Final poll result:
Return to the bunker to search it throughout. With a 'proper' preparation this time.
And
Explore deeper into the city. Perhaps He could find/discover something intriguing.
| Update : 01/04/2026 | Add, adjust, and polish some stuff.
================================================================================
|Time : ??:?? ??, somewhere
| around morning.
|Date : ?
|Location : Unknown, on a street just
| outside the abandoned
| apartment building.
|Point of : ???'s POV
|View
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The instinctive sound of boots stepping into the rain puddles and concrete quickly broke the quiet cold air of the street outside the apartment building.
He had just walked out of from the apartment entrance, adjusting the leather sling of his old leather satchel around his shoulder and the semi tight cuffs of his dark leather coat sleeves, with his hand holding to a small old , green empty trashcan that He just found and took from the apartment living room.
Slowly shutting the old rough wooden double door with a rough creak and a firm thud soon after, He took the brief moment to place the small green trashcan in front of the double door, before He step into the wet concrete sidewalk of the street filled with rain puddles, stray wet leaves, branches, and a couple of wet trash littering across the street.
Soon as He did, a stray raindrop landed accurately on his left eye, sending a sharp cold sensation through his head which He quickly wiped with the back of his right hand along with a hint of annoyance cracking through his calm expression.
The heavy rain has dead down quite a bit, becoming a lot lighter than earlier. Only some occasional raindrop here and there.
He took a few couple of steps through the sidewalk, testing the boots that He has now wore on his feet, which He had also found in the same wardrobe just earlier. (Due to the fact that He had almost forgot that He was barefoot the entire time He had woken up from the pod until now.)
The boots were somewhat okay, reaching only above his ankle, made out of dark leather, and were in an okay condition (had to clean off the dust of course after being stored in that wardrobe for who knows how long). But the boots felt quite tight around his feet, much more tighter than the cuffs of his leather coat sleeves.
It's no doubt that it made his feet feel quite uncomfortable. But would He rather not picked it over barefoot, risking his feet exposed to the element of the current environment around him?
...Now that He thought of it, How did He not realize nor feel that He was barefoot until now? Was it because of cold from the pod that caused him to feel numb around his legs that almost made him stumbled when He got up from the pod?
Kneeling down on one knee onto the concrete, He rub his leg with his hands for a brief moment before standing back up.
Well, He definitely feel his legs now, which is certainly assuring.
Dusting off his hands for a bit, He take a quick look around the street and the surrounding buildings.
' I should get going now. '
He thought.
Wasting no time, He finally began to stroll down the sidewalk for a moment before slowly making his way to the middle of the street.
From there, He match on.
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==+==
=[ Shining Light in Steel ]=
==+==
[ Time : ??:?? ??, somewhere around midday/noon ]
[ Location : Unknown, at an unknown street somewhere within the city ]
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' Where is it? ... Did I really forgot where it's at... '
He thought with a slight annoyance.
He had been strolling for quite a while now, wandering across different wet streets to another, occasionally peaking and rummaging through some abandoned vehicles, trash cans, and the sidewalk along the way; with little to no result.
He had originally planned to return to the bunker He had woken up in as He didn't get to search it thoroughly due to his lack of preparation, and because... Something about that place just doesn't feel right in his chest. Maybe its because of how eerie it was? The absolute cold, utterly silent pitch black hallway? Yeah... One can definitely agree that it is an absolute nightmare fuel material. Thought at least He didn't get jump by something at the time.
But currently, it appears that He may or may not have forgotten what or where the building at or is. Which to be fair... Almost every building in the city he's at on every street He have wandered is almost identical to another and share something in common; abandoned and broken down, with a few exception such as the floor level/height and the level of overgrown.
... Or he's just being an airhea--
"Huh-?"
Is what He spoke out loud when He caught a glimpse of something (black?) moving at a very corner of his left eye that caused him to instantly freezes in place.
He quickly turn to the left before looking straight up towards a random rooftop of a building, hoping to get a glance of what it was.
And when He did, it was...
' ... A bird. '
He thought.
And indeed it was.
