The comments section all think I'm a really good person.

This child, so thin that his bones were clearly visible and whose hair was dry and yellow, had appeared innocent and naive before he went missing.

Now, however, he looks at everyone with fear and wariness. When receiving treatment, he goes from trembling at the beginning to giving up resistance like a piece of dead flesh.

The light in those beautiful amber eyes had dimmed to the point of resembling a cheap glass bead, and her body was riddled with holes.

She had no fewer than thirty injection holes on her body, and bruises, scars, and electric shock marks were almost all over her body.

Not to mention, the Tower's doctors also discovered horrific signs of modification on her body.

Part of her organs were removed and replaced with organs that didn't fully match her abilities, leaving Shiraki Rin on the verge of losing control and forced to rely on regular, dose-controlled injections of suppressants to stay alive. Her throat was already mute from the poison hidden between her teeth when she arrived, and she had a long, reddish-brown scar across her face, just beginning to scab over.

Although they didn't ask, the doctors were still able to deduce what happened during Shiraki Rin's disappearance from the marks on her body.

poor child.

Shiraki Rin could hear those sanctimonious people in white coats saying this. As they spoke, a false sense of sympathy and pity appeared on their faces.

Her body shrank from the sight of all those white coats, but her soul seemed to have detached from her body, floating above her head, observing everything around her with a calm, third-person perspective.

This is a psychological protective measure taken after the physical pain exceeds a certain threshold.

As long as she doesn't see herself as "herself," everything else is irrelevant to her.

After being sent to attack Kita Kirihara and being severely injured without batting an eye, the time bombs that Shiraki Rin had been building up inside her exploded all at once.

She was taken to the hospital in a state of confusion and received a month of treatment. Her body, after being modified, has almost fully recovered.

But his spirit still couldn't recover; he remained in this state, as if his soul had left his body, watching his own body contort into such an ugly state.

...I might as well just die.

Shiraki Rin thought this countless times.

This is what she thought while being imprisoned in a private laboratory by her "sister" and subjected to human experiments.

She thought the same thing when she was sent to that dark and gloomy dungeon and watched others being transformed into mindless monsters who couldn't even maintain a semblance of human dignity.

She thought the same thing when her legs were cut off one day to experiment with limb regeneration technology, and she was crawling on the ground like a reptile.

She thought the same thing when she first lost control of herself, when she was controlled like a useful dog to bite others, with someone's eyeball in her mouth.

After her "sister" became a different person, her original life completely disappeared.

Shiraki Rin seems to have completely disappeared from society, replaced by experimental subjects who are treated worse than livestock.

Fortunately, she still had some value. Despite wanting to die, she became one of the few test subjects who could survive on the artificial transcendent's experimental platform.

Although she is not a successful work, she is still more valuable than other corpses.

Then comes the long process of being brainwashed and implanted with loyalty.

Rin Shiraki can see her own muddled and confused state.

She remained mentally alert, constantly examining herself and observing the cruel, hellish winter.

Then, they received the order to kidnap Kita Kirihara and set off for the first time.

To be honest, Shiraki Rin really didn't expect that the other party was not an ordinary person.

The opponent displayed terrifying strength; in just a moment of confrontation, Shiraki Rin witnessed tens of thousands of deaths.

He could have killed himself with just a flick of his finger, yet...

...I held back.

When standing face to face with that white-haired woman with captivating bloodshot eyes, it seemed as if she could see him.

Although it was just a casual glance, it sent a chill down Shiraki Rin's spine.

Those eyes seemed to see right through my heart.

That's terrifying... I hope I never run into that person again.

As Shiraki Rin pondered, she saw herself changing her clothes with the help of a nurse.

The other person was muttering something annoying and nonsensical in her ear.

"After you leave, you can come back to me anytime if you miss me. But I won't welcome you back because you're injured again. Take good care of yourself. You're already sixteen, but you're still so young, you don't even look thirteen. You need to eat more..."

The nurse gave a long, rambling instruction to the dazed Shiraki Rin, who remained as withdrawn as ever, showing no reaction to the outside world.

The nurse felt a pang of sadness. She slipped a piece of paper with her phone number on it into the girl's pocket, knelt down, and gently and carefully straightened Shiraki Rin's collar.

Because of work requirements, she didn't wear perfume, but instead smelled of laundry detergent, which had a very homey scent.

Her appearance wasn't particularly outstanding; she had an ordinary, yet cute, face that was a bit round and had dimples when she smiled.

"If they treat you badly, just call me secretly," the nurse whispered. "Actually, if you miss me, it's okay to call me. But I'm quite busy with work, so I might not answer right away... Just call a couple more times."

She has been in charge of Shiraki Rin ever since Shiraki Rin was hospitalized.

Considering the child's psychological trauma, the hospital chose a nurse who was close in age and also the most considerate and thoughtful to take care of Shiraki Rin.

However, this short month was still insufficient to resolve the child's inner conflict.

The nurse knew she wasn't a professional psychologist; all she could do was chat with the patient. Now that Shirakura Rin was being picked up by the Tower staff in charge of related matters, she was genuinely reluctant to part with the child she had spent a month with.

The nurse led Shiraki Rin to the meeting room, the place designated by the person from the tower to meet her.

Shiraki Rin remained vigilant, walking behind the nurse. Her steps were so light they were almost inaudible.

