Monster - Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Another Me in This World
Upon entering the elevator reserved for the building's cleaning staff, she found it empty. The female cleaner immediately pulled down her light blue mask, revealing a young and beautiful face.
"There was a police officer in the lobby just now." The beak of the crow brooch on her collar moved.
"Mm," Lou said, studying her reflection on the elevator's smooth wall. She was wearing a short, curly wig, which made her look like a middle-aged woman with the mask on. But with the mask off, the wig, contrasted against her face, couldn't look more fake. The whole effect was comical and out of place.
"Has Yan Ting become a Ruler?"
"Not yet, but I scanned a Legislator in this building. You know, without being face-to-face, I can only go by feeling."
"Then let's see if we can steal the Scale Brooch and study it." After admiring her own reflection for a while, Lou put her mask back on and watched the floor numbers climb, stopping at the 37th floor.
Ding-dong. The elevator chimed.
Lou pushed her cart out of the elevator and slowly made her way toward the Dudian Red Wine Company.
No one paid any attention to a female cleaner collecting trash. Lou moved like a ghost. She first scanned the people in the office area but didn't see the person she was looking for—"the other Lou in this world."
She wasn't in a hurry. She leisurely pushed her cart to a stop in front of the private office with a "General Manager" plaque and raised a hand to knock twice.
"Come in," a crisp female voice answered from inside.
Lou turned the handle and entered. In the center of the spacious office, an exquisitely featured woman sat behind a large desk, head down, replying to a message on her phone. She merely glanced up at Lou before lowering her head again to continue typing.
Through the scan of her deepened eyes, Lou immediately saw Yan Ting's basic information.
Name: Yan Ting
Age: 35◆
Gender: Female
Current Status: President of Dudian Red Wine Company, Upper House candidate.
Resume: None.
Besides the basic data, her eyes, now in scanning mode, saw that Yan Ting was already a Stage 3 monster—and the kind that had harmed many people.
Not my type.
Lou thought to herself, but on the surface, she said in a cheerful tone, "Hello, President Yan, I'm here to collect the trash."
Yan Ting grunted an acknowledgment without looking up again.
Lou deftly emptied the contents of the small black trash can—which was nearly empty—into the large plastic bag on her cart.
Inside was only an empty paper coffee cup and a few used tissues.
Lou didn't linger. After emptying the trash, she immediately headed out, respectfully closing the door behind her.
Back in the main office area, Lou scanned the room again but still didn't see that Lin Sandie.
"Check the break room," Miu the crow, knowing what she was thinking, immediately pointed her in the right direction.
Suppressing her eagerness, Lou adopted an inconspicuous posture and unhurriedly pushed her cart toward the break room.
The Dudian Company's break room was spacious and bright. The evening sun's afterglow refracted through the floor-to-ceiling windows, dyeing the entire room orange. There was only one person inside. The woman had her back to the glass door, pouring coffee. She had long, smooth black hair that fell casually over her shoulders. She wore a white long-sleeved blouse and a high-waisted black midi skirt.
Perhaps lost in thought, the woman didn't notice Lou enter.
"Excuse me, could you move aside?" Lou cleared her throat, speaking in as gentle a tone as possible.
"Sorry." The woman finally came to her senses. She turned around, revealing a delicate face identical to Lou's.
She looked to be around twenty-five, with deep-set eyes whose irises were a few shades lighter than average, as if holding the color of rain. Though just as lively, they carried a faint sense of melancholy. She had a high-bridged nose and red lips that curved up slightly at the corners even when she wasn't smiling, which often gave an impression of friendliness. Below the left corner of her mouth was a tiny black mole.
Lou felt her breath catch. She was seeing "the other Lou" standing right in front of her. The only differences were that this world's "Lou" looked a few years older and wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. Her white blouse had a ruffled stand-up collar tied with a black silk ribbon, making her look scholarly, gentle, dignified, and restrained.
