So That's How It Was (5K)

Let's turn back time a bit.

Jie La Er was standing on a relatively tall building, looking at the camp in the distance through binoculars.

He had been observing this place for a long time, watching the Devil Squad enter the city and then disband, leaving behind a group of people who were clearly not Devil Squad, as well as rows of still writhing pollutant remains.

Jie La Er's expression gradually became serious.

"What are these people trying to do?" he said in a low voice. "Why would they bring pollutants back?"

"It's probably a disguise," Bai Wei said lazily. "That's quite an idea."

"Camouflage?"

"Yes, they used the debris from those pollutants as a disguise," Bai Wei said. "I guess they hid things inside that debris."

"... Can't even your eyes see through it?"

"It's not that easy. Those remains must have been taken from the deepest part of the Contaminated Land, what you call the abyss. I can sense the remaining divinity in these remains." Bai Wei observed the immortal remains with great interest. "Things imbued with divinity are naturally not so easy to see through; at least you need to be careful. But your current body..."

Bai Wei didn't finish his sentence, but Jie La Er understood what he meant.

To see through the remnants covered by divinity, he would need to unleash more power from his left eye, but that power was clearly beyond his current capacity.

"Is there no other way?" Jie La Er said calmly. "Actually, my body is still okay, I can handle it."

"Some things aren't something you can just say you can handle," Bai Wei said with a faint smile. "It's better for older people to have some self-awareness."

Jie La Er could naturally hear the teasing in Bai Wei's words. Clearly, Bai Wei didn't take the other party's level of pretense to heart, which made him relax a little. So he continued to observe.

What is now certain is that Visas' Corpse Pieces and the Purification Source Crystal are both there.

But neither Jie La Er nor Bai Wei had any intention of just charging straight in... at least not now.

After all, the Devil Squad is different from the Skeleton Corps; they are the true Lyra elites, and the entire Fifth District is their home turf. If they were to besiege and wipe out here, the pressure they would face would be incomparable to that outside.

Even Jie La Er didn't think he had any chance of escaping.

But Bai Wei was different. Jie La Er could clearly sense Bai Wei's eagerness and knew that he would do anything for his body parts, after all, this guy never knew fear.

With that in mind, Jie La Er decided to remind Bai Wei and the other man of the details of their deal once again.

Before he could even speak, there was a commotion at the camp.

Jie La Er saw Devil Knight pushing carts covered with thick black cloths out of the camp one after another. They were in groups of at least two or at most three, heading in different directions. It was unclear what they were going to do, but they quickly disappeared into the night.

In fact, if it weren't for Bai Wei's eyes, it would be really difficult to see things clearly at this distance and with this level of visibility.

Just as he was about to speak, Bai Wei's voice rang in his mind first. "So this is how you want to leave?"

It was obvious that Bai Wei had also figured it out, so there was no need for Jie La Er to remind him.

But Jie La Er soon realized that these guys weren't the Devil Knight; they were just dressed in similar attire.

They seem to be members of the New Pursuit Society.

Jie La Er immediately said, "They're out. Can you see through them now?"

"No."

"Still not working?" Jie La Er asked. "Didn't you say before that your eyes could see through it without the obstruction of the divine remnants?"

"Yes," Bai Wei said slowly, "But how do you know they didn't?"

Upon hearing this, Jie La Er's brows immediately furrowed.

He looked at the carts again, and Bai Wei shared his view with him at that moment, which allowed Jie La Er to see more clearly. Even at night, he could see details dozens of meters away without the aid of firelight, such as the small pendants carried by the members of the New Pursuit Society. But even so, he couldn't see what was on the carts, as if shrouded in a huge shadow.

This feeling was exactly the same as the polluted debris in the camp.

Jie La Er immediately understood what was in the car.

"They took the remnants of those pollutants with them too?!"

"From what we've seen so far, that's certainly the case," Bai Wei said. "Tsk, they are indeed very cautious; it seems they anticipated your arrival."

Upon hearing this, Jie La Er's already furrowed brows furrowed even more deeply.

He originally thought that if he dealt with Ian... no, he originally thought that if he could get rid of Yong Xin, even if he couldn't solve all the problems, he could at least solve most of them, or at the very least alleviate them a little.

But in reality, the other party's actions were faster and more targeted, as if they already knew everything about him and had anticipated everything.

This left Jie La Er feeling deeply powerless.

It wasn't just about himself, but even more so about Ian, as if Ian's sacrifice had brought nothing but made things worse.

"Hmm? Is it just my imagination?" Bai Wei suddenly said, "I think I smell a really depressing scent in the air. Could it be coming from you?"

Bai Wei's words were like a bucket of cold water, drenching Jie La Er from head to toe and instantly sobering him up.

