Chapter 35: The Strange Child

Dill’s movements froze.

The emerald eyes right in front of her held no hostility, no scheming, not even any emotional ripple. Only a bottomless, void-like serenity.

That serenity didn’t seem feigned, but a genuine, eerie emptiness.

Strangely, under the gaze of those eyes, the ever-taut string in Dill’s heart unconsciously loosened.

Trust?

Of course not, but because that gaze itself was too numb, like a cold mirror simply reflecting her current wretchedness and weakness.

She slowly leaned back against the icy stone wall, her body trembling slightly from the pain, but her eyes locked tightly onto Sylvie, filled with vigilance and scrutiny.

“…Why?” Dill’s voice was still hoarse and dry.

“Why save me? Weren’t you afraid I’d just slit your throat right then… In fact, I was planning to do just that.”

“What a merciless way to put it,” Sylvie remarked blandly.

She lifted her eyes, her pupils gazing blankly at the dim sky outside, as if pondering how to answer. After a moment, she looked back at Dill and replied calmly.

“I don’t know.”

“…”

Upon getting the answer, Dill stared at her in stunned silence, looking at the girl’s expression mixed with confusion, emptiness, and innocence. She blinked twice, and the last trace of vigilance in her heart inexplicably dissipated.

She sighed wearily.

“…Are all the blood livestock in the penned district kids like you?”

Upon hearing this, Sylvie furrowed her brow slightly, replying somewhat discontentedly.

“Sylvie isn’t a kid. Sylvie is already 17 years old.”

“Seventeen?”

Dill scanned Sylvie up and down with a dubious gaze… Her still-youthful face, small stature, and that voice not yet free of childishness.

She looked about the same age as Little Wind…

But on second thought, with conditions so poor in the penned district, stunted development seemed quite normal.

Thinking this, the scrutiny and doubt in her eyes gradually gave way to a mix of pity, helplessness, and deeper sorrow.

Though Sylvie couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but…

She felt offended.

“I thank you for your help, strange child, but what comes next is adult business… Leave this place. Staying by my side will only become dangerous.”

Dill said lowly, trying to shift her body to stand up, but the intense pain throughout her body and the prolonged blood loss instantly forced her to give out, nearly toppling to the ground. It was Sylvie who quickly caught her, helping her back to the wall to sit down again.

“An ‘adult’ wouldn’t say such things when they can’t even stand steadily.”

Her tone held no mockery, just stating a fact.

Dill gritted her teeth, the intense pain nearly making her faint, and the reality before her plunged her heart into the abyss.

This is bad now…

Even moving a bit is so difficult—how could I possibly complete the mission…

“You need water, you need food, you need rest, your wounds need changing,” Sylvie said calmly, carefully tending to Dill’s wounds that had started seeping blood again.

“Until you can walk on your own, handle possible dangers yourself…”

She lifted her eyes, those empty emerald pupils staring straight into Dill’s somewhat stunned gaze.

“You can’t go anywhere.”

“…”

Dill gritted her teeth; though unwilling, she had to accept the fact this girl had blurted out.

After all, even this unarmed girl could kill her right now, let alone vampires…

After finishing tending to Dill’s wounds, Sylvie asked.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Dill glanced at her, not answering.

“If you don’t answer, I’ll take it as yes… Are you from the world outside the walls?”

“Obviously,” Dill replied lowly.

A person dressed in human combat gear, severely wounded by vampires—where else could she be from but outside the walls?

Sylvie nodded, seeming unsurprised by this answer.

She fell silent for a moment, as if weighing her words. A rare trace of subtle curiosity flickered in her emerald eyes.

She spoke softly, her voice lighter than usual.

“What… is it like outside?”

Dill was stunned.

She turned her head to look at Sylvie. The girl was tilting her head slightly, watching her with those empty yet focused eyes, waiting for an answer.

Dill opened her mouth but didn’t know how to reply. After a long while, she only said dryly.

“…It’s very different from here… but also very similar.”

Sylvie blinked, seeming dissatisfied with this vague answer but not pressing further, simply responding.

“Hm…”

She thought for a bit, then asked again.

“My name is Sylvie. Can you tell me yours?”

She hesitated, but still answered truthfully.

“Dill.”

“Lady Dill, did you… come here to assassinate the Queen, or for something else?” Sylvie asked straightforwardly.

“…You don’t need to know.”

Dill’s voice suddenly turned cold and hard, carrying an unquestionable refusal and a sudden rise in wariness.

Sylvie seemed unsurprised by her intense reaction. She just calmly met Dill’s vigilant gaze, her emerald eyes showing no embarrassment or anger from the rejection—still that bottomless serenity.

“I understand.”

She nodded, her tone flat.

“Then, another question: What do you plan to do next? In your current state, you can’t escape this city.”

“My mission isn’t complete yet. I can’t leave—even dying is better than failing.”

Sylvie’s emerald eyes flickered slightly. Her face still held no expression, but in the depths of that empty gaze, a fleeting glimmer seemed to pass, hard to discern.

“A mission… is something more important than life…” She asked softly, her eyes carrying a迷茫 and confusion longing for resolution.

Dill let out a cold laugh, revealing a self-mocking smile.

“For people like us… yes. It’s a ‘duty,’ the necessary, great, and honorable price humanity must pay to survive.” She replied decisively, her tone leaving no room for doubt.

Sylvie watched her quietly for a few seconds, her brow furrowing slightly, her expression full of incomprehension.

“Something more important than ‘living’… a ‘duty.'” She repeated softly, pondering, then shook her head.

“Sylvie… doesn’t understand… In Eternal Night City, in our blood livestock value system, survival is paramount—even the only ‘law.'”

Her eyes gazed blankly at the puddle accumulating on the muddy ground, reflecting her pale face. She murmured as if to herself.

“Obedience… service… providing value—all for the sake of continuing to breathe, continuing to ‘live.’ To choose death for a mission… I don’t understand.”