Mister Zero, Her Story: Interlude – Days Gone By
“What’s your name?”
“Name… hurts… I can’t remember…”
“If you can’t remember, then it doesn’t matter.”
“Mm… what about you? What should I call you?”
“Luo Yan. That’s my name.”
I tilted my head slightly, trying to see her face.
But I couldn’t see clearly.
The dark clouds from the Calamity Tide covered the sky, only faint rays of sunlight filtering through, dimly illuminating the cracked wasteland.
Everything was shrouded in a gray mist, anything beyond a short distance obscured.
She gently held my hand, just like Mommy used to.
But… where was Mommy?
My head suddenly hurt, as if a large part of my memory was missing.
“Is this the person you’re looking for?”
She suddenly spoke, whether to me or to herself, I couldn’t tell.
“Sister… Luo Yan…?”
I clutched my head and looked up, confused.
She stopped and looked down at me.
Finally, I saw her face.
…Honestly, it was ordinary, not beautiful at all, and she looked fierce.
She stared at me with a scrutinizing, hostile gaze, as if I had said something I shouldn’t have.
I felt a deep-seated hatred in her eyes.
“I…”
I was too scared to speak.
“End.”
She whispered.
“Huh?”
I was confused, but she straightened up, still holding my hand.
“Remember, your ability is ‘End,’ Space-type, it’s very unstable, don’t use it casually.”
Her voice was cold, devoid of emotion.
But I didn’t understand what she meant.
“Ability? Space-type?”
I was completely lost.
“Yes, the power you used when you killed your mother, that’s your ability.”
She said calmly.
I froze.
I… killed Mommy?
Pain…
A kind face appeared in my mind, smiling gently at me.
I knew, that was Mommy.
But in a flash, Mommy’s face was covered in blood, then shattered like broken glass.
I instinctively reached out to her, but then I saw a severed hand in my own, a familiar ring on its finger.
Mommy’s ring.
“No…”
The pain intensified, memories flooding back, my head throbbing.
Collapsing buildings, broken limbs, screams of pain, helpless wails…
“Roar…”
An unintelligible growl escaped my throat, the sound raw and painful, but I didn’t even recognize it as my own voice.
The same feeling of shattering from that day returned, everything around me seeming to crumble.
But just then, a cool sensation washed over me, the painful memories fading.
“Mm…”
My mind went blank, I couldn’t remember anything.
I looked up and saw her face again.
This time, she didn’t look as fierce.
She looked at me calmly, the hatred in her eyes gone.
“Learn to accept reality, control your emotions, otherwise, this tragedy will repeat itself,” she whispered, then continued walking, her hand still in mine.
“Sister Luo Yan… where… are we going?”
I rubbed my head and asked.
“To find people.”
“What kind of people…?”
“You ask a lot of questions. I don’t usually recommend it, but this time is an exception,” she said softly. “To find people like you.”
“Like me…”
I thought for a moment. People like me… could it be…?
“Children who lost their mothers, like me?”
“To be precise, people who possess ‘demonic’ powers, like you.”
She patiently answered my question, although I didn’t understand.
“And then? What will we do after we find them?”
Sensing her relatively good mood, I dared to ask another question.
She was silent for a moment, as if hesitant.
But then she spoke again.
“Save the world.”
“Eh…”
I was speechless.
Saving the world… it sounded so… grand…
But she had said it so seriously.
More serious than ever before.
“Are we going to rely on me and the others like me?”
I asked.
“Yes.”
She nodded curtly, then an oppressive silence fell.
I didn’t dare ask any more questions.
…
Time passed.
“Save the world…”
I stood facing the wind, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar tall figure before me, tears welling up in my eyes.
“Sister Luo Yan… is this your so-called saving the world…?”
Behind me stood eight others, just like me.
My brothers and sisters.
She had brought me here, traveled the world with me, found them, and given us a home.
Even though we weren’t blood-related, we were as close as family.
We were grateful to her, willing to do anything for her.
