Chapter 93: Eight Why is it that you, the ringleader, are the one who survived!
“Ah!!!!”
A sharp pain surged from the depths of his eye, abruptly terminating the previous vision. Gerard bent down, clutching his left eye tightly as blood kept oozing from his eye socket, as if the eyeball itself wanted to leap out.
Fortunately, the pain ca as quickly as it went. Before long, the agony had disappeared, leaving only a pool of blood in his palm to prove its existence.
“What…what’s that about?” Gerard whispered.
“That is the price of using this eye,” Bai Wei said. “I’ve told you, you have to bear it yourself.”
“…You know I’m not asking about that!” Gerard gritted his teeth, the smile of Clerk No. 44 still echoing in his mind. “What did I just see? What was that?!”
...
Bai Wei replied with a smile, “What else could it be if not what you saw with your eye?”
Gerard suddenly raised his head and looked at Affairs Officer 13 again.
Her expression remained unchanged, just as it was before, the smile at the corner of her mouth as artificially painted on.
But Gerard stared intently at her head, as if he wanted to see through it once more, to verify the reality of what he had just seen.
“I want to see it again,” Gerard thought to himself.
“You can’t,” Bai Wei replied indifferently. “In your current state, another attempt won’t kill you on the spot but will definitely not leave you standing on your return… If you still want to do anything, it’s better to leave now. Your reaction just now was noticed by quite a few people.”
Gerard snapped back to reality and instinctively looked around.
Indeed, although there weren’t many people on this floor, it didn’t an there was no one. His earlier scream had drawn the gaze of many. If he were to go through it again now, the trouble would be significant.
Therefore, pressing down his doubts, Gerard said to Affairs Officer 13, “I have no more questions.”
Affairs Officer 13 nodded slightly. “Then I wish you a pleasant life.”
And then she reverted to her previous dazed appearance.
But Gerard clearly couldn’t view her the sa way he did at first. He stood up, walked towards the gear elevator, and then subconsciously looked back.
Most of the affairs officers were in a dazed, standby state, appearing unremarkable. However, Gerard’s mind once again flashed with the smile he’d seen.
He took a deep breath and turned to go downstairs.
However, what Gerard did not know was that on the sixth floor, soone had seen everything. Once Gerard had left the fifth floor, this person quickly departed, passed through a corridor, and knocked on a room’s door.
A young male voice ca from inside, “Co in.”
He entered and saw a young figure sitting in front of a window, overlooking half of Lyra City from the sixth floor of the Sky Tower.
“He ca again?” the young voice said.
“Yes,” the person replied. “Still the sa as before, looking for the whereabouts of Clerk No. 44.”
“Huh, persistent, isn’t he… Did he find any clues?”
“Of course not, there’s no way he could have. And…”
“Hmm?”
“His body doesn’t seem to be in good shape,” the person answered. “Our years of wearing him down are effective.”
The young man chuckled, “Really? It seems that even the most useful tool has its day of discard.”
“But we did give him ten more years.”
“He is a Knight of the Night Star, after all. How could he die so easily?” the young man said with a laugh. “But indeed, he has struggled in the prison we crafted for him for ten years. Now it is approaching the final mont, hmm…”
The young man tapped his fingers on his head as if pondering sothing, while the other person did not dare to urge him, waiting quietly by the side.
Finally, the young man spoke again, “We mustn’t take him lightly, continue having people follow him, just in case he finds sothing in his final monts, until the very end arrives…”
The other was sowhat surprised, “Is it really necessary to take him so seriously?”
“As I said before,” the young man said softly, “he is a Knight of the Night Star.”
…
“What… what exactly is it?” Once back on the first floor, Gerard imdiately asked Bai Wei.
“Dismbernt, what else?” Bai Wei said nonchalantly. “I have quite so experience in that area.”
“It’s not that I’m asking!”
“Don’t you have an answer already?” Bai Wei said with a light laugh. “Why you’ve been unable to find Clerk No. 44, why Clerk No. 44 disappeared yet the strength remained unchanged; the reason lies there. No. 44 is still here, fused into every affairs officer’s body.”
Bai Wei’s words made Gerard tremble, and the thought of the once familiar person now facing such a fate made him clench his fists uncontrollably.
“Why, why would soone do this, what are they trying to achieve?!”
“Truth is this cruel,” Bai Wei said indifferently, sensing Gerard’s trembling body. “And you’ve just uncovered a corner of it. So, what now, will you continue?”
“…Of course.”
“Then where do you plan to start?”
Where to start…
Gerard began to ponder.
