Wait a minute, why did I use "also"?
Maxe Stone is Maxe Stone. He is not some other entity wearing his skin, and Evan Stone can be certain of this.
Since it was the same Gray Realm convergence, and since the "audience" can merge with me... then why can't the other disaster that descended merge with a human as well?
But all of this is just Evan Stone's speculation... The truth can only be known by asking him directly.
Just as Evan Stone hesitated on whether to knock on the door, it was opened from the inside.
"Brother." Maxe Stone rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing?"
"...I need to ask you something."
Maxe Stone was about to say something, but after glancing at Charles Moore's room, he pulled Evan Stone inside and closed the door behind them.
"Maxe, I'll just ask directly." Evan Stone looked seriously into his eyes. "The massacre at Ice Spring Street... was it you?"
Maxe Stone's body stiffened, and when he saw the fragment of the talisman in Evan Stone's hand, he silently lowered his head.
"…Yes."
Seeing Maxe Stone admit it so decisively, Evan Stone, who was about to continue persuading him, froze for a moment.
"Really? It was you?" Evan Stone asked again. "So, you merged with the disaster?"
"…I don't know. When I woke up, I was already standing there."
"You also lost a portion of your memory?"
"Yes."
Evan Stone furrowed his brows slightly.
He believed that Maxe Stone wouldn't lie to him, and even he himself was in the same situation... randomly crossing into this world, the inexplicable "audience" appearing in his mind, and when he woke up, he was already back home.
"But the Gray Realm convergence was at the back mountains, right? You should still have been in surgery... why would you be affected?"
"I don't know." Maxe Stone shook his head again. "I remember the doctor giving me anesthesia, and when I woke up, I was in Ice Spring Street... I was so scared, I hid in the back mountains. When I came out, I saw you crawling out from that monster's body..."
Upon hearing this, Evan Stone connected the dots in his mind.
But why exactly Maxe Stone was affected by the Gray Realm convergence was still a question... Could it be that when the disaster entered District 2, it happened to encounter Maxe Stone, who was on the operating table? And then merged with him?
Evan Stone didn't quite understand this "merging" process and couldn't come up with any further explanation.
"I understand."
Evan Stone nodded. "You stay home for the next few days and don't go anywhere, okay? I'll handle the other things."
Maxe Stone hesitated.
"What's wrong?"
"I... I was planning to go see Mom and Dad..."
Evan Stone froze, and after a long silence, he gently spoke, "Wait until I clear your name first, and once things calm down, I'll take you to see them, alright?"
"Alright." Maxe Stone nodded obediently.
"For now, stay away from Charles Moore. Don't let him touch you, and talk to him as little as possible."
"Okay."
"If Victor Hale comes to ask you any questions, answer like this..."
"Alright."
After giving his instructions, Evan Stone turned and left.
Maxe Stone quietly locked the door behind him and returned to his hard wooden bed.
He turned his head toward the window, and in his chestnut-colored eyes, the reflection of the vast blue aurora filled the sky.
Suddenly, at the far end of the aurora sky, a faint red glow appeared, like a vermilion star.
"It's here again," Maxe Stone muttered to himself.
As the vermilion star grew brighter, a dreamlike path extended from the void, reaching all the way to Maxe Stone's bedside. The path floated between the star and him, swaying like a soft satin ribbon.
Maxe Stone lay on the bed, calmly watching this divine path. It was like an olive branch thrown toward him by a god.
After a moment, he slowly raised his hand and grabbed the floating satin ribbon...
Then,
He crushed it with all his strength!
Bang—
A barely audible sound echoed in Maxe Stone's ears,
And the divine path shattered in his hand, turning into countless particles, vanishing into the void. At the same time, the vermilion star in the sky quickly dimmed.
He rejected the divine favor.
Maxe Stone opened his palm, and a shard of the divine path, about the size of a thumbnail, quietly lay in his hand, looking like vermilion-colored glass.
He casually placed the shard into the drawer by his bed and locked it.
In the dark drawer, more than thirty identical vermilion glass shards faintly shimmered.
...
Morning.
Evan Stone got up early and washed up.
Today, there was no "kind person" to reimburse his fare, so he had to walk to Ice Spring Street on foot. The round trip would take over four hours, so he had to wake up earlier and return later than the other reserve law enforcers.
To his surprise, Charles Moore seemed to have gotten up even earlier.
When Evan Stone walked into the living room, he saw Charles Moore sitting at the table in a casual shirt and knitted vest, reading an ancient medical book, occasionally adjusting his glasses. It looked as if he was sitting in a high-end café in Aurora City rather than in a drafty, run-down living room.
When he noticed Evan Stone had gotten up, he smiled and put down the book.
"Good morning."
"Morning."
Evan Stone casually responded and quickly left to grab breakfast at the Zhao Family breakfast shop across the street.
Ever since he had tipped off Uncle Vale, Evan Stone had felt a little guilty, so he made it a point to visit every morning to help Uncle Vale get some extra business... As for Tom Vale, he had been grounded for a week and hadn't left the house yet.
After Evan Stone left, Charles Moore slowly put down the book.
He stood up and walked directly to Evan Stone's room. His footsteps on the old floor made no sound... like a ghost.
Charles Moore arrived at Evan Stone's bed, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses,
He put on white gloves, took out a pair of tweezers from his pocket, and collected the strands of hair and tiny flakes of skin scattered on the pillow, placing them into a brown bottle.
After completing this, he quietly exited the room. With a slight wave of his hand, a breeze swept across the floor, completely erasing any footprints he had left behind.
He didn't return to his room but instead walked out of the house, passing through several streets until he arrived at the door of a dilapidated convenience store.
Ding-ling—
As he pushed the door open, the crisp bell rang.
"What do you want to buy?" A woman sitting at the counter yawned lazily and asked.
"I'm here to buy a glimmer of hope."
At this response, the woman's gaze instantly froze.
Her previous laziness disappeared, replaced by cold and sharp eyes as she looked at Charles Moore. Slowly, she spoke:
"Show me your identity."
Charles Moore raised his finger slightly, and a white poker card appeared in his hand as if by magic, which he flipped over and placed face down on the table.
The woman flipped the card over—
[Ace of Spades]
"Password," she spoke again.
Charles Moore replied calmly,
"Human civilization..."
"Will never extinguish."