14 Comet 2

True enough, upon hearing this question, Mazao's expression immediately changed.

"Why would you suddenly ask that?" She observed my expression, "Could it be that you had previously..."

"It's not what you think." I responded in a calm and unhurried tone, "It's just to be precautious, I needed to confirm beforehand."

"How can you be precautious about this kind of thing?" she frowned, "And haven't you never fully believed what I told you before, yet now you suddenly ask so thoroughly..."

"What I find hard to believe is limited to your remarks about Doomsday, not your description about attracting calamities. Seeing how concerned you are about the calamity you might bring, I cannot fully treat it as a joke. Moreover..."

She asked doubtfully, "Moreover what?"

"I can't believe you, but I want to believe you." I earnestly looked into her eyes, "Mazao, can I believe in you?"

This was indeed the truth. Whether it was Doomsday or her Broom Star Physique, these were things I hardly believed, yet wished could be true.

However, let me speak another truth from my heart; I never expected such a melodramatic line to one day come from my own mouth. It's said that people unintentionally reflect their stereotypes about a role they are unfamiliar with when acting in it. Perhaps I have read too many comics, and when I try to play the nice guy, the lines I say always come out too strong.

Not sure if she was disgusted, Mazao involuntarily stepped back again. This time she backed up until she was leaning against the wall, staring in astonishment and said, "You really are, truly bizarre... How can there be someone like you?"

"So, does your physique that attracts calamities actually affect the people around those around you?" I couldn't help but revert to my initial question.

She steadied her expression and thought for a moment before replying, "I'm not very sure."

"Not sure yourself?" I wondered, "Shouldn't you be the most clear about such things?"

"Just consider it slightly, and you'll understand. In the Doomsday Era I lived in, odd creatures were everywhere. While survivors tried their best to avoid these monsters, anyone could be discovered by a monster in the next moment and fall into danger," she explained, "Under such circumstances, I can't differentiate which oddities were attracted by my Broom Star Physique and which were just poor luck encounters."

"Since everyone has a considerable chance of being attacked by odd creatures, how can you be sure that there are creatures that attacked because of your fault?" I didn't miss this point.

"...It's statistics," her tone turned gloomy, "Combining information obtained from interactions with other survivors, I noticed that the frequency at which I encounter odd creatures is significantly abnormal and this abnormality increasingly affects those who are cooperating with me... Some of them might have lived longer. I should have been the one to die instead..."

By the end of her words, she could no longer hide her pessimism and depression.

It seemed this matter had caused her severe trauma; she exuded a sense of fragility and disenchantment.

Seeing this, I tried to shift her focus, "I understand, it's like black paint shows up distinctively on white paper but appears vague on black paper. Your calamity-attracting physique can only yield unclear results in a calamity-filled environment, is that the reason?"

While that is the case, perhaps even in such an environment, if the experiments were numerous enough, more accurate conclusions could still be reached. However, that would also mean more loss of life, which clearly isn't something Mazao would choose to do.

"Yes..." Mazao took a deep breath, seemingly exhausted.

Suddenly, her legs gave out, and she wavered, almost falling down again.

I promptly stepped forward to support her. She had fainted before, and it seemed she might exhibit the same symptoms now.

Fortunately, this time she didn't pass out but grasped my arm, holding herself up.

I helped her to the couch and let her sit down.

"Are you alright?" I recalled her initial hospital gown, "Are you ill? If you need any medicine..."

"No, it's not a physical illness," she said seriously, "As I mentioned before, my soul has been severely damaged by the Doomsday Demon, and I can't even use the blessing power. This tendency to faint is also due to the soul..."

Before she could finish, her stomach suddenly made a rumbling noise.

She fell silent.

"Are you hungry?" I suddenly realized what I had forgotten before leaving home.

I forgot to feed Mazao!

From picking her up last night until now, I hadn't seen her eat anything, and she had seemed weak all the while.

This was the first time I had someone staying at my home for so long, so I completely hadn't considered her need for food and drinks. It was like a novice pet owner forgetting to prepare food for a new cat or dog at home, leaving them there while confidently following Changan around.

