Monster - Chapter 16
Chapter 16: A Madman's Thoughts
"Typing on a vintage typewriter… is this the price one pays for having a melancholy air?" Lou sat in a small pavilion in the riverside corridor, not far from Lin Sandie's apartment.
Today, she was also wearing a white ruffled shirt with a stand-up collar, a black ribbon tied around her neck, and a high-waisted black midi skirt. She was dressed exactly like Lin Sandie had been when they first met. Even the bridge of her prominent nose was adorned with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.
But even in the same outfit, a closer look revealed that the aura she projected was vastly different from Lin Sandie's.
Lou had a fearless, carefree air, like a bird soaring through the sky, while Lin Sandie was melancholic, repressed, and cautious—more like a canary locked in a cage.
At that moment, Lou's eyes were closed as she observed Lin Sandie through Miu the crow's eyes. This had become a daily routine. Because she had promised Miu she would use Lin Sandie's identity to do things beneficial to their mission, Miu, who had initially refused to continue spying on Lin Sandie, had no choice but to cooperate.
"Lin Sandie isn't as helpless as she appears on the surface. Her peeking at Yan Ting's phone just now proves it. She's trying to resist Yan Ting in her own way," Miu's assessment echoed in Lou's mind.
"How interesting~" Lou mused. Through Miu's vision, she saw Lin Sandie type out two notes, fold them separately, and then begin to change her clothes. But just as she was about to change, she seemed to sense something and immediately drew the curtains, blocking Miu's view.
Lou sucked in a breath.
"She's way too cautious! There isn't even a 'person' watching her."
"Tsk, tsk." Miu scoffed at Lou's wild imagination.
Unaware that she was being monitored by another party, Lin Sandie quickly changed into her outdoor clothes, placed the two notes in her pocket and backpack respectively, and chose to hail a cab instead of driving herself.
"Follow her," Lou ordered as she opened her eyes. She then left the pavilion, hailed a taxi of her own, and tailed Lin Sandie closely.
Lin Sandie went to an optical shop. The shop had no name and was tiny, tucked away in an alley between two residential buildings. It was inconvenient for Lou to follow her inside, so she found a nearby milk tea shop and had Miu go instead.
Through Miu's eyes, Lou saw that the shop owner was a man in his fifties with graying temples, sitting in a wheelchair. His eyes held an indescribable world-weariness, as if he had endured many hardships.
"Huh?" Miu scanned the man. "He was once a Legislator in this Tower World."
Information about the man appeared before Lou:
Name: Zhou Huaiyi
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Current Status: Optical Shop Owner, Member of Glory Road.
Profile: Former Legislator, Code: β (Note 1). Stripped of Legislator status in the year 2000 of the Mirror Calendar.
"Define Glory Road." Seeing the new term, which was like unlocking a new entry in a game, Lou immediately used the unlock function.
"Glory Road: An underground organization secretly formed by a certain councilor to investigate the mystery of the monsters. (Zhou Huaiyi's clearance is insufficient to unlock more.)"
Lou stared at the pale blue screen that only she could see. The information was frustratingly brief, but she didn't mind. She closed the screen with an unchanged expression and continued to monitor Lin Sandie.
Within Miu's limited field of vision, Lou saw Lin Sandie enter the shop, exchange a few quiet words with Zhou Huaiyi, and then walk into the back room, disappearing from sight.
No matter how inconspicuous a crow was, it couldn't just fly directly into an optical shop.
Lou opened her eyes, took a sip of her milk tea, and waited for Lin Sandie to come out.
Just then, the bell hanging above the milk tea shop's glass door chimed as a new customer entered. Lou glanced over and saw a handsome, gloomy young man, likely over twenty-five, dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. He wore a pair of old-fashioned, black-framed glasses on his nose. When he saw Lou, his gaze lingered on her.
Name: Zhou Ren
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Current Status: Optical Shop Employee, Zhou Huaiyi's only son, Glory Road Cadre.
Profile: None.
Lou scanned his simple information just as Zhou Ren sat down across from her.
"Mr. Zhou, the usual?" Zhou Ren was clearly a regular. The moment he sat down, the staff member behind the counter asked.
"Yes, a plain coffee, thank you." Zhou Ren nodded to the staff member, then immediately turned his gaze to Lou. "Lin Sandie, what are you doing here?"
"Just taking a break." Lou showed no sign of panic, calmly taking another sip of her milk tea.
The corners of Zhou Ren's mouth curled up. He lowered his head, took off his glasses, and pulled a soft cloth from his pocket. He began to wipe his glasses while watching Lou.
Lou knew he was checking to see if she had turned into a monster, and she was sizing him up as well. He had already become a monster, but judging by the arm that had yet to grow an eye, he hadn't killed anyone.
"Mr. Zhou, your plain coffee." The staff member quickly placed a paper cup of coffee in front of Zhou Ren.
"Thank you." Zhou Ren put his glasses back on, paid, and turned to Lou, who was chewing on her straw. "Want to come sit at the shop?"
"I've already been." Lou stood up and started walking out of the milk tea shop, casually asking, "Want to go for a walk?"