Name: Lin Sandie
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Current Status: Employee at Dudian Red Wine Company.
Resume: Legislator, Code: γ (Note 1)
"Did the old auntie leave?" Lin Sandie took two steps to the side, watching the cleaner pull out the small trash can from under the coffee machine.
Lin Sandie's voice was also different from Lou's slightly softer, more youthful tone. Her enunciation was crisp, as clear as water striking ice, though her accent also carried a hint of the south.
"She went back to her hometown." Lou's heart pounded. She felt as if she had heard Lin Sandie's voice somewhere before.
But then she dismissed the thought as impossible. As a Sentinel on a mission, her language was automatically converted to the local vernacular in every Tower World. This conversion was standardized, without any accent, so there was no way an NPC's voice in a Tower World could sound familiar.
"Thank you for your hard work." Lin Sandie was neither cold nor distant. Hearing the cleaner's reply, she nodded slightly and took a light sip of her coffee.
"Drinking coffee now, won't it keep you up at night?" Lou asked.
"No, it won't. Thanks for your concern." Noticing that Lou had been staring at her, Lin Sandie asked, "Is there something on my face?"
"No, you're very beautiful," Lou praised from the bottom of her heart.
Miu the crow rolled its eyes. This bizarre Sentinel was shameless to the extreme. Wasn't that the same as complimenting herself on her own good looks?
"Thank you. Your eyes are very beautiful too," Lin Sandie returned the compliment politely.
Lou's irises were lighter than most people's. With the evening sun from outside illuminating one side of her face, her pupils looked like glass, dazzlingly bright, and gave Lin Sandie a strange sense of familiarity.
"Lin… your name is Lin Sandie?" Lou shifted her gaze to Lin Sandie's name tag.
"Yes." Lin Sandie nodded politely, thinking that this cleaner's voice was young and pleasant, completely at odds with her attire.
"Are you married?" Lou asked, her eyes moving back to Lin Sandie's face.
Lin Sandie raised an eyebrow slightly. "No."
"Then do you have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend?"
This abrupt question amused Lin Sandie. She held her mug, looked at Lou with a low chuckle, revealing two small canine teeth and faint dimples. "I have a partner. Thank you for your concern."
"Please, carry on." Not wanting to continue this line of questioning, Lin Sandie nodded and left the break room with her coffee.
After Lin Sandie was gone, Lou lowered her head and placed a hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating violently. "I've fallen for her at first sight. I want to get her into bed. I want her to sleep with me. Little Crow, don't you think she has a particularly nice scent?"
Lou often traveled between worlds. She knew that in some of those worlds, there might be another version of herself, living their own life. After all, she herself had come from one of these Tower Worlds. But this was the first time she had seen another self so clearly, so up close—a woman with a face identical to her own, living a life she had never had.
Lou found it utterly fascinating.
To see someone with the exact same appearance from an observer's perspective was an impact that looking in a mirror could never compare to.
Hearing Lou's three-part "Lou-style confession," Miu rolled its eyes to the heavens. It felt that Lou hadn't fallen in love at first sight; she was just being purely narcissistic.
"She said she has a partner," Miu reminded her.
"That's simple. If her partner has mutated into a monster, I'll just eliminate them. If they haven't, I'll give him or her five million, or fifty million, or whatever, to leave Lin Sandie!" Lou said with righteous conviction, as if she were playing house.
Miu was speechless. As Lou's Guide, it was necessary to pull her back from such dangerous thoughts.
"She's better looking than you," Miu said.
In short, it had to first stir up some opposition.
Having quickly slipped into the restroom, Lou studied herself in the mirror, comparing the differences between herself and Lin Sandie. When she heard Miu say that the other Lou from this parallel world was better looking, she immediately retorted, "You're lying."
"I'm not. She really does look prettier than you."