He sees what appears to be a black colored bird seemingly still on the ledges of the rooftop, with its head turning left and right, looking around like it was searching for something; perhaps something to eat?
Who knows? he's not a bird expert as far as He knew. If He is, He would've know what kind of exact bird it is from where he's standing.
And when He was in the middle of his own thoughts, the bird quickly flies off from the ledge before quickly zoom away from his view.
He momentarily stare at the direction where the bird have gone to from his view.
' That's the first time seeing a bird. '
He thought.
There's wasn't much to think about the bird. Maybe pat himself on the shoulder? congratulating himself for seeing a bird for the first time since waking up? or better yet, seeing an actual living creature other than himself for the first time?
Shrugging his shoulders, He resume his stroll down the street.
Anyway, what was He thinking again?
Ah right, the bunker and the building where the bunker is.
Since He forgot where the building was, He may as well just set it aside for now and move on to his second plan; and that is exploring.
As far as He knew, He appears to have only explore some part of city streets; from that street filled with lots of abandoned vehicles along with military ones yesterday, to the street where the apartment building is at.
And at that same street of those abandoned vehicles and military vehicles, He remembered seeing something located deeper down at that street, but never bothered looking into it.
Because his mind was completely occupied by the image of that burnt face at the time; hence why He suddenly decided to just go on to search through the vehicles at that street, to clear his mind from that...
. . .
He stopped at his track for a moment before planting his slightly shaky hand onto his forehead.
' Don't think about it. Don't.
. . .
... Just... Stop. '
He thought to himself, in attempt to calm himself, in attempt to drag that image back down to the deepest part of his mind.
He has infact been genuinely shaken by that corpse from yesterday back at that street. And ever since then, the image have been implanted into his mind like a curse.
(After all, how would you react when a burnt, rotting corpse suddenly fell from a vehicle and onto the asphalt, with its burnt disfigured face now staring back at you?)
He tried to forget it by dragging it aside or do something else to keep himself occupied, which seemed to have worked somewhat.
After a few moments later, He finally seem to have calmed down quite a bit before finally removed his hand from his forehead.
' Alright... Big inhale... '
- Inhale -
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. .
. . .
' Exhale... '
- Exhale -
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. .
. . .
' ... That should do. I guess... '
He thought before slowly nodding to himself.
With that, He finally resume his stroll.
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==+==
=[ Shining Light in Steel ]=
==+==
[ Time : ??:?? ??, somewhere around afternoon ]
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' Hey, is that it? The street from yesterday? '
He thought.
And upon closer look, Indeed it is.
He finally return to the very same street where the many abandoned vehicles and military vehicles were at after a long, aimless stroll down several (nearly) empty street.
How does He know? Well, due to the fact that most of the street He have stroll into earlier had very few abandoned vehicle; hence making the street in question a lot more prominent, not to mention the military presence at the street too.
He made his way towards the street, approaching the vehicle-filled road with a stroll.
Once He did, He began to walk down the street, passing through vehicles He had already searched yesterday.
' Finally... Maybe I should make a map to keep track. Otherwise... I'll be wandering aimlessly like a... A headless chicken. '
He thought.
. . .
' 'A headless chicken'... Huh? ... Interesting wor-- Oh god-! '
He immediately froze at his feet upon landing his gaze at something familiar, something that He kinda wish that He didn't at all.
The corpse. It was still there were He have left it off. Still laying at the same spot beside that same military vehicle.
But this time, the corpse is now wet from the rain and was seemingly being ravaged by several black birds, with each bird slowly tearing the tiniest chuck from the wet corpse with their beaks (even some part of the corpse had already been teared off at some point).
Uncomfortable and genuinely disgusted by the sight of it, He move his gaze away from it, yet He didn't move his legs just yet. He didn't know why. Something within him just couldn't help it.
' ... Why I'm standing here? I should just go now! '
He thought, shaking his head for a moment before his gaze suddenly move back towards the corpse.
' No... I..
... I-I must do something about it. '
He thought.
Without hesitation, He quickly approach the wet corpse and the birds feeding upon it.
