Chapter 50: The Place Where Gods Should Go
Seeing that there were no clean rooms available, Naoko invited Marcus to her room.
Marcus himself didn't want to spend the night in the ruins of 203, and even less did he want to go to the psycho's room, so he followed Naoko to 204.
At this moment, Marcus was completely wide awake and turned on the TV. Naoko was packing her things.
"Jake, I might be going home tomorrow, you...?"
Naoko said hesitantly, a hint of expectation in her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm leaving for another place tomorrow too. I'll leave at dawn, I have important business."
Marcus said casually. He didn't want to leave any loose ends in any world right now; this girl was clearly quite attached, it was best not to lead her on.
"Oh!"
Naoko replied with some disappointment. After packing her belongings, she took out her sketchpad and sat down next to Marcus. Marcus quietly watched TV, and she quietly drew.
After a while, Naoko handed a drawing to Marcus.
"Jake, look!"
Naoko said with a sweet smile.
Upon hearing this, Marcus looked down.
On the drawing:
Under the moonlight, a man in a leather jacket stood on the street, his figure appearing exceptionally tall and imposing.
The dark jacket resembled a dark cloud, both mysterious and powerful.
A small girl, dirty in her pajamas and tear-streaked, stood beside him. A dead body lay on the roadside.
Strangely, however, the man's face was blank.
"Why isn't there a face?" Marcus wondered.
"Jake, your current appearance isn't your true face, is it?"
"I can sense the serious disconnect between your appearance and your aura."
Naoko, upon hearing this, narrowed her large eyes, smiling like a spring flower, sweet and warm.
"You're pretty perceptive, Naoko. Is it a woman's intuition?" Marcus was surprised.
"Then can I see the real you, Jake!"
Naoko's smile widened, a pure and beautiful smile, as radiant as a flower.
"I can't show you."
Marcus's current appearance was an illusion; he could change identities by wearing different suits, but he couldn't revert to his original appearance.
"What a pity! I thought I'd finally see the true face of someone like you!"
Naoko lowered her head dejectedly upon hearing this, her eyes revealing disappointment at shattered hopes, and she became somewhat dejected.
Even seeing him was a luxury! Naoko, you truly are unlucky. Naoko sank into a state of self-doubt.
"I'm sorry. How about this, I'll describe it, and you draw it."
Marcus chuckled wryly. He despised clever enemies, but admired clever people.
Since he had nothing else to do, this was a reward for the girl's perceptiveness.
"Okay, sure!"
Naoko nodded vigorously, her eyes moist, but her face beaming with a bright smile.
"The hairstyle should be like this, yes, a little longer."
"This long?" "Yes!";
"No need to change the nose," "Oh!";
"The eyes are a bit too kind." "I see!".
Accompanied by Marcus's descriptions and Naoko's responses, the pencil scratched across the paper.
Their voices fell silent as dawn broke.
The drawing was of a stylized version of Marcus; compared to his real appearance, it looked quite similar, but if viewed alone, no one would recognize him.
"I have to leave, I have to get moving,"
Marcus said first, his tone casual.
"Where are you going after you're done?"
Naoko brushed her dark hair back, seemingly asking casually.
Marcus couldn't answer this question; he couldn't explain it clearly even if he did. He could only reply,
"Go where I'm meant to be!"
Naoko fell silent. The sunlight slowly rose, casting rays of light upon the two of them, a contrast of shadow and light.
Marcus stood up: "Aren't you going to give me the drawing?"
"I want to keep it!" Naoko said with a forced smile, suppressing a sob.
Her hands gripped the drawing tightly, unwilling to let go.
"Alright, I'll be going now. Maybe we'll meet again sometime!"
Marcus put down a box of pistol ammunition, turned, and walked towards the door, waving his right hand as he went, without turning back.
The dark brown bedroom door opened, instantly brightening the room, only to be dimmed again by Marcus's figure, before the door closed completely, plunging the room back into darkness.
"Where are people like him meant to be?"
"Then what if..."
Naoko sat quietly on the bed, turning to look at the box of ammunition.
"I...become...like him too?!"
"Meet again? Meet again!!"
"Jake!"
Naoko's pale fingers gripped the drawing paper tightly as she murmured resolutely.
After a long while, the bedroom door opened again, and light filled the room once more, but this time it was Naoko who opened the door.
Jake!
Marcus underestimated the obsession of certain people, especially the obsession of someone who'd found hope.
Marcus walked out of the motel, looking left and right along the street, searching for the right person.
After walking for ten minutes, he finally found his target in front of a diner.
The bald diner owner was nervously approaching two tattooed thugs, seemingly discussing the bill.
One of the thugs, with a skull tattoo, shoved the bald diner owner.
"Old man, what's wrong with eating some of your food? I brought my buddy here to promote your place. You should pay us a hundred bucks for promotion. After deducting fifteen bucks for the breakfast, you still owe us eighty-five in change."
Marcus's eyes lit up. He stepped forward, took out three gold coins, and jingled them in his hand. The clinking sound immediately attracted the attention of the two young thugs.
"When did you steal my gold coins!"
The tattooed thug instantly forgot about the promotion fee and pointed at Marcus, shouting angrily.
"We have more than just these gold coins. Where are the others?"
The other thug, tattooed with a scorpion, took the gold coins directly from Marcus's hand, picked one up, bit it, and nodded to the other thug.
"Oh, so these are your gold coins. There's a bag over there. I just picked up two. I thought they were fake."
"What? Where are they? Take us there now!"
Upon hearing this, the two said in unison, impatiently. If they were late, someone else might pick them up. Those were their gold coins!
"This way, please!"
Marcus pointed in a direction and, amidst the bald owner's thankful bow, led the two into a secluded alley.
A moment later, the scorpion-tattooed thug emerged from the deserted alley, flipping through his phone's contact list to find his target.
These thugs usually had a boss behind them.
"Mr. Moretti, I have a chance to make some serious money. There's a mark carrying a bunch of gold, at least three or four pounds, claiming it's yours, but I think it's dirty money."
Marcus hung up the phone, pondering how to deal with Tomie. His mission was simple: kill Tomie.
3000 survival points meant it couldn't be a simple kill, right?
After all, Tomie's physical abilities were ordinary; she could be easily killed. Her terror lay in the fragmentation and regeneration after death.
Her consciousness would also fragment after the fragmentation, making her impossible to completely destroy even with fire.
If it were just a simple kill of Tomie, wouldn't he be able to rack up countless survival points? The Crossroads shouldn't have such a loophole!
Marcus coveted Tomie, not for her beauty, but for her limitless regenerative ability. After all, filling the Life Box wouldn't require killing two hundred million people.
However, this presented a problem: the Crossroads' teleportation system currently couldn't carry these living supernatural entities. Tomie's own immortal, fragmenting biological consciousness likely meant that even a single cell couldn't be brought back.
Therefore, Marcus needed a method, a method that could circumvent the Crossroads' restrictions on such transport.
(End of Chapter)
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