Yes! He's the god of acting

Wait, why had he used the word "either"?

Henry was Henry, not some other creature wearing his skin. William could be certain of that.

Since it was the same Gray Realm descent, since the "audience" could merge with him... then why couldn't another descended calamity merge with a human?

But all of this was William's speculation. What the truth actually was, perhaps only asking directly would reveal it.

Just as William hesitated about whether to knock, the door opened from inside.

"Brother." Henry rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"...I have something I want to ask you."

Henry was about to say something when he glanced at Fred's room across the way, then pulled William into his room and closed the door.

"Henry, I'll ask directly." William looked seriously into his eyes. "The bloodbath at Ice Spring Street... was that you?"

Henry's body shuddered. Seeing the broken protective charm fragment in William's hand, he quietly lowered his head.

"...Yes."

Seeing Henry admit it so readily, William, who had been prepared to continue persuading him, was stunned for a moment.

"It really was you?" William asked again. "So you also merged with a calamity?"

"...I don't know. When I woke up, I was already standing there."

"You also lost a segment of memory?"

"Yes."

William's brow furrowed slightly.

He believed Henry wouldn't lie to him, and even he himself had experienced the same situation... inexplicably crossing over, inexplicably gaining the "audience" in his mind, and when he awakened, he was already back home.

"But the Gray Realm convergence point was at the back mountain, wasn't it? You should have still been in surgery then... why were you also affected?"

"I don't know." Henry shook his head again. "I just remember the doctor giving me anesthesia, and when I woke up, I was at Ice Spring Street... I was very scared, so I hid in the back mountain. When I came out again, I saw you crawling out of that monster..."

Hearing this, William finally pieced together the cause and effect.

However, why Henry had been affected by the Gray Realm convergence remained a question. Could it be that when the calamity broke into District Two, it happened to encounter Henry on the operating table? And then merged with him?

William didn't really understand this "merging" process, and no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

"I understand."

William nodded. "Stay home these next few days, don't go anywhere, understand? I'll handle everything else."

Henry seemed to want to say something but held back.

"What is it?"

"I... I originally wanted to go see Mom and Dad..."

William froze, then after a long silence, spoke softly: "Let me clear your name first. Once things calm down, I'll take you to see them, alright?"

"Alright." Henry nodded obediently.

"Stay away from that Fred these next few days. Don't let him touch you, and talk to him as little as possible."

"Alright."

"If Beker comes looking for you again and asks questions, answer like this..."

"Alright."

After William finished his instructions, he turned and left.

Henry gently locked the door and lay down on the hard plank bed.

He turned his head toward the window, and in his chestnut-colored eyes was the reflection of the blue aurora filling the sky.

Suddenly, at the edge of the aurora-lit sky, a red gleam faintly appeared, like a cinnabar star.

"Here it comes again." Henry murmured to himself.

As that cinnabar-like star grew increasingly brilliant, a dreamlike path extended from nothingness, connecting all the way to Henry's bedside... The path floated and swayed between the star and him, like a gentle ribbon.

Henry lay on the bed, calmly watching this divine path—an olive branch extended by a deity.

After a moment, he slowly raised his hand and grasped the elusive ribbon...

Then crushed it forcefully!

Crack—

A barely audible sound echoed in Henry's ears.

The divine path was crushed in his single hand, turning into scattered dust that dissolved into nothingness. At the same time, the cinnabar star at the sky's edge quickly dimmed.

He had rejected divine favor.

Henry opened his palm. A thumbnail-sized fragment of the divine path lay quietly in his palm, like cinnabar glass.

He casually opened the drawer beside his bed, tossed the cinnabar glass fragment inside, then closed and locked it.

In the dark drawer, over thirty identical cinnabar glass fragments glimmered faintly.

...

Morning.

William rose early to wash and prepare.

Today there was no "kind soul" to reimburse his travel expenses, so he could only walk to Ice Spring Street on foot. Just the round trip would take over four hours, forcing him to leave earlier and return later than other reserve Enforcers.

To his surprise, Fred seemed to have risen even earlier.

As William entered the living room, he saw Fred wearing a casual shirt and knit vest, sitting sideways at the table with an ancient medical text in his hands, appearing to study it seriously, occasionally adjusting his glasses.

It was as if he weren't sitting in a drafty, broken living room, but rather in some elegant café in Aurora City.

Seeing William awake, he smiled and set down his book.

"Good morning."

"Morning."

William replied casually and hurried out, going to the Zhao family breakfast shop across the street for a meal.

Ever since he had "tipped off" Oliver last time, he felt somewhat guilty, so he made sure to patronize their shop every morning, essentially sending Oliver more business... As for Jones, he had been grounded for a week by Oliver and still hadn't emerged.

After William left, Fred slowly set down his book.

He stood up and walked directly toward William's room, his feet making no sound on the old floorboards... like a ghost.

Fred walked to William's bedside, his eyes behind the lenses narrowing slightly.

He put on white gloves and took out a pair of tweezers from his pocket, collecting several strands of hair scattered on the pillow along with tiny skin flakes, placing them all into a brown glass vial.

After completing this task, he quietly withdrew from the room, waving his hand lightly as a breeze swept across the floor, completely erasing the footprints he had left.

He didn't return to his own room but walked straight out of the house, passing through several streets to arrive at the entrance of a run-down convenience store.

Ding-a-ling—

The clear sound of a bell rang as he pushed open the door.

"What would you like to buy?" A woman sitting at the counter yawned lazily and asked casually.

"I'd like to buy a thread of hope."

Upon hearing this response, the woman's gaze instantly froze.

The lazy casualness disappeared completely, replaced by cold, sharp eyes. She stared at Fred before her and spoke slowly:

"Present your identification."

Fred lifted his fingertip slightly, and a white playing card appeared in his palm as if by magic, which he placed face-down on the table.

The woman flipped over the card—

[Seven of Spades]

"Password," she spoke again.

Fred said calmly:

"Human civilization..."

"...shall never be extinguished."