The Suitcase had a thick black shell. Upon seeing the brown bloodstains dotting its surface, a fleeting illusion of his hand gripping its handle flashed through Shi Rang's mind.
...It was incredibly heavy, and impossible to open.
Fragmented memories arrived late, rushing into his consciousness all at once.
His missing memories finally connected.
After using light as a blade to kill the Stitched Walker, Shi Rang had stumbled toward the exit in a daze. He had tripped over the Suitcase halfway there, ultimately acting as if possessed when he dragged it out of the factory with him. Leader Jack and the other Mini-Humans had climbed onto his body right then, shouting and screaming into his ears, but completely exhausted, he had turned a deaf ear to them.
Only fleeting impressions remained of the events that followed.
He remembered climbing into the car Director Bjorn had driven, burning through the last of the gas, and abandoning the vehicle on the outskirts of Yunling City. He had taken a shortcut home along a familiar mountain path, setting down his belongings as casually as if he had just returned from a normal day at work. Absurdly, after walking through the door, he had even tried to wipe down his Camera—most likely in a groggy attempt to avoid returning a dirty item. He then stumbled into the shower to wash away the blood and gore before total exhaustion took over, causing him to pass out in the living room...
Shi Rang lifted the lid of the laundry basket. A thick stench of blood hit him in the face, finally explaining the strange odor lingering in the house.
He turned his head and dry-heaved, then frowned deeply at the clothes and shoes that looked like they belonged in a murder scene. They were completely covered in dark brown patches.
The remains of the Stitched Walker had long since evaporated in the light; all of this was his own blood.
So, this was why he had woken up wearing nothing but a bath towel, without even his slippers on.
Picking up the broken mobile phone he had discarded at home earlier and turning it over, he saw dried blood crusted around the edges of the screen, just as he suspected. The Camera sitting on the cabinet was in even worse shape. Just a quick glance told him he was definitely going to have to pay for the damages.
He had rushed out so frantically that morning, completely dizzy and disoriented, that he had not even taken a proper look at it.
However, none of this explained how he had managed to regrow his arm.
Massive blood loss, followed by strenuous physical activity, all without applying any first aid to stop the bleeding—being found dead next to the monster's remains should have been the best possible outcome.
It should have been physically impossible for him to leave that factory alive.
Shi Rang stared at his right arm, tracing his gaze from his fingertips all the way up to his shoulder. He examined it closely in the mirror but could not find any seams, scars, or discoloration.
He did, however, find something else.
He had brought back more than just photographs of major news from Pingyuan City; he had also brought back a body covered in bruises and contusions. Now, every single bruise on his body had vanished without a trace.
As someone deeply immersed in internet culture, Shi Rang knew exactly what to do next.
He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife, but as he stared at the sharp edge and then at his hand, he hesitated, unable to bring himself to slice his own flesh.
Even a small cut would still hurt like hell!
He paced around the house before finally setting the knife down. Instead, he dug a needle out of a sewing kit, gritted his teeth, and pricked his finger. Pulling the needle back, a shiny bead of blood instantly welled up on his index finger. After Shi Rang dabbed it away with a tissue, the bloody puncture mark vanished at a visible rate.
Rapid Regeneration.
The term popped into Shi Rang's head.
His Self-Healing Ability had been enhanced—amplified to the point where he could regrow an entire arm overnight.
Pingyuan City could not have been where he acquired this ability. Neither was it when he first encountered the Stitched Walker; back then, his blood had been pouring out relentlessly without any signs of slowing down.
This anomalous power only appeared after he defeated the walking corpse.
He recalled how, after the light scorched the Stitched Walker, the masses of flesh on the monster's body had writhed and surged together to reform its shape.
All the organic tissues on the Stitched Walker were highly infectious. Could it be that he had not only avoided infection but had somehow gained its Rapid Regeneration?
Good heavens, what kind of absurd setup was this?
What exactly was wrong with this world?
"Don't poke yourself with needles, it looks like it hurts." Leader Jack tugged hard at Shi Rang's pant leg. He had climbed down from the Sofa at some point without Shi Rang noticing. "We are now sparrows tied to the same string—you guys don't need to correct me, I meant grasshoppers! Anyway, we're good friends now. Can you help us find the others? A lot of our people made it out, but we don't know where they went or if they managed to shake off the Management Authority..."