How could he still have such negative emotions at a time like this?

So he bit his lower lip until it bled, using the slight sting to remind himself.

The actions of the New Pursuit Society are now a direct result of Ian's sacrifice.

They dared not wait any longer.

Thinking about this, Jie La Er's mood gradually calmed down. Then he lowered his head, looked at his left middle finger, and whispered, "Thank you."

"Hehe, I didn't say anything." Bai Wei didn't spell it out. "It seems we can continue."

"Certainly."

Jie La Er once again focused his attention on the New Pursuit Society members who were trying to hide in the darkness.

Bai Wei, on the other hand, took a good look at Jie La Er.

He knew that Jie La Er was not in good condition.

Last night I experienced the pain of killing my child and didn't even have time to rest. Then I ran into Tachibana's situation.

The matter with Tachibana hasn't been resolved yet, and now they've arrived here, facing even more troublesome issues.

If it were an ordinary person, they would have broken down countless times by now, but Jie La Er has managed to hold on until now, and only has a little bit of a "depressed" feeling.

Of course, it might be more than just a little bit, since even Bai Wei could sense it, which means it's quite large.

Bai Wei knew that what Jie La Er needed most right now was rest, both physical and mental.

However, the last thing he can do right now is to rest.

After all, saving a city destined for destruction is not something that can be solved by simply making a decision or shouting slogans.

That is why Bai Wei decided not to use the power of his eyes further, so as not to cause Jie La Er to collapse first.

"Alright," Bai Wei said. "In that case, let's get started."

"Make a move?" Jie La Er rarely raised an eyebrow. "Do you know where they hid it?"

"I don't know yet," Bai Wei said calmly, "But I know the location of each group. Isn't that enough?"

"You mean..."

Jie La Er watched as his left middle finger gradually straightened and pointed in one direction. He didn't even need to look up to know that it was the location of the bridge.

"No matter how far apart they are now, there's only one bridge to get out of here, right?" Bai Wei said slowly. "In that case, why not just take them all out one by one before they get onto that bridge?"

The tires rolled on the uneven ground, making the whole cart creak and groan, as if it would fall apart at any moment.

On the cart was a huge object, covered with a black cloth and tied with rope, making it impossible to see what was inside.

But as the cart continued to shake, the edges of the black cloth fluttered, and when it passed a light source, the writhing shadows under the black cloth could be seen.

Meanwhile, liquid was continuously flowing down from the shadows.

But the people pushing the cart did not react at all; they still wore heavy masks on their faces, the black lenses of which could not even be seen through by the streetlights.

They didn't make any unnecessary movements or exchange any words; they simply walked in silence, like ghosts.

But as they walked under yet another streetlamp, the real ghosts were reflected in their dark glasses.

Just as the two were about to look up, their opponent swung his greatsword and slammed it down on their heads.

Two muffled groans.

The two fell down almost simultaneously, twitched twice on the ground, and then fell still.

Jie La Er was the one who made the move.

He didn't kill them all as Bai Wei had said, but he could at least knock them unconscious for a while.

Without hesitation, he quickly walked towards the cart and ripped open the black cloth.

Under the black cloth was indeed a contaminated corpse, but there was nothing inside.

"Not here," Jie La Er said softly, then prepared to move on to the next place.

This was their plan, because there was only one route from Fifth District to Fourth District, and that was the Steel Bridge.

Therefore, all they need to do is stay in that area and take out the groups that approach the bridge one by one. If they are quick enough, they can find the body parts and Purification Source Crystal before the groups even step onto the bridge.

But just as Jie La Er lifted his foot, Bai Wei suddenly said, "No, there's something wrong with those two guys behind you."

Jie La Er paused for a moment, then turned around abruptly and saw the two guys who had been knocked unconscious earlier shakily standing up again.

He can actually stand up!

Jie La Er was very surprised.

Just as he was about to knock them both unconscious again, he realized something was wrong.

The two of them were standing in a very strange posture; their entire bodies were twisted, like broken puppets, not like humans at all.

What's going on?!

Before Jie La Er could react, their masks suddenly cracked open, and then a shrill scream echoed through the sky, as if to awaken the entire slumbering Fifth District.

"Jie La Er, cut off their heads now," Bai Wei said in an unquestionable tone.

The sound was clearly not something a human could make, so Jie La Er didn't hesitate any longer and immediately began to swing his Chainsaw Sword.

Almost instantly, two heads fell to the ground, and crimson blood gushed into the air.

Jie La Er froze.

The color of that blood... are they even human?!

The thought had barely crossed Jie La Er's mind when he noticed that even after the two heads rolled several times on the ground, the sound they were making hadn't diminished at all; they were still screaming in agony.