Zhou Ren raised an eyebrow in surprise. The Lin Sandie of the past had never said anything like that. However, he didn't overthink it and followed Lou out of the shop.
Lou deliberately avoided the optical shop to prevent a run-in with the real Lin Sandie, leading Zhou Ren toward a small nearby park.
"Isn't it about time you joined us, Lin Sandie?" Zhou Ren suddenly said as they strolled.
He didn't find anything amiss. The current Lou, aside from a slight difference in temperament, had the exact same style of dress and appearance as Lin Sandie. Since Zhou Ren didn't interact with Lin Sandie often, he couldn't tell the difference.
He's inviting Lin Sandie to join Glory Road, Lou immediately concluded upon hearing his words.
"I haven't made up my mind yet," Lou said evasively. She had been thinking about what to say ever since Zhou Ren greeted her. A sudden idea struck her, and she added in a level tone, "Feng Li hasn't shown up for several days."
"When did this happen? What's Yan Ting's attitude?" Zhou Ren's brow furrowed slightly upon hearing the news.
"Four or five days ago. It seems Yan Ting knows who the culprit is and has sent people to hunt them down," Lou said, mixing truth with lies based on the people hunting her and the phone call she'd overheard Yan Ting make at Lin Sandie's apartment.
After hearing Lou's words, Zhou Ren frowned and fell silent, seemingly lost in thought.
"Do you think this has anything to do with that serial killer?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Isn't that serial killer targeting people connected to the Upper House? Feng Li is Yan Ting's assistant, so she's connected, right?"
"Hmm… I thought you were unwilling to discuss these things with us," Zhou Ren said, looking at Lou with a smile.
Lou was speechless. She had hoped Zhou Ren would say more about the serial killer.
She and Miu had been investigating the serial murder case, but it wasn't Lou's forte, so they hadn't made much progress.
Unfortunately, Zhou Ren didn't indulge her. He didn't say anything more about the killer. He took a sip of his coffee and looked at Lou, his gaze profound.
"I really admire you, Lin Sandie. To be around a monster like Yan Ting for so long without being infected."
"You're not so bad yourself, being able to suppress the desire to harm others even after turning into a monster," Lou complimented him back.
"It's getting harder and harder for me to control it. The thought of what it feels like to hurt someone keeps running through my mind. Have you ever thought about things like that?"
"No." When she hurt people, she felt nothing, so there was no need to think about such trivial matters.
"I envy you for still being a normal person."
Zhou Ren's small talk was boring Lou. She started thinking about how to get rid of this somewhat annoying man so she could go check on what the real Lin Sandie was doing.
"Xu Yao." Just as Lou was about to say her goodbyes, Zhou Ren suddenly mentioned an unfamiliar name.
"Who's that?"
"We discovered that the people killed by the serial killer are all, to some extent, connected to this woman named Xu Yao. According to our investigation, Xu Yao was shot in the head three years ago, and her body was dumped in an abandoned building in the West District. She had been a Lower House council member for less than half a year, and she had a brooch. Her code name was ξ. (Note 2)"
"What do you want me to do?" Lou asked directly. She knew Zhou Ren wouldn't have shared this information without asking for something in return.
"Find out if Yan Ting has any connection to her. If you succeed, we'll get you new lenses for your glasses next year."
So that was it. Lin Sandie was monitoring Yan Ting and was in contact with this underground organization, Glory Road, all for a pair of glasses lenses.
To avoid seeing the true faces of those monsters.
A smile touched Lou's lips now that she knew Lin Sandie's secret for approaching Glory Road.
"Alright…" After a moment of thought, Lou continued, "Let's meet next Sunday at 3 p.m., right here in this park. I can't keep going to the optical shop. Yan Ting has been on edge lately because of the Feng Li incident, you know."
"Understood." Zhou Ren nodded. He still felt that the Lin Sandie he met today was a bit strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
Having dealt with Zhou Ren in Lin Sandie's stead, like a dove in a magpie's nest, Lou was informed by Miu that the real Lin Sandie had already left the optical shop. She then bid Zhou Ren farewell.
"We'll investigate Xu Yao first," said Miu, who had been in constant contact with Lou and had also heard the name.
"Not Yan Ting?" Lou asked, looking baffled by Miu's suggestion.
"Do you look like you're investigating Yan Ting?!" Miu exploded. It had been playing house with Lou for over a week, and all of it revolved around this woman named Lin Sandie.
"I know, I know." Lou knew she had been paying too much attention to Lin Sandie lately. She had real work to do in this world.
"If you like her so much, why don't you dare to meet her?" Miu taunted.
"Lin Sandie is different from the others. I haven't figured out how to face her yet," Lou stated her feelings plainly.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't want to protect her. I want her to be able to protect herself, but I can't help but worry about her. And… I want to hurt her, and I want her to be able to hurt me. Can you understand that feeling, Miu?"
"…I don't understand the thoughts of a madman."
"Maybe when Lin Sandie is able to hurt me, she'll have also become someone who can powerfully protect herself."
"Normal people don't think like that!"
"It's so difficult. The more I think about facing Lin Sandie, the harder it feels."
"Tsk… Let's get to work first!"
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