After going to the hospital, no problems were found. Even his parents didn’t really believe him, thinking he was faking illness.

So, he could only endure it alone in his bedroom, trying to fight this feeling, using games or reading to gradually adapt to this state of panic, and to focus his attention while in it.

Over four whole years, he seemed to have made some progress.

At the very least, now he could think effectively even in a state of panic, though the slowed perception of time and heightened sensitivity during panic attacks still remained.

This led to his reactions seeming just a bit faster than normal people’s...

In games, this was obvious. Under the same mechanics, his speed wasn’t faster than others, but he always seemed to have a bit more time to react and think.

And this was also why he increasingly liked to use games to train his attention.

Of course, it was only after he started going out again that he realized he could do the same thing in real life.

Although his physical limitations prevented him from performing overly complex movements, in chaotic situations, he could still judge how to make the best choices.

He didn’t go into detail, mainly because he didn’t think it was anything special.

Anyone could do it with a bit of training, maybe even better than him, right?

Was he supposed to tell Grace Cooper that he’d had a mental illness?

The doctor hadn’t found anything, nor given him a certificate for a mental disorder, so he didn’t even have the confidence to claim he was a patient.

Grace Cooper instinctively noticed that Henry Bennett seemed a bit vague in his answer to this question, but she could tell he didn’t want to talk about it in detail, so she didn’t press further, just pondering silently.

From that class reunion until now, this old classmate’s behavior always gave off a sense of being somehow different from others...

“How could there be such strange things in this city?”

At this moment, Henry Bennett had already crouched down, staring at the now completely dead rat-man, observing it bit by bit, as if he wanted to press his face right up to it.

His brows were tightly furrowed, as if he was enduring the nausea and visual shock brought by this twisted body.

Yet, he was looking at it with great seriousness.

Grace Cooper watched from the side, suddenly a little worried he might actually lick it.

After a moment’s hesitation, she finally sighed softly and said, “I think you’d better get used to and adapt to this as soon as possible!”

“There aren’t just rat-men in this city. Other mutated and twisted monsters will also appear.”

“These things breed in the dark corners of the city, and they’re often twisted, terrifying, and able to reproduce rapidly.”

“If they’re not discovered in time, they can cause great harm to the city.”

“And our mission is to deal with these things, to ensure the city operates with normal order and logic, and to keep it away from panic and collapse.”

“……”

“Mission?”

Henry Bennett was still observing the extremely unreal rat-man in front of him. When he suddenly heard the word “mission,” he felt a deep sense of strangeness inside.

“Yes, mission.”

But Grace Cooper’s expression was very serious as she said softly, “Only by accepting this mission will you get ‘his’ permission to live in this city.”

Henry Bennett instinctively looked around, his mood becoming tense again.

“Who exactly is he?”

“Where is he?”

“……”

Grace Cooper said softly, “Don’t worry, you’ll see ‘him’ very soon.”

Henry Bennett was startled, quickly turning to look around, but all he saw in the subway station were countless trembling gazes.

Now, the last train had long since left, and there weren’t many people left in the station. But there were still some homeless people and drunks, people with nowhere to go. The gunshots they fired had made quite a commotion, waking up quite a few people, who now just stared at them, shivering. For these people at the very bottom of the city, it was as if even the ability to feel fear had been lost—no one screamed, no one called the police.

They just tried their best to shrink into themselves, or pulled blankets over their heads.

Whether Grace Cooper and Henry Bennett were here to deal with monsters or to kill people, all they wanted was not to get involved.

“Don’t these things need to be dealt with?”

He felt extremely surprised, glancing at the broken, shriveled body of the homeless man in the corner, then at the rat-man corpse with its two blood-red eyes still open.

When passengers come in the next day, won’t they be terrified?

Grace Cooper hadn’t expected Henry Bennett to ask this question. She suddenly laughed and said, “He’ll take care of it...”

“Look, ‘he’ is here.”

“?”

Henry Bennett didn’t know why she said that, but suddenly sensed something and turned to look.

Behind him was nothing but the shriveled human body and the rat-man corpse, forming a bloody and grotesque scene.

But then, the fluorescent lights suddenly flickered a few times, and it felt as if something in this space had subtly changed.

Henry Bennett thought his eyes were blurry and hurriedly rubbed them, only to see the wall in front of him slowly start to squirm.

Suddenly, his throat felt dry and his scalp tingled.

He saw that the tiled floor and walls were actually becoming soft and writhing, revealing their bright red essence.