-17- The Duo of Heinous Criminals

The night rain was cool, tapping against the awning with a hollow, mechanical rhythm.

Yvette slowly opened her eyes, and her field of vision was immediately occupied by a massive holographic projection—a semi-nude virtual beauty was licking her lips with stylized allure. Holographic particles swirled around her waist, forming flickering ad copy: "Tired of the coldness of reality? Craving a more heated touch? Seventh Heaven, equipped with the latest Soul-Sync technology, makes every caress tremble with realism! Blackwater District, coordinates 47.9—cordially inviting your experience!"

Yvette’s pupils contracted. She stared at the advertisement for a few moments before turning her gaze to her surroundings.

This was a dark alley drenched in rain, stretching out into the night on both sides. The towering building facades were covered in matte alloy panels, their surfaces etched with magi-tech circuitry that flowed with ghostly blue, indigo, and crimson neon light, outlining the structures.

At the base of the walls in the corner, discarded gear-shaped magi-tech parts, dust-covered pipe interfaces, broken flexible screens, and piles of foul-smelling household waste accumulated. A prosthetic hand with exposed alloy joints was stuck into the heap of trash in a grotesque fashion, looking as if some mechanical lifeform were about to crawl out from the filth.

"Is this... the Blackwater District before the apocalypse?" Yvette whispered to herself, her slender fingers brushing her damp silver hair behind her shoulders.

Just as she was considering her next move, a familiar, startled voice sounded behind her: "Teacher, where is this? How did we suddenly end up here?"

Yvette turned abruptly to see Rosalind, dressed in her expedition gear, standing behind her.

Her clothes were soaked by the rain, and her blonde hair clung to her cheeks, but her eyes were bright and spirited. Like a young deer that had wandered into the future, she peered curiously at this bizarre and marvelous new world.

"How did you get in here?" Yvette asked, surprised.

"I saw you sleeping on the ground, Teacher, and I wanted to put something underneath you to cushion it. But as soon as I touched you, I started feeling sleepy..."

*So that’s it,* Yvette thought, feeling a sense of realization. *Only those who make physical contact with me can enter the dream. That further confirms the special connection between the dream mist and myself.*

The rain grew heavier, forcing the two to move toward the mouth of the alley. Passersby began to appear in the distance. Compared to the modern, trendy attire of the pedestrians, Yvette’s white dress made her look glaringly out of place, inevitably drawing direct stares.

"What do you feel when you look at these passersby?" Yvette asked suddenly after walking for a while.

"Huh?" Rosalind was slightly stunned. She thought for a moment and said, "They are curious about us, but also a bit... ill-intentioned."

"No... I am asking if, when you look at them, their bodies appear strange in any way—perhaps translucent or blurry?"

"No, they don't."

"I see."

"In your eyes, Teacher, do they look transparent and blurry?"

"Yes."

"Wow! Does that mean you can see through to their essence at a glance, Teacher?"

"...Perhaps."

***

A few minutes later, as they emerged from the alleyway, Yvette held two ID cards in her hand.

"Teacher, this really is a dream, right?" Rosalind asked, looking somewhat nervous.

Yvette nodded slightly, gesturing for her to be at ease. Although she had never lived in the world before the apocalypse, she had read enough surviving novels and books to be certain of one thing: you could not survive here without identification.

And what if you didn't have an ID?

Yvette’s solution was entrapment.

To find suitable targets, the two wandered around a bit more before leaving the alley, finally encountering a group of three ill-intentioned youths.

Dressed in rebellious punk fashion, their eyes went wide the moment they saw the two stunning girls. They swarmed forward, eager to grab at their clothes. Before they could even make contact, Yvette killed them as if she were clearing away aberrations, easily obtaining their identification documents.

Of course, this had startled Rosalind. She lacked awareness in this area and didn't understand the terrible fate that awaited her had they been surrounded by these three, only that her teacher’s movements were too clean and decisive. Before she could react, cyan wind blades had pierced their chests, and blood was pouring out like a fountain.

