Chapter 2:He Was a Monster, a Madman Who Might Kill Her
1445 Words
There was a high possibility that she was no longer in the modern world.
Bo Li took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
She continued listening.
She needed more information.
Only then could she understand her current situation.
The man finished his cigar and lightly kicked the stretcher.
“...Can you still talk?”
No answer.
The man didn’t seem bothered.
He continued speaking to himself.
“I know both you and Mike want me to give you justice.”
“But unfortunately, I’m neither a judge nor a police officer.”
“I don’t care who actually stole the watch.”
“All I care about is money.”
“Mike’s mother gave me five thousand francs to look after this child…”
The man smiled.
“If you can earn five thousand francs for me, then even if you kill Mike, I won’t say a word.”
“Understand?”
Still no answer.
Eric remained completely motionless.
Silent.
As if he were already dead on the stretcher.
But Bo Li felt a chill run through her entire body.
The man was clearly implying—
As long as Eric earned enough money…
He could kill Mike.
He was encouraging two children to murder each other.
What kind of place was this?
Or rather…
What era was this?
Bo Li’s breathing became unsteady.
Cold sweat soaked her body.
The next moment, a hoarse teenage voice finally sounded.
“...I understand.”
“Good boy.”
The manager nodded approvingly.
“Don’t worry. Old Mrs. Smith got plenty of remedies from the Gypsies.”
“She won’t let you die from gangrene.”
Gypsies?
Gangrene?
Bo Li’s head spun slightly.
If she had only been guessing before…
Now she was completely certain.
She was no longer in the modern world.
…
She had traveled through time.
After saying that, the manager seemed to remember something.
He took out a bottle and placed it in front of Eric.
“Whiskey. It’ll make you feel better.”
Bo Li fell silent.
If she wasn’t mistaken…
Half of Eric’s body was soaked in blood.
He was injured this badly.
And they wanted him to drink whiskey?
But Eric reacted as if he had been waiting for this moment.
He suddenly raised his hand and grabbed the bottle.
The movement was so sudden that even the manager was startled.
His fingers tightened around the bottle, almost trembling from the effort.
He bit open the cork with almost desperate urgency.
Then he tilted his head back and drank.
All of it.
The little boy watching from the side didn’t find anything strange.
Instead, he looked jealous.
“That’s Scottish whiskey…”
“He stole something, so why is the manager rewarding him?”
Bo Li said nothing.
She didn’t want to look at this twisted scene anymore.
Instead, she observed her surroundings.
A carriage.
Tents.
Grass.
Dirty blankets.
Old gas lamps.
A cloudy bucket of water sitting in the corner.
Everything told her the same thing.
She really had traveled through time.
And not just to another country.
But to a completely unfamiliar world.
Bo Li felt as if she couldn’t breathe.
After a while, she realized the reason she was having trouble breathing wasn’t because she was too frightened.
It was because something was tightly binding her chest.
The little boy was still sighing sadly and didn’t notice anything unusual.
Bo Li quietly turned around.
She slipped her hand beneath her shirt.
Her fingers touched a piece of cloth wrapped tightly around her chest.
A chest binder?
Why was she wearing one?
Bo Li’s mind became even more chaotic.
The situation was already complicated enough.
This only made everything more confusing.
She closed her eyes and tried to ignore her racing heartbeat.
Then she continued searching.
Her fingers touched something round.
She pulled it out.
A gold pocket watch.
Eric hadn’t lied.
He really hadn’t stolen Mike’s gold pocket watch.
The thief was her.
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“Polly?”
The little boy called her name again.
This time, his voice carried a hint of impatience.
“You spaced out again.”
“Sorry.”
Bo Li snapped back to reality.
Without showing anything unusual, she quietly put the gold pocket watch back where she had found it.
“I’m just… tired.”
The little boy shrugged.
“You’re never awake anyway.”
Then he lowered his voice.
“So what? Is Eric still following you?”
This was a crucial piece of information.
Bo Li carefully replied:
“...What do you think?”
“What do I think?”
The boy pulled a piece of tobacco from his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and began chewing.
“I think…”
“Eric couldn’t possibly be following you. Everything is just your imagination.”
He turned his head and spat to the side.
“Listen, if Eric really had the ability to follow you, sneak into your tent in the middle of the night without sleeping, stand behind you, and scare you…”
“Would Mike have been able to treat him like that?”
“Anyway, I’m leaving.”
The boy waved at her.
“After what happened today, everyone’s definitely going to get beaten tomorrow morning.”
“It’s all Eric’s fault.”
“May his wounds rot and fill with maggots!”
After the boy left, Bo Li lowered the tent flap.
She was about to carefully examine the gold pocket watch hidden inside the chest binder.
But then she noticed something.
The canvas wall of the tent was covered in writing.
Black capital letters crowded together like swarms of flies.
At first glance, they looked almost terrifying.
The moment she understood the words, her scalp went numb.
A chill rushed straight to the top of her head.
“He will follow you.”
“He will spy on you.”
“He will kill you. He will kill you. He will kill you…”
“He will kill you, he will kill you, he will kill you, he will kill you…”
Several words were covered by grease stains.
But one sentence remained clear.
“He is watching you from behind.”
Her entire body went stiff.
Her hair stood on end.
She turned around abruptly.
There was nothing behind her.
Nothing at all.
What the hell was this?
Who wrote this?
And who was the “he” mentioned here?
Bo Li suddenly remembered what the little boy had said.
Her heart sank.
Could it be…
Eric?
But how was that possible?
While talking with the little boy, she had quickly analyzed the situation.
She seemed to be inside a circus.
Here, the manager acted like a judge.
He controlled order.
He decided who lived and who suffered.
Mike was related to the manager.
Because Eric was worth five thousand francs, the manager allowed Mike to bully him—as long as Mike did not cripple him.
Eric, on the other hand, was the circus’s money tree.
He knew magic tricks.
He knew ventriloquism.
He could sing.
So here was the problem.
If Eric was truly as terrifying as the words written on the tent suggested…
Why did Mike and the manager dare to treat him that way?
Bo Li’s thoughts were a mess.
She turned around and began searching through the tent.
It was a small tent.
Half of it was a covered wagon, while the other half was made of waterproof canvas.
Mold covered the surface like stains that would never disappear.
A blanket was spread across the ground, but its original color was impossible to identify.
The sleeping bag looked relatively clean, but it carried a damp, sour smell of sweat that made her stomach turn.
Bo Li searched for a long time.
But she found nothing useful.
For example:
Who exactly was this body’s original owner?
Why had she disguised herself as a man?
Why had she stolen Mike’s gold pocket watch?
And what exactly was the relationship between the original owner and Eric?
She took a deep breath.
Then her eyes landed on the sleeping bag.
There was an opening at the top, seemingly designed for someone to crawl inside and sleep.
Along the edge, a name had been embroidered.
Polly Clement.
Good.
At least she knew her name now.
It was a start.
Bo Li closed her eyes.
Then she reached inside the sleeping bag.
Her fingers touched something.
A notebook.
She pulled it out.
It was a thin book stitched together with coarse hemp thread.
The paper was rough and yellowed.
Tiny fibers could still be seen rising from the surface.
She opened the first page.
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