Split Zone No.13

8

Body Double

I shot a charming smile at the muscular man . Stepping forward, I raised my right hand to touch his toned right arm . His left hand was still holding down the elevator button . (t/n: the muscular man will henceforth be called Muscle Man)

Seeing me move, the mummy pulled back his left leg and turned slightly, to face me . At the same time, Nie Zun’s left foot moved slightly forward .

Muscle Man didn’t move . I gave his arm a gentle rub .

“Since you know that I rarely pay visits, the fact that I’m here today means that there’s a reason that I must see your district commander . Even if you won’t let me see her, I can’t just let things go . So, how about this? You tell me a way to meet your commander that doesn’t put you in a tight spot . It’s better than us resorting to violence, isn’t it? After all, if we were to really fight, are you sure that you would win?”

I tilted my head and gave another pretty smile, slowly pulling back my hand .

Muscle Man was silent a moment, and then he looked to me with bright eyes . “Ms Li Zhen, let’s do it this way . You and Mr Nie Zun return to the 26th floor and wait . I’ll report to the commander and have her make a decision . What do you think?”

I felt somewhat unhappy at this . We were both district commanders, so what was up with the air of arrogance?

Well, fine, I’ll tolerate it . This was their turf after all .

Sigh . Even though I was a district commander, I didn’t feel like a leader at all . I always mixed with the other residents on the 13th floor . I spent half my day lying in bed, like a paralyzed patient . It was no wonder that Mr Blond was angry with me .

As I thought about this, Nie Zun and I were being escorted out of the elevator . We stood in front of the elevator doors on the 26th floor, waiting for the muscular man’s response .

After the elevator doors closed, I turned to look at Nie Zun . His careless appearance seemed to have hit a limit . Perhaps he was tired because it was nighttime . He swayed slightly as he stood, as if he might fall asleep at any moment .

I was about to scold him for being so leisurely while we were in enemy territory, when he suddenly laughed at something behind me . “What is it?”

I started . Was there someone behind me? Even though my mental force wasn’t very high, I was still pretty sensitive to my surroundings . Who could have gotten this close to me without my taking notice?

I hated this weak and feeble feeling . With a taut face, I stubbornly refused to turn around .

“It’s like this . There’s something I must report to you, but it didn’t seem safe to do so in the confines of Westside, so I followed you and the commander here . Only, I was more than half an hour later than you two . I made it past the district border right at the last minute, so I was only able to find you now . ”

This voice sounded very familiar, so I immediately turned around .

It was Jeppa . (t/n: Or Jie Pa, as I called him previously . But I’ll be using Jeppa now . )

Jeppa was still dressed in a suit, standing behind me, looking ever like a perfect gentleman . He was looking respectfully towards Nie Zun, his eyes not covered by that pair of black glasses .

Startled, I said, “Jeppa?”

“It’s me, Commander . ” As always, Jeppa gave a bow to me .

“What are you doing here?” I asked . Then I turned to Nie Zun, who didn’t look at all surprised . Rather, he nodded to Jeppa . “Continue speaking . We’re waiting for someone now, so it might not be convenient to talk in a bit . ”

Jeppa understood . He got to his point and said, “I suspect that Ms Laurel didn’t really die . ”

My eyes widened . “What do you mean?”

Jeppa looked at me as he said, “As you’re aware, Commander, after a person dies, someone from the marketplace is designated to transport the body to the corpse pit near the forest . Then, in the real world, that person’s heart will stop beating . After their body grows cold there, the corpse in this world will disappear . ”

He paused and adjusted his glasses . “Before that happens though, after a splitting key is inserted into someone’s split symbol, they will die in this world, but their body form remains unchanged . Only in the final moments before their consciousness truly disappears from here do they return to their original form . I was suspicious, so I went to the corpse pit to find Ms Laurel’s body, and I watched it until it disappeared . In the final moments though, her body didn’t look like Ms Laurel’s, but rather some other 20 something year old girl . ”

He paused and adjusted his glasses . “Before that happens though, after a splitting key is inserted into someone’s split symbol, they will die in this world, but their body form remains unchanged . Only in the final moments before their consciousness truly disappears from here do they return to their original form . I was suspicious, so I went to the corpse pit to find Ms Laurel’s body, and I watched it until it disappeared . In the final moments though, her body didn’t look like Ms Laurel’s, but rather some other 20 something year old girl . ”

Jeppa continued, “There are three (t/n: ?) possibilities . First, Ms Laurel had been maintaining her appearance with her mental force . Second, someone used their mental force to make themselves look like Ms Laurel, and it was during that time that they were killed . ”

I frowned . The first situation was impossible . Because Laurel was still young, and her death hadn’t come about from a very particular illness, she was entrusted to me by Mr Blond; she hadn’t walked into Westside by her own choice . That meant that she wouldn’t have been familiar enough with using mental force to put on a fake appearance .

But the second situation wasn’t very likely either . While it was very easy to disguise yourself as someone else, you couldn’t fake a split symbol . Everyone’s split symbol gave off a faint light, a kind of light that we couldn’t replicate . If the dead Laurel was a fake, how did we explain the butterfly symbol on her neck? I’d seen her split symbol before, and it was indeed a butterfly .

