Dunn, who was packing his luggage, suddenly stopped and took out a well-preserved photo from the side pocket of his coat.
It was a candid photo. In the black and white picture, a young woman in police uniform was looking at her teammates and smiling.
Dunn stroked the surface of the photo, unconsciously took out his pipe and matches, took a deep breath, and then sighed.
Three days have passed since the great smog, and it's time for him to leave.
This morning he had visited Mrs. Summer to pay the rent, and said goodbye to several important clients one by one.
He originally didn't want to leave, but sometimes it backfired, especially after that day.
After rescuing Dai Li from the "demon", Dunn, who was sure that no other "demon" would come close to him, chose to take a stand secretly, but before he even took two steps, he met an acquaintance.
...
"Dunn Smith?"
In the alley filled with pungent sulfur, Fran Amani looked up and down at the "young man" in front of her. The "darkness" around her moved silently, and the four directions were closed. For a moment, the "Requiem Master" looked like a man from the outside.
Like a poor little insect embedded in amber, struggling hard but to no avail.
Seeing this accidental discovery, Fran instinctively wanted to clean up the house, but she smelled an unusual smell a second before doing so.
"How about giving me some face?"
The slowly surging "darkness" was thick and viscous, like flowing sludge. It soon slid down the dark "wall" like real sludge, and illusory butterflies soared from it, forming a channel.
The figure between illusion and reality.
Edmund, whose gorgeous robe was covered in scorch, looked miserable, released his restraints on Dunn, and showed his hands to Fran.
"Face?" Fran's back was bent low. From a distance, she looked like a beast with tense nerves, ready to fight for her life at any time.
"This is also part of the plan. I don't think either the goddess or our Lord cares about the life or death of a Sequence Six." Edmund, who was mentally exhausted, bowed, "and Dunn Smith is already a leader in the Church of Night itself.
It’s dead, isn’t it?”
"There is no need for us to trouble a dead man."
Staring at Edmund's innocent expression, Fran quietly took a few breaths and finally relaxed, and the solid darkness around her began to flow again.
"casual."
She looked at the red gloves that had begun to clean the battlefield in the distance, and looked away for a moment.
"But this is Backlund. There are many Red Gloves and Nighthawks, and there are also many people who know Dunn Smith."
"I don't care about his life or death, but a dead person, especially a dead person who has converted, should not appear in front of the church."
Facing that gaze that left no room for concession, Dunn was speechless and his trembling shoulders suddenly collapsed.
"Of course, this is not too much." Edmund smiled with satisfaction, "Then let's say goodbye?"
Fran turned her face away irritably and disappeared.
...
Unexpectedly, Ms. Amani's true identity turned out to be an angel... Dunn, who was obsessed with the sunshine outside the window, took a drag on his pipe, immediately put out the flame, and prepared to continue packing his luggage.
But as soon as he reached for the coat on the sofa, the spiritual warning in his mind suddenly sounded, and his limbs instantly became stagnant, unable to move.
This is?
Dunn looked at the ceiling with difficulty and saw a person hanging upside down there, a "clown" with a bright smile!
The Secret Order... or... the Kline?
He examined the familiar figure, moved his fingers slightly, and the shadows and "darkness" under his feet instantly burst out, entangled with each other and stabbed the "clown" from all directions.
On the ceiling, "Joker" looked at the attacks coming from all around. He suddenly let go of his palms, and his body fell freely along the pull of gravity. In mid-air, he pulled out a dagger from the back of his waist and stabbed it down.
The dense darkness squirmed on the surface of the dagger, expanded and exploded, stretched out and turned into a straight blade, and with the "Joker's" dexterous dodge, it accurately penetrated into the "darkness" under its feet.
"Fallen!"
The extremely evil and blasphemous words spread rapidly, sweeping into every corner of the bedroom, and the lurking shadows twisted accordingly, dragging the confused and twitching "dark" tentacles on the side, leaping and intertwining without distinguishing each other. For a moment, they no longer looked toward "
"Joker" attacks.
Turning his wrist, he turned his palm into a fist and struck it deeply at the end of the handle. The shadow blade instantly went down a few inches, and the "darkness" affected by the blasphemous words became even more chaotic.
