Chapter 26: Sisyphus (End) (Combined)

January 13, 2074, 8:30

The weight pressing on her made breathing difficult; she struggled and kicked the stupid pig lying on top of her off the bed.

She smoothed her disheveled golden long hair, recalled the bloated belly and foul-smelling hair constantly approaching in her vision last night, and couldn't help but lean over the bed edge and retch.

"Your *Wood*," she couldn't find tissues for a moment, so she simply wiped her mouth with the corner of the quilt, "truly **scum**!"

Cursing, she spat several times hard onto the face of the obese man collapsed on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Mary." Wood struggled to sit up from the ground, his round face piled with a flattering smile, "I went too far, you know how much I like..."

"Go to *hell*!" Mary picked up the tattered nurse's uniform thrown at the foot of the bed, balled it up, and threw it onto that nauseating face.

"Dr. Howard is ten thousand times better than you!" she screamed hysterically, kicking the lump of white fat on the ground hard with her foot.

"Mary... Dr. Howard has a wife and children..." Wood endured the pain, wiped the spittle from his face, "And you need money too, don't you?"

"Get out now, immediately, right this second!" she roared, veins bulging on her pale neck.

"Okay... Mary... I'll leave right away..." Wood climbed up from the ground, frantically grabbed his wrinkled clothes, and walked out the door.

"I'm sor..."

"Bang!"

The clumsy man couldn't dodge in time and was slammed hard in the face by the heavy door.

"I'm sorry... Mary..." he covered his bleeding nose, mumbling incoherently to himself, "Don't blame me; if you must blame someone, blame your beloved Dr. Howard..."

Mary Dunster, female, 20 years old, serves as a front-desk nurse at the Night City Mental Health Center, young and promising.

"To *hell* with young and promising!" she irritably tossed the open diary on the table aside.

Mary couldn't remember when she developed the habit of keeping a diary.

Perhaps she was subconsciously imitating Dr. Howard. That experienced, mature, and charismatic man's every move tugged at her heartstrings.

Mary picked up the diary she had thrown on the floor and spread it out on the table.

She had the habit of recording the lives of people around her; this was also something she learned from her beloved—Dr. Howard.

Howard Wilkinson, male, 57 years old, a big shot in the fields of psychiatry and brain research. One year ago... or was it two years ago, he invented the memory erasure technology...

"Something's been a bit abnormal lately..." she rubbed her chin, frowning tightly.

She not only lost her old black diary but also couldn't remember which year Dr. Howard invented the Memory Erasure Therapy.

"Was it 2073 or 2072?" she tapped her head in frustration, "I should ask Dr. Howard..."

Mary clapped her hands lightly, turning worry into joy.

Today it was her turn to work the night shift at the Clinic of the Night City Mental Health Center; the doctor should be free during the day.

As for Wood?

She could almost forget why she agreed to be with him.

For money?

The nurse job at the Night City Mental Health Center pays well; why did she think she was short on money?

She seemed... to have forgotten.

But it didn't matter; she'd just ask the doctor.

Thinking happily, she left the table and walked toward the Bathroom.

"Shhh..."

She liked quietly listening to the sound of water droplets falling to their death on the tiles.

Rising steam wrapped around Mary's entire body; she mixed hot water with her hands to clean the traces left from last night, while her mind recalled Dr. Howard's mature, handsome face.

That illusory sexy silhouette made her whole body tremble, collapsing onto the floor.

Hot water poured mercilessly over her entire body, washing away all filth.

Mary walked out of the Bathroom, wiped her whole body clean with a clean towel, and chose suitable clothes by the wardrobe.

She imagined which outfit would be most soul-stirring, able to make Dr. Howard dizzy and willingly submit beneath her skirt. "Hey, Dr. Howard?" she spoke while making the sound of skin rubbing against fabric.

"Are you free at noon today? Just the two of us, same old place, come out and talk?" Mary's lips curled upward; the man's intensified breathing on the other end of the phone made her extremely excited.

"Good..." Hearing the expected reply, she laughed happily.

Mary turned on video mode, took white stockings out of the wardrobe, and carefully compared front and back.