When He got closer, He spoke. Maybe loud enough for the birds to hear it.
"Hey, shoo-!"
He said, quickly sweeping his arms at the birds.
Startled by his voice and his sweeping arms, the birds quickly complied to him by quickly flapping away from the corpse before quickly departing to a random direction.
Once He saw that the birds were gone, He put his arms back to his side as He went to kneel beside the teared corpse while He went to cover his nostril with his hand.
Yup. Smells the same as He remembered yesterday.
After seeming inspecting the teared corpse for a moment, without hesitation, He slowly wrap his hand around the corpse's neck while the other wrap around its legs.
After ensuring the he's got a good grip, He slowly stood back up to his feet, slowly and carefully lifting the teared corpse from the asphalt ground within his grasp, feeling the heavy weight of corpse transferring to his core muscles.
After finally stood back to his feet, He quickly open the drivers seat door of the military vehicle with his free fingers.
When He did, He slowly and gently set the wet corpse onto the drivers seat, though with minor difficulties due to the corpse's legs getting stuck on the vehicle interior.
But once He finally set the corpse fully on the drivers seat, He took a one quick glance at the corpse before shutting the drivers door.
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. . .
He took a few couple of step before He quickly lean himself against the side of the military vehicle.
...
' ... Why did I even do that...? '
He thoughtfully questioned.
Why did He do that? What was the reason behind it? What did He even gain from doing so?
Why?
He wasn't sure nor certain of what He had just done. It was like something inside of him wanted or decided that He should.
He couldn't describe it.
It almost felt... Surreal.
He slowly looked down at his hands before slowly opening his palms, revealing it to be quite dirty with... What? The remains of the corpse? The burnt skin of it? Flesh? He wasn't sure. Whatever it is, it was dark brown, wet, and its quite all over his palms and maybe even have gotten some on his sleeves.
For a moment, He seemed lost in his own mind, his eyes dazing off from his hands...
...
... Before He quickly came back to his senses shortly after.
He quickly dust his hands together, washing off the wet dark brown stuff from his hands with the help of the raindrops before He too dust off his coat sleeves, in case the stuff got caught on them.
Right after that, He tightly grasp the side of his head with his right hand.
' Just who even am I? '
He thoughtfully questioned before He slowly lower his hand back down.
. . .
- Sigh... -
Letting out a long sigh from his lips, He finally got off from his leaning on the side of the vehicle.
' I should get going now... '
He thought.
A wise choice.
With that, He slowly walk away from the military vehicle, but not before looking back at it for a moment before turning away, resuming back to his stroll.
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After strolling down the street for a bit, He began to notice the ever-increasing of military presence as He continue his stroll deeper into the street.
Sandbag defenses all over the road and on the sidewalk, more and more abandoned military vehicles that had been seemingly destroyed and been damaged a lot more compared to the ones all the way back down the road, old bullet casings almost practically everywhere with each step He took, and there was even a tank wreckage that had its pieces scattered around the road.
Whatever or whoever caused this much damage were packed with a lot of firepower.
He would love to search through the many military vehicles for stuff, but seeing the amount of damage the many vehicles have sustained, He highly doubt there's anything worth searching through in the vehicles.
After strolling for a while, It appears to finally arrived at the end of the street. Well, at least what it appears so for him.
Standing before him now appears to be an old military checkpoint. With tall old concrete walls blocking the entire street, along with old barriers consist of sandbags and concrete, small wooden watch tower, and between the concrete walls, is a large rusty metal gate consist of old sheet metals and other metallic material.
And beside the checkpoint appears to be a large old outdoor basketball court that's been converted into a small military camp; with a couple of old big dark green tents, parked old military vehicles, littered wooden crates, an old big dark green medical tent sitting among the other tents, and tall rusty metal fences surrounding the place.
' That looks interesting. '
He thought.
Briefly adjusting the leather sling over his shoulder, He made his way towards the military camp.
After approaching the tall metal fences, He began to look around for any way He could enter though the fences while reaching his hands out to grip and shake the rusty metal fence to test its strength.
