"My corpse?" Shac muttered, hearing something unbelievable from ××××. He froze at her sudden question.

"Didn't you expect that your corpse was also included in this mountain of corpses?" She asked.

Despite the coldness, Shac felt sweat form on his forehead, gradually making him feel cold from the temperature of the White Void. His sweat was cold.

"I..." He whispered. He knew that it was a mountain of corpses from cursed people, but he didn't expect that he himself was included in it.

She chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm just asking you. But looking at your face, I basically have the answer I need."

He froze from the sight of the mountain, trying to control his breathing. He couldn't look at ××××, he couldn't muster the courage to do so.

If I am included in these corpses, then it must be because I died multiple times throughout the loop... It must be the case, right?

Standing in front of the mountain, the duck noticed how Shac once again froze, lost in thought. It had happened multiple times now, and it showed how stressed he was.

"How do you find this place as it is?" She asked, trying to ease Shac's tension.

"Well... I don't know anymore..." He answered in a low voice, then continued, "All I know is that this must be the afterlife."

"Afterlife, huh..." She muttered, then continued, "Personally, I would call this place a sanctuary."

Shac looked back at the sight of the White Void. Although it was white and had a floor full of clouds, it shifted into something darker and more dreadful. "How is this a sanctuary?" He knew that it was far from a place you would call a sanctuary.

She tilted her head and asked, "Is it not?"

He sighed deeply and shook his head. "I don't know what to expect anymore." He looked above, gazing at the massive floating library in the middle of the White Void. "Then, there must be a reason why this massive library exists, right?"

"Of course, everything you can see in this place exists for a reason. That is true for both the library and the mountain. After all, the blood that came from above, it came from the library itself."

Shac looked upward. He watched as the blood dripped continuously from the library. From the start, it hadn't stopped. "Did the blood ever stop dripping?"

"Yes, but that was a long time ago."

A long time ago, huh... Shac continued looking, lost in thought.

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"That library, it is the heart of the void," She said, then continued, "And in this void, it is the only thing that is alive."

Suddenly, Shac felt a sharp pain in his heart. "Aghhh!" he groaned in pain, but it was gone immediately.

Now a sharp pain all of a sudden!? Shit... This is crazy...

"I wonder about that," He said as he glared at her. The void and the duck herself were both things that Shac couldn't comprehend.

What did she just do? Why did my chest feel pain all of a sudden?

But now he knew that, no matter how much he defended himself, there would always be random trouble whenever the duck was involved. He suspected that she did something. After all, all of this happened because he met the duck, he was cursed.

She laughed and brushed off Shac's thought as if it were nothing. "As I said, it is the heart of the void, and you will see why. But first..." She paused, then walked toward him. "Imagine yourself getting a book."

Shac gave a confused look. "Imagine myself? What is it for?"

"Do it, and you will see why."

"Tsk..." He clicked his tongue. He knew he couldn't do anything else but follow her, as it was the only lead he had right now to help him.

Shac closed both of his eyes and did it. He took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts. He imagined himself going into the library, approaching the bookshelf, and grabbing a book. Holding it with his right hand, he managed to grab a book with ease.

He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. To his surprise, a book was in his right hand. He was holding it. "This is..." he whispered, confused and lost. "H-how?"

Did the book appear just like that?

It looked like a normal book, but something about it felt off. "Why is this heavy?" He paused, then continued, "Is it... alive?" That was his first thought upon touching the book himself, as it didn't feel like a book.

Despite having a normal appearance, the book felt alive. As he held it with both of his hands, he was able to feel it more properly. It was heavier than it looked, and it was warm and sticky, which was odd because it looked like a normal book.

"What's this!?" He shouted at the duck. "What exactly is this!?"

"It's a book," She responded immediately.

"I know that it looks like a book, but this is not a book!" He said in a loud voice, then held the book in front of her. "A book is not supposed to be alive! This thing is beating, why is it beating?!"

"Doesn't that remind you of something?" She paused, then continued, "Like a heart, maybe?" She laughed.

"A heart...?" Shac muttered when suddenly a loud beating sound broke the silence. "Wha-!?" It continued to beat, multiple times even. "This is..." He knew this familiar sound, he knew it very well.

Immediately, he reached for his chest, feeling it up with his left hand. There, he knew that he was right, that it was the sound of his heart beating loudly.

Why is it beating so loudly?

It continued to pound loudly, as if the heart were next to his ears. But that wasn't the only thing, as the book in his right hand was beating too. Which startled him because it was beating together with his heart.

It's beating the same way…

His heart and the book were beating the same way, as if they were one and the same.

"Do you understand it now?" She paused, then continued, "You're holding your own heart," the duck said, leaving Shac in disbelief.

"It can't be..." He whispered, his grip on the book tightened. "My... heart?" His voice trembled, and for a moment, he forgot to breathe.