Chapter 1

When Linda Reese finally found me, she brought a group with her. I was curled up beside a garbage bin, my body caked in filth.

I trembled as I stuffed scraps of discarded food into my mouth, my eyes hollow. I looked no different from a walking corpse.

She stood beside me, shaking, her eyes rimmed with red.

“How did it come to this…”

The moment I heard that familiar voice, my whole body jolted. My foul hands froze in midair.

It was Linda.

A sharp pain clenched my heart. Instinctively, I tried to hide, unwilling to let her see how utterly ruined I had become.

I struggled to flee, but several people pinned me down, holding me fast until I couldn’t move at all.

Linda bent down, closing in on me. Her scorching gaze was filled with desperate hope.

“Finn, I’ll ask you one last time… what is the truth behind my parents’ deaths?”

The people beside her stared at me with bloodshot eyes, their fists clenched so tightly their knuckles cracked.

Once again, the image of that night surfaced before me—the splattering blood, my parents-in-law’s twisted faces. I shook my head over and over.

“Chief, this monster is rotten to the core! Stop holding out hope for him!”

“He’s a demon! Showing mercy to a monster like him is trampling on the dignity of the dead!”

Gregory Parson, Linda’s subordinate, grabbed her sleeve and whispered hoarsely.

“Linda, he’s no longer the Finn we once knew… Wake up!”

Disheveled and filthy, I shrank into myself, retreating into a corner. Seeing the two of them standing so close, I lowered my head and stared at my knees, crusted with dried blood.

Linda clenched her fists and gave the order in a broken voice.

“Take him back.”

The moment she turned away, the enraged families surged forward. Fists and boots rained down on me without mercy.

Curled in a pool of blood, I heard the brittle crack of breaking ribs mixed with vicious curses. Agony crashed over me, swallowing my consciousness once again.

Linda’s figure drifted farther and farther from view. She held Gregory’s hand and never looked back.

When I woke again, thick ropes were cutting deep into my festering flesh.

A cold metal chair bound my limbs. Machines hummed beside me.

Linda’s face was deathly pale. The hand gripping two long, slender silver needles trembled uncontrollably, her eyes churning with pain and inner conflict.

“Once the decoder is activated, it can’t be stopped. You’ll suffer beyond endurance. Once your memories are made public… everything you’ve been hiding will be exposed.

“Finn… I’m asking you one last time! What is the truth?”

I twisted my body, trying to escape, but the ropes dug deeper into my rotting wounds, and the metal chair didn’t budge an inch.

I shook my head desperately. Only broken, choking whimpers forced their way from my throat.

A flicker of struggle and anguish flashed through Linda’s eyes. The silver needles in her hand nearly slipped from her grasp.

Gregory went pale and stepped forward.

“Linda, stop hesitating. We just received news—another brutal murder has happened.”

“They’re retaliating. They’re warning us. Taking Finn was only the beginning!”

Resolve slowly settled over Linda’s face. At last, she spoke coldly.

“Finn, don’t blame me. This is all… your own doing.”

Clenching her teeth, Linda drove the silver needles into my temples. The sharp pain drilled straight into my skull, as if boring into bone.

Blood slid down my cheeks, dripping onto my filthy clothes.

Gregory advanced with a grim expression, his fingernails digging into my festering wounds.

“The machine hasn’t started yet. This is your last chance to tell the truth! Once your memories are released, you’ll suffer more than death itself!”

When I remained silent, a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth. “Linda's parents treated you so well back then. And you, you heartless beast, repaid kindness with betrayal!”

Linda pressed the activation button. In an instant, electric current tore through my entire body.

I convulsed in agony, my broken screams ripping through the laboratory.

It felt as though my brain was being scraped open with blades. Blood burst from my nose, streaming freely.

Seeing me thrash in pain, the crowd clapped and laughed wildly.

The victims’ families cheered.

“Torture that murderous monster to death!”

The first memory appeared before everyone.