While Zhou Zhuang was watching Faust, Anna somehow did something right—because the energy collector beside One Sin's containment unit was already close to full.
Meaning: in that short span of time, Anna had figured out One Sin's optimal work method on her own.
On the screen, Anna was kneeling on the containment room floor, her body trembling slightly, head bowed as she spoke to One Sin.
As she talked, the faint halo circling the skull became clearly visible, and the collector gauge outside began climbing rapidly.
When her words finally ended, the trembling in her body eased.
A pure white light flooded the containment unit—so bright it felt like the rest of the Control Team area had been turned up several notches.
As the radiance faded, a crown of thorns appeared on Anna's head.
She stumbled out of One Sin's cell in a daze.
The instant Zhou Zhuang saw that thorny crown, he blurted out in exhilaration:
"Holy—! Not only did she get an Excellent, she even got One Sin's gift! What the hell did Anna confess to the old bonehead—something world-ending?!"
He'd expected their first attempts to swing between Bad and Normal just from the Abnormalities' appearance alone.
Instead, both Anna and Faust had performed far beyond his expectations.
Faust's result wasn't surprising. The company's rating for her clearly meant she could handle the pressure of One Sin and the bird—so long as Zhou Zhuang didn't get "handsy" and start doing stupid stunts.
But Anna?
Anna was a complete accident.
She was just an ordinary person who'd been scraping by in the backstreets. The strangest "monsters" she'd probably seen were the Sweepers that came out during Deep Night—and you could tell, because the moment she entered One Sin's cell, she took panic damage.
And yet, after that first hit, she made no mistakes.
She completed the assignment smoothly—
and even earned One Sin's gift.
That made her the first person in the company to obtain an accessory.
Zhou Zhuang grinned as he watched Anna snap back to herself and walk happily toward the control room's center.
He'd assumed the first gift would go to Faust.
But if this was how things were going… at least the backstreet trio had one who could rise above the mud.
Still—
he really wanted to know what Anna had confessed to One Sin.
His curiosity itched like poison.
Slap. Shut up.
…
Back in the control room, Anna found her two little brothers waiting at the doorway, worry written on their faces.
She raised an eyebrow and teased them:
"What? Don't believe your big sister? Or don't believe that lovely little 'devil training' we survived under Minister Malkuth yesterday?"
As she spoke, she stepped forward, threw her arms around their necks, and pulled them tight.
Lain—trapped under her familiar iron grip—pleaded:
"No, boss, it's not that we don't trust you… it's just the thorns on your head and the blood around your nose. We got scared."
Anna loosened her hold and lifted a hand to her head.
Sure enough—she felt the prick of a thorny ring.
She wiped her nose and found a trace of liquid; when she looked, her fingertip was stained red.
"It's fine," she said, waving it off. "This thing's probably just a reward for a successful job. If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't even have noticed it was there."
"As for the nosebleed… probably just because what we ate yesterday was too 'nourishing.'"
Then she puffed out her chest with pride.
"My result was Excellent, okay? We're working for a Wing now. A little weird trinket showing up after a good job—who cares?"
Seeing she was fine, Lain and Sif finally relaxed, and immediately started pestering her for the details of what she'd done inside.
Just then, an iron door on the other side opened.
Faust emerged.
Compared to Anna, who didn't have a single visible injury, Faust had a fresh scratch on her face.
Anna's expression softened into a smile—she'd been a little worried, but clearly that worry was unnecessary.
Then she got closer—and noticed the cut more clearly.
"Faust… are you okay?"
"Faust is not seriously injured," Faust replied in her usual manner. "The scratch is merely a small mistake. Overall performance was good."
Anna's tension eased.
She was about to ask what had happened in Faust's assignment—
When a sharp notification tone sounded behind them.
Anna turned.
Lain's face had gone stiff with dread as he stared at the order on his wrist device.
'Employee Lain (Level 1): Proceed to O-03-03 for a Communication work assignment.'
"Boss…" Lain looked to Anna.
"It's fine," Anna said quickly, steadying him. "Just do it exactly the way I told you. It'll be okay."
"And don't panic no matter what you see in there. The thing inside isn't dangerous. It won't do anything to you."
"You just need to follow the standard procedure Minister Malkuth drilled into us yesterday."
Under her instructions, Lain nodded stiffly, then walked off toward the worksite with limbs that barely remembered how to coordinate.
Watching her normally steady little brother move like a malfunctioning puppet, Anna pinched the bridge of her nose.
Lain was almost out of the control room—
When Anna suddenly remembered something.
She broke into a quick jog after him.
"Wait!"
Lain stopped at the entrance to Corridor A and turned back.
"Boss… is there anything else?"
Anna's voice turned quieter, stranger.
"I need to tell you something."
"After I finished the job… I think I forgot something because of what I did in there."
"It felt like a burden I'd been carrying in my heart."
She frowned slightly, trying to put it into words.
"This might sound ridiculous, but… I feel like what I forgot was very important for the three of us."
"But I'm not panicking. I don't even feel fear."
"…I feel relieved."
Anna stepped forward and put both hands on Lain's shoulders.
"I don't know if it'll help you too."
"But if you feel things going wrong in there—then you must, you must do what I did."
"Because living is the only way you'll ever get a future."
"I understand, boss," Lain said heavily.
From the weight in his voice, it sounded like he knew exactly what she meant—what that "important thing" was.
"I'm going," Lain forced a smile. "The wristband's already warning me."
But to anyone watching, it looked less like a smile and more like a muscle spasm.
Anna nodded once. "Go."
The door closed.
Anna stared at the sealed metal for a long moment—
then walked toward the seats in the rest area, her thoughts drifting into silence.
....
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