The Skeleton Corps' sudden appearance was clearly an accident, but the loud knock on the door felt as if it struck right on Gerard and Ju's hearts, instantly tightening their nerves.
Bang, bang, bang!
"Open up! Open the door quickly!"
The knocking and shouting grew louder, as if the flimsy lock would be destroyed by brute force any second now.
This made Gerard subconsciously want to grab sothing at hand, but unfortunately, his Chainsaw Sword had been destroyed the night before, and now he had not a single weapon beside him. If the Bone Knights outside were to break through the door, he would have no choice but to fight with his recently repaired lightweight civilian body.
Fortunately, the knocking didn't continue for too long. Soon, another Knight's voice rose: "What are you doing? There's nobody in this warehouse, is there?"
The knocking Knight then stopped: "I thought I saw a flicker of light through the crack of the door just now."
Gerard imdiately glanced at the candle he had snuffed out at his side.
"...Do you have such good eyesight? To see through such a tiny crack?"
"I'm not too sure, so I was just bluffing," the Knight replied, "And if that guy wanted to hide, he'd probably sneak into these kinds of warehouses, right?"
"But in Lyra, there are too many warehouses like this. If we knock down each one, when will we find anything?"
The conversation between the two Knights outside allowed Gerard to breathe a sigh of relief.
It seed his whereabouts hadn't been exposed; this was just a routine search.
However, given the Wanted Notice on him, it should be only at the First Level, which didn't permit searching residential areas and private dwellings. Could it be that his pursuit had been upgraded to the Second Level?
But if that were the case, why didn't the two Knights outside just charge in? That old lock would hardly be any restraint to them, would it?
Gerard was puzzled, but if they could not enter, there was no need to worry too much.
Unless...
Gerard turned to look at Ju.
Since the beginning, Ju had been silent, just standing there quietly, still maintaining that poker face as if everything happening outside had nothing to do with her.
But she just had to call out, and the two Knights outside would imdiately break through the door.
So... would she speak out?
Gerard grew tense once again.
Thankfully, Ju remained silent, like a doll with no mouth.
In turn, the two Knights outside didn't have a reason to break in.
"Should we go in and check? It's just a kick to the lock."
"That would be against the rules. Before the notice is upgraded, we can't act like that. If the owner of this warehouse complains about us, we would be in big trouble."
"Tch, our very presence here is already borderline," the Knight complained, "What's this? Are we not going in after all?"
"Alright, stop complaining," the Knight consoled, "Looking at the current trend, the Wanted Notice will soon be upgraded, and then we can be more justified in our search, right?"
"Fine, then let's go."
Then, Gerard heard the footsteps of the two Knights recede and grow fainter.
Gerard's heart, which had been hanging by a thread, finally settled down.
He turned to look at Ju again, just about to say "You..." when Bai Wei's faint voice resounded in his mind: "What? With the loss of your equipnt, has your Insight also diminished?"
Gerard was taken aback and felt goosebumps rise.
He heard a slight scraping noise coming from outside the window behind him.
It was the sound of trouser legs rubbing together while walking, a sound so faint it would be inaudible unless one listened closely.
The two Knights hadn't left!
They were right behind him!
Just a wall apart!
Realizing this, Gerard imdiately pressed himself against the wall, but that wasn't enough. He soon realized that Ju's position was also directly facing the window, clearly visible at a glance.
There was no ti to explain; Gerard instantly reached out, pulled Ju into his embrace, and then covered her mouth.
Almost simultaneously, two beams of light shone through, nearly brushing against Gerard's body and illuminating the warehouse.
"That was a close shave," Bai Wei spoke leisurely in his mind.
Bai Wei seed relaxed, but Gerard certainly didn't dare to relax.
Because right beneath their feet were the parts Ju had replaced for him earlier, still marked with bloodstains. Just a glimpse was all it would take to reveal the problem.
Fortunately, the Knights didn't see them.
The window was not very large; calling it a window was generous—it was more like a slightly oversized ventilation hole, and it was awkwardly placed. Gerard had a hard ti squeezing through it when he entered.
The light in the hands of the two Bone Knights was far from enough to survey the entire warehouse.
They looked around for a long ti, but all they saw were the tallic parts piled up like a mountain.
"There's really nobody here."
The two Bone Knights who had returned to the entrance sounded off again, and this ti, their voices were right by Gerard and Ju's ears.
"What's this warehouse for? Why so many parts?"
"I don't know. And they're all pretty old parts... Doesn't it seem like soone's living here?"
"A night watch, perhaps."
"And where's the person?"
"Just not here tonight? After all, there's no need to guard these scraps, every single night." One of the beams of light disappeared, "Right, on to the next place. We have a tight schedule tonight."
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