The Management Authority.
That was right. The Management Authority would never let C-888 go. If everything recorded in the Terminal Station was true, they would absolutely send agents to track down the whereabouts of these Mini-Humans.
And Shi Rang, the one who had killed the Stitched Walker, definitely would not be able to escape their notice either.
With his Rapid Regeneration, he would be classified as a standard Humanoid Anomaly by the Management Authority. Once discovered, he would be locked away in some dark, sunless hole until the day he died—just like Subject Lei and his Queue Effect—becoming just another "It" in the Records he used to browse.
If his secret was exposed, both he and the Mini-Humans would be doomed.
If he lost his freedom, he would lose everything.
Shi Rang wanted to sit down, but he didn't dare shift his feet, terrified there might be some Tiny Ones blending in with the floorboards nearby. They could not survive being stepped on. He stood stiffly in place, recalling the source of these bizarre experiences and reviewing his actions from a fresh perspective to see if he had made any fatal mistakes:
Agent Kyle had survived, and had even spoken highly of the "Midnight Visitor" Records he had written.
Intern Robin's escape had gone quite smoothly. Although Shi Rang had sent her a lot of classified information, no one had come knocking on his door afterward, proving his cover was still intact.
He likely hadn't been exposed on his way home, either. He had taken the shortcuts he used back when Pretending to be a Legitimate Journalist gathering intel—in order to shake off any police tracking him, Shi Rang had memorized every route lacking surveillance cameras.
All the evidence in his home could be destroyed later...
Wait! The remains of the Stitched Walker were still out in Yunling New District, and the place was covered in his blood and footprints!
And there was the car, too!
If any of those were discovered, he would be finished!
A sharp sense of crisis shot straight from his heels to the top of his head.
Shi Rang scooped up Leader Jack and placed him on his shoulder. Squinting to ensure there were no Mini-Humans in his immediate path, he leaped to the side, grabbing his jacket and rushing straight for the door while giving rapid instructions.
"Get down, hurry. I have to go clean up my tracks. You guys... you guys stay here and wait for me!"
"We can help!" Leader Jack, nearly thrown off by the sudden movement, gripped Shi Rang's clothes tightly and refused to let go. "Take the Tiny Ones too, The Sheriff is among them!"
"Tell me where they all are!"
-----------------
Deep within Yunling New District, obvious tire tracks remained. Two deep brake marks were carved into the concrete floor, which was covered in a thin layer of dust. From there, two more acceleration tracks, left by a floored gas pedal, veered off in another direction.
"Found something."
The person crouching and observing the tracks stood up, walking toward their companion who was waving from the factory entrance.
"There's blood and residual anomalous tissue inside the factory building—some kind of entity that fears the light." The companion waved a Flashlight toward the depths of the factory. "The blood trail starts in the next workshop and leads all the way to the Boiler Room. It all belongs to the same person. I checked it out; the amount of blood loss is easily fatal, but there's no corpse. Aside from the Anomaly and this poor bastard, there might have been a third party at the scene."
"What about the Suitcase?"
"Nowhere to be found. We searched the entire vicinity, but only found Director Bjorn's Tracker." The companion opened their palm to reveal a button-shaped device. Pressing it lightly, the device instantly emitted a sharp, piercing beep.
The person who had been examining the tire tracks pulled out an identical device and tapped it against the first one, silencing the alarm.
"Maybe he's still alive, or maybe someone else took the Suitcase."
"I suspect he might have hooked up with another organization. Otherwise, why would he suddenly drive off and escape right when we were supposed to rendezvous with him?" the companion said. "He even ran this far, making it a real pain to track him down. Thankfully, we got here before the Management Authority."
The other person listened with their head down, walking a few laps around the dark stains on the ground, seemingly trying to reconstruct the events that had transpired here.
Finally, they stopped and looked up at their companion.
"When will we be able to locate that car?"
"The tire tracks head straight toward Yunling City, and our people are already on their way..." The companion glanced up at the sky. "They should be arriving right about now."