【What does this mean? I don't get it. What do you mean Forsiman died right after sending a "Where are you" message?】
【Has the author lost their mind? Killing off a popular character just like that?! No, wait, I thought what came next was Forsiman conquering Licheng, thoroughly making a name for himself among the Catchers, and serving as the starting point to enter the main storyline—a villain hidden inside a specialized armed organization. Who knew he had already reached the end of the line?】
【The author literally picked the option that would trigger the most pop-up comments.】
【Are they crazy? I don't get it. Did they drink counterfeit liquor or something? Isn't this way too eerie? The power scaling collapsed halfway through the comic, and they aren't even pretending anymore. Run, run!】
【Haha, I'm laughing out of sheer anger. All that buildup just for him to be a stepping stone for someone else? I'm genuinely pissed.】
【...Wait, a serial killer died, why are you guys so angry?】
【It's just a comic! If you care so much about morality, why don't you just follow 3D real life instead!】
【Don't argue, don't argue. The main thing is that this character's popularity was just starting to skyrocket, and the author went and killed him off. Anyone would find it jarring.】
【Are they copying other comics by creating a white moonlight who dies early to boost popularity?】
【I thought someone who could be called a white moonlight would at least have to be a good person.】
【He just lacked skill. If you're trash, practice more. If you're a sore loser, don't play.】
...
Forsiman was a character with little screen time, and his death was also abrupt, so the news of his death was attached right to the last two pages of the latest updated chapter.
This was within A9's expectations, and now that it had a solution, it didn't get so enraged as to burst a blood vessel.
Sure enough, once his secret was exposed he was just a background extra—even his death only took up two pages, and he only showed his face in one panel!
The other page was just a phone screen reading "Where are you."
Forsiman didn't even have his own face in his death flashback sequence; there was only the cause of his death.
In the panel, on a pitch-black rainy night, the center showed the corpse lying in a corner alongside a strange figure wearing a raincoat, their shadow stretched long by the light.
The shadow turned its head, and that was precisely the minor character whose face was drawn in full across sixteen panels.
【I told you! Anyone shown with a full face isn't a good person.】
【Author, step out here right now and let's throw hands! Exactly which organ did you use to come up with this plot? Which body part did you use to think of this?!】
【A named Catcher gets silenced just because he stumbled upon a murder? Do you think this is Fish Hunter or something?!】
【I racked my brain and never expected he was silenced. Which organization does this person belong to? Making such a bold move, does this mean they're going up against Canglan?】
【She didn't die? That's awesome, way to go! Wait for me to vote for you, new sister.】
...
They were really arguing up a storm.
As the culprit responsible for all of this, A9 felt extremely guilty.
Dragging a person with obvious mental issues into the comic meant this entire chain reaction was inseparable from its doing.
In reality, Lin Mo had composed herself and was currently cleaning up the debris and bloodstains on the floor.
A9 returned to her side and began explaining in hopes of gaining her trust.
【You calmed down pretty quickly. As expected of the person I picked.】
【The reason the body disappeared is very simple: the world you transmigrated into is a comic centered around a main storyline. Every living being and object you see is part of what constitutes the comic.】
【Forsiman's body disappeared because he is an indelible, important character whose existence guides or drives the plot.
Let me put it this way: the entire plot of the comic is like a massive gear machine composed of various events and different characters, and Forsiman is just a tiny screw within it.】
【Now that he's dead, his purpose no longer exists. Someone else has taken over his identity and plotline to become that screw. One carrot per hole—since that position has been filled, he has reverted to a state of nonexistence.】
A9 paused briefly, leaving a bit of suspense, but Lin Mo merely wiped away the bloodstains in the obscure corners with meticulous focus, without even giving it a glance.
She really was cold and detached...
So back when she fought Forsiman, her timid demeanor was just cover? Was she actually a cold, ruthless, highly trained operative who deliberately disguised herself among students to carry out a mission?
...What was going on? That actually seemed to make sense. Appearing outside a sealed mall with explosives—maybe she really did have a special identity?
Although things weren't developing as A9 had anticipated, it believed establishing a connection with Lin Mo was only a matter of time.
【You're the one who caused all this. You killed him, so you must carry out the plot and future that belonged to Forsiman.】
【I assume you've already noticed that both your body and soul transmigrated into this world together. As long as you do as I say, I can tell you how to get back. You must still have unfinished business in that world, and I can help you go home.】
The floor had been wiped until it gleamed, and A9 had talked until its mouth was practically dry, yet the person below still made no response.
How could she endure so well?
Maybe she wanted to get some benefit out of it before being willing to communicate, A9 snorted internally.
Then let's just wait it out. It had to maintain the dignity of an otherworldly expert—if it acted too eager, it would be at a disadvantage in any future transactions.
Lin Mo felt a chaotic buzzing in her head, forcing her to stop and rest every so often while cleaning. She unfastened the raincoat tied around her waist and packed up the mess outside along with her personal belongings.
The raincoat was originally meant to be used for handling the scene, but unexpectedly ended up being useless in the end. So she stuffed it into the trash bag together with the rest, intending to find a place to throw it away.
