Chapter 48: Did I Get the Wrong Person?

“Hoo—”
Dounia’s eyelashes fluttered lightly with her breath.
“Hoo—”
With each breath she exhaled, Dounia was filled with endless hope and prayer.
She inhaled deeply, emptying her entire mind, able to feel Alicia’s faint breath, proof that she was slowly snatching her back from the hands of death.
“Hoo…”
Dounia continuously provided fresh air, forcefully supplying oxygen to Alicia’s heart and lungs, not having time to think about the sweet scent.
Her small ear was pressed against Alicia’s chest, listening to the extremely slow and faint heartbeat, her hands overlapping, pressing forcefully on the soft, firm curves.
One push, two pushes, the elastic flesh instead affected Dounia’s treatment effectiveness, her strength was not great to begin with, and after such an ordeal, she could barely exert any force.
“Hurry and wake up… hurry and wake up… please…!”
Fine beads of sweat gradually seeped from Dounia’s forehead, mixing with tears as they slid down her cheeks, dripping onto Alicia’s cloak; she slumped weakly in front of Alicia, yet forced herself to continue pressing.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

A faint but regular heartbeat sounded again, and Dounia’s eyes widened slightly.

Alicia still seemed to be in a coma, but at least her vital signs were barely stabilized.

“Finally… I saved you.” Dounia, trembling and exhausted, slumped onto Alicia’s shoulder, her whole body aching as if she had run dozens of kilometers.
Her physical fitness was never good, just like in her previous life, she lacked exercise.

Feeling Alicia’s slight stirrings as if in a dream, Dounia gently brushed away her dark red hair, looking at her sleeping face with a faint smile.

“I never would’ve thought you’d have such a serene expression when you sleep, it’s really not like you at all…” she murmured softly.

The Alicia she remembered was always covered in wounds.

Betrayed by friends and family, tormented by fate, even her beloved died of Soul-Loss, leading her step by step into the muddy abyss.

Resting on Alicia’s shoulder for about ten seconds, Dounia, supporting her aching body, reluctantly stood up; she picked up a wrench from nearby and smashed it with all her might against the precise instrument panel.

Crash—crash—

Dounia panted heavily, tossing the wrench casually into a corner.
She walked to the door, taking one last deep look back at the unconscious Alicia.

“Goodbye, Alicia.”
Beneath the black cloak, silver-white hair faintly reflected the shimmering moonlight.

Kimberley, who had been eavesdropping behind the door, swiftly darted to the train’s connecting section; she gripped the smooth metal roof of the carriage with one hand and flipped herself onto it.

Dounia, clad in a black cloak, slowly pushed open the control room door, poking her small head out to look around.

Once she confirmed there were no enemies around, she quickly rushed into the next carriage.

[Dounia-sama, Adelle has broken free from the dream and is heading your way, expected to encounter you in about two to three minutes.] Maria’s voice came through.
“I understand.”

With a thought, Dounia’s figure disappeared from the real world once more.
‘Mirror Walker’.

The petite figure darted through the reflection world in the series of water droplets she had left behind earlier;

Dounia, leaving no witnesses, passed through the train’s doorway.
The cold air slightly invigorated her tired mind; she straightened Adelle’s suit jacket, walked a few steps, then turned back towards the train, and, due to the double fatigue of body and mind, fell face-first into the thick snow, completely passing out.

On top of the train carriage.

The red-haired woman with bandaged hands lay prone on the carriage roof, silently listening to the surrounding movements.

“This little chick is really crazy, truly a follower of pleasure.” Kimberley grinned.
“Since she killed Alicia and completed the mission, it proves she’s indeed on our side.”
“I’ll report to Latifah-sama first.” Kimberley pulled a blood-colored emblem from her, injecting her mental power into it.

To communicate directly over such a long distance, even a ‘Nightmare’ of the Pleasure sequence couldn’t do it, but making two emblems that were originally one glow and heat up could also transmit messages through a pre-arranged method.

The emblem’s surface glowed faintly for a moment, then faded.
This meant, “The mission has been successfully completed as planned, and cleanup is underway.”
Kimberley gracefully leaped down from the carriage roof, landing with a clang on the metal sheeting of the carriage connection.

Being discovered was not even on her radar; she would kill as many people as discovered her.
She had already killed many people along the way, whether villagers, passengers, or guards.

“I’m the one who has to do the cleanup work, huh?” Kimberley said, shaking her head.
“I don’t know what that little chick was thinking, crying and laughing after killing someone, like a madwoman, and even improvising a love drama.
Latifah-sama was right, Pleasure Followers’ brains are wired differently… it’s better to have less to do with them.”
Kimberley whistled, easily pulling open the control room door.

Alicia lay in a pool of blood, her eyes unfocused, the blood flowing from the corners of her mouth dark red and nearly black.
“Tsk, tsk,” Kimberley smacked her lips, admiring this masterpiece of slaughter.
The scent of blood in the control room thrilled and excited her, and she could clearly feel that the other person’s heartbeat had completely stopped, all signs of life vanished.

She turned to leave, then suddenly changed her mind and walked back.
“Since I’m here, I might as well taste some fresh blood, don’t you agree?” Kimberley pulled a small scalpel from her pocket, stroking it delicately and slowly as if caressing a lover’s skin; this was the weapon she had used to kill many innocent people.

The blade barely cut a shallow line of blood on her thumb, and she excitedly licked the blood from the wound.
“Let me see… what color your heart truly is.” Kimberley hummed a little tune, bending down.
“Time to dig in~”

She bared her teeth, her eyes revealing  and perverse bloodlust as a bloody light condensed on the small scalpel, plunging it fiercely into Alicia’s heart!
In that instant, a flash of bloody light.
The entire world seemed to plunge into an endless abyss of blood, leaving only black and red.

Kimberley’s eyes widened, but she found her vision slowly drifting in circles.
‘Am I flying…?’

A slow thought came to her, and she saw a headless body kneeling in despair on the ground, while the red-haired girl lying on the floor suddenly opened her blood-red vertical pupils, looking down at her tiny figure with dragon-like indifference.
‘Monster.’

With that final thought, Kimberley completely lost consciousness.

Alicia stood up, patted the dust from her clothes, then stepped on an oval-shaped object; blood-red magic flowed into it, and with a slight exertion of force, she crushed it like a ball.
Blood and viscera splattered everywhere, yet Alicia showed not a flicker of emotion, as if she had already experienced such things countless times.
She raised her right hand, pulling a thin, transparent silver thread between her index and middle fingers, and even in her cold vertical pupils, there was a hint of confusion.

“She’s not Dorothea? Did I get the wrong person?”