Rhodes Island does not exist.

"Haha, so these vines can sense that I'm thinking of her?"

The doctor couldn't help but scratch his head.

However, this was ultimately just a joke.

The pain that lavender brought him was merely a warning of the impending dangers around him.

"Skadi?" Feeling the lingering pain in his right arm, the Doctor called out softly, "Can you sense anything unusual around you?"

“Something’s wrong?” Skadi glanced at the Doctor with a strange look. “Why are you suddenly saying this? Didn’t we just leave the closed-loop chamber? If something were wrong, she would have known before us.”

“Calling it a bedroom is too…” The professor couldn’t help but chuckle.

"It's the palace, it's the palace!" But the closed circuit was clearly quite satisfied with this name, and even jumped up.

He's just like a brat.

"So, what's the result?" The Doctor ignored the interlocking circuit beside him and then asked Skadi, "How do you feel?"

“You should ask that brat instead of me.” Skadi glanced at the locked circuit. “Isn’t she the master of the sixth floor? She should know everything first.”

"Huh?" The locked circuit grinned. "Besides the Reapers, there are other people on these six levels? How could that be? What nonsense are you spouting? If you have a mental illness, get it treated. Don't come out and harm people randomly."

So you mean there's nothing at all?

"Why didn't you listen the first time?" The locked circuit's voice rose eight octaves. "No means no, what more do you want? Are you hoping for danger to befall you? How could I have a friend like this?"

Since the locked circuit has said so, it proves that there is indeed no threat nearby.

But this left the doctor slightly puzzled.

Could the lavender on my arm really sense that I'm thinking about her?

It is not impossible.

After all, she is now a parasite, and needs to connect with the nutrients in her own body to survive.

Therefore, it seems reasonable that she, being connected to herself, could perceive changes within her body or mind.

"correct."

At that moment, Skadi suddenly spoke up and asked a question about the locked circuit.

"When I came here before, I saw a strange thing near the elevator on the sixth floor. Didn't you say that all the strange things on the sixth floor were killed by the Reapers? What's going on with that one?"

She was referring to the gigantic monster that had almost eaten him, the doctor thought.

“I know about that strange being, but it’s indifferent and doesn’t want to get to know me, so I’m quite disappointed.” The closed circuit shook its head, making a regretful expression. “It could have made friends.”

"Why wasn't it killed by the Reaper? That's what I wanted to ask," Skadi added.

"Because the Reaper never even noticed it!" the locked loop shouted back. "It's a mimicry-type anomaly. It's hidden so well that even the Reaper didn't discover its existence, so it's just been holed up there! Like a shut-in, not moving an inch, what a lazybones!"

You probably shouldn't be the one saying that.

The doctor wanted to reply to her like that, but in the spirit of cherishing life and this hard-won relationship, he ultimately remained silent.

Chapter 215, Part 214, whchdreamedt

It was a winter night in Kazimir sometime in a certain year.

Kazimir has a similar climate to Ursus, and being geographically close to the north, its winters are exceptionally cold. Without wearing thick clothing, you'd probably freeze solid outdoors.

But on such a cold winter night, there was a person walking in the snow and wind.

The man was wrapped in a long coat that covered his trouser legs from head to toe, and was carrying a leather suitcase in his right hand. His face was obscured by the dark brim of his hat, but he was an average-sized adult male.

An adult male walks with firm steps in the snow, each step as if marked with a ruler in centimeters, neither too much nor too little, walking with varying depths.

White steam drifted out from under his hat brim, then turned into white frost and returned to the winter.

What is he doing?

He was on his way home.

Although it was a short time, he once had a home.

Or rather, there was a place that could be called "home".

"The Ursus army has retreated! My grandson will be able to return from the front lines!"

An idealistic old man waves his newspaper, his tattered fur coat brushing away the frost in the cold snow, witnessing this elderly man, who had feared day and night of losing his child, rediscovering joy in his daily life.

This is a street in a remote town in Kasimir.

It is less than 200 kilometers from the front lines of the war between Ursus and Kazimir. During the war, local farmers could even hear the distant roar of Ursus's siege artillery fire while they were cooking.

"Look, look, look at what's on the news!" The old man unfolded the crumpled newspaper and displayed it to the doctor. "The Ursus have withdrawn! They've withdrawn! The war is over!"

“Yes, it’s over.” The man smiled from under his hat. “The war is over, and your grandson can come back. That’s wonderful.”

"Kovarna's child can finally come back. I've waited so long for this day." The old man shed two lines of hot tears, but the tears were quickly frozen by the winter night, condensing into crystal droplets, which fell into the snow under the embrace of gravity.

But he continued to weep and murmur to the empty air, unaware that the man had already left him.

This is not because men are cold-blooded.

However, the newspaper was from three years ago.

The old man's grandson, a forest ranger, had long since died in the forest bordering the two countries. His remains were buried by fallen leaves, becoming one with the forest, and have never been found. The old man, however, clutched an old newspaper from the end of the war, as if preserving a piece of the past's soul, his mind frozen in time until this day.

The townspeople were already used to it.

Men have long been used to it.

Having served as a dedicated combat medic on the battlefields of both countries, he initially tried to use his kindness to help the old man's broken spirit. However, after several futile attempts, he could only give up the pointless measures and let the old man take his own life.

What else could he do?

Some diseases cannot be cured without specific drugs, while others simply have no specific drugs at all.

The heavy snow continued to fall.

It seems unlikely that the ice and snow sealing off the entire valley will dissipate before the end of this cold winter.

But that’s fine too.

After all, he is no longer alone, and he can no longer survive solely on his beliefs.

Thinking about this, the man's heart couldn't help but soften.

