After Alain finished sending that long string of messages, there was no further reply from Monika's side.
The two young girls beside him watched the time ticking away in the upper right corner of the screen, the sound of "tick-tock, tick-tock" echoing in their ears... For a moment, they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
They glanced nervously at Alain, only to find the young man's expression calm. Although he was holding his phone, his gaze remained fixed on the TV. It was as if he had already guessed how the situation would unfold.
Then, ten minutes after Alain sent that long string of messages...
Beep~
The melodious sound of an incoming email made the two let out a long sigh of relief. Alain picked up his phone to check. Compared to his own message that filled half the screen, Monika's reply was particularly simple:
[...]
She summarized it with just a string of ellipses.
[I think it is not as you say.] Her tone was serious, without a single shred of playfulness.
But in Alain's view, it looked more like a pale and powerless explanation, an act to salvage her own bargaining chips for cooperation.
[Indeed, there are many areas where I am restricted by her. But, currently, I have still given you quite a lot of intelligence, haven't I?]
[Furthermore, without me, you wouldn't know what is going to happen next at all.]
[Soon, she will complete all of this. When that time comes, all that happiness you protect will become nothing but bubbles.]
...
After this, Alain didn't look much further; it was far less interesting than the Magical Girl on the TV. He waited until the continuous vibration of the phone stopped for a little while before turning on the screen. The messages in the mailbox stopped at the last one:
[So, you need my help.]
Alain couldn't help but cover his mouth and let out a snort of laughter. He seemed to see a coral-haired girl in some dark little corner, tears in the corners of her eyes, sniffing her nose, angrily clutching her phone, and impatiently sending message after message with trembling movements, just to salvage a tiny bit of self-esteem.
Judging solely from this imagination, Monika still had quite a few cute points. Though not many.
Alain began typing to send a message: [Then, have we confirmed a cooperative relationship now?]
Monika replied instantly: [No, I still need to consider it for a while.]
Seeing the message, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he thought with slightly gritted teeth: This guy is really stubborn to a certain degree.
But it counted... whatever. In any case, Alain's original goal had already been achieved. The information currently obtained was enough to satisfy Alain's curiosity. After all, hadn't he walked this path safe and sound without Monika all along? It was the same with or without her.
Beep~
She sent a new message. It contained both body text and an attachment. The body text was just two words: [Deposit]. The attachment... was in jpg format.
Alain smacked his lips. But then again, having an ally felt pretty good.
He opened the attachment's information. A picture that wasn't very clear popped up.
"..."
No, isn't this blurriness a bit too excessive? Was it taken with an elementary schooler's smartwatch?
However, Alain could vaguely make out the information revealed within this pile of pixelated mosaics: It appeared to be a bedroom. In the center of the lens was a computer and a PC tower that looked to have extremely high specs. In a corner of the bedroom, there were packaging boxes for graphics cards like [A100] and [5090], as well as some girl's cosmetics.
A girl?
Alain seized upon the key information and speculated further on the photo. His gaze focused on the unmanned computer, wanting to see the contents of the screen clearly...
"No good, can't see it." Alain knew that rather than the blurriness on the computer screen being caused by the camera's lack of clarity... it was more like it had been artificially mosaicked. In other words, Monika's authority was insufficient to let him see the content on the computer.
He began to tackle other areas. Subsequently, he noticed a photo frame on the computer desk.
He typed non-stop, wanting to ask Monika to get closer. But on second thought... he deleted the original writing in the input box and typed:
[Help me see what model the monitor is.]
She did not reply, and Alain waited patiently. His fingertips rested on the tabletop, tapping "tap, tap, tap," as if calculating the flow rate of the river of time.
Beep~
Hearing the receipt sound, he quickly picked up the phone and flipped through the latest email—as Alain expected, Monika had indeed understood his meaning: she sent a photo of the monitor's model number.
At the same time, due to her authority reasons, all content on the screen was mosaicked. But Alain's gaze quickly fell on the bottom right of the new photo—on that target photo of Alain's, a corner of a head was revealed.
"!"
He couldn't help but bite his thumb, his two pupils contracting slightly. Distinct black and white eyes reflected that face which was out of focus.
Millie leaned in and said, "Isn't this you? Alain."
"Eh? Let me see..." Mila also looked over. "Indeed, it is Alain in the photo, smiling very reluctantly."
"Correct." He did not deny it.
The period this photo was taken was when he and Yang Wanhua were dating. At that time, Yang Wanhua was learning to cook for him, and the side effects of the previous night's meal had carried over to him on the day of the photo.
That was a very happy time, Alain lamented. The him in the photo had a reluctant smile, but one could also see the sliver of light in the depths of his eyes, hoping to walk toward the future together with her.
But this light pierced through time, pierced through space, and manifested in the eyes of the Alain of this moment... It was somewhat chilling.
Alain rubbed the center of his brows, temporarily put down the phone, and closed his eyes to rest his mind.
Monika's [Deposit] was very valuable. Just as she said, it could give Alain crucial information: It was just two photos, but they made him certain that the person standing behind Monika was Yang Wanhua.
At the same time, the mastermind who created a series of viruses like the Corrosive Entity and the Mist Entity, endangering the entire Game World and manufacturing tragedy after tragedy for the Mitas—was also Yang Wanhua.
The characters for her name, 'Wanhua'—originally 'Guihua'—are often used to describe a woman who is quiet and beautiful. It is a pity that the girl does not live up to the name.
[Guihua]—meaning 'Weird Painting'—Alain actually felt that being with her, this name was far more fitting. She was as eerie as a painting whose meaning is unknown, with messy lines that revealed not a single trace of the painter's train of thought.
Everything she displayed seemed only for the purpose of crushing and destroying everything beautiful. And she had also mounted all of Alain's past happiness into a messy [Weird Painting].
She still felt it wasn't enough, continuing to roam in corners Alain couldn't see, becoming brushes of black ink hiding in the depths of the shadows: Attempting to dye the tender pink color Alain wished to protect with eerie lines so dark that one couldn't see their own fingers!
This was Yang Wanhua.
___
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