"Special Control Bureau... heheh!"
From the depths of the darkness, a raspy voice drifted into his ears.
Eyes webbed with dark red veins stared wide at Bai Zhou.
A mouth dripping with black blood stretched into a terrifying, eerie, and deeply sinister grin.
"You're a cockroach, too..."
"—!!!"
Bai Zhou jolted awake from the bed.
What met his eyes was the familiar ceiling... oh, rather, the familiar colorful posters.
"You're awake."
A cool, slightly raspy voice came from beside him.
It gave Bai Zhou a startled shudder, yet at the same time, brought him a contradictory sense of peace.
"Morning, Crow."
Bai Zhou rolled over, sat up in bed, and looked up.
Her silky black hair tumbled down like a waterfall as the girl leaned against the windowsill.
One leg was stretched out casually, her toes lightly tapping the edge of the sill, while her other leg was bent at the knee to support herself. Her slender wrist rested carelessly atop that knee.
Her delicate fingers hung down naturally. The light from outside filtered through the gap in the curtains, faintly revealing the pale green veins beneath the skin on the back of her hand.
She tilted her head slightly, resting against the window frame. By habit, half of her face remained hidden in shadow, yet dappled specks of light fell across the other side of her face, her neck, and her straight, loose hair.
The air flowed slowly, carrying the sweet, lazy aroma of roasted coffee that drifted gently through the room.
Just then, Crow turned to look at Bai Zhou, opening iridescent eyes that had been half-lidded.
It was as if a sharp, cold arc of lightning had flashed across the bedroom.
She spoke softly:
"Are you ready, Bai Zhou?"
A new day had arrived.
August 28th.
Tonight, the Blood Worship Cult would invade the base.
And Adjutant Han would go to the Resting Cemetery to carry out another "transaction."
"Cockroach..."
Bai Zhou thought back to the dream he had just had.
The words once spoken by the "Doctor" he had encountered at Hengtan Primary School inexplicably lingered in his mind.
So that was what he meant...
Only now did Bai Zhou realize it in hindsight.
Perhaps he was overthinking it.
Or perhaps that "Doctor," whose uncle seemed to hold considerable status in the Blood Worship Cult, knew some insider secrets about this place.
Cockroaches liked to hide in the dark during the day. They were communal insects with a remarkably stable social structure.
Most importantly,
Cockroaches would eat the corpses of their own kind, because it was high-quality protein.
—How much did that resemble the Special Control Bureau here?
The so-called elite bureau commissioners and high-ranking officers.
They were nothing more than a pack of... ghouls living underground in the dark.
At this thought, Bai Zhou took a deep breath.
"When it comes to preparation, you can never have too much."
"So, if you ask whether I'm ready..."
Bai Zhou answered very seriously—and precisely because he was serious, he hesitated.
Before anything truly arrived, it was always hard to answer with a confident, cheerful "I'm ready."
Life was not like cooking; there was no way to prepare all the ingredients in advance, and one might not even know what dish would end up on the table.
If he had to give an objective, affirmative answer, Bai Zhou could only say that he wasn't truly ready.
The gap in strength between him and his enemies remained insurmountable, and within this base, no one could say what unexpected turns might occur.
Yet a person about to be devoured by a beast wouldn't give up running just because they lacked shoes;
Nor, when faced with danger, would they lose the courage for a final stand just because they lacked a handy weapon.
Comparatively speaking, Bai Zhou had already done everything he could.
So his answer was:
"I'll do my utmost."
Do what man can, and leave the rest to fate.
No matter what, he had already come this far.
Then... he would summon his courage and keep moving forward!
"...Not bad."
Crow seemed quite satisfied with his answer.
"By the way, Crow."
"What is it?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"What?"
Bai Zhou raised a hand to stroke the cowlick that stood proudly on his head every morning as usual. Looking at Crow, he asked in all seriousness:
"Why is it that every time I see you, you're either appearing out of nowhere taking strange paths, or you're sitting on a ribbon or perched on the windowsill? Doesn't that hurt your butt?"
"......"
Crow kept a cold face and remained silent.
...Could it be because it looked cool?
Bai Zhou tried to understand, but failed.
Thus, for the sixth time, he earnestly proposed his idea:
"How about you sleep in the bed from now on?"
"Honestly, I can really just make a bed on the floor."
"......"
Crow still kept a cold face and said nothing.
Yet seeing Bai Zhou's sincere, concerned look, Crow finally ground out two words stiffly:
"No need."
Then she added, "That isn't important."
"—What's important is another matter."
Bai Zhou blinked. "What?"
Crow raised her hand and pointed toward the bathroom.
"—Go take a shower right now, and wash thoroughly."
"Huh? How is that important?"
The abrupt shift in topic left Bai Zhou utterly baffled.
"Why? Didn't I just take one last night before going to bed..."
Crow's small face instantly stiffened. "If I tell you to go, just go! I have my reasons!"
"...Fine, fine."
It didn't matter anyway.
Bai Zhou raised an arm, sniffed with a puzzled twitch of his nose, and smelled himself.
He didn't stink.
There was even the milky fragrance of body wash.
With a click, Bai Zhou headed into the bathroom and conscientiously locked the door.
...The rushing sound of water soon echoed from the adjoining room.
The girl lightly stepped down from the windowsill, completely soundless.
Then, with a swish—
She pulled the curtains open.
The cold white light from outside flooded in, illuminating the posters on the wall one by one.
On the ceiling, on the side walls, colorful poster after colorful poster...
All of them had been acquired by Bai Zhou from Section Chief Liu, one or two at a time each day.
After all, Section Chief Liu was his only channel.
Section Chief Liu had assumed Bai Zhou simply wanted to learn about the world and thought nothing more of it, completely blind to the fact that Bai Zhou was concealing the messy marks of his secret training in the dorm.
However,
Right now, there was a poster directly facing the window, bathed in light, as if glowing.
Concealed behind this poster were the corrosive marks left on the wall when Bai Zhou had first tested the mechanical spear-gun and fired the little green vial of corrosive liquid.
And depicted on the poster was the back of a raggedly dressed man spreading his arms wide to welcome a raging storm.
—Upon it was written a line of dialogue:
"You know, some birds are not meant to be caged; their every feather shines with the brilliance of freedom."
*Tap...*
Crow took one last look around this tiny dormitory.
Finally, her gaze settled on the calendar hanging by the wall.
Today was August 28th.
The month of Jiashen, the day of Wuyin.
Auspicious for bathing.
As well as...
Demolishing houses and breaking walls.
—Meaning: the day to tear down the wall.
...
In the blink of an eye, night fell.
One minute past midnight.
The lights in this dormitory remained on, yet it had long been devoid of people.
"Screeech—!"
A shrill siren rang out, sweeping over Branch 36 like a roaring phantom.
The entire Special Control Bureau base mobilized violently in response.
The various firepower posts, long since deployed, stirred with brief commotion before settling back into silence.
The remarkably punctual Blood Worship Cult had arrived right on schedule.
Chapter 35