In Lyra City, those who could do such a thing to the affairs officers would surely only be the Five Great Bishops, but the bishops had hardly shown themselves for more than ten years, and few knew their true situation. It wouldn’t be possible for Gerard to find them and question each one in a short ti.
So, aside from the bishops, was there anyone else who could directly influence the affairs officers?
Gerard paced back and forth on the first floor.
Then, he thought of sothing, slowly lifted his head, and muttered, “Maintenance Staff.”
“Hmm?”
“Maintenance Staff, it’s the Maintenance Staff. Whoever wants to target the Affairs Officer must go through the Maintenance Staff!” Gerard gradually beca agitated, “The batch of Maintenance Staff in charge of maintaining the Affairs Officer ten years ago must know!”
“Really?” Bai Wei said with a smile, “Then isn’t that a clue?”
“Yes, there’s a clue now.” Gerard wanted to imdiately search for the Maintenance Staff from ten years ago, but he froze as he was about to step forward, “No… no, that’s not allowed.”
He thought of sothing.
“The data on the Maintenance Staff… has always been absolutely confidential.”
Bai Wei asked, “Even you can’t get it?”
“It’s not that I can’t get it, it’s in the archives, anyone can access it,” said Gerard, “But, it’s not permitted; it’s an ironclad rule—I can’t break it.”
Bai Wei raised an eyebrow.
Those guys in Lyra, what they believe in most are rules. Everyone must act according to the rules, even the Skeleton Corps who wanted Gerard dead have to follow them.
The rules are the most important thing to the followers of Lyra.
Even though Gerard had been tortured for more than ten years, he still didn’t want to cross that line.
“Even if the truth is right before your eyes, you won’t take one more step outward?” Bai Wei asked.
“No.” Gerard clenched his teeth tightly and rejected Bai Wei again, “The rules cannot be broken.”
Really principled, huh.
But…
Bai Wei wasn’t in a hurry, instead, he looked to the side—if he rembered correctly, there should be a person here who could change Gerard’s decision.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before a woman suddenly appeared beside Gerard.
Upon seeing Gerard’s back, she gently spoke, “Gerard?”
Upon hearing the voice, Gerard’s body stiffened slightly, and he slowly turned his head to look at the woman who had suddenly appeared.
“It really is you…” The woman approached Gerard step by step, her expression distant, “When I heard they said you had co, I couldn’t believe it; how many years has it been since we last saw each other…”
Gerard looked at the woman, his gaze complicated, “Shana…”
“It’s been five or six years, I think, I can’t rember exactly,” the woman had walked up to Gerard, her voice becoming lighter, “Finally, I see you… I really, I’ve dread of seeing you, Gerard. But you never showed up…”
“Shana…”
“I’ve been waiting for this day.” The woman’s body pressed up against him, “Really, I’ve waited so long…”
Gerard didn’t move, and Bai Wei watched silently.
There was a “thump.”
He slowly lowered his head, looking at the dagger thrust into his waist.
“Ah, I finally did it, I finally did it.” The woman who had been quite gentle up until now suddenly beca agitated, she pulled out the dagger and stabbed again, “You finally showed up, Gerard… I searched for you for ten years, how dare you still appear!”
She beca hysterical.
“Do you still rember my husband?! My husband Helmo! You called him brother! You took him into the Polluted Land! Then why didn’t you bring him back!”
The woman’s actions finally caught the attention of the Skeleton Corps, and two mbers rushed over imdiately.
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
“Warning! Warning! The widow of a Rebel is assaulting soone, the widow of a Rebel is assaulting soone!”
Hearing this label, the woman’s expression turned even more morose, she continued to screech and attack Gerard.
“Do you see?! Do you see?! You didn’t bring my husband back, you made him a Rebel! Made him die with that sha!”
She continued hysterically.
“Why?! Why you of all people? Why is it that you, the culprit, are still alive?!”
“Why won’t you just die? Die already!”
Soon, the mbers of the Skeleton Corps subdued the woman.
She broke down sobbing uncontrollably, while the mbers of the Skeleton Corps coldly conversed.
“You who have sinned, you’ve broken the rules again, madam, it seems your sentence will have another ten years added.”
“Hahaha…” The woman was both crying and laughing, “I’ve got nothing left! I’ve got nothing left; do I still care about this? I just want to kill him, let kill him!”
The woman was quickly dragged away, leaving Gerard alone, standing in silence.
During the woman’s attack, he had never retreated a step, and now his entire abdon was bleeding profusely.
Then, Bai Wei slowly began to speak, “Need to tend to your wound?”
Gerard was silent for a long ti.
Then he turned and walked toward the archives.
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