Under Annan’s narration, the image of a reticent young man gradually ca alive amidst the words.
Annan’s eyes, hidden in the shadows, were now sparkling with the brilliance of Wisdom and understanding.
"Listen to this, could it be a story like this..."
His ten fingers intertwined, he sat in the wheelchair, displaying a calm and serene expression on his aged face.
"When he was young, his father left him."
Annan narrated, "His mother received the ’legacy’ sent by his father, which told him that his father was a hero who died in glory in a foreign land.
"His mother struggled to raise him, and he learned no knowledge. He could only be an apprentice, fixing watches. But eventually, he grew tired of this life and ran away from ho.
"When he returned ho, he found his mother had long passed away from illness, and he didn’t even know what disease she had had. It was probably around this ti that he awakened the ability to turn back ti.
"But even if he could reverse ti, he could not save his own mother. Maybe it was because too much ti had passed, or maybe his power just couldn’t be used for such things. He eventually went back to being his own repairman.
"With his abilities, he beca the best repairman. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, nor how long he could do this job... and even less why he was wasting his ti here.
"What he truly wanted, was to beco a [Doctor]."
Annan said softly, "He didn’t want to fix these broken and fragnted trifles... he wanted to fix people. He wanted to ’cure’ patients who suffered from illness like his mother did.
"But he couldn’t reveal his abilities to others—or perhaps, his abilities couldn’t be used to heal others. He was uneducated, and even his writing was crooked. In his eyes, philosophers were madn who could answer all of his questions. That’s also why there’s such a doctor in his dreams.
"He hoped the doctor was his father. He believed that his father might not have truly died but had just fled from the Battlefield... He had such a vague notion.
"If his father had been there, perhaps his mother wouldn’t have died—this is what he thought. That’s why the ’Doctor’ and the ’Old Woman’ are always together in his dreams.
"His real age is probably much older than the teenager who is the repairman. When he left ho, he might have been about the sa age as ’Yellow Hair’; and by the ti he returned to his hotown, his mother’s age would have been similar to that of the ’Old Woman’.
"That is to say, he is now a middle-aged man.
"In a sense, the ’Doctor’ is also the projection of ’the most ideal version of himself’ in his heart, manifested in his dreams. That’s why the doctor is such a strong, muscular man, so his temperant is gentle, cultured, and he gets along well with anyone...
"Or to put it another way, he wishes his father was such a man; and he also wishes himself to be such a person.
"But in the end, he is not, nor can he beco one.
"Just as he, as a repairman, cannot fix his own heart. Although he can turn back ti, he can never change the tragedies that have befallen him."
With Annan’s narration.
The still, faceless people in the room began to fade away one by one.
"He has finally reached the age to start a family."
Annan spoke leisurely, "He has no education, no good job. His wife, as plain and plump as he, is a typical village woman.
"Eventually, his wife got pregnant.
"At this ti, he developed a new fear.
"Although he had never seen his father since childhood and didn’t even know what he looked like, which made him very deprived of fatherly love... But that doesn’t an he knows how to raise his own child.
"—Because he can’t provide a good education for his child. He still thinks of himself as just a ’child,’ wishing he could go back to the past. That’s why the ’Repairman’ is such a frail and skinny kid.
"He gradually realized that if his child was born, his fate would probably not be much different from his own. Even if he could watch his child grow up, the end result would probably still be the sa.
"That can only be another cycle of repetition."
Annan whispered, "So, he made a decision.
"—He killed soone. A wealthy person who had a close relationship with him, soone he could trust."
At this point in Annan’s narrative,
The surrounding world shattered like a broken mirror—crumbling in an instant.
The crackling sound of burning wood filled the air, smoke swirling around.
Annan and Dark Annan could both distinctly sll the acrid scent... but it was not just the sll of charred wood.
It was the odor of burning corpses.
The stench of scorched hair, blood, and flesh.
The bodies of a woman and a girl lay on another bed, while the bed doused with alcohol blazed fiercely, flas rising high.
And a gaunt young man, gasping for breath, raised a bloodstained axe high above his head, aiming at a middle-aged man who had just opened his eyes on the bed.
Right behind him were Annan and Dark Annan.
Dark Annan, who was originally standing by the window admiring the sunset, had moved behind Annan, pushing the wheelchair Annan was seated in closer to the bed.
They clearly saw the middle-aged man lying on the bed, completely immobile, even unable to open his mouth, tears gradually welling up in his eyes.
And both Annans, like ghosts, went unseen by anyone.
Annan whispered, "He drugged their food, administered enough sleeping pills to the entire family, and then he ransacked their ho—stole, or rather, snatched a considerable sum of money. Enough to ensure his child could lead a prosperous life and not follow in his footsteps."
"But such cris would undoubtedly be discovered. So he gave up all hesitation... deciding to kill the entire family by setting the house on fire, using the blaze to obscure all evidence."
The young man breathed heavily, dripping with sweat amidst the inferno.
His pupils trembled violently.
But ultimately, he gritted his teeth and ruthlessly brought the axe down.
—Blood spurted out.
Passing right through Annan and Dark Annan.
Annan whispered, "And now, it was deep into the night.
"The sun had already set."
With Annan’s explanation, the few lines of text beneath [Main Quest: Sunset] also changed:
[Find Another Self (Completed)]
[Find the True Victim (Completed)]
[Find the Truth]
"Almost there, Annan... very close now."
Dark Annan reached around the wheelchair from behind Annan, encircling his waist with her arms.
The girl kneeled on the ground, her forehead resting against the back of the wheelchair, murmuring softly, "You’re just one step away from the ultimate truth."
"No," Annan closed his eyes, "I have already reached all the truth I can know."
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