"You pn to swap Neptune without anyone noticing?" Lu A'cang recalled everything he had done in front of that old house.

  "I had hoped you'd py along with me, deceive Shawn, and make him use the fake Neptune in the machine," the gray rabbit sighed. "Unfortunately, he's just too clever, and my trick was eventually seen through."

  "Even if he believed it was the real Neptune, once he used it, he'd definitely realize it was a fake. At that point, he'd still be able to find the real Neptune and continue with his pn," Lu A'cang thought the whole scheme seemed rather fwed.

  "He won't have that chance," the gray rabbit shook its head. "Shawn's health is deteriorating. Years of excessive brain activity and his body's inherent fws mean he won't live for much longer. But do you believe someone could be smart enough to calcute the precise moment of their own death by analyzing all their bodily functions? Shawn can." It jumped off the couch and added, "Today, at midnight."

  The gray rabbit hopped over to the piano and struggled to jump onto it. "You can't help but admire such a genius. Everything is under his control, as precise as a clock. Bringing the children of those rich families to Paris, making the rich gather together, having me extract their DNA, and taking Charlotte to retrieve Neptune—everything happens exactly as he pnned, not a minute early or te. I once tried to sabotage it, but as you saw, I failed."

  "Since he won't survive until midnight, why don't you just take Neptune and leave? If you had stayed away from him, you wouldn't be in this mess right now. You're asking for trouble," Lu A'cang said, confused.

  "I don't want him to die with regrets," the gray rabbit shook its head. "His greatest wish is to see Neptune sent out. I might as well deceive him a little."

  Lu A'cang sighed, her fingers lightly brushing the piano keys. "Why destroy his pn? You and he were supposed to be on the same side. The fate of those humans actually doesn't have anything to do with you."

  The gray rabbit pondered for a moment, then asked, "Do you remember the boy who stole things from the house to feed the dog? Do you remember that fool, André, who blocked us with his body?" She nodded.

  "I just don't want people like them to be ruined by Neptune," the gray rabbit sighed deeply, as if trying to release all of its pent-up frustration. "If what Sean is seeking is absolute fairness, then what he's doing right now is the most unfair thing of all. Among humans, there aren't just people like Luc Beaulieu; there are also many more like the little boy and André."

  "You truly are a remarkable rabbit," Lu A'cang said with a smile.

  The gray rabbit slumped in frustration. "My strength is still too weak. I've tried, but I couldn't stop Sean. Neptune has already collided successfully. He will send it to the highest point on Earth right at midnight. By the time morning comes, everyone except those in the b will wake up to find themselves..."

  Lu A'cang's fingers clumsily danced across the piano keys, producing a monotonous sound. "I've always thought that 'saving humanity' is a bit cliché," she suddenly ughed. "What do you think? If I could save them, would I become a great, formless one?"

  "You can't do it," the gray rabbit said, feeling that she was dreaming. "The collider is already running, and its program is set to never stop once it starts. Unless someone manages to get inside and destroy the main power line. But do you know? Even if someone could shrink their body to the size of a mouse or cockroach and enter through the machine's input, they wouldn't survive the intense heat and radiation inside. Before even getting close to the main power line, they'd evaporate into steam. And those power lines are made of the toughest alloys, so nothing could cut them."

  "Oh..." Lu A'cang thought for a moment, then smiled at the gray rabbit. "Could you help me do something?" The gray rabbit was taken aback.

  The clock's hands moved steadily toward midnight.

  Sean leaned back in his wheelchair, his eyes half-closed. His right hand rested over his chest, tightly holding the pocket watch that no longer ticked.

  His body had grown far too weak, but he continued to hold on, waiting for this day. The children he had captured were already released.

  Tomorrow, they would join their parents and begin a new life.

  He smiled, then coughed violently. Lifting his hand, he gazed at the pocket watch that Crice had given him. On its smooth surface, his face was reflected—twisted, ugly, like a true yaokai.

  He lowered his hand, took a deep breath, and muttered, "It will be over soon. No one will ever discriminate against your fws again, because everyone will be the same. Hehe..."

  The clock ticked steadily, and in that moment, the whole world seemed to only hear its sound.

  The surroundings were unbearably hot, as if they were about to roast her alive.

  The flickering lights around her, like a spiderweb of tangled wires, made her dizzy. Yet, she continued to move forward swiftly.

  This sensation of her body being scorched was something she had experienced a long, long time ago. That time had been a hundred times more painful than this one. What Shawn said was true—if she hadn′t despised herself so much, she would never have become an existence without form.

  She remembered her family, a group that was universally despised, hated to the point that people wished for their annihition. They lived in the darkest, most filthy corners of the world, surviving on the scraps of humanity, leading lives devoid of hope. She remembered her mother, who, out of hunger, stole a piece of meat from a household and was beaten to death by them. Then there were many neighbors she knew—some were poisoned, others were burned alive, and few had peaceful ends.

  From the moment she was born, she was branded with disgrace. She was loathed, hated herself for not being able to live a stable life like others, for not being worthy of respect or admiration. She feared that one day, she too would die a meaningless and dishonorable death, just like those of her kind.

  She decided to change. So, she crossed mountains and oceans, traveling all the way to the Western Misty Sea. In that sacred nd of yaokais, there was a cave called the "Formless Cave." If she jumped into the rolling va, shed her skin and fur, and endured seven days and nights of excruciating pain without dying, she would be able to transform into any human she desired. This transformation, becoming a "Formless," was a rare feat in the yaokai world. Achieving this meant completely abandoning her past self.

  Becoming Formless would allow her to start a new life, acquiring everything she had once longed for. No one would ever know where she was born or who her true form was. But today, she was willing to restore her original appearance, to do something she never thought she could.

  Becoming Formless was a path to immortality, but once she chose to restore her original form, it meant giving up her immortality... it seemed foolish. Yet, she felt an inkling that perhaps she had done something truly right.

  That night, everyone in Paris experienced a sensation akin to an earthquake. Of course, the ground only trembled slightly a few times before everything returned to normal.

  The next day, people woke up, had breakfast, went to work, and the streets were as busy as ever, with cars and pedestrians moving about. Everything, in fact, seemed perfectly normal again...