Seeing the doubts on my face, Jeppa continued, “Commander, split symbols come in a large number of varieties . Everyone’s is different, and no symbol is repeated . However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t symbols that look very similar . Even if the symbol on that girl’s neck was a butterfly, it may have been a different butterfly to Ms Laurel’s . Try to recall it . ”

Hearing Jeppa say this, I suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right . Because I’d been so enraged by Laurel’s death, I hadn’t considered the possibility that someone had disguised themselves as Laurel . I didn’t really think much about it at all . But with Jeppa’s words now, I tried to recall the symbol I saw on the corpse’s neck . My memory is very strong, and it really did seem that the butterfly on the corpse wasn’t exactly the same as Laurel’s butterfly .

They looked similar, yes, but they were two different types of butterflies .

“Who would want to disguise as Laurel to get killed? What do they mean by that? And where’s the real Laurel?” I grew anxious . Because if what Jeppa proposed was true, then that meant there was a chance that Laurel was still alive .

Jeppa responded, “I don’t understand the reasoning behind it either, but I suspect that many recent events are not normal . After Nie Zun told me to secretly investigate this, I started to pay more attention to these things . ”

Nie Zun told him? I turned to glance at him . Of course, he had the same lazy expression as always . And then he even yawned .

Looks like I’m the only one who doesn’t concern themselves with all these things, I couldn’t help deride myself .

Ding!, the elevator suddenly sounded . Must be Muscle Man . I glanced back to the elevator to catch the doors opening . But when I turned back around, I found that Jeppa had already disappeared .

What agility! I guess Jeppa was staying hidden from the Eastsiders .

I looked back to the elevator . “Ms Li Zhen, our commander is not currently in . I’m not just saying that, but she’s really not in the building right now . I didn’t know earlier, as she doesn’t usually leave the residence at this time, but she’s not one to report her activities to me . So, I must apologize, but I’m afraid that you’ll have to leave now . ”

I thought back to what Jeppa told us earlier . If what he said was true, it wouldn’t be wise to rush in and interrogate Sly S right now . So, I just laughed . “Alright . Sorry for the troubles . We’ll head off then . ”

I thought back to what Jeppa told us earlier . If what he said was true, it wouldn’t be wise to rush in and interrogate Sly S right now . So, I just laughed . “Alright . Sorry for the troubles . We’ll head off then . ”

“There are still 29 hours before day returns . Why don’t I arrange a place for you and Mr Nie Zun to stay?”

“There’s no need . When travelers pass through another district, they can stay in the school dorms . At the least, I’m aware of such a rule . There’s no need for you to inconvenience yourself . You can go . Nie Zun and I will head to the school building . ”

Muscle Man nodded . “Be careful on your way . ” As if not wanting to speak with me for an extended time, he pressed the button to close the elevator doors .

Seeing the elevator doors close, it appeared that the man had no intention of seeing Nie Zun and myself out . My lips twitched .

“Where’s Jeppa?” I asked Nie Zun .

“On the rooftop, probably . ” Nie Zun yawed again .

I really couldn’t be bothered to retort to such a response . Rather than wait for the elevator, I slipped out the 26th floor window and used my mental force to take me to the 30th floor .

Nie Zun followed behind and jumped up as well .

As Nie Zun had said, Jeppa was indeed standing on the roof, waiting for us .

Spotting my arrival, Jeppa immediately proposed, “Commander, I think that it’s better if we return to the district forest . Neither you nor Nie Zun are familiar with the way things work here, so I suggest that we wait in the forest . We’ll be able to return to Westside right away when day breaks . ”

“You’re really quick, you know . ” I commended Jeppa’s abilities, not opposing his suggestion .

Nie Zun suddenly spoke up . “Jeppa, you should return to the forest and wait for us there . Li Zhen and I are going to take a look at the other district border . Before the sky lights up, we’ll meet back up with you . If we don’t return, you can head back to Westside first . You don’t have to wait for is . The same as before . ”

After listening, Jeppa nodded . Then he turned away and seemed to vanish .

“Wow, he actually listens to you,” I couldn’t help sighing .

After listening, Jeppa nodded . Then he turned away and seemed to vanish .

“Wow, he actually listens to you,” I couldn’t help sighing .

“Who told you to ignore all your duties?” Nie Zun smiled slightly .

“But why are we going to the other district border?” I asked with confusion .

“I suspect that we’ll be able to meet Sly S there . ”

“Why?”

Nie Zun turned his head to the dark, night sky . It was rare for a district commander not to be in the district residence during the night . A situation like that meant that it was likely that she wasn’t in Eastside now .

“If she had gone to Westside, it’s not possible that neither Jeppa or You Ji noticed . So, my guess is that she went to Southside . In that case, why not wait for her at the border?”

“But if Laurel’s not dead, I don’t need to find her . ”

“No . Whether or not Laurel is dead, you still have to meet with her,” Nie Zun said .

“Why?” I asked, a bit confused .

“There haven’t just been one or two strange occurrences in Westside . You just remain blind to them . The bugs that covered the body that fell from the roof earlier carried a certain scent . And I just smelled that scent on the bandaged man we met, which means that Sly S must have had some involvement in the strange things happening in Westside . Even if you don’t plan on interrogating her, you should at least meet with her, to see what kind of reaction she has . You must know yourself and your enemy to be victorious in every battle . She’s a legendary figure, and yet, after you became the Westside commander, you never once met with her . Do you think that’s right?”

“I’ve never met Si Luo either . ” I didn’t sound at all confident in my retort . Nie Zun’s senses were stronger than most people’s . If he smelled something, then I wasn’t going to doubt him .

“Si Luo’s an exception . He doesn’t like outsiders . ” Nie Zun suddenly laughed . “What, are you scared of Sly S?”

“Who’s scared? Fine, let’s go!” I clenched my teeth . You’re a funny guy, huh . Who’s scared?!