Midnight – Town on the Myanmar Border
A faint wisp of smoke from a cigarette curled in the cool air. Death sat on an old wooden building in a village hidden in a valley. His eyes were fixed on the file in his hand—the file he had just retrieved from the ruins of BLOOD LOTUS.
"SECRET BASE: MANDALAY – ORIGIN OF THE SERPENT WITH A THOUSAND HEARTS"
An organization that didn't just sell humans, but trained soulless assassins and used them as tools in dark wars across the globe.
Soft footsteps sounded from behind. His grandfather approached quietly with a medical kit.
"That's a deep wound… If you don't clean it properly, it'll get infected."
Death didn't answer. He simply removed his shirt, revealing burns and bruises from the fight with General Yuan.
"You've never been afraid of pain, have you?" his grandfather said, carefully applying medicine. "But be careful with your heart. Don't let it become as numb as theirs."
Death lowered his eyes, saying nothing. He knew exactly what his grandfather meant.
Dawn – A New Mission Begins
The secret base in Mandalay wasn't just the organization's training center; it was also where they "programmed" abducted children to become assassins.
"There are reports that one of those being trained… resembles 'Alice'," his grandfather said, displaying satellite images on a screen.
Death stopped chewing his bread instantly. His eyes hardened.
"Are you sure? Not long after I got back home with May, I heard news about a kidnapping. A man and woman, presumed to be husband and wife, were found dead in their home, riddled with bullets. It was assumed to be a robbery-murder, but there was a family photo of three people in the house, yet only two bodies… I never thought it could be her."
"Not a hundred percent, but a high probability."
The image showed a young woman in a black training uniform, wearing reflective glasses, practicing with weapons and moving like a soldier. There was no trace of emotion on her face.
Death stared at it for a moment.
"If it's really her… I'll bring her back again."
The Following Evening – Infiltrating Mandalay
The inner city was filled with advanced surveillance cameras and heavily armed soldiers. But Death wasn't someone easily stopped. He wore a voice-changing mask, blending in with a group of tourists, while his earpiece relayed real-time information and communication from his grandfather.
"There are strange signals coming from the central building they call the 'Serpent's Spire'… It's likely where the training and mind programming takes place."
Death slipped into an underground water tunnel, dragging an EMP cable along the pipes, and infiltrated the restricted zone under the cover of darkness.
21:32 HRS – Mind Programming Room
In a silver metallic room, steel chairs were lined up facing monitors displaying repetitive videos. Strange whispers permeated the sound waves. Several children were strapped to mind-control devices.
Death used the EMP to disable the main power system. The screens exploded with a loud bang. Many children jolted out of their trance. Some ran; some cried on the floor.
And in a corner… she stood.
That young woman—Alice, dressed as an assassin, her face blank, her eyes empty.
Death approached her slowly.
"Alice… Do you remember me?"
She didn't answer. She grabbed a knife from her waist and lunged at him.
Death deflected the knife and locked her arm. "Listen to me! Your name is Alice! Your parents… they killed them! You don't belong to them!"
She struggled fiercely, but her eyes began to flicker.
The radio interrupted, "They know you're here! Get out, now!"
Death gripped her hand tightly. "I won't leave you here again."
Alice froze for a moment… before collapsing to the floor, silent tears streaming from her once-soulless eyes.
He pulled her into a tight embrace as alarms blared throughout the building, before carrying Alice out…
A Nightmare Awakened
"When she awakens from the nightmare, who is truly still asleep within it…"
03:12 HRS – Outskirts of Mandalay / Secret Recovery Point
Soft, rhythmic breathing. Alice lay still on a cot in a secret room of a small anti-human trafficking network. Her eyes were closed, but her brow was furrowed. Something in her dream was haunting her.
Death sat nearby, wordlessly. He simply watched—not as an assassin, but as a human who had once been trapped in the same nightmare.
His grandfather sent a voice message via a secure line on his phone:
"Saw the news… You did it, right? Got those kids out."
Death typed back only, "Some."
But in his heart, he knew—the most important one wasn't truly 'out' yet.
04:45 HRS – She Opens Her Eyes
Alice jolted awake as if drowning. She gasped for air, cold sweat drenching her body. Her wide eyes trembled before they focused on Death… still sitting silently beside her bed.
"You're safe now," Death said in a low voice.
But she recoiled instantly, her face filled with suspicion.
"Don't come near me…" Her voice was shaky and hoarse.
"I'm not one of them… I'm the one you once trusted—Alice, don't you remember?"
She looked down, her mind seemingly in turmoil.
Images from the past overlapped… her home… her parents being shot before her eyes...and someone's hand pulling her away.
But after that—just gray images, commands, gunshots, and blood.
"Was… my name Alice…?"
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Death nodded. "Yes… and I'm Death—the man who helped you in the desert… and who promised never to leave you again."
06:00 HRS – Cracks in Memory
Alice began to speak, little by little, her hands still trembling.
"It… it was like a dream. I saw myself doing things I never wanted to do. Killing… torturing… I don't know if it was me or not…"
Death handed her a bottle of water. "It wasn't you—it was the nightmare they forced you to dream. And now, you're awake."
Her gaze shifted slightly, from blank to enigmatic. She murmured softly:
"But if I'm awake… why does it still hurt…"
Death couldn't speak. He knew too well that nightmares like this never faded. They were with him every night. And now… with her too.
Daytime – A New Beginning, or Just a Sequel to the Dream
Alice still didn't trust anyone, not even herself.
She locked herself in a training room, spending the entire day practicing basic military movements, even though she couldn't remember how she'd learned them.
But Death knew—it wasn't because she couldn't remember.
It was "nightmare muscle memory."
The body's response, trained in hell, without conscious thought.
Alice turned to Death after finishing her training, her face drenched in sweat, panting, her eyes sharper than the day before.
"They… are still out there, aren't they?"
"Yes. And they won't stop until there's no one left for them to use."
Alice looked away silently for a moment, before speaking softly… yet clearly.
"I… won't run anymore."
The Same Evening – The Next Mission
His grandfather sent news via a coded message.
"BLOOD LOTUS's 'Red Shadow' unit is active again. Target: Thai-Laos border. Evidence suggests their child brainwashing network is infiltrating middle schools."
Death turned to look at Alice.
"You don't have to go if you're not ready."
But Alice picked up a knife, her gaze resolute.
"It's not because I'm ready… but because I'm awake—and I won't let anyone else suffer a nightmare like mine."
(Next: EPISODE 11 – "Roots of the Nightmare")
Alice slowly regains her memory and joins a real mission again as a human, not a weapon.
Meanwhile, the true enemy of BLOOD LOTUS begins to reveal itself…