Li Yue gave a faint smile. The prisoner who had been bragging stopped mid-sentence. He glanced at the white-haired, red-eyed girl and froze for a moment, as if he hadn't quite understood her words.
“Yesterday... I was already caught... I haven't been outside since.” He scratched his head and stole a few more glances at Li Yue. To be honest, he had never seen such a beautiful woman. If he had to describe her, she didn't seem human at all; she looked more like a Seraphim from mythology.
The surrounding crowd also noticed the girl who had suddenly spoken. They retreated several steps in unison. The killer instincts they had developed in high-pressure environments for years made them feel waves of fear.
Having been forced to study religious texts, they all experienced a sudden sense of déjà vu.
These were all people who had escaped the death penalty by reason of mental illness. In those texts, whether it was an angel taking a life for the sake of good, a demon bringing death to the wicked, or a deity wielding the authority of death, most were depicted with white hair and red eyes.
She looked like an angel, yet also like a reaper.
“You’re not a prisoner, are you?” a voice called out from the crowd.
“I’m a patient,” Li Yue replied, feeling a wave of boredom. “Doctor Lane’s.”
“Then you’re not one of us, hahaha.” A man with a gentlemanly air spoke up. It was said that before his arrest, he had been a psychologist who enjoyed processing corpses with an artistic touch.
“We’re all patients here; we just entered in different ways.” Li Yue fell silent for a moment. She knew well that the people around her were just a pack of lunatics who had evaded execution. Because of this, she let out a breath and felt an odd sense of relaxation.
It was just that their symptoms were different. She still had her principles, whereas these people were merely psychopaths who used slaughter to satisfy the desires deep within their hearts.
Perhaps she had been suppressing herself for too long, but at this moment, she finally felt at ease. At the end of the day, they were all just people with blood on their hands.
“You should have a chance to read the newspapers, right?” Li Yue found a random spot and sat down.
“Every Monday and Thursday. The news from these past two weeks has been explosive; everyone’s seen it,” a man with a scar on his face said excitedly.
“Oh?”
“Apparently, the guards at a chemical factory were wiped out. The follow-up investigation revealed it was a place running illegal businesses.” The gentlemanly man couldn't help but chuckle when he mentioned 'illegal,' his tone laced with a hint of disdain.
“I remember now. Human trafficking, organ harvesting, and human experimentation.”
“Dying for a cause like that is a good riddance. But we’re hardly in a position to judge; at least they were indirect criminals, hahaha.”
“Hahaha, those masterminds were way more impressive than I ever was.” The scarred man laughed. “I just don't know what they were sentenced to. No one from that side has joined us lately.”
“Maybe the rich people behind them helped them evade sentencing.”
“I was originally up for a minor offense, but because the person I hurt was a rich kid, I was forcibly sentenced to death. Luckily, I faked madness to escape.”
“Hmph, they just saw enough of your comedy and chose to spare you in the end.”
The crowd began to grow rowdy. Li Yue frowned; this city was indeed more twisted than she had imagined.
“Death penalty,” Li Yue said flatly.
“Is that in today’s news?”
“I did it.”
“Are you a judge, miss?”
“No.” Li Yue paused. The people around her didn't seem to realize anything yet, standing by and waiting for the rest of her sentence.
“Then what do you do, miss?”
Li Yue curled her hand into a loose grip, her nails slowly turning blood-red. She aimed her hand at the hard steel wall. In an instant, a slash appeared on the meter-thick wall that nearly pierced all the way through, accompanied by a massive sonic boom.
The crowd looked at the wall before them in disbelief, then turned to look at Li Yue. From her blood-red eyes, they finally realized why they had felt that wave of terror earlier and why they had been harboring a faint sense of unease.
It was over. They had truly encountered a master who would kill without blinking during an episode.
“I am a patient.” Li Yue looked up. “But because I feel guilt when I kill, I only target the guilty.”
“Miss!” A shout broke the silence of the scene. Li Yue withdrew her hand as Lane approached from a distance, carrying his medical box. He looked at the smooth slash on the wall and subconsciously assumed it was something left over from the prison’s past.