He wanted to laugh.

Even when he passed by a sad old man who recalled the horrors of the battlefield he had experienced, he still wanted to laugh.

So he smiled.

No need to endure, no need to suppress, just laugh when you want to laugh—he believes this is the right way to live, and at the same time, enabling everyone to have the freedom to laugh is an ideal he has always held in his heart.

"what are you laughing at?"

A woman's voice appeared in his world, accompanied by the dim light.

At that moment, the world seemed vast and empty, as if there was no one else around. The two stared at each other, a smile on the man's face, and a cold expression on the woman's.

To others, it was a face as solid as ice on a mountaintop.

But for the doctor, only he could understand the temperature within.

Cold white vapor rose between the two of them, and deep snow drifted along with the breeze, covering their heads with a layer of fine cotton.

"It's nothing," the man said with a smile.

His gaze fell on the woman's face. On this night, when the two moons in the sky were obscured by dark clouds, she was perhaps his third bright moon.

"How's the clinic doing today?" The woman looked at the man, her expression unchanged, but her voice carried a hint of warmth.

“Three people have come, all children.” The man stood in the knee-deep snow, carrying a suitcase, completely unaware of it. “They are patients with carcinogenic lesions from the neighboring town. They heard there was a carcinogenic lesion hospital here, so they specially traveled over mountains to see me and get medicine.”

"Is it serious?" the woman asked.

That wasn't just perfunctory rhetoric, but rather a subtle expression of concern.

It is a sincerity that even someone like her, who is not good at expressing emotions, can convey.

“The situation isn’t too bad.” The man recalled the few travel-worn young patients who came to the clinic late in the afternoon and couldn’t help but shake his head slowly. “Two of them are only in the early stages, and the other patient with mid-stage Oripathy has a lesion in a safe location that won’t be too life-threatening, so they are easy to treat.”

"Is that so?" A smile finally appeared on the woman's lips, like frost melting in the cold night. "Well then, let's leave work-related matters here for now. You have something to say too, right?"

This is both a hint and an explicit statement.

The woman stood at the door, her snow-white face flushed red from the cold winter wind—proof she had been waiting for, a medal of honor etched between her and him.

Then the man spoke.

"I am back."

Then the woman answered.

"Welcome back."

Suddenly, the originally gloomy winter night was filled with a warm light.

The light came from under the porch of the low house, shone through the living room behind the glass windows, flowed from the woman's seemingly faint smile, and radiated from every corner of the world, enveloping the man.

At that moment, he realized two things clearly once again.

I now truly have a home.

It feels so wonderful to have a home.

So he walked through the snow, took the woman's right hand, and gently kissed her cheek, inhaling the sea breeze and the aroma of food from her collar.

He was grateful for this winter night in Casimir.

Thanks to the heavy snow that blocked the mountains and the isolation of the town during this cold season.

I also thank fate for its mercy, which allowed him to retain this last bit of tenderness before he completely embarked on the irreversible path to his ideals.

Chapter 216, Part 215: Fatal Pain

When she raises her arm high and draws her sword to stab the enemy, I wish to be the long wind swirling around the battle flag.

-

The doctor awoke from his long-dormant dream.

Although he found it hard to say that it really was a dream.

After all, the cold wind and the lights under the thick fog in Kazimierz were so clear and real that it made him feel as if he had really experienced it himself.

If that was truly my own experience, then it shouldn't be called a dream, but rather a memory.

The last time I touched the Originium I left behind was one instance, and this time, seeing the necklace on my chest that had locked the circuit is another.

Every time the doctor experiences those fragments of past memories, he feels a agonizing pain worse than death. Those surging memories seem to be tearing his brain apart, rampaging through his mind and refusing to acknowledge him as their master.

This is probably what it feels like to have your brain explode.

The thought of this made the doctor feel a wave of dizziness and nausea, which eventually spread from his brain to every part of his body.

"Are you... not feeling well?"

Suddenly, a cold hand touched the doctor's shoulder, stopping his swaying body from shaking.

That's undoubtedly Skadi.

Although she always appears indifferent to worldly affairs, she always manages to accurately capture the doctor's vulnerable side.

"Maybe a little." The Doctor glanced at Skadi, who was reaching out her hand, and a slight smile appeared on his lips. He didn't try to be brave, but he also didn't tell the whole truth. "Don't worry, you won't die."

“I’m reluctant to believe it, because you had a similar reaction when you saw the closed-circuit heart before.” Skadi stared at the Doctor. “Although it’s an accusation without any evidence, are you… hiding something from me?”

"Hidden...Do I really look like this?" The doctor pointed to himself, smiling bitterly. "Does someone like me, who doesn't even have memories, really have the right to keep a secret?"

“Secrets aren’t the privilege of ordinary people, but if you truly don’t have any, then I can only suggest you take better care of your body… although that probably won’t be of much use here, and even less so for you.” Skadi sighed softly, a hint of helplessness in her expression. “Besides, it’s not a big deal that you’re hiding secrets from me, really, because I think everyone needs some secrets to maintain their existence. There’s no one in the world who is completely open-minded. Thinking is a human privilege, and concealment is a characteristic that comes with thinking. Anyone can use it, and should use it.”

"……Thank you."

The doctor smiled at Skadi.

He felt he had probably gained someone who understood him.

As for the closed-loop return, the brat was still acting as usual, striding forward without a care in the world, completely ignoring the conversation between the two people behind him and the possible dangers ahead.

But upon closer reflection, she didn't really need to worry about these things.

After all, the entire sixth floor was actually a part of her. Her eyes and ears were divided and shaped into surveillance cameras, scattered in every corner of the sixth floor. Wherever there were cameras, there was her shadow.