Edmund, Esther, Clark, Lites, and everyone from the mobile unit stared blankly at the closed door.
The unusual aura above had disappeared.
Edmund and his companions could confirm this.
They had all undergone the most professional training so they could quickly ascertain this fact.
But at this moment, whether it was Edmund, Esther, or whether Clark or Lites, they all wished they weren’t so professional.
They hoped they were wrong in their judgment.
They hoped the door in front of them would open once again, hoping to see that figure again.
Hope ultimately came to nothing.
"My luck is damnably good!"
Edmund murmured softly to himself.
Then, he reached out to push the double doors in front of him, and they opened easily.
Behind the door, there was nothing.
The darkness and fog from just a moment ago seemed like a joke.
Edmund wanted to put on an appropriately timed smile to go along with this joke.
But no matter what, he couldn’t bring himself to smile.
His tears flowed uncontrollably.
In an effort not to let the tears flow completely, he lifted his head and shouted—
"Salute to those who went to their death!"
As the words fell, Edmund saluted directly.
It was not the etiquette of the ’sanctuary.’
It was that of ’Hydra’!
And of ’Brotherhood’!
Behind him, everyone saluted together.
"May you rest in peace."
His face bore an undisguised sadness, but more than that, a kind of calmness.
Had the ’Masked Man,’ who was immune to aging and death, really died?
Such a death... such a death...
He couldn’t accept it!
How could he explain to Aras?
He died to save us, we survived... how could he ever say such words?
So, Jason must not be dead!
He’s just left temporarily!
He can surely come back!
Esther believed this so firmly!
In fact, that was the case.
How could Jason, with his ’exceptional Talent,’ possibly be dead?
He strode through the doorway.
First, darkness enveloped him, and then the space became bright again.
He had arrived in a world of ’Fragments’!
Right now, in front of him, there was a bedroom, kitchen, study, and other apartment home rooms, as well as hotel lobbies, school classrooms, hospital wards, and so on.
But these things were incomplete.
They were like they’d been haphazardly pinched at one end, kneaded a few times, and then temporarily put together.
However, this assembly was not complete.
In front of Jason, a complete, circular entity like a tunnel continued on to the end, far beyond where his vision could reach.
Jason couldn’t help thinking, and then he looked down.
At his feet were footprints.
They were larger than average, but definitely still within the range of human size.
Moreover, the footprints were not parallel, the left foot in front and the right foot behind, unevenly spaced.
Looking at the footprints, Jason involuntarily conjured the image of a tall, strong man swinging his fist forward.
Jason paused for a moment, then quickly realized.
The tunnel in front of him was the result of that person’s punch.
It was the other party’s punch that had made this already ’Fragmented’ world even more ’broken.’
But rather it directly destroyed the ’core’ of this ’Fragmented’ world.
"Although I do not know who it was, this is good news for me," Jason remarked as his gaze scanned the areas interlaced with light and shadow.
His superhuman perception clearly sensed the rich malice harboring there.
It was those dark creatures.
After all, he had died dozens of times at the hands of those dark creatures.
The memory of death is always profound.
Of course, what was even more profound was the taste of ’food.’
There was a faint scent of food on the door behind him.
The world, connected by many ’Fragments,’ also reeked of the smell of food.
Jason said softly. He didn’t look back, just stood there, closing the door behind him with the back of his hand.
After the friction noise between the door frame and the hinge, there was a light bumping sound.
This noise was like a starting pistol.
One after another, humanoid dark creatures leapt out of the intersecting light and shadows. As soon as they appeared, they swarmed toward Jason in a rush.
He suddenly opened his mouth wide, turned around, and swallowed the door behind him.
Then, turning back around, he faced the oncoming tide of creatures with a wide-open mouth, revealing all his sharp teeth.