We Finally Found Them

The withered branches swayed slowly, then gradually came to a stop, as if waiting for the next gust of wind.

This also means that Bai Wei's "Spirit Summoning" has ended.

This is the only thing Bai Wei can do with "Peach Blossom Paradise" right now: after sending energy to this giant tree, the tree will amplify his energy and trigger the resonance of similar corpse pieces within a certain range.

Just like in Somu City, he, who had fingers, and Bishop Keli, who had eyes, sensed each other's presence.

This giant tree amplified this sensation.

It even magnified to the deepest part of the Contamination Zone, reaching the tongue itself and even causing some strange noises... The Devil Squad stationed there should be having a real headache.

But what interested Bai Wei even more was that he found "Yong Xin".

Logically speaking, sensing is bidirectional; if he can sense Yong Xin's presence, then Yong Xin can also sense him.

Unfortunately, as the soul of Visas, Bai Wei was born a head taller than Yong Xin and also possessed eyes, so their mutual connection turned into one-sided voyeurism.

Yong Xin has been spotted by this eye, and everything he did was seen by Bai Wei just now.

What puzzled Bai Wei was that Yong Xin did indeed have a certain degree of [Domination], but the problem was that he didn't have any body parts, so how did he seal this part of the rules within his body?

Bai Wei was somewhat puzzled, but he wasn't in a hurry, since he now had the initiative.

Moreover, the Pollutant Outbreak at the Contaminated Land gave Bai Wei some new ideas and speculations about how to break the deadlock.

This is a good opportunity to verify.

As Bai Wei was thinking this, he also felt his subconscious control over his body loosen a bit. He knew that Jie La Er was about to wake up, so he decided to leave Peach Blossom Paradise first.

So his spirit in Peach Blossom Paradise began to fade slowly.

Before completely dissipating, he glanced at the giant tree in front of him one last time and suddenly had a strange thought—why did he name his previous action "Spirit Summoning"? It seemed a bit too poetic.

Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it "Corpse Seeking"?

Oh.

He chuckled softly, then completely vanished before the withered tree.

"Father, it seems this is all I can do..."

"You must take it out of here; it's... our last hope. And Ina, please tell her... I'm sorry."

The young Knight gave a pale smile, and the blurry images sealed in his memory gradually became clearer.

He took something out of his pocket and put it in Jie La Er's hand.

"Live on."

"You must... survive."

"Ian!"

Jie La Er suddenly woke up, his convulsing body immediately knocking over several parts, making a series of crisp sounds that startled Tachibana, who was still sleeping in bed.

Then, sunlight shone into the warehouse, casting a beam of light on the still-staining bloodstains on the ground.

On either side of the beam of light, an old man and a young boy were staring at each other.

After a long while, Jie La Er realized who the little girl in front of him was and recalled what had happened yesterday.

"...Sorry." Jie La Er rubbed his aching head. "I accidentally woke you up."

Ju pursed her lips, said nothing, and simply turned over to continue sleeping.

Then, Jie La Er heard Bai Wei's leisurely voice in his mind. "What? Had another good dream?"

Jie La Er ignored Bai Wei, but he was indeed recalling the dream he had just had.

Logically speaking, he had this dream many times before, and it was always the same few fragments, these few words, and that face that was hard to see clearly.

But yesterday... or rather, just now.

That dream, however, became much more complete.

In my dream, Ian's face became clearer.

He started talking to himself more often.

And...

Jie La Er closed his eyes again and thought about it carefully.

Then, confirming that he wasn't mistaken, Ian in his dream had given him something.

His intuition told him that this thing was crucial.

But what is that?

He tried to recall the dream again, but he couldn't remember what it was no matter how hard he tried.

Why did you forget the most crucial thing?

"... Damn it!"

Having gone through a series of events, Jie La Er could no longer remain calm. In a fit of rage, he slammed his fist on the ground, accidentally shattering a thin steel plate.

Upon hearing the sound of the steel plate cracking, Ju immediately turned around and looked in this direction.

Jie La Er then realized that he had lost control of his emotions and subconsciously apologized again.

Then he realized that Ju wasn't looking at him, but at the broken steel plate on the ground. So he was silent for a moment, then said with a hint of helplessness, "I'll pay for it."

After all that fuss, the previous anxiety disappeared.

Tachibana didn't speak, but Jie La Er heard a "coo coo coo" sound, a sound he was familiar with.

Is it... because it's hungry?

Jie La Er then realized that because he had been blocking the doorway since last night, Orange had not eaten anything.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Jie La Er was at a loss for words. He, who was usually so thoughtful, had done stupid things one after another last night.

So he stood up and put the money bag aside.

"I've caused you a lot of trouble, but don't worry, I'll be leaving today," Jie La Er said softly. "Of course, I'll pay you back the money I owe you soon. This is... an advance payment; you can use it to buy some food."

Jie La Er initially thought that Tachibana would still not react, but he saw Tachibana nod, indicating that she had heard him.

Jie La Er knew he should leave. His spirits had mostly recovered, and although his body wasn't as strong as before, it was strong enough for him to move around.

Then he asked Bai Wei in his mind, "Do you have a goal for today?"

"Of course," Bai Wei replied lazily. "If you're not going to stay stuck in this childish game, then we can set off now."

Hearing this, Jie La Er didn't know whether he should feel at ease or not.

He walked to the door, about to leave, when he suddenly remembered something and turned back to look at Ju.

"Your father is not a rebel," Jie La Er said softly. "I will prove him right."

After saying that, he Open the door and left, leaving Ju alone on the bed, quietly looking at the group photo pasted on the inside of the coat that was used as bedding.

Eric and Jie La Er both look very young in the photo.

Daylight broke.

You Li walked through the chaotic camp, his expression complex.

Last night, the pollutants deep within the Contaminated Land suddenly went berserk and rushed towards Lyra.

Although the Devil Squad reacted promptly, the incident happened too suddenly, and the amount of pollutants was so great that their hastily erected defenses collapsed instantly, and the entire camp was trampled into ruins.

But not many people died as a result, because the pollutants were not aimed at people, but at Lyra. The camp just happened to be on this road and was crushed along with it.

The organized impact of pollutants on a particular location was unprecedented, so much so that neither the Night Star nor the Devil had any contingency plans for it.

But it did happen.

What's even stranger is that they didn't actually rush to Lyra.

Just as the Devil Squad's defenses collapsed, they suddenly stopped advancing and returned to their previous aimless state.

This change happens in an instant.

To this day, no one has been able to provide an explanation.

But You Li knew that this was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune; if these medium and giant pollutants were to reach Lyra, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, they stopped, giving the devil and Lyra a chance to figure out what was going on.

Without a unified objective, the pollutants were no longer so terrifying. Soon, the revitalized Devil Squad crushed the vast majority of the pollutants, clearing the camp once again. As a result, the camp was now littered with mountains of pollutant corpses.

The report should be prepared and sent to Lyra as soon as possible.

Just as You Li was thinking this, his adjutant hurried over.

"Captain," the adjutant's deep voice came from behind the mask, "We found a human corpse on top of a contaminated body."

"Huh?" You Li didn't react immediately. "Is he one of our victims?"

"...In a sense, they were indeed 'our victims,'" the adjutant said, "But that was ten years ago."

You Li paused for a moment, then his expression turned serious. "You mean..."

"The Knight of the Evening Star," the lieutenant said softly, "We have finally found them."