Did he really do nothing? Khanyi thought to herself, having just seen Irina rush into the restroom in disarray. She furrowed her dark brows, pursed her lips, and chose not to ask further, as it seemed not her place to concern herself with such matters.
After revealing her identity, Irina did not ask her to do anything, only hoping she could keep the secret. But Khanyi couldn’t help but pay attention to the movements of this special friend with a significant mission. Although she couldn’t help her much, at least she could keep a close watch on the “enemy’s” movements. Just now, she had seen his car start from the basement; he had already left the house, and she didn’t know where he had gone, perhaps heading to a base hundreds of kilometers away. Khanyi wanted to tell Irina about this, but as she stepped into the hall, she saw a tall figure darting down the corridor like a cat. She quickened her pace to follow… Turning a corner, the figure had already vanished. All she could see were the other rooms along the corridor, their doors half ajar, except for the guest room, which was completely closed. She tentatively pushed open the door to that room…
The sight before her stunned her; there was indeed a person inside, but it was not her friend Irina, but a long, narrow, shadowy figure like a ghost. She froze in place, her mind somewhat stiff. She had clearly seen his car drive out of the yard just moments ago, but how could he still be in this house!
He sat there alive and well behind a narrow black poplar wood desk, the room filled with thin smoke that made her cough. She wanted to escape this place but couldn’t find a reason, so she awkwardly said, “I’m sorry, I must have walked into the wrong room…”
“Shouldn’t you knock before entering a room?” He lifted his ice-blue eyes and glanced at her, sitting in his chair and asking in a low voice.
In the past, when he entered her room in the attic, he always did so uninvited. Now, every midnight, he also entered her room without knocking, using a key to unlock her door. When he invaded her space, had he ever considered her feelings?
“I’m sorry…” This time, she truly felt she had been rude, so she decided to apologize. Khanyi turned her head, not allowing him to notice her wavering gaze. In reality, she was searching for Irina, a secret agent lurking in this house. Although she didn’t know what Irina was up to, she was her friend, and she felt obligated to keep her identity a secret and protect her.
“Since you consider yourself the master here, there’s no need to apologize.” He chuckled lightly.
Khanyi didn’t understand the meaning behind his words. She looked up and saw that he appeared to have drunk a lot; his black uniform jacket draped over him like a blanket, all the buttons undone, his shirt buttons also undone, with some dampness on his chest, his golden hair disheveled, yet those ice-blue eyes were so clear.
Meeting those eyes again, Khanyi felt an inexplicable panic. She knew that no matter what purpose Irina’s appearance served, it was definitely aimed at him. She averted her gaze from that cold, piercing look, her eyes inadvertently falling on the table in front of him.
Although he reeked of alcohol, there was no alcohol on the table, nor any signs of disorder. Instead, in one corner of the table, there was a neatly arranged stack of documents. From the various colored fonts on top, she could tell it was a list…
He held a stack of paper in his hand, using a lighter to burn this thick pile of densely written names. The red flames quickly ignited the paper in his hand, the blue inner flames consuming those names, and soon they were reduced to deep black ash. His ice-blue eyes remained fixed on the burning paper, and suddenly, a gust of wind blew open the window, sending the ashes swirling like snowflakes.
He sat amidst the falling black flakes, a cruel smile appearing at the corners of his red lips.
Khanyi suddenly realized the significance of the list he had burned to ashes; each name on that densely packed paper represented a living life. She watched as the black snow fell to the ground, on the table, on the bookshelf, on his straight shoulders, on his sleeves, and even in his golden hair. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, mourning for those innocent souls who had died unjustly.
His cold, ice-blue eyes bore into her, and he spoke slowly, “My dear, you are truly an angel. You could exchange your body for their lives; you are saving people with your body… What a noble act. But how many have you saved? Twelve insignificant teachers? Your colleagues and friends, your cousin, and two strangers you casually mentioned? Not a single person has had the courage to fabricate lies so blatantly in front of me; no one has ever done that.”
Her heart seemed to stop suddenly; he had long seen through her secret. The last two names were indeed fabricated on the spot. She didn’t have time to think about why he didn’t expose her on the spot but waited until now to say such a thing. A question filled with righteous indignation escaped her lips, “You killed so many innocent people! All of this is the evil you have committed! Don’t you fear going to hell after death?”
“Evil deeds? You’re not wrong. Do you want to know what evil is?” He lowered his gaze, seemingly surveying the scattered ashes of paper in the room, then raised his long fingers to gently brush off the black ash from his sleeve. “I don’t care about their lives or deaths. Yes, 3147, to me, that’s just a number. Perhaps this number isn’t very accurate, as some bodies were burned beyond recognition. I don’t care about that; what I care about are those trained soldiers of the Empire, the recoil of the guns shaking their strong shoulders, covered in blood blisters, losing consciousness because they have to keep firing, keep firing…”