...
Then, He sees it.
Removing his hands from the fence, He made his way around the fence before arriving at the other side of the camp.
And as He crouch down to inspect, his suspicion is correct.
' Quite convenient. '
He thought.
There is a small hole in the metal fence along with some of it had been bend over slight, probably enough for someone like him to fit through. Though he'll have to find out first.
Taking off his leather satchel and placing it aside, He took the moment for deep breaths before finally putting himself down on a crawling position onto the wet concrete beneath him.
With that, He began his way through hole, pushing over the bended part of the fence even further with his hands.
It took a while until He finally managed to crawl all the way through the small hole in the fence.
Slowly standing back to his feet, He briefly rub his elbows as well as his knees for a moment before turning around to get his satchel.
Once He grabbed his satchel and brought it through the hole, He wears it back around his shoulder, adjusting the sling briefly.
Turning himself around again, He slowly made his way towards the middle part of the outpost.
Once He did, He looked around for a moment, scanning his surroundings before He nod to himself.
' Alright, made it through... Where to start now? '
After a moment of contemplating his options, He decided to check on one of the tent just at his left.
But before that, He reach down to his satchel; releasing the buckles, opening the satchel, and reach his hand into the satchel before taking out his pen flashlight. Putting his pen flashlight in his other hand, He reach in again to take out his pistol before flicking down the safety.
Now he's ready.
After preparing himself, He finally went towards the tent's open entrance.
Once he's at the tent doorway, He turned on his pen flashlight with a press of a button, shooting a small beam of light across the interior.
Inside the tent were consist of a large old wooden rectangular table set at the middle along with old wooden chairs, some lockers, some drawers, and some crates laying around.
As He move into the tent, He soon discovered some papers and documents laying around on the table that has pique his interest.
Moving some chair aside, He move closer to the table before shining his light on the papers and document to have a clear look into its content.
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. . .
' ... I can't read. '
He thought.
And indeed He cannot. But not what you think.
What He meant is that, the content of the papers and documents on the table were all written in an unknown language that He couldn't understand; the very same language that He kept seeing around where he's at.
Welp, at least He tried.
Shrugging his shoulders, He place down his pistol on the table, allowing him to move some papers and documents around.
But then, among the papers, He notice a larger paper that's been folded up and much more prominent than the other papers on the table.
Reaching forward, He grabbed the folded paper before He goes to unfold it step by step.
And once He fully opened the paper, He discovered that it wasn't just a paper.
It's a map. Though a rather crude looking map.
Upon the discovery, He place the map back down on the table, placing his lit pen flashlight on the corner of the map as a weight to keep it in place.
With the help of the lit pen flashlight, he's able to analyze what the map is.
And upon further inspection, He discovered that it is a map that apparently shows the street layout of the city he's currently at.
Although despite its crude looking, it contain surprisingly amount of useful information for him, even if He cannot read some of the text on it that seemed to have wrote by hand.
(Source: Myself. I made this scuffed thing in Canva in like 30 minute. Though I supposed it support the 'crude' look, right? Or did I put too much effort into it?)
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Well, it's definitely more than just plain crudeness if He were to be honest. Whoever made this 'makeshift map' certainly made the effort to add some small detail in the drawing, even if its so little.
Although it makes him curious, why go through all the trouble to make such crude makeshift map when you could've just get an actual real official map? This is a military camp after all, so why can't they?
Anyway.
According to the map and the obvious black arrow pointing at the drawn version of the outpost, that's where He is right now (duh). Along what appears to be a flag seemingly drawn beside the arrow and text. He wasn't what kind of flag it is, maybe a country flag?
What can He know? He just got up from a human-sized freezer yesterday, with little to no context and memory provided to him.
' Twenty forty-nine... Hm... '
He thought.
Apparently the map appears to have been made in 2049 according to the date written at the bottom right of the map. Hypothetically, if it is indeed the current year, knew of the current year, and the map is official, he'll easily trust it at a heartbeat.
