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The One Who Grips
The child had remained seated in the same spot for three days now.
It is as if the screen has absorbed her attention completely, burying even the desire to eat or sleep beneath sensory stimulation.
The child seems as if she can’t feel a thing.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Yes… This is it… It keeps going…
The room’s air is still, only stirred on occasion by creepy cackles, murmured monologues, and the clicks and taps of the keyboard and mouse.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Mmmh! Just look at how many infidels are printing out prosthetics… How appalling! How disgusting!
A storage device was plugged into the child’s computer.
Its tiny, glowing letters read “Emil”. Following the name, that must be the “key” she got from Sinclair.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Sinclair… Oh, Sinclair…! My, how grateful I am for you… Truly!
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Kehe, the whole village is a den of heresy…! It must have been quite unpleasant to live in such a place, Sinclair!
The child’s mind is busied with thoughts.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Now how will I purify those impure things?
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
No, let’s think for a second.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Those heretics still keep the purest piece in their bodies, don’t they?
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
The brain.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Even those who have replaced their entire bodies with prosthetics still have a brain.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
The likes of the heart and lungs can all be augmented and swapped out, but the brain is the one pure irreplaceable thing in the City.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Ha!
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
That won’t do. Think of the poor thing, all surrounded by impurity. The irony churns my guts just thinking about it!
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
I’ll have to rip their heads apart—that way, the impure will stay impure.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Yes… Yes!
With her mind finally made up, the child rose from her seat and gripped a huge nail.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
Huhu… You are my hero, Sinclair.
With her other hand, she unfolded a map stained with blood and grease.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
It’s exactly as I saw through the glass window in that company’s lab!
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
That glimpse of the righteous fury you showed for such filth… A little prod got you to hand this treasure over to me.
She appeared as though she were possessed by something as she bit off the lid of a red pen.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
I shall purge the heresy encircling you… I shall wipe clean the disgust.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
You will see it in no time! The future where we judge heretics together… has been set in stone!
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
We will meet soon, Sinclair.
There was a burst of frivolous laughter and compulsive gestures.
The child cackled like a maniac…
All as she kept on drawing circles over where the ‘Town of Calw’ was indicated on the map.
Faust
(The One Who Grips)
We will purify the filth together, shoulder to shoulder…
The town on the map was now covered in red.
As if she hinted at what would become of the town.