Four hours earlier. Tuesday, 20 October. In Gaps District, a fairly busy neighbourhood, stood a simple house, inside which were two women.
One day after her escape, Devy's body was completely immobile. But today was different; she was able to stand, albeit with Fike's support.
On the dark wooden table next to the bed was a round communication device with a metal disc. It was said to be able to connect voices between cities without an operator.
Yesterday afternoon, their leader had called, telling them both to hurry up because the other members were waiting for their return. Therefore, they prepared themselves, with Fike first training his friend to walk like a normal person.
He did not want to cause Devy any difficulty when he stepped back onto the street. Feeling satisfied that Devy could walk perfectly, at exactly 7:00 a.m., they began packing the belongings in the house, left the house, and locked the door tightly.
**
On the other hand...
The man she had met before and who had now been captured was named Valsa Zorca. A bandit leader whose name had only become famous two years ago. Since then, he had often caused trouble for the local police, who constantly received reports from residents about money being stolen due to looting.
In fact, on any given day, Valsa would target around three people or more, depending on the situation and favourable weather conditions.
When he was in a bad mood, his nature turned cruel and he did not hesitate to kill others, and now he was rendered helpless in front of Kyle, who continued to stare at him indifferently.
Luckily, at that time, Kyle could not remember the name of the bandit who was going to deceive him; it could be said that the real deceiver was himself.
Valsa's lips twitched, thinking that the person in front of him wanted revenge against him.
A wild idea popped into his head: he didn't want to die alone, so he would drag Kyle to the afterlife with him.
"Die, you..." he shouted as he took a revolver out of the pocket of his knee-length black coat.
He pointed it right at Kyle's head. Valsa made a threat afterwards, trying to scare him.
"If you don't want to die, don't move! Put your hands behind your back!"
Valsa was confused to see that the threat had no effect at all. He could even clearly see the expression on Kyle's face, which showed that he didn't care about her words at all.
Angry, and without hesitation, he pulled the trigger of the revolver. Bang! The bullet split the air with the cylinder spinning, reloading the bullet.
Valsa smiled afterwards. He wanted to watch the bullet pierce Kyle's skull. And for some reason, he was surprised to see Kyle not dodging his attack, choosing to stay put while watching the bullet.
He didn't know what was going through Kyle's mind at that moment, thinking that he had given up and surrendered to the death that was coming for him.
But unbeknownst to Valsa, the speed of the bullet was different from what he saw, different from Kyle's view of the bullet as a balloon floating in the air, moving slowly as it was blown by the wind.
After that, the bullet did not hit Kyle's head, but turned around and its speed returned to normal, heading towards Valsa's kneecap and instantly shattering it.
"Ah... it hurts, damn it!" Fresh blood flowed, forming a circle on his long black trousers. He lay there afterwards, covering his face with his arm, unwilling to look at Kyle who was walking towards him.
In the transparent world, without using his poet's abilities, Kyle could imagine anything he wanted without suffering any fatal consequences.
Since Hana told him a few days ago that he had mastered the role of Poet, Kyle rarely or never knew how to use that role. On the other hand, he often fought enemies and imprisoned them in the grey, rocky transparent world.
Even the bullet that hit Valsa's knee was not enough for him. He thought of one thing: to "heal" the wound and imagine Valsa bound by chains restraining her body, like torture in the past.
The blood floated, re-entering his body, accompanied by the closed gunshot wound, leaving not a single trace. Valsa was shocked to see the truth, as he looked up and wanted to stare at Kyle.
Suddenly, his body was pulled by chains that suddenly appeared, his arms stretched out, and his body floated as if bound by something, but he could not see it.
Kyle approached after that, gripping her hands tightly. The chains moved, pulling each other and pressing Valsa's body strongly.
She grimaced in pain, her voice echoing in the transparent world. Two seconds later, she coughed up a lot of blood, accompanied by her gasping breath. Her chest felt tight, as if her organs were about to burst out of her body.
The chains weighed five hundred kilograms, but strangely, she did not die. Instead, she felt pain she had never imagined before.
"Help! I'll pay whatever you want."
Kyle was silent. Five metres away, Kyle stared at Valsa's face, which was full of tension. He sighed softly, remembering their previous agreement.
"Alright," said Kyle with a cynical smile.
Valsa's lips trembled. Her eyes widened, not knowing what would happen to her next.
The pressure of the chains had lessened as Kyle stepped closer to her. They stared at each other before Kyle touched Valsa's shoulder.
After that, he stepped out of the transparent world. Surrounded by familiar buildings and houses, Valsa felt relieved, and finally she could breathe fresh air after that ordeal.
But she didn't know that right behind her stood a woman with red eyes, glaring at her. She was Syne, who had been waiting for her arrival.
She turned around and muttered, "Huh, who is that woman? Why is she staring at me like that?"
Even Valsa did not realise that he was dealing with two people he had once targeted for extortion.
From behind him, Kyle appeared, walking calmly.
"What took you so long? I've been waiting for almost two hours!" said Syne wearily, pacing back and forth aimlessly.
Kyle chuckled afterwards. His eyelids moved to the left, as if signalling to do it immediately. Syne nodded afterwards, flexing both hands before lifting the collar of Valsa, who was sitting and staring at him.
His left hand lifted the body, while his right hand searched her entire body, finding some money from her trouser pocket and a revolver with six bullets left.
Syne threw the revolver towards Kyle, who was standing in front of him. Meanwhile, he counted the money in his hand.
He couldn't believe it. This was the first time Syne had ever held 800 sen. On the one hand, he felt happy, but on the other, he knew the money wasn't his. He thought for a moment and decided to return the money to its owner.
And he had let go of the money. But he wasn't going to let Valsa get away so easily. After the retrieval, they both took Valsa to the police station and also sought information about the person who had full rights to the 800 cents he was holding.
Meanwhile, Kyle stood leaning against the wall beside the entrance to the police station, waiting for Syne to arrive.
From behind, the faint sound of high heels reached his ears. Kyle turned around and saw Syne carrying a paper bag.
"What's that?" he asked in surprise.
Syne lifted it slightly and said softly, "Oh, this is food given by the police. They said it was a thank you for catching that person."
Kyle nodded and asked again. "Have you really been waiting for almost two hours?"
"Yes," she replied briefly.
After that conversation, Syne invited Kyle to go to her headquarters. Since there was nothing else to do, Kyle agreed, even though he still didn't trust people in this world.