But this was how she treated us in the end.
When our demonic powers were triggered by some malice, forced to activate and destroy everything around us uncontrollably, I finally understood.
She had never considered us family.
She had been using us.
Our efforts, our home, the settlement we had painstakingly built, “Dawn City,” collapsed amidst the roars and explosions, all because of her.
And she simply stood there, indifferent, and whispered,
“Is this enough?”
What did she mean?
I was stunned.
“Yes, Luo Yan.”
Another voice answered her question.
A voice I had never heard before, yet strangely familiar.
—Only then did I realize that she hadn’t been talking to herself all this time, but to someone else.
No, not a person…
A small figure materialized beside her, with long, flowing black hair, an inhumanly beautiful face, and a cold, deathly aura.
Just by standing there, the dark-haired girl made me feel the approach of “death.”
“But you lied to me. This was a betrayal.”
She spoke, and for the first time, I heard emotion in her voice.
Sorrow.
“I didn’t lie to you. Gathering the consciousness of the ‘gods’ and exiling them will save the world,” the dark-haired girl replied softly. “But before that, you will unleash the ‘Malice of All Worlds’.”
“So… I couldn’t save the world,” her voice trembled.
“You destroyed this world with your own hands,” the dark-haired girl said indifferently. “The ‘Malice of All Worlds’ will be unleashed because the gods, once concepts, have become physical entities, freed from all constraints. In short… we are free.”
“No…”
I had never seen her look so heartbroken.
She collapsed before the dark-haired girl, looking up at me—at all of us.
Her gaze wasn’t fierce; she simply looked at us with sorrow, and I even saw a hint of apology.
“I’m sorry…”
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
She didn’t know who she was apologizing to, but it seemed to be us.
But my consciousness was fading.
My demonic power was still out of control, yet being pulled by some force, as if coalescing into something.
I struggled to see clearly…
A small, silver-haired figure, curled up slightly.
But I couldn’t see any more.
Was this conspiracy… meant to bring about the appearance of this silver-haired figure?
Just then, my consciousness faded completely.
…
Time passed again.
I was beyond saving now.
As the first “Demonically Infected” she found, my condition had been inevitably deteriorating.
My younger siblings had grown up, but I remained as I was when I met her, a small child.
From appearances, they seemed to be my “elder siblings.”
“Sister…”
Nine looked at me, fighting back tears. I could tell.
“You’re not the crybaby you used to be.”
I reached up and wiped the tears from his eyes.
“It’s just death, nothing to be afraid of,” I whispered.
“Death is a train that always arrives full, and none of us will miss it.
“And I… simply boarded a little earlier. The journey will eventually reach its destination, there’s no need to rush.”
“But, but…” Nine still wept.
“Just think of me as… asleep, and unable to wake up.”
I sighed and said.
My other siblings also looked at me silently, their sorrow hidden.
I slowly turned and walked towards a coffin made of ice.
This “Ice Coffin” was created to contain my uncontrolled power after my death.
It was the best way to deal with a demonically infected corpse.
“My last wish…”
I whispered.
The room was silent, no one daring to even breathe loudly.
“I wish… for the truth to be found.”
“She left… and erased all traces of herself.”
“I’ve forgotten her name, her face, so much…”
“But I haven’t forgotten… her sorrow.”
“Find her… for me… or find the truth… please?”
A long silence, no one answered.
“Okay,” Nine said.
“Okay!”
All my siblings echoed his words.
I smiled.
I could finally leave this world in peace…
The train of death roared past, carrying me away.
Before my soul and will completely vanished, I seemed to recall her again, her fierce gaze.
And… three figures.
…I finally remembered, there were three.
She and the dark-haired girl had brought us together, built “Dawn City,” and then destroyed it, all for the sake of the silver-haired figure who was born at the end.
—Was this the truth?
I didn’t know, and I couldn’t tell anyone.
But perhaps… this was enough?
A buried, unanswered truth.
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