Number Two’ as a code name that I’ve lasted this long.” Her voice grew dejected. “But that name has no connection to my past memories. This misty dreamscape doesn’t happen every day. If no one calls my name… I’ll still turn into a monster in the end…”

  This was a real problem. Setting aside whether I could even find Alice within ten days—even if I did, how could I guarantee I’d re-enter this misty dreamscape in time? From the way Number One spoke, it sounded like a random occurrence.

  My real time limit wasn’t even ten days—it was five. That was how long Alice and I had lived together, and how long the lingering effect of her jinx constitution would continue to influence me after she left. Once that period ended, I’d return to a life untouched by anomalies.

  Number Two seemed to sense my tension. In her childish voice, she spoke gently: “Mr. Number Three, don’t be so stressed. I’m all alone now. Even if I got my name back, I wouldn’t survive long in the apocalypse anyway. Maybe… after I become a monster, I’d actually last a little longer.”

  “…It’s too early to give up. I’ll find Alice. And I’ll do everything I can to save you,” I said.

  She simply smiled and said, “By the way, Mr. Number Three… how do you feel about Alice-neesan?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Alice-neesan brings disaster to everyone around her. So many people fear and hate her. Even her old companions drove her out of the group. She always acted so strong in front of me, but I knew… she cried secretly when she thought I was asleep.” Her voice was soft. “She was so kind to me, but no one was ever that kind to her. And then you appeared in front of her…

  “Maybe one day you’ll decide you can’t stay with her anymore. Maybe for your own safety, or for the safety of the people around you. If that day comes, I hope…”

  I cut her off: “That day will never come.”

  She blinked.

  “Next time, I won’t let her escape from me again.” I spoke with absolute seriousness. “If she refuses to stay by my side no matter what, then even if I have to use… some forceful methods, I’ll make sure she stays.

  “No matter how much others curse her, no matter how much they call her a jinx—I will never see her that way. I swear it.

  “So don’t worry.”

  “…Really? That’s good…”

  She seemed to smile silently.

  By then, the mist had grown thicker without my noticing.

  I could no longer clearly see Number Two. I gradually lost sensation of my own body. Layer upon layer of gray fog darkened my vision into pure black…

  And then I woke up in my own home.

  I had returned to the real world.

  -

  The moment I woke, I immediately set out to verify whether the misty dreamscape had been real.

  It was undoubtedly a phenomenon created by anomalous power—but even if it came from anomalies, that didn’t automatically mean everything that happened inside was true. As the fundamental premise, I had to confirm this first.

  The simplest way was to test the information I’d gained from the dream. I placed the black jade I always carried somewhere far away and increased the distance. Just as Number One had said, there truly was a binding between the fragment and its bearer. Once I reached a certain range, the black jade automatically returned to my pocket.

  The misty dreamscape was real. Number Two was real. I really had spoken with someone from the apocalyptic era… Though the practical test might not have been conclusive proof, emotionally, I had already accepted it as truth.

  Two days later, a clue to Alice’s whereabouts finally appeared before me.