Chapter 117: Twenty-one. That’s just an echo, that’s all!!!
“Although I don’t want to interrupt your thoughts at this ti,” Bai Wei’s voice echoed leisurely in Gerard’s mind, “how long do you plan on standing here lost in thought until it gets dark?”
Only then did Gerard snap back to reality. He subconsciously raised his head to check the sky, which was still bright, with a long ti to go before sunset.
But Gerard also knew he had indeed been lost in thought for a considerable amount; the shock that had co upon seeing his own na had filled his brain entirely, leaving no room for other thoughts.
“Judging from your reaction…” Bai Wei’s voice rose again, “that watch is really yours, isn’t it?”
Gerard was silent for a while before he looked again at the shattered components. Because they were too ancient and damaged, he couldn’t confirm through the details if it was the sa watch he had owned ten years ago.
But he also knew that there were basically no other possibilities, because the watch belonged to the Pioneer Force of ten years ago, that is, to the Night Star Team, and there was no other mber nad Gerard in the Night Star Team.
Unless soone deliberately created this watch to confuse him. But that possibility was also slim because, under normal circumstances, there was no way the watch could have co into his possession. It had only fallen into his hands because of the variable inside him—Visas—who decided to kill Terrell. If the other party could calculate even that, it would be far too exaggerated.
So, the only possibility was that the watch was indeed the one he had used ten years ago.
And it, by all accounts, should have been buried forever in the Polluted Land.
But now, it had appeared before him.
“If I rember correctly,” Bai Wei said in a languid tone, “you once said that in the Polluted Land, those alive would swap equipnt with the dead, to let the living carry on with the dead’s share, so that the living wouldn’t feel alone and the dead would have company on the road to the Underworld. From your expression, may I conclude… that this watch should have remained on the road to the Underworld?”
“…I don’t know what you an by the Underworld,” Gerard said, “but it indeed should have stayed in the Polluted Land.”
“Then why is it here?”
“…There are only two possibilities. Either soone entered the deepest parts of the Polluted Land ten years later, which is where I had been, and found this watch,” Gerard’s voice was very low, “or…”
He gently closed his eyes, his body trembling slightly.
“Ten years ago, it wasn’t just who returned from the deepest parts of the Polluted Land.”
As he spoke these words, Gerard subconsciously clenched the parts of the Desolate Ti Clock tightly, the sharp edges cutting into his finger, drawing blood, yet he had no reaction.
Obviously, there was sothing Gerard had not said, but Bai Wei could guess it.
If soone else had really co back, then why not seek him out, instead of letting him bear the na of a traitor alone for ten years?
Regarding this matter, Bai Wei was also in the dark. He asked, “If it’s the latter, who do you think would have co back? In other words, who did you leave this watch with originally?”
Gerard opened his eyes and in a hoarse voice said, “I don’t rember clearly. My mories of that deepest place are fragnted, like bits and pieces of images. These images don’t show the whereabouts of the watch, but…”
He turned his head to look at the other intact Desolate Ti Clock.
“According to the rules, traded items must be exchanged for items of the sa kind, to prevent the living from having insufficient equipnt and eting accidents. So…” Gerard looked at the inscription on the pocket watch and once again glimpses of his interrogation by that woman in the Sky Tower yesterday crossed his mind, and he fell silent again. But this ti, the silence didn’t last too long before he spoke up, “Based solely on this watch’s inscription, I can’t make a definite judgnt. I must verify it in person.”
Bai Wei raised Gerard’s eyebrows: “Not going to find the Archbishop?”
“It’s a starting point,” Gerard said. “No matter whether soone brought the watch back later, or a teammate who survived ten years ago returned with it, either possibility will unlock many of my doubts.”
That point Bai Wei did not deny.
He simply said slowly, as Gerard was getting up to leave,
“If it’s possible, which possibility do you hope for more?”
“What?” Gerard didn’t catch it at first.
“I an, if it’s possible, would you rather your teammate have lived until now or have died forever in the Polluted Land?”
Gerard fell into silence once more.
He discovered that Bai Wei always managed to ask such piercing questions that he didn’t know how to answer, because these questions were like swords thrust directly into his heart.
But due to the nature of their trade, he could not refuse to answer.
Eventually, he spoke slowly.
“I don’t know, but if possible…” He lifted his head to look at the sky that hadn’t changed in ten years and then said softly, “I really hope that he has lived until now.”
…
Yong Xin stood in the morgue, silent, looking at the body that had just been brought in five minutes ago.
Before long, a hunched figure opened the door to the morgue, peeking inside carefully, and only after seeing Yong Xin’s silhouette, did he walk in quickly, bowing respectfully and saying, “Lord Yong Xin, I have arrived.”
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