But since He haven't yet to know what the current year is and the fact that the map is made handmade by someone with an adequate drawing skill, He couldn't trust it yet. Not until He test and verified it by going to the building at the top right of the makeshift map that's been marked via red circle and handwritten red text above the arrow.
Speaking of the red circle, He finds it strange that there are a couple of green 'X' symbols drawn on top of some of the buildings, with a few being left unmarked, and the fact that there's only a singular red circle mark. Perhaps the green 'X' symbol indicates that those buildings have been cleared out by the military while the unmarked ones were haven't been cleared out yet.
As for the red circle mark? He wasn't sure what it meant. An indication of danger? If that's the case, then why only marked there in particular and stopped there?
' If it's not danger... Maybe objective..? '
He thought, pressing his fingers on his chin while the other holding his pen flashlight still to light up the map for him to see.
A reasonable guess. But if the military were actually heading towards the red marked objective as their main focus, why go through the trouble of clearing out the buildings and marked them in green 'X' along the way? It seems like a waste of time. Unless they were not racing against time, or maybe they've additional troops behind to take up the task.
Although, judging by the damage and destruction of the amount of military vehicles He have passed through earlier down the street, it seemed that they didn't get too far before being attacked by something or someone that has the enough power to destroy that tank from earlier.
After looking into the map for a while, He finally grab the map from the table, slowly folding it like it was before before gently tug it into his open leather satchel.
' I'll definitely keep this for sure. '
He thought.
Returning his pistol on the table back into his grasp, He began to search throughout the tent; Opening the metal drawers, the lockers, and some of the crates laying around in the tent.
And what He find after all that were:
[Found]:
+ 1x Old military compass (dirty)
+ 6x Old metal bolts (2x were rusty)
+ 1x Old group photo consist of Ukrainian military personnel
+ 1x Old SICH tourniquet
While it was better than nothing, He was kinda unimpressed that it was all He could find after searching through all of the possible storage in such a big tent.
After setting the items He have found on the table, He began to run his gaze through the items, inspecting them each by each.
Then, He reach down to grab the photo on the table before bringing into his view.
The photo is, well, a group photo by the looks of it.
Within the group photo were consist of many individuals in patterned uniform of exactly 36 people all together for the photo in various poses. The individuals were mostly male, with some were female among the males. Some were smiling while some had calm or neutral faces.
Flipping over the photo reveals a date written behind it.
/ 09 08 2045 \
After looking at it for few moment, He finally return the photo back onto the table.
He wasn't sure what to think nor feel about the photo.
Whoever those were in the photo, He could only hope they're doing alright.
[Remove]:
- 1x Old group photo consist of Ukrainian military personnel
With that out of the way, He reach down again to grab the military compass.
He briefly inspect the compass in his hand before reaching in to clean off the dust on it.
When did He did, He give it a test by turning himself around to face random direction while He looked at it to see if it moves.
Surprisingly, It did. The big red arrow in the compass move exactly towards the big red 'N' symbol no matter the direction He faces.
' Wow. My very first item I've found in the surface that actually still work! '
He happily thought.
Closing the compass, He quickly tug it down into his satchel.
[Obtain]:
+ 1x Old military compass
Soon as He did, He goes to grab the tourniquet on the table.
He briefly inspect it in his hand before He too tug it into his satchel.
' I should just grab these and check them later. '
He thought.
Once he's certain that the tent has been cleared out, He finally got out from the tent after returning his pistol back into his hand that He put on the table again, turning off his pen flashlight as He did.
' Huh, looks like the rain has finally stopped. '
He thought as He briefly stare up towards the cloudy light gray sky above him before looking back down.
He glances forward towards another tent along with another tent beside it that has a white medical symbol on its side.
He took the moment to give his arms a light stretch, He decided that:
' I'm gonna just make this quick. I'll pick things, store things, and check things later. '
(And totally not me getting lazy. - Author )
With that in mind, He approach the tent in front of him before entering it through the fabric doorway.