She ended up being the one to set the fire to destroy the evidence; they were a top-tier pair of vicious criminals.

...

"Do we have identities now?" Perhaps because this was a dream, or perhaps because she had seen too many disgusting scenes while slaying aberrations, Rosalind adjusted very quickly to the close-range bloody killing, recovering almost immediately.

"No, we still need to do a little more," Yvette said, walking to a machine on the roadside.

It was a public citizen service terminal capable of handling most issues in one stop. She placed her fingers on the touch panel and connected her furnace ring to an induction slot. Soon, with the aid of the magi-tech terminal, she began hacking into the police system and modifying the ID information.

This was no small challenge for Yvette. The post-apocalyptic world did not require knowledge of "rune hacking"; she had studied it, but it was purely supplementary, and she had never practiced it. She never expected to find a use for it today.

"It’s fortunate that the local police system is so lax. As the poorest district in Ish City, the Blackwater District probably doesn't have much budget for maintenance of this kind," Yvette mused ten minutes later as she returned to Rosalind and handed her the ID card.

Rosalind looked down and saw that the information and photo on the card had changed. It now featured the cute face of a blonde girl, and the name read "Rosalind Lochivier."

Correspondingly, Yvette’s document naturally bore the name "Yvette Sienne."

The reason for this name change was that the current year was 2124, one year before the original owner was to participate in the "Metamorphosis Project." Yvette suspected that her pre-apocalyptic self might also appear in this dream, having a registered identity at an orphanage and being under the scrutiny of Black Tower Pharmaceuticals. Such a slight modification could avoid unnecessary trouble.

Rosalind, of course, was unaware of this. However, in the Eton Kingdom, a change of surname only occurred after marriage, and her expression turned shy—though, in truth, she didn't even understand what marriage was.

Having finished tampering with the ID cards, Yvette did not forget to try and steal the savings of the three unfortunate souls.

***

However, the bank’s firewall was not something a novice hacker with only theoretical knowledge could challenge. After thinking it over, she could only list their digital assets on the web for sale—things like digital currency, gambling platform chips, and various virtual game accounts.

After two or three hours of work, she only earned about 6,000 credits, barely enough to live in a budget hotel for a month.

*So little. These three paupers—no wonder they lived in the Blackwater District...* After working for so long, Yvette was somewhat dissatisfied.

She had wanted to list the real estate of these three wretches for sale as well, but that risked alerting their acquaintances and revealing the tampering with their identities too early.

So, they would have to make do for now. Once she had money, she would use gray channels to purchase new identities... she began to plan silently.

...

When night had completely fallen, they finally found a cheap hotel. Rain dripped from their hair, and the white dress clung wetly to their bodies, leaving the powerful and elegant witch looking uncharacteristically bedraggled.

Even so, as a responsible teacher, Yvette patiently performed a thorough sweep before Rosalind used the bathroom to ensure there were no hidden cameras.

When Yvette finished washing up and came out, she saw Rosalind standing by the window, gazing at the distant Central District with a look of longing.

Yvette walked calmly behind her.

In truth, the window was not clean; a thin film of oil covered the surface, refracting the city’s light pollution and making the neon lights and holographic ads outside appear blurry and distorted.

Yet, Rosalind watched with great intensity. After all, for someone from a medieval civilization, everything she had experienced today was far too advanced. Even the time she had first stepped into the Land of the End could not compare to the shock of this moment.

"Teacher, is this the Kingdom of God?" After a long while, Yvette heard Rosalind sigh in a dreamy tone.

"No. But if it were, it would be the Kingdom of an 'Evil God'."

"That’s true, hehe." Rosalind continued to stare out the window, as if she could watch for a day and a night without tiring.

"Do you want to go over and see it?"

"Yes!"

"Rest for now. I’ll take you out to explore tomorrow."

"Okay!"

Carrying infinite, beautiful yearnings for a civilization of origin, Rosalind lay on the bed with excitement, and unsurprisingly, suffered from insomnia all night long.