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The night sky gently enveloped the world, the evening breeze brushing against the lazy stars.

Servants moved in pairs, their vague gossip drifting softly through the air and dissolving into the calm of night.

Everything seemed like a grand, fragile dream held deep within the heart.

Otto sat quietly by the window, flipping through a thick book on the desk.

Suddenly, a breeze stirred near his ear, carrying the scent of golden hair and a subtle floral fragrance.

Looking up, he saw Lu Mian.

Lu Mian smiled and said, hiding something behind his back:

"Kallen has gone to help the poor again. I brought you something good!"

He revealed what he'd been hiding — a potted plant with green lilies, looking fresh and ethereal.

Once Otto got a good look, Lu Mian placed the green lily pot on Otto's desk through the window and phased through the wall himself.

"Your desk is dead boring with only books and planes on it. Now it's full of life!"

With *you* here, how could this desk possibly feel lifeless?

Otto thought so, but said nothing. He simply reached out and gently touched the half-bloomed green lily bud.

Green lily, huh?

Otto glanced at Lu Mian, annoyed by the reference.

Right, this again. Green Lily.

Just wait. If the so-called "Lady Green Lily" won't teach him a lesson, then maybe the *real Madam* will.

Thinking that, he smiled faintly. "The future is bright."

Lu Mian had no idea what Otto was thinking. He looked back and forth between Otto and the green lily pot, his smile growing purer.

For a while, laughter and joy filled the room and spilled out into the quiet night air.

They were still laughing when Kallen suddenly rushed to the window, said nothing, and grabbed Lu Mian's wrist, dragging him out.

Lu Mian noticed her serious expression and didn't hesitate. After giving Otto a few quick instructions, he phased out through the wall after her.

Otto was left alone.

The candlelight flickered softly, casting shadows on Otto's frozen expression.

After a moment, he sighed, closed the open book, placed it under his head as a pillow, and rested, gazing at the pot of green lilies.

A breeze rustled by, parting the petals slightly.

Otto thought back to the day he made the "wrong choice"...

-----

Kallen had pulled Lu Mian toward the Apokalypse family's residence without explanation, just urging him to follow.

Lu Mian didn't ask. He had a guess why she was acting this way, and he simply kept up.

They moved quickly through back alleys, entering Priest Viktor's manor and descending into a hidden basement.

Guards and Viktor himself lay unconscious on the ground, but neither of them paid attention.

Their eyes were fixed on the horrifying sight ahead.

In the center of the basement was an enormous blood-red hexagram.

At each of the six corners was a cross, on which a young girl was bound. Their tendons were severed, their skin pale and lifeless, and each was marked with twisted, eerie purple sigils.

At the hexagram's center floated a purple hexahedron — looking like an illusion, but radiating a dark, violent malice that could be felt only when looked at directly.

A cold breeze swept by, reeking of blood and rot, chilling the spine.

A droplet of cold sweat ran down Lu Mian's face.

He already knew that Schicksal was conducting inhumane experiments on maidens with natural stigmata.

He wasn't a good person — not even close. Aside from Otto and Kallen, he didn't really care for anyone in this era.

So he hadn't planned to waste any of his remaining time trying to save anyone else.

But now, faced with this scene, his heart clenched — suffocating and heavy.

It wasn't sympathy. It wasn't that he felt anything for these girls.

It was simply instinct. An instinctive rejection by living beings toward desecration.

Like craving more food when you taste something delicious. Like flinching from filth. Like running from danger.

It was natural, undeniable.

And those instincts… are what make us human.

Though Lu Mian now existed within the Sea of Quanta, he was still human in essence.

And like any human, he deeply loved the "beauty" of humanity — and despised its "ugliness."

The truth may be hidden for a while… but never forever.

——

On that night, while stealing from the rich to help the poor, Kallen unexpectedly discovered the secret inhumane experiments carried out by Schicksal.

The "world" she believed in shook to its core, and the justice she upheld was completely at odds with the organization she served.

What now?

She didn't have answers. Only panic, fury, and nausea.

The only person she could think of — was *you*.

"What should I do? What should we do?" she asked Lu Mian, her voice tight and full of pain.

Lu Mian, swallowing his own rising emotions, didn't answer her question directly.

"Why not ask Otto?" he said.

You had four years of existence remaining.

"I don't know if I can trust him," Kallen lowered her gaze. Her voice lacked its usual purity. "No… right now, I can only trust you."

"Kallen," Lu Mian gently drew her into a hug, "You can trust Otto — just like you trust me."

He was certain: Otto would never do something this vile behind their backs.

During those long days and nights when Otto was tirelessly developing cures for the Black Death, your world consisted of nothing but each other.

Each potion injection — each bowl of barely-tested medicine — Otto's eyes were always on you.

You remember his face — how hard it was for even words like *pain* or *helplessness* to describe it.

It was as if every drug you took became a blade cutting into his flesh.

Like a slow death by a thousand cuts.

Yet, when you saw him like that, even the bitterness in your mouth faded a little.

In the end, the experiments succeeded.

Why?

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