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==+==
=[ Shining Light in Steel ]=
==+==
[ Time : ??:?? ??, somewhere around afternoon ]
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The instinctive sound of his boots broke the surrounding quiet cold air of the street, each step either on puddles of rainwater from the morning heavy rain or on flat rough concrete surface of the sidewalk.
He have just left the small military camp after scavenging the entirety of the camp by going through the same hole on the fence.
In quick conclusion of his scavenge: He have grabbed and store some items in his satchel that He thought its worth grabbing. Which is a lot better compared to yesterday. And he's quite grateful for it despite the initial impression.
Currently, He is navigating through the street while looking into the map in his hands, in his best attempt to follow the map's direction by going towards the red marked location. And so far, the map appears to be quite accurate.
After navigating through the street by the guidance of the map for a while, He finally managed to react the designated location, which is... A rather familiar location.
' ... Hold on. This is... '
He looked towards the marked building and back down to the map back and forth for a moment before He quickly folds the map and tug it down into his satchel, closing the buckles soon after.
' This is where I got out..! '
He thought.
He's quite certain of it due to the fact that the building structure looked the same as He last saw yesterday, and the map proved it. Though minus some half part of the building have been collapsed/destroyed. He even went to ensure that he's correct by strolling around the surrounding building for a bit.
' Yup, this is it. This is where I got out from the bunker. '
He thought in confirm.
With that, He made his way toward the building entrance...
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He stopped in his track just as He arrived at the open doorway.
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' This... Feeling... '
He thought, slowly reach up to gently press his hand against his own chest.
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' ... It's the same one I've felt back then. '
He thought.
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Back then, when He caught something moving at the corner of his left eye, at that same moment, He felt... A sensation.
It felt something like... Prickling at his back of his neck.
He couldn't put a finger on what it is back then. He thought it was just because of the bird or maybe a stray breeze that might've touched his skin a little too cold back then.
But now, standing still at the doorway... He's no longer certain whether that's the case.
He thought it was just the bird. Now? There's none.
He thought it was just a stray cold breeze. Now? There's none that strays nor cold.
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. .
. . .
He's being watched.
He doesn't know who or what. When or where.
But something other that the sensation in his chest told him to keep moving.
Whoever or whatever is watching him, He could only hope... That it belong to an eye of curiosity. And not the eye of a predator.
Taking the moment take his breath, a deep calm breaths. Not looking back nor looking straight. Just the ground beneath him, the semi-full satchel beside him with his stored gun, and thegaze resting behind his neck.
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... Before finally enter through the doorway and into the building.
Slowly looking back up, He finally saw the overgrown open doorway, which He quietly enters.
When He did, He is met with the same overgrown room, with the same open airlock entrance at the end of the room, the very same one He had got out from when He wanted to check whether the bunker's entrance/exit is blocked or not yesterday.
He walk across the overgrown room before stopping directly in front of the airlock entrance.
Reaching down his satchel, releasing the buckles, and taking out both his pen flashlight and his pistol, He took the moment to analyze the exterior of the airlock doorway, briefly admiring its white-sh metallic form.
' ... Well. Here I am. Backed so soon. Returned to this place after just yesterday. '
This time with a satchel filled with items, a coat, boots, and an observer.
- Sigh... -
' ... Blame my curiosity if something happened to me. '
And with that, He steps into the airlock, slowly disappearing into the darkness as He turned on his pen flashlight and flicked off the safety of his handgun soon after.
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-{===}-
End of
[] Chapter 3: [] 'N' the Explorer. The 'N' stands for 'Nameless young man'
Total word: 5139
Next:
[] Chapter 4: [] Hey, You finally back. Do leave again.
-{===}-
Author's note
Quick question!
Which T-Doll/Doll/etc would you like to see in the next/future part/chapter?
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If you have any suggestion, question or comment, you can submit them here. I would love to see what you readers honest thought and opinion about this series so far.
What you think about the writing so far?
Was it too long/too much 'yap'? or was it too short?
How are the grammars?
Are there any scene/part that you think that it's missing/lacking something?
All of these sorts of questions!
Seeing and taking your suggestion, tips, and opinion really helps me to become a better writer and future part/chapter.
(◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
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