The "Joker", whose eyes were full of blood, stood up slowly and looked at Dunn, who was almost deprived of all mobility. He turned his head slightly, his blood-red eyes seemed to be looking at something, and he suddenly stretched out his right hand.
He pulled off the gold-rimmed glasses on Dunn's nose and looked at the face whose disguise gradually faded away to reveal its true appearance. Suddenly, a muffled laugh sounded from behind the clown mask.
"really."
Klein took off his mask, and the glimmer of light on the back of his right hand went out. Dunn, whose spiritual body thread was loosened, also slipped, and his thoughts and joints were no longer controlled.
He staggered back two steps, touched his higher hairline, and after a while he relaxed his lips into a wry smile.
"I'm sorry. I should have confessed to you earlier."
Dunn moved his limbs while removing the "darkness" that had not returned to normal in the room.
"When did you guess my identity?"
Klein pulled out the straight blade and turned it back into a cane, and glanced at it.
"Actually, I'm not sure, I just think it's a possibility."
He immediately looked at Dunn, with mixed emotions in his eyes.
"What about you, Captain, when did you find out that I was Sherlock Moriarty?"
A trace of dullness flashed across Dunn's face, his deep gray eyes blinked, and he suddenly smiled:
"Actually, I had doubts about your identity very early on when we first cooperated. However, I was really sure of your identity not long ago when I saw your citrine pendulum."
Snapped!
Klein slapped his wrist, his expression a little dull.
It turned out to be because of this, but at least it was discovered by the captain, and at least the captain was not one of the people who deceived me... He looked at the silver band wrapped around his wrist in a dumbfounded way, and breathed an inexplicable sigh of relief.
"I thought you knew from the beginning."
"Of course not," Dunn looked at the floor that was pierced by Klein with some distress, and then asked, "It seems that you have also been resurrected by the 'God of Mystery', right?"
He noticed the haze in Klein's eyes, which was a little uncertain.
"Of course." Klein replied after a while.
He looked around, sizing up the luggage that Dunn had packed just now but became a mess again after being interrupted. He changed the subject and said:
"Are you also planning to leave Backlund?"
"Where are you going?"
"Jianhai?" Dunn was a little unsure. He picked up the clothes on the ground with both hands and folded them carefully. "To be honest, I haven't thought about where to go. I was just told that this city doesn't welcome me and I have to leave."
Could it be that Ms. Dai Li had discovered the true identity of the captain and was so angry that the captain did not confess to her immediately, so she scolded him?
Seeing Dunn's deeply shocked look, Klein's silent emotions suddenly became more active, and he was momentarily worried about his captain's emotional problems.
"I'm going to sea, and I won't be returning to Backlund in a short time." He took a deep breath and said suddenly.
Dunn, who was packing his clothes, was stunned for a moment, frowned, and shook his head slightly.
"The sea is more dangerous than the mainland..."
He wanted to dissuade him, but after meeting Klein's gaze, he changed the subject decisively.
"But it's not bad there. Do you have any contact information?"
"I think I might be able to provide some help if needed."
Help... Klein buried his head in thought for a while, his tone suddenly became lighter, and there was a smile of unknown meaning at the corner of his mouth.
"You can pray to Mr. Fool, and don't look at me with that expression... Captain, Mr. Fool is a benevolent god, and she is happy to convey messages to believers."
"Well, she's happy to."
...
In the silent ancient palace, a deep red flower covered the bottom of the long bronze table. Klein looked at the figure that appeared in front of him at the same time as him, and leaned back on the chair.
"I thought you would question me immediately."
"Secret" also leaned against the back of the chair. She didn't look as relaxed as she did during the Tarot session two days ago. Under the worn robe, green and black brilliance could be seen everywhere. The insects covered by the gray fog slowly squirmed and seemed to be repairing.
Wound.
Klein glanced at the scars filled with thick gray mist and spoke in a bad tone.
"I'm not as anxious now as before, and there's no need to be anxious."
"Secret" chuckled, "It's better to be more pressing. Have you already met Dunn Smith?"
Klein nodded slightly, "Although it's a bit unexpected, thank you for your help."
I don't need to think about it. The reason why the captain is still standing here alive and taking one or two photos of Ms. Dai Li must be "secret". No matter what her purpose is, she finally saved the captain's life.
.
On this point, Klein has always made a clear distinction.
"It's good to meet people you know." Both "Mystery" and Klein tacitly skipped what should have been the most important topic.
