After all, a decade-long bias can't be resolved in a short ti without sufficient courage.
"I'm grateful that you trust ," Gerard said slowly, "but I still want to know what prompted you to make such a choice. The reason you gave in the car was that they wanted to kill ... but they've always wanted to kill , and you have been trying to do the sa for a long ti."
"Yes." Kude didn't deny it, "But what I ant was... a direct order. In the past, he wouldn't issue such instructions, most of the ti it was just hints, such as leaving you on the edge of the Polluted Land, reducing support for you, or even in Rhein's Somo City, it was the sa deal. But tonight, my superior gave a direct order. He ordered to eliminate you with that Chopping Axe I threw outside, but before that, this could never happen. Because in the eyes of the world, you are an innocent man."
Hearing this, Gerard fell into a brief silence.
Just as Visas had said, his enemies were now using ans beyond the rules to deal with him.
Even the most direct orders to erase an innocent man like him had been given.
"But you refused to do so," Gerard asked, "For you, is there really such a big difference between indirectly causing my death and directly killing ?"
Hearing Gerard's question, Kude turned to look at him and then smiled: "If there wasn't much of a difference, I wouldn't be here talking with you so much... I've even thrown away the weapon, can't we be more honest with each other?"
"I'm not questioning you, just speaking frankly," Gerard said, "To most people, there is no difference between the two, it's just about wanting dead."
"That's precisely the key to the problem, the difference is huge," Kude said softly, "Rules might be re formalities in other realms, but in Lyra, they are the fundantal logic of operation, our most prideful capital. Of course, because we're human and not purely chanical, we don't rigidly follow the rules, and often exploit loopholes to do things... not so by the book, like eliminating you for potentially being polluted. Before, many people, including myself, believed that you were contaminated ten years ago, that you had simply circumvented the detection and the judgnt of the Rule, so we used the loopholes in the Rule to kill you... Although I also feel that it wasn't quite right, I was willing to do it, because in the end, we're all just gambling around the Rule."
Pausing, Kude continued, "But now, when that order ca, I realized that everything was different."
While Kude and Gerard were talking, Bai Wei was quietly observing this Captain of the Skeleton Corps.
In the ga, Kude had also made appearances; his earliest was in Somo City, where he facilitated the deal with Corey, to have Gerard die there. But that wasn't his true intention, and he ntioned more than once in subsequent conversations with players that it was his greatest regret, especially when the catastrophe broke out, and Kude realized what he had truly done.
By then, it was already too late.
The ga didn't specify his ultimate fate; only that he disappeared after the disaster, with no indication if he was dead or had fled.
But judging by his performance tonight, it seed that he wouldn't run away.
And because of Bai Wei's intervention, Gerard didn't die in Somo City, and even ended up, through so twist of fate, walking side by side with Kude.
So what would happen next?
Even Bai Wei was starting to look forward to it, so during the conversation between Gerard and Kude, Bai Wei remained silent, just watching.
Kude didn't know that it wasn't just Gerard watching him at that mont, but he continued speaking: "And it's not just that, there are too many things that are beyond reason. For example, that guy Ocot you encountered yesterday, you said he had eight illegally modified chanical arms in his body. At first, I thought that was just your delusion, but then today I found another with two chanical arms, and he was a colleague from the Skeleton Corps... I don't know how he passed the physical examination, which puzzles , but what's even more puzzling is that no one else, aside from , thinks there's anything wrong, just considering it a trivial matter. However, in my mory, the Skeleton Corps adding chanical arms is definitely not a minor issue, so..."
"You're not sure if it's you who's gone crazy, or if it's them?" Gerard softly interrupted Kude.
Hearing Gerard's sentint, Kude stopped speaking and then tossed the finished cigarette butt into the bin nearby.
With a "clunk," that spark quickly disappeared into the darkness.
"You precisely articulated my feelings," Kude said, "It seems that for the past ten years, this is how you've lived."
"Of course," Gerard replied indifferently, "Over the past decade, I've questioned more than once, whether it's that's abnormal, or Lyra. The Affairs Officers I knew do not exist, the missions I've received are nothing but fabrications, the whole world says I'm mad, everyone wants dead."
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