Hello, this is the XX Street police station..."
The familiar female voice spoke up.
Ethan immediately recognized that it belonged to the real Chen.
When he heard her voice, he let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.
"Hello, I'm the one who called earlier," he began, choosing his words carefully.
"Officer Chen... may I tell you a story?"
The voice on the other end paused.
"??? How do you know my last name...?" she asked instinctively.
"Once upon a time, there was a couple," Ethan continued, ignoring her question in a low, firm voice.
"They lived a happy life. They had a son..."
"But one day, the boy disappeared."
"The parents reported him missing."
"The police searched for months, but found nothing."
"Just as the couple were on the verge of collapse, a tip came in."
"A warehouse manager in a factory who was clearing out scrap metal found a body."
"Barely human. Charred."
"When the police examined the DNA from the destroyed body..."
"They confirmed that it was the missing boy they had been looking for for months."
"When the parents saw what had been done to their son... what was left..."
"The shock was too much. They collapsed."
"The factory was shut down because of the body – the inspectors found substandard materials, unsafe practices..."
"And here's the coincidence:"
"The killer's parents worked in that factory."
"Some suspected they had something to do with it, but there was no evidence."
"When the victim's parents regained consciousness..."
"They did something no one expected."
"They signed a declaration of forgiveness for the murderer."
"People cursed them."
"Said they took blood money."
"They betrayed the memory of their own son..."
"But then..."
"they did something even more unexpected."
"Months later, when the case had disappeared from the news..."
"They sedated the killer. Tied him up."
"Took him to the abandoned factory..."
"And carried out their own justice."
"Later... the law sentenced them to death."
Ethan paused.
Officer Chen's voice cut in, sharp and professional:
"Sir, I'm familiar with the case. Are you dissatisfied with the outcome of the trial?"
"Let me finish," Ethan said, taking a deep breath.
Then his voice changed and became raspy and insistent, mimicking the imagined agony of the dead boy:
"In court, the parents said they felt no remorse. They spoke of their agony. How they dreamed of their son every night. He was burning. His face contorted in pain, screaming at them —"
"MOTHER! FATHER! IT HURTS!
COME TO THE FACTORY!
SAVE ME!
IT'S DEMONS!
ALL OF THEM!
EVERYONE HERE IS A DEMON!
THEY'RE BURNING ME!
THEY'RE KILLING ME!
SAVE ME!"
Ethan's voice broke and rose to a desperate, agonized scream.
"Sir, I..."
"OFFICER CHEN!" Ethan interrupted himself, becoming nervous and calm again.
"I didn't know you before this call."
"But if you were..."
"Would you leave?"
"Would you save the boy from the demons?"
"The decision is yours."
Click.
He hung up.
He did not wait for an answer.
Her next step was the answer.
He closed his eyes.
Now he waited.
Fate would decide.
The story was real.
An event from eight years ago in his own reality.
The "demon murder case"
The place?
The Lan Gang factory.
The parents killed the murderer.
The nightmares they described in court?
Made up.
A story.
But this story was the code.
The message:
→ Surrounded by demons.
→ I am a human being.
→ In the Lan Gang factory.
→ Dying.
→ Come and save me.
If Chen were a player like him...
Torn from reality...
She would understand the subtext.
He emphasized that he didn't know her...
Yet he knew her last name "Chen".
He never said "Lan Gang Factory"...
And yet every word hinted at it.
The last question –
"Would you save the boy from the demons?"
Was the key.
He didn't dare to say "monster'...
Not when Director Zhang Qian might be listening.
"Demons" was the safe word.
His explanation –
"EVERYONE HERE IS A DEMON!"
Shouted out the truth:
→ I am human.
→ They are not.
→ They are the monsters.
The humans felt.
Monsters have imitated.
Would Chen understand?
Would she come?
His only move.
A desperate cry wrapped in a tragedy.
He checked his phone:
> 10:55AM <
He'd wait until
> 11:02AM <
– as the Boomer's eyes refreshed.
If she decided to come...
He could see it in the next death replay.
Police Station | Dispatch Room
"Xiao Chen."
A man's voice cut through the air.
Director Zhang Qian stood at the door, his expression unreadable.
"That phone call earlier. Who was it?"
"Oh."
The young woman turned around,
A practiced, unnerving smile spread across her face –
The smile that all creatures wore.
"Just a member of the public."
Her voice was smooth as oil.
"He has expressed his dissatisfaction with the verdict..."
"...In the eight-year-old demon murder case."
"Hmm." Zhang Qian nodded with a serious expression.
"But always listen carefully."
"Some callers are in danger..."
"They are unable to speak freely about their situation."
"Understood, Director Zhang!"
Chen's smile did not leave his side.
"The caller seemed to be focused on the historical case."
"His emotional fluctuations..."
"...did not indicate someone in immediate, unspeakable crisis."
Zhang Qian was able to monitor all the calls.
His question was a test.
Good.
If she had tried to hide the true nature of the call...
She would have immediately become suspicious.
"Good." Zhang Qian's eyes lingered.
"You don't have to engage in such calls in the future."
He turned around.
Left.
The door closed.
The smile disappeared.
As if a switch had been flipped.
Her eyes narrowed.
Sharp.
Focused.
Her knuckles turned white where they clutched the edge of the desk.
The man on the phone...
His voice as he shouted...
The code in the story...
The unsaid place...
He sounded...
Human?
Like me?