She sat by the bed, facing the camera, rolled up the stockings, and put them on to her toes. With both hands adjusting the position of the toe and heel, she slowly rolled them upward.

"Dr. Howard... I love you..." she said word by word, slowly pulling the stockings up to her tender knees.

She tilted her ear to listen, waiting for Howard's reply, while standing up and slowly pulling the stockings up to the roots of her pale thighs.

"I'm sorry... Mary... we can't..." the man on the other end of the phone swallowed hard, answering with difficulty, "I have a wife and children, you know..."

She turned a deaf ear, stretched the stockings evenly to her waist, and after ensuring they fit tightly against her legs, used both hands to spread the panty part of the stockings and slowly pulled them up to her tight waist.

"How... ard..." she looked at the camera, adjusting the leg of the stockings with both hands.

"If you don't say it, and I don't say it, who would know?" She pointed her toe at him, the white fabric covering her pink, delicate skin.

No one answered on the other end of the phone; it hung up silently.

She sighed, collapsed onto the bed, her golden long hair spread over the white sheets like a Loli-Mas rose blooming in silence.

January 13, 2074, 12:15

She sat quietly by the dining table, silently watching Dr. Howard and his wife hold hands and walk toward her together.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Howard and... Mrs. Wilkinson..." she greeted as calmly as possible, covering the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth with her hand.

"Mary..." Dr. Howard hesitated, glanced at his wife, and ultimately did not speak.

The three of them sat together, eating lunch in silence surrounded by the noise all around.

"Hello? There's a patient... suspected recovery..."

The shrill phone ring tore through the dead silence; Dr. Howard smiled apologetically at Mary, took his phone, and quickly left the restaurant.

"I'm sorry... Mrs. Wilkinson..." Mary lowered her head, her face turned downward, gently resting on the table. "Don't blame Howard. I was the one who... seduced... him..."

She spoke word by word, her throat and body trembling more and more until she lost control of her voice and sobbed, unable to speak.

"Mary..." Mrs. Wilkinson stood up and sat beside her, her somewhat aged hand gently stroking the girl's golden long hair.

Mary looked up in shock, her pretty face blurred by tears and smeared makeup. Mrs. Wilkinson's attitude was beyond her expectations.

"Poor child, you don't need to apologize..." Mrs. Wilkinson whispered softly. Her somewhat aged face was ruthlessly carved with wrinkles by the years, yet it was filled with a pity Mary could not understand.

"You can have him, because you once did..." Mrs. Wilkinson murmured, her low chant drowned out by the noise in the wind.

"What? Mrs. Wilkinson? What did you say? I didn't hear clearly!" Mary stood there stunned, only coming to her senses after Mrs. Wilkinson had left.

"What was she saying?" Mary painfully covered her head, her face twisted in agony.

"I... once?" She slumped into the chair, her eyes silently staring at the ceiling.

"What exactly did I forget?"

January 13, 2074, 19:00

Mary arrived at the Clinic on time as usual, showing no signs of anything unusual.

"Good evening, Mary!" Dr. Wood's round face was squeezed full of smiles as he leaned toward her.

"Go back to the second floor!" She cursed the stupid pig viciously as usual, only to receive an even more shameless smile from him.

She turned around, smiling and greeting the nurse on shift, then walked to the changing room on the first floor.

Just as usual, nothing was different.

"Dr. Howard is on the second floor. Do you want to go up and say hello to him?" Wood asked with a grin as she walked out of the changing room.

"No need..." She refused wearily. Too many things had happened today, too many questions clogged her chest; she just wanted a moment of quiet.

"Alright then..." Wood's smile froze on his face. He glanced secretly at Mary but found nothing unusual.

He sighed in relief, turned around, and began greeting the customers who had already started lining up.

January 13, 2074, 19:21

"Tick... tock..." Mary stared silently at the clock placed on the table, her mind temporarily calming down with the steady movement of the hands.

"Welcome, two guests..." The bell at the door rang. She spoke as a matter of routine, using a fake smile trained a thousand times to mask her inner emotions.

"Please wait in line here..." After Mary finished speaking, she let Dr. Wood, who had come down from the second floor, step forward to attend to them, while she quietly observed the two unusual guests that night.