She reached out and touched the gray mist, and a map of Backlund appeared, with two marked red dots shining brightly.
"This is Azik Eggers and Sharon's mark. I think you should use it."
Klein glanced at the map in mid-air and nodded silently.
He does use these, whether it is to thank Mr. Azik, or to retrieve the copper whistle that Mr. Azik took away, or to use Miss Sharon's intelligence network to create a false identity and care about her status, etc.
are all important.
Of course it was good to meet acquaintances, but he also wanted to meet Yin En and the people he knew in the East District to confirm their safety.
But thinking of this, Klein finally did not suppress the emotions in his heart and spoke out the issue he cared about most.
"Why did you lie to me when you said you were still trying to go home?"
His voice couldn't stop trembling, his chest was rising and falling, and even the gray mist nearby was suddenly frightened, and he fled outside in panic.
"Secret" looked at his own half body, and slowly stopped tapping his fingers rhythmically on the armrest, looking deeper into the gray fog, towards the dilapidated city buried deep in the fog of history.
"Everyone..." "Secret" paused for a rare moment, as if remembering some intangible things that had passed away, "Everyone always thinks that it is better to be hurt by the truth than to be deceived by lies. If you get something and then lose it, you will always lose it.
It hurts more than never getting it."
"But can I really tell you the truth then?"
"At that time, you had just experienced the death of your captain and the separation of your brothers and sisters. You had just learned that you were not simply 'travelling'. At that time, you were watching Benson and Melissa fall deeply into guilt over their grief over their own deaths. You were really still...
Can you accept a bigger blow?"
Listening to this almost sighing confession, Klein closed his eyes, maintained a somewhat ugly smile, and sighed softly.
"Khaled Hosseini? The Kite Runner?"
"You actually remember this book."
Seeing that Klein suddenly asked a question that seemed strange and insignificant in the current context, "Secret" was not surprised. Instead, he raised a smile with a beautiful aftertaste in his eyes.
"Yes, I am you too. I may be much more knowledgeable than you now, but in terms of knowledge about the past, there is no gap between you and me."
"There is only one kind of history in the world, but it has two names. Sometimes it is called lies, sometimes it is called truth. How people view it depends on which name it brings more benefits. In this reality, falsehood and truth
The boundaries between freedom and freedom are actually not that clear. If we want to pursue freedom, the price we have to pay is often huge or even tragic."
"At least for now, we sadly live in a world where lies have the upper hand, and regarding you, I'm sorry, but lies were also the best solution for you at that time."
Klein shook his head and did not intend to pursue the matter further.
Now that time has passed and everything and the past he was familiar with has turned into loess without leaving a trace, what is the use of pursuing it?
His family has long been just a member of the vast ruins whose lives have been suppressed. They don’t know why they died. They may have been deprived of their lives by the sudden disaster because their son Zhou Mingrui died suddenly for no reason. Maybe they died
I had been immersed in grief for a long time and was unable to extricate myself.
The old man can't express himself, and my mother's heart is not very good. My death may worsen her condition... But if the ending of the old world is really like what I saw, then at least they don't have to eat too much.
Suffering from disaster...
At least I'm still alive now. I luckily replaced the unlucky Klein's fate, accepted his brother and sister, and established connections with many people under his name... Klein's smile faded a little, but
The curvature of the corners of the mouth becomes more natural.
He looked at the other half and said half-jokingly:
"But you lied to me for so long, aren't you going to pay me compensation?"
"Pay compensation to yourself?" "Secret" raised his eyebrows, and the long-dormant spiritual warning buzzed slightly, giving rise to a bad premonition.
"Although my life and yours are basically tied together, after receiving such a big blow, if I can't think about it for a moment, I go to the church of the Lord of Storms or Eternal Sun, any of your old enemies, and prepare to surrender, and we will die together.
Can you give me some hush money?" Klein's smile was extremely evil.
He knocked on the long table in front of him rhythmically, the smile on his face disappeared and became much more serious.
"I refused your help before and wanted to take revenge on my own. Now I would like to take advantage of the opportunity of compensation to occasionally ask you to borrow the power of your subordinates. It shouldn't be too much."
Don’t you want to take back the control of the party?
"Secret" was a little surprised by the circuitry of his own brain, and smiled helplessly.