After putting away her tools at the end of her shift, she visited a small clinic on the outskirts of the city, then notified Lin Nan that she had gotten off work early and he didn't need to pick her up.
By the time she finished all this and returned home, it was late at night once again.
Lin Mo dragged her exhausted body, wandering along the street like a phantom. The roadside was unnaturally quiet, with only dog barks echoing from deep alleys and the occasional rat scurrying through the storm drains.
With slumping shoulders, she turned sideways and slipped into the alley passage. A9 followed right beside her from beginning to end, keeping a tight eye on this bug, terrified she might do something irreversible again.
“Young girl...”
A9 was startled by the sudden voice, shivering as it swiftly flew upward.
Lin Mo paused in surprise, slowly raising her head.
A door almost blended into the wall opened a tiny crack, and a walking stick poked out.
It was an elderly woman, trying hard to widen her eyes as she strained to make out Lin Mo's face in the dark.
Lin Mo held one of her arms. “...It's me, Lin Mo. What's wrong, Grandma? Why aren't you asleep so late?”
“I... I was waiting for you to help me, cough...” The old woman was heavily hunched over. The temperature at night was a bit low, and she coughed twice. “I can't turn off my TV. Come take a look for me, take a look for me.”
She turned around with difficulty, pointing at the clutter piling up throughout the room. “My daughter was polite and said she was coming to visit me, so I turned on the TV, but I can't turn it off.”
“I'll do it.”
In the lightless room, Lin Mo unearthed an old-fashioned TV embedded within the heap of clutter. The TV was bulky, its screen brightness turned way down, displaying only black and white.
She felt around twice, found the switch, and turned off the TV. Just as she was about to leave, the old woman suddenly spoke.
“Did you go out last night?”
Lin Mo's back froze. She turned sideways and stared into the pitch-black room. “What... yeah...”
She explained, “There was a leak at home, so I bought some materials to patch it.”
A9 drifted down. So the NPC was named Lin Mo—it seemed to be the first time it heard her name.
It hovered in front of the old woman sitting on a chair in the corner, clicking its tongue in wonder.
She really could stay up. It was rare to see elderly people of this age awake so late.
“Oh... I know,” the old woman leaned back, the chair emitting a creaking sound as she murmured softly. “Something happened outside, and you came back injured again. You need to be careful when you're out... It's best not to make your family worry...”
She spoke with pauses, her sentences sometimes disjointed. “Me, I really worry about my children... They're like you, always fond of doing dangerous things, so they don't even have time to visit me...”
Lin Mo's pupils dilated. In the darkness, she couldn’t capture the figure, so she merely stared toward the general direction of the old woman.
The old woman seemed oblivious to the subtle shift in the environment; her breathing gradually lengthened, and her body swayed slightly as she continued murmuring.
A9 couldn't help but be impressed. My goodness, stop talking! I'm begging you, old lady, please stop talking!
Even someone as hard to kill as Forsiman was silenced. For a lonely elderly woman like you, whose death in a corner might not even be discovered by your children for a year or two, wouldn't you be even easier to kill?
Lin Mo stood silent for a long moment, then stepped back half a pace. Confirming there was nothing else needed, she reached out and closed the door behind her. “Okay. Thank you. Good night.”
...So this person actually had a conscience after all.
A9 didn't dare take its eyes off Lin Mo for even a second, terrified she might think of something and double back.
“You're back?” Inside the apartment, hearing the clinking of iron chains against the iron door outside, Lin Nan immediately stood up. “You're back a bit late. Have you eaten?”
Seeing Lin Nan was still awake, Lin Mo paused while changing her shoes. “I can make something myself. You have class tomorrow, go to sleep.”
“It's fine, I can help you—”
Lin Mo glanced at the time, her tone growing firmer. “Go to sleep, Lin Nan.”
“...Okay.”
The moment A9 entered the door, it froze, staring in bewilderment at the person who had appeared.
Wait, who was this? Was he another sucker pulled in by it?
Were the two of them huddling together for warmth?
He looked completely like a local of this world!
A9 didn't know his identity at all. Watching Lin Nan casually go off to rest, it was utterly bewildered. Reasonably speaking, when people from the outside world arrived here, they should appear out of thin air.
They wouldn't have identities, nor families, and it hadn't taken the time to arrange a family for the NPC!
So what kind of motive did this guy playing the role of a younger brother in a temporary family actually have?
Having a job and a place to stay after two months wasn't strange, but having a family made the whole situation weird.
Did he adopt Lin Mo?
During the time it left Lin Mo to her own devices, what on earth did she do?
A9 had to find out the answer to this question. It had no expectations of Lin Mo taking the initiative to tell it—she treated it like thin air entirely.
And there was only one way to know events that weren't drawn in the comic: enter Lin Mo's subconscious and view her memories.
It waited patiently as Lin Mo took out some food to fill her stomach. Her job was manual labor, so she needed enough sleep as well.
Without much delay, she lay down on the bed.
Seizing the opportunity, A9 dived in.
Lin Mo's subconscious was a complete blank, lacking any memory fragments whatsoever. For a trance-like moment, A9 thought it had returned to its own space, but this space contained more than just itself—at its center stood a slender, frail figure.
Rate on N.U.
