Night fell, and torrential rain battered Beiling City.

The fish-man trudged through crowded streets, raincoat dripping. "I used to hate rain... now I don’t."

Wang Haonan walked beside him under an umbrella. "No.002, what were you before... *this*?"

"What time period?"

"Before becoming... *this*."

"A mediocre college student. Bad grades since childhood—getting into that third-rate university was a miracle."

"Teachers, parents, classmates... no one ever respected me. After my parents divorced, life got worse."

"My dad remarried. My stepbrother excelled at everything—I was worthless by comparison."

"But I had Da Huang... a dog I adopted at eleven. He stayed with me for eight years."

"My brother hated dogs. We survived together—two outcasts licking each other’s wounds."

"Then... I hung my blanket next to a girl’s bedsheet on a public rack. She threw mine away and slandered me online."

"I slapped her. The school expelled me. My parents blamed me. The world crushed me."

"That night, her boyfriend’s thugs cornered me... beat me... killed Da Huang."

"I wanted to die. Then *he* appeared—asked if I wanted to live."

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Wang Haonan froze. "You... killed them?"

"Tore them apart, crying the whole time. No guilt. Just... unstoppable tears."

"I kept apologizing... but not to *them*."

Silence lingered.

"You know why I turned green first?" Wang Haonan muttered.

"My wife cheated... with my cousin."

"I pretended not to notice. Cowardice kept me silent. They flaunted it... until I grabbed a kitchen knife."

"But I chickened out. Divorce meant losing everything—house, savings... my whole life."

The raven scoffed. "Humans say: 'If you stay silent, you explode or vanish.' Weakness invites cruelty."

"But now... you’re strong."

Their eyes hardened.

---

In an apartment, a couple tangled in bed.

"Wang Haonan’s been absent... perfect for us."

"Who cares? He’s always been a doormat—ah!"

*Creak.*

The door opened.

"Who’s there?!" The man turned—empty.

A floating cleaver swung—*thunk!*

Blood gushed as the man collapsed. The woman screamed at the faint outline in the air.

"GHOST!!"

*Thud!* The cleaver embedded in her skull.

---

At a university dorm, rain lashed the windows.

*Splat. Splat.*

Webbed footsteps echoed in the hallway.

"W-what’s that noise?!" A student sat up.

"*You heard...*"

Lightning flashed—revealing the fish-man clinging to the ceiling.

By dawn, a student lay dead.