Then Jie La Er heard Bai Wei click his tongue in his mind.

"So that's how it is."

Before Jie La Er could ask, "What does this mean?", Bai Wei added, "They were also awakened. This is... a trap."

... Woke up suddenly?

Bai Wei didn't explain, but instead shared his left eye's field of vision with him.

Then Jie La Er saw all the members of the New Pursuit Society pick up their carts and start running towards the bridge.

The reason for using the word "running wildly" is that they no longer resembled humans at this moment. Just like the two guys whose heads were cut off by Jie La Er earlier, their limbs had become extremely bizarre.

The movements and posture were indeed as Bai Wei had described.

Like a monster that has been awakened.

They were only a few hundred meters away from the Steel Bridge.

At that speed, Jie La Er simply couldn't stop them.

"There are Devil Knight on the bridge," Jie La Er said in a low voice. "They should be able to stop these guys."

"You're overthinking it," Bai Wei said. "Why would they go onto the bridge?"

Jie La Er was slightly taken aback. "What?"

"Humans are the ones who need bridges to cross rivers," Bai Wei said calmly. "Look at them, are they even human?"

Jie La Er finally came to his senses and looked at these people again through Bai Wei's shared vision.

He then realized that the direction they were running in was not the bridge.

It was the river.

As Bai Wei said, only humans need bridges to cross rivers, but monsters don't.

"Also, we previously thought those remains were just tools to obscure our vision," Bai Wei said slowly, "But that's not actually the case. They are also important cargo, no less important than my tongue and that Purification Source Crystal."

"...What do you mean?" Jie La Er became even more uneasy.

"Those divine remnants from the abyss were used by that New God to enhance his power," Bai Wei said. "He wanted to become stronger by directly devouring this flesh and blood, so that he could completely kill Lyra and complete the final descent, which is what the New Pursuit Society calls rebirth."

Jie La Er's body stiffened.

Bai Wei had made himself perfectly clear, and he understood everything.

All of this is interconnected.

They believed countless times that they had seen the truth, but little did they know that it was only a part that the other party had deliberately revealed.

Even Bai Wei didn't realize it, and by the time he reacted, it was too late.

The dozen or so groups of people rushed toward the river in unison. Even if Jie La Er had four legs now, he wouldn't have time to stop them one by one.

Once they've crossed the river, it's even less likely they'll be able to stop them.

The Devil Squad are the last line of defense.

Now, it has fallen.

... Is this Bishop Ao Li Wei's method?

When Jie La Er saw the seemingly countless ghostly figures rushing towards the river like wild beasts in his field of vision, he staggered, the immense emotional shock and shock almost making him unable to stand.

But just then, Bai Wei chuckled and said, "Don't worry, the worst is yet to come."

Upon hearing this, Jie La Er immediately gripped the hilt of his Chainsaw Sword tightly, struggling to keep himself from collapsing.

Bai Wei's unhurried tone seemed to give him a boost of energy.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Jie La Er said. "We can only stop one person at most right now."

One person is enough.

Jie La Er seemed to understand something, then took a deep breath and said, "My body can still hold on. Unleash the power of your eyes."

"No need." Bai Wei's pupils flickered slightly, then he shifted his gaze to the throat of a person who was running wildly, and then chuckled, "I can still find my own tongue."

Across the river, in District Four.

Huo Ge Ni stood on the dark bank, silently watching the awakened Fifth District across the river.

He knew that when that sound rang out, the plan would have succeeded.

Then it will be unstoppable.

Even Jie La Er, who possesses that eye, cannot do it.

As a series of splashes came from the river, Huo Ge Ni slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

A few breaths later, one after another, eerie black figures, carrying pieces of corpses and remains, climbed out of the river and stood silently beside Huo Ge Ni.

One, two, three.

Huo Ge Ni silently kept count.

When no new people climbed out, his smile grew even wider.

"Only one team, two people, were lost," Huo Ge Ni said with a laugh. "The Knight of the Evening Star, the Eyes of Visas... are nothing special after all, aren't they?"

He turned to look at the others.

But no one could answer him; most people just stood there blankly, their eyes as if they were dead.

That's why they never take off their masks.

Huo Ge Ni slowly walked up to one of the groups and pried open the wreckage they were carrying with his fingers.

The wreckage contained Purification Source Crystal.

"Very good."

He nodded in satisfaction.

Then he walked up to another person.

"Open your mouth."

The man slowly opened his mouth.

The tongue was exposed in the mouth.

"Perfect!" Huo Ge Ni exclaimed excitedly, patting the other person's stunned face. "Or rather, even better! Hahahaha!"

Then, without waiting for a response, he laughed and turned to leave.

So he didn't see the monster tilt its head.

He revealed a strange smile.