"She looks older than me. And while her skin might be a tiny bit better, her chest is smaller than mine, and her figure isn't as good…" Although she had only observed Lin Sandie for a short time, Lou had already etched her appearance deep into her mind. She quickly listed point after point to refute Miu's theory that she was less attractive than Lin Sandie.
Even if it was "love at first sight" for Lin Sandie, that was no reason for Lou to admit she was inferior.
"It's not about looks. She has a certain quality that you don't."
"What quality?" Lou asked, her competitive spirit making her immediately add, "I have plenty of quality."
"She has a melancholy temperament. It's very charming," Miu continued, prodding Lou.
"Is it because she wears glasses? I can wear glasses too." Lou expressed her willingness to compromise on this point without any psychological burden.
"No, you just don't get it."
"Then explain it to me." Lou was unusually bothered by this, far more than by her current mission.
"It's like…" Miu pondered for a moment. "She's like a white porcelain vase full of cracks, barely held together. Something heavy is weighing on her, and she's fighting that heavy, terrifying thing all alone. It's that sense of being fragile yet strong, you understand?"
"…" What Miu described was too ethereal. Lou pursed her lips and thought for a long time until her good temper finally wore out. She said, a little angry, "Aren't you going too far? I have quality too, you know!?"
"Do you know what we call you behind your back?"
"What?" Lou's social circle in the Main World was very small. This was the first she'd heard of having a nickname.
"Savage, barbarian, madwoman…"
Lou sucked in a breath, clutching the crow brooch tightly in her hand and holding it over the sink drain. If it said one more word, she would immediately let go and flush the tiny brooch down the sewer.
"Just kidding, hahaha. You're very strong. Actually, a lot of people hope to work with you."
"Do I have quality too?"
Miu was stunned by her childish ability to seize any opportunity. It quickly said, "Yes, yes, yes. You should go buy a pair of glasses later. It'll max out your quality, for sure. Get gold-rimmed ones, just like Lin Sandie's."
"Her name is terrible." Satisfied, Lou pinned the brooch back on her chest and continued her critique of Lin Sandie. "And she's old and ugly, but I've still fallen for her."
Old and ugly? You two look exactly the same! Miu thought.
"I just scanned her. She's that hidden Legislator."
"She looks useless. How could she be a Legislator?" Miu's instigation had some effect; Lou's words became merciless. She lowered her head, put her mask back on, and prepared to leave.
Lin Sandie and the others were about to get off work, and Lou was willfully determined to investigate this "other Lou in this world" first.
"Lin Sandie probably doesn't know it herself. I can't see the specific details clearly right now, only that she has the status of a Legislator."
"Let's go get something to eat first, then follow her home and see… As expected of this world's Lou. Almost eighty percent of the people in this company have mutated, yet she's managed to stay herself and not get infected. She's just a bit ugly, and doesn't have my quality!"
Miu continued to roll its eyes. No matter what, it was certain now: Lou hadn't fallen for Lin Sandie at first sight. She was really just being narcissistic!
However, following Lin Sandie to see why she hadn't mutated into a monster like the others was a viable plan.
"In another world, I was once the most beautiful woman in the world!" Lou continued to chatter.
"Was that the post-apocalyptic zombie world where all the humans were dead?"
Regarding the matter of Lin Sandie having more quality than her, Lou began a resentful comparison. As she left the building where Lin Sandie worked, she was still relentlessly blabbering to Miu, listing her numerous experiences in other worlds. These included, but were not limited to, how many men and women had gone crazy for her, the tragic grandeur of how she had slaughtered her way through overwhelming odds, her many near-death encounters, and so on—all to prove that she had experienced more than Lin Sandie, that she had more of that… cracked porcelain vase quality.
Not to be outdone, Miu began to extol the sense of brokenness about Lin Sandie, mocking Lou as being a solid block of iron, a savage from a primitive society who would never possess such a quality, not even in ten thousand years.
Anyway, it was a crow now and could fly away at any time.
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