She instinctively tugged at the nurse's sleeve, almost burying her face in it, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Then, I heard a familiar voice.

The reason I say we're familiar is because a month ago, it was the other person who beat me up and sent me to the hospital.

It also felt a little unfamiliar.

Compared to the slightly deep and hoarse female voice in my memory, the voice in front of me was clearly clearer and younger, with a hint of laughter and a calming power.

She's the type who, just by hearing her name, makes you feel that she must be gentle and steady.

"Hello, I am Kita Kirihara, and this is Koizumi Saki. We are here today to pick up Ms. Shiraki Rin from the hospital."

Shiraki Rin couldn't help but tremble, yet she couldn't suppress her curiosity and peeked out at the nurse.

A girl with soft, fluffy white hair was smiling at her in a friendly manner.

There was no gloom on his face or in his eyes.

You couldn't see that ruthless and gloomy shadow at all; instead, it was like gentle sunlight, emitting a warm smile.

The nurse was quite surprised: "Oh, are you two here to pick up Shiraki from the hospital?"

“Actually, it should be my temporary guardian who is in charge of this matter,” Kita Kirihara said, her expression slightly embarrassed when she mentioned “temporary guardian,” but she brushed it off with her unhurried pace and gentle tone. “However, she is not good with words, so I will say a little more.”

More than just being bad at speaking, Koizumi Saki didn't want to go out today to pick up the person who had tried to hurt Ahara from the hospital.

She was still a little irritable, sitting to the side, pretending to be nonchalant as she drank ice water.

Because of Kita Kirihara's ability to soothe manic factors, the Tower did not refuse when Kita Kirihara learned about Shiraki Rin and took the initiative to make contact with her.

Koizumi Saki was well aware that it was perfectly reasonable to let Kita Kirihara use his abilities to gradually heal Shiraki Rin's riddled body.

But A-Yuan doesn't actually need to bring the person with him; he can just visit them regularly.

While being wary of the possibility of Shiraki Rin suddenly attacking someone, Koizumi Saki also felt regretful about the little time she had left to spend alone with Kita Kirihara.

Ah Yuan is too kind.

Who would care so much about the murderer who almost killed them?

Saki Koizumi completely ignored Kita Kirihara's emphasis on "just testing the ability" when he was trying to persuade her.

After all, she still held a strong bias against Kita Kirihara in her heart.

Ugh.

She knew this was a serious matter and shouldn't be changed because of her whims, but yesterday she had just seen off Aijo Karen, who seemed to be hanging out with Oba Nana to annoy her, and today she was going to bring Shiraki Rin, who had once tried to kill Ahara, to her home... It really left her with mixed feelings.

The melancholy aura emanating from Koizumi Saki was concealed by her usually expressionless face, and only Kita Kirihara could receive such a resentful gaze.

The latter felt a surge of resentment behind him and could only feel helpless.

In reality, Kita Kirihara didn't just take over Shiraki Rin's mess because he wanted her experimental abilities.

Although only Shiraki Rin's abnormal ability symptoms can be truly cured by herself at present, the Tower of Civilization cannot force Kita Kirihara to do so if she is unwilling.

The problem is that Kita Kirihara really wants to find an opportunity to check on Shiraki Rin's mental state.

She had noticed last time that the other person was in a very unstable mental state.

Although he held back slightly, keeping the unconsciousness within a reasonable range, and only after carefully confirming that the other party had lost their voice did he feel at ease to contact someone and hand them over to the tower personnel.

Moreover, the other party is not very bright and is unlikely to exonerate themselves from the situation.

After all, as the victim, Shiraki Rin knew better than the surveillance footage who almost killed her.

Although Kita Kirihara was 90% certain that the doctor would consider what Shiraki Rin said to be a delusion or hallucination, there was still a 10% chance that her identity would be revealed.

Tsk, so if they hadn't silenced them, there would have been a lot of trouble later on.

I shouldn't have been soft-hearted back then...

North Che originally intended to bring the other party under his control.

Shiraki Rin's mind is in an extremely fragile state; if I just... do something slightly, I can achieve my goal.

It's definitely more reliable than the physical brainwashing used by the Shadow Association.

Thinking this, Kita Kirihara's smile softened even more as he looked at Shiraki Rin, exuding a warm and friendly aura: "Hello, Ms. Shiraki."

Shiraki Rin initially huddled behind the nurse, but upon seeing Kita Kirihara, she seemed to be bewitched by his deep, gentle voice and subconsciously took a step forward.

...A reassuring smell...or rather, a reassuring feeling?

A question mark, representing confusion, could almost be seen appearing above her head. Then, to everyone's surprise, Shiraki Rin, who was not close to anyone before, cautiously moved forward, attempting to get closer to Kita Kirihara.

The latter simply smiled at her and did nothing else.

From Shiraki Rin's perspective, Kita Kirihara exudes a calming aura that makes people want to get close to him.

An ordinary person might think this is just one of the manifestations of Kita Kirihara's outstanding personal charm.

But in the eyes of Shiraki Rin, whose body and mind were on the verge of collapse due to the power surge and who was only able to survive with the help of suppressants, Kita Kirihara was almost a lifeline.

It's like parched, cracked land receiving timely rain, air finally being breathed by someone on the verge of suffocation, or the only glimmer of light appearing in the long darkness.