"Ha... ha..."
In a narrow alley, a man was sprinting through the passages, seemingly trying to evade someone's pursuit.
The sky was gradually darkening, but the man continued to run frantically, as if pursued by some terrifying beast.
Finally, as if giving up, the man stopped, leaned his back against a nearby wall, and panted heavily as he looked behind him.
This person was none other than Andaman.
"Stop hiding, I know you're there!" Fear continuously festered deep within Andaman's mind; the dripping sweat even made him feel somewhat dehydrated.
The magic in his hand was already constructed, the runic array flickering on his palm, yet he did not know where the target was.
"Whoosh—"
A brief sound of breaking air—a flying knife, no, a table knife sliced through the air, directly piercing through Andaman's right hand that was constructing the magic.
"Ah!!!" Flames exploded in Andaman's hand, and the magical backlash caused his right hand to lose all sensation entirely.
Andaman slumped weakly to the ground. A shriveled, dehydrated eyeball rolled out of his coat pocket and stopped by the wall.
Blood continuously seeped from Andaman's charred right hand. The pain deepened his fear, and the fear, in turn, amplified his pain; he had completely lost the confidence to resist.
"Ugh... I beg of you, I'll do anything, I beg of you to let me go, I promise you, I'm willing to do anything..." Andaman broke down, wailing like a madman toward the empty space in front of him.
Following his plea, a figure stepped out from around the corner of the alley in front of him.
A bizarre bright red suit and green hair—this aesthetic-defying color scheme combined with her makeup didn't make her look ridiculous, but rather eerie.
The figure seemed extremely relaxed, skipping over from a distance as if she were a clown about to take the stage for a performance.
Under the light of the kerosene lamp, the newcomer's face was fully revealed; it was indeed Syl, though her mental state at this moment seemed somewhat unstable.
His emotional collapse left Andaman unable to use Spiritual Sight to judge the newcomer's strength; he crawled on the ground like a dog, merely wailing helplessly.
"Boohoo..." Another sob was heard, but it wasn't Andaman's.
Andaman stopped crying and stiffly raised his head, only to see the crazed woman in front of him imitating his crying.
Seeing him look over, she began to laugh again.
"Haha, hahahaha, how interesting."
Watching the woman clapping in front of him for some unknown happy reason, Andaman became even more terrified.
He tried his best to shuffle his body backward, but he wasn't faster than the woman's hand—she reached out and pulled the table knife out from his palm.
"Aaaaaah-gurgle-gurgle—"
The intense pain caused Andaman to scream, but in the next second, his throat was sliced open.
Plasma gurgled in his windpipe; before long, he would choke to death on his own blood.
Perhaps death was the best release for him.
"Hey, hey, Andaman. Hey Andaman, Andaman Andaman." A raspy, magnetic female voice was impatiently calling Andaman's name.
Andaman, who was already slumped against the wall, no longer had the strength to lift his head.
"Hey—"
The woman reached out her left hand, grabbed Andaman's hair, and said to him with a smile: "Hey, look, how about I perform a magic trick for you~"
She held Andaman's hair with one hand to make him look at her, while her other hand rotated in the air.
Andaman watched all this weakly; at the very end of his life, there was nothing left to fear.
"Ta-da~" The woman closed her palm and opened it again, revealing a beautiful bouquet of flowers in her hand.
"No, no, not this one." She shook the flowers, and the stems parted to reveal a dagger inside.
Andaman felt no fear; instead, he showed a faint smile of resignation, as if he felt that ending his life this way was quite alright.
"No, no, heeheehee, hahahahahaha, it's this!"
The woman laughed wildly as the exquisite dagger flipped in her hand. When she put her hand behind her back and brought it out again, she was holding a filthy rat that was letting out squeaking screams.
"Gurgle gurgle—mgh gurgle!!!"
Andaman's eyes suddenly filled with horror. The blood blocking his throat made it impossible to say a word; he could only feebly and helplessly shake his head slightly.
"Come on, open up, you haven't eaten yet, have you?" The woman laughed, pinching Andaman's mouth. "Come, have a good meal."
Andaman found strength from somewhere and clamped his mouth shut, gritting his teeth so hard his gums bled, refusing to open his mouth.
Being forced to swallow a live rat was perhaps even more terrifying to him than death.
"Oh, your mouth is injured so you can't eat, so that's how it is." As if she had realized something, the woman gave up on trying to pinch Andaman's mouth open.
Squatting in front of Andaman, the woman lifted his chin with her hand, exposing his recently slit throat.
The woman held the rat's head and brutally stuffed it into the wound in his throat.
"Heeheehee!!! Can't you still eat like this? Huh?! Hahahahaha!!!"
"Mgh!!!! Mgh!!!!!!!!! Gurgle!!!! Mgh!!!!!"
With the woman's movements, Andaman's wound continued to tear wider. Painful and desperate cries echoed in the alley, only stopping after an unknown amount of time.
"Kidnapper killed."
"Mission [Ambition] completed."
"Reward: Gacha Draw x1."
"Hidden mission completed."
"Reward item: Stardust Flying Blade."
Syl's originally crazed eyes regained a bit of clarity due to the system prompt.
She frowned in pain, seemingly unable to resist the mental erosion much longer.
Using all her strength, Syl conveyed her thoughts to the system.
"Draw... draw..."
This time there was no flashy draw interface. The moment Syl said 'draw', a card flashing with blue light appeared in her vision.
As her consciousness gradually faded, Syl could no longer bother to check the card's description. She could only use her last bit of mental energy to convey one final thought to the system.
"Transform!"
The surrounding space distorted like the background railings behind a beauty-filtered streamer, and in an instant, the blood-covered clown girl disappeared.
In her place stood a figure roughly the same height as Syl's original body, shrouded in a long black trench coat and wearing a silver plague doctor mask, standing calmly amidst the pool of blood.
"Warm-hearted Mysterious Physician"
"Fusion Progress: 20%"
"Class: None"
"Strength: 11"
"Constitution: 25"
"Inspiration: 11"
"Agility: 7"
"Charisma: 25"
"Skills: [Flesh Stitching], [Calamitous Fate]"
"Comprehensive Evaluation: Looks like a fellow who isn't quite as crazy has arrived... right?"
...