Outside, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and torrential rain poured down.Inside, the air conditioning and thin blanket provided ample warmth.Though the chill of late autumn intensified with the descending rain, the deliberately dimmed, orange-hued lighting sharply divided the interior from the exterior, creating two entirely distinct worlds.
Bai Xia was curled up on the sofa, snacking, engrossed in a thrilling sci-fi movie projected from her Skycomm.She couldn’t say she particularly disliked rainy weather, yet the constant flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder were undeniably vexing.While switching to headphone mode allowed her to continue watching the film unimpeded, the incessant boom of one lightning strike after another would likely hinder her sleep later.
Fortunately, it was still early, and Bai Xia’s spirits remained relatively high.She only hoped the thunder would subside slightly by the time she went to bed.
Of course, even as she ate and watched her movie, she hadn’t forgotten to search online for the reason her Skycomm had malfunctioned earlier.
Although numerous similar issues and solutions populated the internet, after personally attempting the suggested fixes, she discovered her Skycomm didn’t seem to be affected by those common problems.More precisely, she couldn’t pinpoint any fault with the Skycomm itself.
Since no problem could be found with the Skycomm, it was highly probable that the recent call wasn’t a malfunction after all.Consequently, Bai Xia couldn’t help but feel a renewed sense of unease about that strange, unfamiliar phone call.
After all, this was the first time she had encountered such a situation since transforming into her current state.If that unfamiliar call wasn’t a glitch, then who had made it?Why had they called only to remain silent?And why had her immediate callback failed to connect?
As a whirlwind of such questions spun through her mind, Bai Xia felt as though the current atmosphere perfectly suited her pushing up imaginary glasses and uttering that famous line: ‘The truth is but one, and the culprit is…’ ‘Alright, I’m mixing up genres,’ she chided herself.
In any case, she sensed that the recent call was far from simple, possibly even connected to the original owner of this body.
In truth, there were many, many aspects of the original owner that Bai Xia simply couldn’t comprehend.
Firstly, regarding their identity, the fragmented and hazy memories left to Bai Xia only revealed that they were a native Suhua resident, a twenty-year-old university graduate who had remained a shut-in at home ever since.
Yet, none of these details truly withstood scrutiny.
For instance, her Skycomm’s contact list and even her messages were completely blank.While the same could be said for her online chat tools—a detail she could perhaps overlook—why was there no information about friends, let alone parents or other relatives?
Initially, she had suspected the original owner might have been an orphan.However, upon closer thought, even an orphan would surely have a few regularly contacted friends over twenty years, wouldn’t they?
Moreover, whenever this thought arose, a strange sensation would invariably negate it.’The original owner is not an orphan,’ Bai Xia knew with an inexplicable certainty, despite lacking any specific memories to support it.
But if not an orphan, then where on earth had their parents gone?The original owner, being such a shut-in, wasn’t the type to work away from home for years on end.Furthermore, even if they lived separately, there should still be some form of contact information, right?
Later, she wondered if the original Skycomm had broken, leading to a replacement where information wasn’t transferred, and then she had arrived.Yet, after inspecting it, she discovered her Skycomm was still a three-year-old model, and it was evident the original owner had used this particular device for a very long time.
There were simply too many things she couldn’t fathom.Connecting all these disparate, perplexing details only made the original owner’s identity feel increasingly enigmatic.
The ‘impression’ left to her was indeed that of an ordinary person, yet paradoxically, there were many aspects about them that were anything but ordinary.
“Could it be that the original owner was actually a ruthless professional assassin, adopted by an organization from childhood and trained into a killing machine, only to secretly escape the organization later, weary of the bloodshed, in an attempt to live a peaceful life…?”
“Uh… if I think about it that way, a lot of things certainly make sense,” she mused, “like finding no contacts in the Skycomm, having too little personal information, and everything feeling a bit strange.”
“Because they’re an assassin, they’d naturally need to hide all sorts of personal information!”
“So, that strange call just now was actually the organization finding me again?”
“Are they planning to kill me, this traitor who betrayed the organization?”
“What kind of third-rate novel plot is this?”
Watching the movie’s protagonist transform into a secret agent and infiltrate enemy territory, Bai Xia’s thoughts couldn’t help but drift.However, she quickly snapped back to reality, patting her face to clear her head.
While these fantasies felt somewhat absurd, she had to admit, the premise was rather captivating, wasn’t it?
Still, absurdity was absurdity.With her slender limbs and a physique that left her breathless after a few steps, if she truly became an assassin, her targets would likely be limited to shut-ins or lolicons.After all, a loli’s ‘moe-kill’ (TL Note: A slang term referring to an overwhelming cuteness that captivates and ‘kills’ the target’s resistance.) was a skill only effective against the aforementioned demographics.
Bai Xia certainly had no desire to become a ‘Lolicons’ Assassin,’ so she unhesitatingly cast all these outlandish thoughts from her mind.
“Forget it,” she murmured, “perhaps something really is wrong, or it was just a wrong number.”
Unable to fathom the true nature of the earlier call, Bai Xia could only console herself with this explanation, then redirected her full attention to the movie before her.
By the time the movie concluded, the rain outside still showed no signs of abating, yet the thunder had, unexpectedly, quieted considerably.
Feeling weary, Bai Xia took a quick shower, watched a few entertaining short videos, and then climbed into bed to sleep.
Her sleep, however, was far from peaceful—not due to the thunder, but because she dreamt many dreams throughout the night whose contents she couldn’t recall at all.
She had a persistent feeling that the dreams were peculiar, yet upon waking the next day, she couldn’t for the life of her remember what made them strange.Her entire head felt as if it had been filled with paste, leaving her disoriented and muddled, so much so that Bai Xia spent a full thirty minutes staring blankly upon getting out of bed that morning.
The rain had brought with it a distinct drop in temperature.Bai Xia, having opened the window for a breath of fresh air, found herself shivering uncontrollably from the cold.Fortunately, the bracing chill that assailed her also served to fully awaken her.
After a quick breakfast, Bai Xia logged into the game at the appointed time.
Resurfacing at yesterday’s log-out point, Bai Xia found, as expected, Tian Zheng had been waiting for her nearby for some time.Upon seeing her online, the man had intended to greet her, but as he raised his hand, he paused.
“Morning… hmm? What’s wrong? You seem a bit off, Bai Xia. Didn’t you sleep well?”
“Ah, something like that,” Bai Xia replied.
She shook her head; her condition was indeed a little subpar, though it wouldn’t impede her performance.
Tian Zheng, however, suddenly seemed to recall something, his brows furrowing slightly as he spoke: “Speaking of which, there’s been a widespread temperature drop across the country recently, accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain. Remember to wear more layers so you don’t catch a cold or fever.”
“I’m not a child who can’t take care of herself,” Bai Xia grumbled.
Having muttered her retort, Bai Xia waved her hand, ready to dismiss the topic entirely, when the strange call from last night resurfaced in her mind.Consequently, she subconsciously asked, “By the way, I encountered something odd last night. Could you, Great God, help me analyze the reason?”
“Something odd? Did you measure your height and find you’d grown an extra centimeter?”
“…Could I ask you to self-destruct on the spot?”