NOVPUBThrough the car window, Daniel’s piercing gaze settled upon the middle-aged man outside.
With a mere thought, the system’s interface materialized before him.
[Item]: Memory-Altering Monster
[Detail]: An entity beyond human comprehension, capable of arbitrarily modifying the memories of living beings.
[Appraisal]: The Memory-Altering Monster does not possess significant offensive capabilities. However, due to the unique nature of its abilities, it can effortlessly drive its targets to mental breakdown, thus eradicating them. Additionally, because of its power, ordinary humans and even average Evolvers may struggle to inflict harm upon it. Its level of threat is exceedingly high, approach with caution!
...
Memory-Altering Monster.
A name fittingly eerie for such a creature.
The steely glint in Daniel’s eyes didn’t waver.
He turned to Susanna and inquired, "Do you know Jonathan?"
"Of course," Susanna replied, "Joey’s younger brother."
"Where is he now?" Daniel pressed.
"Asleep in a car with Joey," she said, her eyebrows knitting with confusion. "Why?"
Just as he’d suspected.
The monster had made its move.
A shadow crossed Daniel’s face, yet a peculiar thought gnawed at him.
Last time, the Memory-Altering Monster targeted only Joey and his group, sparing him.
Why had he fallen prey this time?
As he gazed out at the misty weather beyond the window, a spark of realization lit his thoughts.
Could this be the reason?
Frowning, Daniel felt as if he might have just stumbled upon the cause behind these monstrous occurrences.
Susanna, too, sensed something amiss.
She couldn’t remember when Jonathan had joined their group.
Had he been there from the start?
Or had he joined midway?
The memories seemed to elude her.
Looking at Daniel, she felt an inexplicable trust.
Even though their acquaintance was brief, she harbored a budding hope that perhaps he might be the one to save her from this monstrous predicament.
Daniel quickly reassured Susanna before opening the door to step out.
Lost and anxious, Susanna inquired, "What are you going to do?"
In a hushed tone, Daniel replied, "Stay silent and wait here for me."
With those words, he headed straight for his car.
The middle-aged man, clutching his book, faced him directly.
Daniel felt undeniably exposed, as if he were being scrutinized from behind the book.
He was certain malevolent eyes lay hidden behind its pages.
He opened the door and got into the car.
"Dad, you can put the book down now.
Reaching out, Daniel placed his hand atop the book.
Channeling every ounce of his strength, so much so that even the car seemed to skid forward under the force, he tried to move it.
Yet the book remained steadfast, held unyieldingly in those rigid hands.
Realizing the futility, Daniel decided to retract his hand.
At that moment, he noticed a crimson hue staining the edge of the book, reminiscent of fresh blood. The air even carried the metallic tang of hemoglobin.
It truly was blood!
Daniel’s pupils constricted in realization.
Clearly, his actions had alarmed the creature before him.
But what of it?
That’s precisely the reaction he was aiming for!
With a steely glint in his eyes, a dagger made of silk thread materialized in his hand.
Swiftly, he thrust it into the book.
A muffled thud echoed.
Yet the figure remained motionless, seemingly indifferent to the intrusion.
Frustration creasing his forehead, another silk thread dagger appeared in Daniel’s other hand, and he slashed it horizontally across the book.
With a soft rending sound, the book, clutched tightly by the man, was torn asunder.
For the first time, Daniel truly saw the man’s face.
Startling!
Though Daniel had long become indifferent to life and death, the sight before him sent an involuntary shiver down his spine.
The man’s head tilted up at an eerie speed, fixing an unrelenting gaze on Daniel.
But astonishingly... he had no facial features!
All Daniel could see was a smooth, unblemished expanse of skin, devoid of any contours.
Kill it!
That was the singular thought coursing through Daniel’s mind.
He raised both hands, the daggers in them slashing forward and backward in quick succession.
The gleam-less blades aimed directly at the man’s face.
Yet, to Daniel’s astonishment, they halted upon contact with the man’s skin!
It was impenetrable!
With a disturbing creak, the man’s neck cocked sideways, the sound of bone grating eerily audible.
Then, unbelievably, the corners of his smooth face began to part, opening and closing.
His hands came up, fingers digging in.
The flawless skin was forcibly torn apart, blood gushing out like a fountain.
A guttural, raspy voice emanated from that horrific maw.
"Uh..."
Pain overwhelmed Daniel; it felt as though his head was being mercilessly pounded by a fist.