She had never seen a couple come together to erase their memories at the same time. Moreover, looking at the handsome man and beautiful woman, with their sweet and loving demeanor, they did not look like people needing treatment.

Wood had been rebuffed by that male guest.

A surge of pleasure ran through her heart. She rubbed the corner of her mouth, ensuring she wouldn't laugh out loud.

"Hello, sir. How may I help you?"

Seeing the man walk toward her, she immediately put on a professional fake smile, carefully disguising herself.

"Hello," Yahweh nodded politely. "According to the procedure, I am here to register personal information." He pulled a data cable from his arm—a simulation by nanomachines with the same function as the real thing.

"Do you really want to... erase your memories?" Mary glanced at the silver-haired girl leaning on the man's back, smiling cheerfully. That cute and pretty appearance made her envious, yet also stirred pity in her heart.

"Just registering for now. Whether to erase memories is still under consideration..." Yahweh tapped the table, silently taking in every subtle change in her expression.

"That's good..." Mary sighed in relief. "You can use this interface to register." She pointed to the computer interface placed on the front desk.

"What is your name, Miss Nurse?" Yahweh smiled friendly, using the action of connecting his terminal to the interface to cover up his act of stealing the Clinic's local data.

While asking softly, he dodged the claw attack from Xida reaching out.

"Me?" Mary looked into those blue eyes and strangely felt no desire to refuse answering. "Mary... Mary Dunster..."

Yahweh raised an eyebrow. He saw the nauseating truth within the massive flow of information.

"Mary..." He whispered, pulling a brand new revolver from his waist pocket and gently placing it on the table. Before Mary could react, he pointed at the computer screen on the table.

"Take a look at this. I believe you will be grateful for this gift..." He narrowed his blue eyes slightly, then took Xida's hand and left the Clinic.

Mary tilted her head in confusion. She thought she had just heard a strange sound coming from upstairs.

Only after carefully putting away the revolver on the table did she turn her head to look at the computer screen.

In an instant, all her thoughts were cut off, and her mind fell into a blank void.

Because at the very top of the hundreds of registration files, she saw her own name—Mary Dunster (3).

"You mean she has had her memories erased three times?" Xida held Yahweh's hand, furrowing her beautiful eyebrows in surprise.

"Poor Miss Nurse..." Yahweh shook his head gently, pulling Xida to quickly leave this place of sin.

"And all of them are memories about the same person—Dr. Howard Wilkinson." He looked at the flashing neon lights on the street side and added softly.

"So you left the gun you bought this morning for her?" Xida pretended to be jealous and poked him lightly.

"Yes, I left three bullets..."

"One for Dr. Howard, one for Dr. Wood..." Xida sighed softly. "And one left for herself, right?"

"The gun is named 'Amnesty'..." He whispered softly, opened the car door, and got into the passenger seat. "It is quite fitting..."

"What about Joel and Clementine?"

"I have already copied all the patients' data. You can send it to them anonymously later..." Yahweh looked at the pale white building not far outside the window and sighed. "We can restore a little bit at a time..."

"What about the memory-erasing machine?"

"I just took care of it on the spot..."

They sat in the car, listening to the pattering sound of rain outside the window.

"Sisyphus..." Xida hugged her legs, turned her head to look at the man's silent profile. "What did you mean by Sisyphus earlier?"

"Sisyphus was punished by the gods. He must push a huge boulder from the foot of the mountain for eternity. Every time the boulder reaches the summit, it rolls back to the starting point. He must push the boulder forever within this endless cycle of punishment..." He lowered his eyes, quietly recounting that ancient story.

"Just like Joel and Clementine's love, right?" Xida gently hugged Yahweh's arm. "No matter how many times they forget, they will still fall in love with each other..."

"And suffer the same countless injuries..." Yahweh raised his head, meeting her gaze. "Just like between Nurse Mary and Dr. Howard..."

"The tragedy has already happened, and it will continue endlessly..." Yahweh sighed.

"At least we stopped this cycle, didn't we?"

"At least this time, yes..."

Xida started the car, driving away from the Clinic destined to be destroyed tonight.

The howling rain and wind drowned out those three piercing gunshots.