“I’ve tried to prepare some medication. Though it won't cure the root cause, it can help you stay calm when you feel distressed or uneasy.” Lane took out a small iron box containing several blue pills.
“The environment here isn't suitable for relaxing. Let's go look elsewhere.” Lane pointed toward the exit. Li Yue nodded. She glanced at the crowd, and they instinctively stepped aside to clear a path for her.
Lane blinked, not understanding why this group of people, who usually fought and caused trouble at the slightest provocation, was being so well-behaved today.
They walked out of the activity room. Li Yue seemed disinterested. She narrowed her eyes slightly, not understanding why she had suddenly wanted to slaughter everyone in there just now.
“Doctor, why aren't these people sentenced to death?” Li Yue frowned slightly.
“Before they were prisoners, they were patients. I don't know if they were lucid when they committed their crimes.” Doctor Lane lit a cigarette and walked ahead of Li Yue. “But in my view, they also have their own sins to atone for.”
“I know some of them are faking it; the ones surrounding you just now were exactly that.” Lane exhaled. “But there are real patients here as well.”
“There was once a girl who killed her biological mother during a schizophrenic episode. Since coming here, she hasn't spoken a single word.” Lane flicked his cigarette ash. “But she was also a genius. She once wrote a piece for Reinhardt. That song, ‘Fire and Steel,’ is Reinhardt’s favorite.”
“And there were a few others. After they became famous, they were taken out, only to die soon after from madness.”
Li Yue lowered her head in thought, lightly biting her nail.
“If you had arrived a minute later, my symptoms might have worsened,” Li Yue joked.
“Does interacting with them put too much mental pressure on you? If so, let's find a place to clear your head.”
In the future, their mental pressure will probably be the high one when interacting with me.
She felt the colors before her eyes shift. When she looked up, the scene had changed to include several green plants—huge, dark green plants and some light green deciduous vines kept within this transparent conservatory.
“Even so, there isn't enough sunlight, so life-support magic has to be used here most of the time.” Lane smiled. “Some of the wealthy districts in the city have conservatories like this for tours, though the tickets are quite expensive.”
“The warden grows these. If you’re in a bad mood, you can come take a look.” Lane had extinguished his cigarette outside the door, but he still carried a faint scent of smoke. He glanced around, gave an embarrassed smile, and returned to the doorway to wait, letting Li Yue enjoy the view alone.
Soil and greenery—Li Yue hadn't seen them for a while. The last time was in that bloody chemical factory, and there had only been a tiny bit there in a pitch-black environment. It was nowhere near as healing as this.
Li Yue found a stone chair and sat down. For the first time in a long while, she felt a sense of peace. She drifted off into a light sleep.
...
The light rain made the weather somewhat gloomy, even at the academy. The freshmen who had recently enrolled were starting their autumn exams. In this season of continuous drizzle, they traversed the Forbidden Forest, staying alert for potential attacks.
Inside a snow-white high tower, Clo sat alone at a table. Quite a few people stood at the door, trying to knock or open it, but all were unsuccessful.
“Half finished... sigh.” Clo sighed and hid the half-finished flower crown inside her ring. She opened the room door, and only then did she hear the sound of the drizzling rain outside.
“My lady, the other four have already arrived.” A woman wearing an examiner's armband stepped forward, her expression filled with urgency.
“It’s fine. Let those fellows experience what it feels like to be stood up for once.” Clo’s words carried a hint of dissatisfaction.
“My lady, this meeting...”
Clo made a gesture that said “I don't want to hear it” and walked down the steps. She held a staff in her hand. After more than a year, she was once again wearing her academy magic robes. Despite the passage of time, she still clearly remembered how she looked the last time she wore them.
“In my memory, the last time I wore this outfit, she was still by my side,” Clo said softly.
“Didn't you wear it during the spring assessment half a year ago?” a young girl accompanying her couldn't help but ask.
“That time... so only half a year has passed until ‘now’?” Clo wore a reminiscent expression. “I hadn't met her yet at that time.”
“Never mind. Just consider that I remembered it wrong.”
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