And then, darkness enveloped his vision, and the world around him crumbled once more.
...
[Remaining retrospections within 24 hours: 8.]
Daniel stirred, finding himself once more within the confines of the car.
Outside, the sky shimmered with stars, vast and unobstructed.
The thick fog was yet to manifest.
Lost in thought, Daniel wrestled with his perplexities.
He couldn’t fathom when exactly the creature had manipulated his memories.
The creature wasn’t divine; such feats couldn’t be whimsically executed.
It must have directly engaged him at some point or, perhaps, through some intermediary.
But what could that conduit be?
Daniel’s gaze shifted to the car window, watching Susanna approach him once again.
Before Susanna could reach out, he preemptively rolled down the window.
"Susanna, there’s something pressing we need to discuss."
Susanna halted, her eyes widening in astonishment at the man before her.
She had absolutely no memory of him.
How did he recognize her?
Urgently, Daniel motioned for Susanna to join him inside the car, where he quickly briefed her on the insights gathered from his prior two retrospections.
After hearing Daniel’s account, Susanna was utterly incredulous.
She stared at him in astonishment, "But how... how could you possibly know all this?"
Daniel replied with an air of nonchalance, "I can foresee the future."
Susanna felt her mind go blank.
Had it not been for the profound revelations in Daniel’s information, she would never have believed him.
But now, she was compelled to.
The man before her could, astonishingly, predict the future.
Such an ability seemed almost otherworldly.
It took Susanna a considerable while to regain her composure. "There was no need for you to tell me all that," she finally said.
Daniel responded, "I need your ability."
"Malice Detection" – perhaps this power could help him pinpoint when the creature had begun to tamper with his memories.
Susanna didn’t depart.
Instead, she stayed in Daniel’s car, quietly waiting, her senses on high alert, always vigilant to the lurking dangers around.
Elsewhere.
Akid cast restless glances toward the car on the opposite side of the road. "Why isn’t Susanna back yet? What if something’s happened to her?"
As Aesop tidied up their bedding, he remarked, "In a car with a level 3 Evolver, what could possibly go wrong?"
Akid’s frustration peaked, "It’s precisely because of that, that I’m worried!"
"It’s all your fault, insisting on sending Susanna to see him. Don’t think I don’t know what you all were thinking."
"You didn’t voice any objections either," Aesop pointed out.
Akid was left momentarily speechless.
He could only continue to gaze out of the window, eventually letting out a sigh of relief.
"Is there truly no danger, or could your ability be mistaken?"
Sweat had begun to bead on Susanna’s forehead, a clear indication of her overexerted powers.
Without hesitation, Daniel pulled out a Gene Magnet and tossed it to Susanna, preventing her from resonating due to excessive strain.
Susanna, already at the edge of her stamina, hastily grabbed the magnet.
The overwhelming special magnetic field enveloped her, bringing an unparalleled sense of tranquility.
Her entire demeanor stabilized, and the sweat on her brow quickly dried.
After a brief respite, she once again unleashed her Malice Detection.
Daniel, with furrowed brows, silently gazed out of the window.
This couldn’t go on; if Susanna overextended herself, no amount of Gene Magnets he possessed would make a difference.
It was then that he noticed the moon, obscured not by a cloud, but by a thick mist.
"It’s coming!"
Suddenly, Susanna sounded the alarm.
Daniel’s eyes sharpened, immediately understanding the implications.
This mist was the harbinger of the creature’s arrival.
Susanna’s face mirrored sheer terror, as if she had witnessed something profoundly horrifying.
In reality, she hadn’t seen anything; rather, she had sensed an unprecedented danger.
A surge of fear swelled within her, and she instinctively gravitated closer to Daniel.
"What do we do now?"
With composure, Daniel responded, "We wait."
The first time, he remained still inside the car, and by the next morning, the memories of Joey and the others had been altered, leaving him unscathed.
The last time, when he stepped out of the car, his memories became compromised.
If his conjecture was correct, the creature altered memories through this enveloping mist.
To be on the safe side, Daniel even pulled out a safe made of gold from his Portable Dimensional Storage.
If anything went awry, he’d take refuge inside it.
Minutes later, the outdoors were blanketed with a dense fog, visibility reduced to less than a meter.
Across the road, in the other car, Joey and the rest sat upright, seemingly undisturbed.
Yet terror was evident on Susanna’s face as she barely held back tears.
"Such a terrifying creature, so fearsome." Daniel sharply lifted his gaze, staring intently at Joey and the others.