No wonder Mazao was displeased when she saw me return; she probably thought I would have come back soon and hadn't expected me to leave her home this long, hungry.

I felt very ashamed about this.

"I'm sorry, it was my negligence. You must be very hungry right now, aren't you?"

"It's nothing, I'm used to it." Her expression was typical, but she couldn't help touching her stomach.

Hearing this, I felt even more sorry for her.

"I didn't expect you to faint from hunger..."

"It's not because of hunger!" She first frowned and argued back, then touched her stomach again, "As I said earlier, it's soul trauma. I did eat yesterday, it's just that I've been hungry for one day, which wouldn't cause me to faint. I fainted because of the soul trauma... Wait, what is that look in your eyes?"

"Uh, I understand. Soul trauma, right, I get it."

"No, that expression of yours shows complete disbelief... Don't look at me with such pity! Didn't you just say you 'wanted to believe me'?"

It seemed that, more than being embarrassed about her hunger, she was upset about being looked at with pity, angry enough to want to bite me fiercely.

I immediately changed the subject: "But, aren't there food in the fridge? And some snacks in the bedroom, have you not touched them?"

"Do you mean the fried meat and rice in the fridge? That food belongs to you," she replied, taking it as a given, "I need to hide out here with you for the next three days, how could I presume to touch your food and water? Anyone who would do such a thing even deserves to be killed if they are."

"This isn't the Doomsday World, no one deserves to be killed for such a minor mistake here." I hoped she would relax while staying with me, "This time, it was my fault, I hadn't thought it through beforehand. From now on, you can use anything in my house as if it were your own, my stuff is your stuff. You can have any food and drink you like, just let me know if it's not enough."

Instead of being pleased by my generosity, she viewed it with suspicion: "How can this be acceptable?"

"Anyway, you're only staying for three days, aren't you?" I used this to dispel her doubts, then walked toward the fridge, "Wait here, I'll cook something for you. Just to be sure, you're not fainting because of hunger, correct? There is really no problem with your body?"

"No problem." She didn't seem to be lying.

"Then I'll make you some fried rice, but remember to chew slowly and swallow carefully." I pulled out the food from the fridge.

This food was left over from the last time I ordered too much delivery. Since there are large discounts for ordering extra on the delivery app, I often ordered several boxes of food, stored the leftovers in the fridge, and just reheated them in the pot when hungry. Now, what I had left included stir-fried pork with peppers and rice, shredded potatoes, and several eggs; I planned to mix them all together to make fried rice for Mazao.

Actually, there was another question I wanted to ask her, but I decided to fill her stomach first.

However, she seemed to sense something from my attitude.

"You must have other questions you want to ask me," she said, stopping me while looking intently at the plastic box in my hands containing the food, "I didn't give a proper response to your last question, which isn't enough to trade for food. You can ask me another question."

"If I ask, will you answer it?" I countered.

"I can't guarantee that, it depends on your question." Her attitude remained unchanged.

I placed the plastic box with the food on the nearby dining table.

"Okay... First of all, you transmigrated from the Doomsday Era to now, yesterday, right?"

"That's what I mentioned last time."

"This morning, the police officer at my door said you are a serial killer who has killed five people in the past two or three months, what do you think about that?"

"I didn't do it," she asserted confidently, "Before yesterday, I wasn't even in this era."

Yes, this was her alibi.

There is definitely someone lying between Mazao and Agent Kong. The likelihood of Mazao lying is higher, as this era has her photo on file.

But I knew there was a possibility that could make both their statements true.

Mazao is a transmigrator, and "transmigration" is originally a literary concept for physically moving to another time-space due to certain events. This phenomenon could be broadly divided into two types: one where both the body and soul move to another time-space; another is where only the soul moves. In many literary works, transmigrators whose only souls travel often end up possessing someone else's body.

Mazao said she reached this era after failing a Space Transfer. So, my initial assumption was that she traveled to this time with both her body and soul.

However, assuming Mazao is using a body not originally hers, and that the original owner of this body is the actual serial killer, this would solve many mysteries.

"Mazao, is this body really your own?"