Back at the tea stall, Vijay sipped cold tea. It had been half an hour since Sanam left, almost a full hour wasted waiting for the supposed "killer" to appear. His instincts screamed that something was wrong.
He stood abruptly and marched to Ravi Singh's house. Sliding in through a window, he noticed the back door was wide open. His suspicion deepened.
Moving slowly, careful not to make noise, he crept upstairs. A muffled whimper froze him mid–step. Just as he raised his gun, his phone buzzed. A message from Sanam:
"Killer is the dog owner."
Vijay slipped the phone back into his pocket, exhaled, then kicked the door open with all his strength.
---
Meanwhile, inside the ruin, Ravi Singh finally shoved Meera into a dark room. Exhausted, he collapsed on the floor while she struggled against the ropes.
"I never thought you were a killer," Meera spat, fury mixing with fear. "You're pure evil. He's so young—I'll tell the police everything!"
"Shut your mouth!" Ravi snapped, yanking her by the hair and kicking her to the floor. His voice shook with anger and something else—fear. "Don't forget, I gave you food… a home!
Ravi's face twisted with rage. He slapped her, yanked her hair, and kicked her to the ground.
"You ungrateful bitch! Don't forget, you didn't even know your own real name. It took you years just to remember that much. I should have left you in those mountains that day!"
He pulled out a kitchen knife, his hands shaking. He raised it—then froze. His breath came uneven. After a moment, he threw the knife away.
"I can't. I can't do it… It's all because of him. He's the killer. He told me to bring you here. He'll finish it, just like he finished the others"
"It's not my job to kill! He does it. It's always him! He'll come. He'll take care of you too…"
He paced the room nervously, muttering to himself.
Meera, panting, whispered, "You're not alone."
Suddenly, the sound of a car door slammed outside.
Ravi's face lit with relief. "Finally. He's here."
He hurried downstairs.
Meera seized the chance. Crawling, she reached the discarded knife and cut through her ropes with trembling hands. Free at last, she stumbled through a side door into a long gallery.
The moment she stepped inside, something snapped inside her head. A vision flashed: a teenage girl crying in the same gallery, failing at something, collapsing in frustration. The air was colder here, heavier, as if the walls whispered secrets.
---
Outside, Sanam pulled up. His eyes widened at the ruin. He knew this place. He had once read about it in a book written by a British officer. Back in the 1870s, this had been a flourishing village, rich with fertile soil. Then came a great fire. Everything was destroyed. Only this building—the post office—remained standing. Locals called it cursed.
Sanam shook the thought away, loaded his gun, and took a deep breath before entering.
Inside, Ravi spotted him and panicked. He lunged clumsily, but Sanam's fear overtook him. The gun went off.
BANG!
Ravi collapsed with a scream, clutching his leg.
"Please, sahib! Don't kill me! I didn't murder them! It was Ranchad! He's the monster!" Ravi sobbed, his voice cracking. "I just… I lost control once, with one student. Ranchad saw it, blackmailed me. Said he'd tell the boy's family. Then… then he killed the boy himself. He forced me to kidnap others. He killed them! Not me!"
Sanam's jaw tightened in disgust. "And you still helped him. You still… violated the bodies. You're filth."
He cuffed Ravi swiftly and started searching for Meera.
---
Hearing the gunshot, Meera froze in the gallery. Footsteps approached. Heart racing, she slipped deeper into the hall.
"Meera!" Sanam called softly.
But when she saw him—gun in hand, face tense—her blood turned cold. She remembered glimpsing him once before. Panic overtook her.
He's the killer.
She bolted.
"Wait! Stop!" Sanam shouted, chasing her through the gallery.
---
Elsewhere, Vijay stormed into a different room of the ruin. A man turned toward him, startled. On a bed nearby, a boy struggled, bound with medical straps. Surgical tools gleamed on the table.
Without hesitation, Vijay shot the man's legs twice, then pounced, beating him mercilessly.
The boy sobbed in terror. His two fingers had already been severed.
The man—Ramchad—wailed under the blows. Once a surgeon, he had been fired after "mistakes" killed four patients. Now, under interrogation, he confessed to killing eleven people.
Vijay rescued the boy and later sent him to safety.
When he asked about Sanam, the officers replied they hadn't seen him return. Vijay assumed Sanam had gone to the CBI headquarters to deliver the case files.
---
But Sanam was still inside.
He finally caught up with Meera, grabbing her wrist. "I'm not the killer! Listen to me—"
They stumbled out through the back door.
And froze.
The ruin was gone. In its place stood a thriving village, sunlight gleaming off tiled roofs. The post office tower loomed proudly, whole and alive.
Sanam's heart stopped.
He turned back—the building wasn't a ruin anymore. It was brand new.
He was so shock
A villager passed by. Sanam grabbed his arm desperately. " W ...what year is this?"
The man frowned at his strange attire. "It's 1872."