Why Was It You, the Culprit, Who Survived?!

"Ah!!!!"

A sharp pain shot through his eyes, instantly suspending the previous image. Jie La Er bent over, clutching his left eye tightly, blood gushing from its socket as if his entire eye was about to pop out.

Fortunately, the pain came on quickly and went away quickly. Before long, the pain disappeared, leaving only a pool of blood in my palm as proof of its presence.

"What... is going on?" Jie La Er asked in a low voice.

"This is the price for using this eye," Bai Wei said. "I told you, you have to bear it yourself."

"...You know that's not what I'm asking!" Jie La Er gritted his teeth, Number 44's smile still echoing in his mind. "What was that I just saw?!"

Bai Wei laughed and said, "What else could you possibly see with your eyes?"

Jie La Er suddenly raised his head and looked at Clerk 13 again.

Her expression remained unchanged, and the smile on her lips looked fake, as if it had been painted on.

But Jie La Er stared intently at her head, as if trying to see through it again, to verify whether what he had just seen was real.

"I want to see it again," Jie La Er thought to himself.

"I can't see it," Bai Wei said calmly. "In your current state, even if you don't die on the spot if you do it again, you definitely won't be able to walk back standing up... If you still want to do something, you'd better leave now. Many people have already seen your reaction just now."

Jie La Er snapped out of his daze and subconsciously looked around.

Indeed, although there weren't many people on this floor, it didn't mean there was no one there. His shout just now had already attracted a lot of attention, and if he did it again now, it would be a big problem.

So Jie La Er had no choice but to suppress his doubts and say to Clerk 13, "I have no problem."

Clerk 13 nodded slightly. "Then I wish you a pleasant life."

Then she reverted to her previous blank expression.

But Jie La Er clearly couldn't see her the same way he had at the beginning. He stood up, walked to the gear ladder, and then subconsciously glanced back.

Most of the clerks were in a dazed standby state, seemingly unremarkable, but Jie La Er's mind was once again filled with the smile he had just seen.

He took a deep breath, turned around, and went downstairs.

But what Jie La Er didn't know was that someone on the sixth floor had been watching everything. After Jie La Er left the fifth floor, this person quickly left, went through a corridor, and knocked on a door.

A young male voice came from inside the door. "Come in."

He pushed open the door and saw a similarly young figure sitting by the window, looking down at half of Lyra City from the sixth floor of the Tower of Babel.

"He's here again?" the young voice asked.

"Yes," the man replied, "the same as before, searching for the whereabouts of Clerk 44."

"Ha, he's really persistent... Has he found any clues yet?"

"Of course not, there's no reason he could find it, and..."

"Um?"

"His health doesn't seem to be very good," the man replied. "Our efforts to take care of him over the years have been worthwhile."

The young man laughed, "Really? It seems that even the best tools will eventually become obsolete."

"But we still let him live for another ten years."

"He's Knight of the Evening Star, how could he die so easily?" the young man said with a smile. "But he did struggle for ten years in the prison we built for him, and now this is his final moment, hmm..."

The young man tapped his fingers on his head, seemingly deep in thought. The other person, not daring to urge him, waited quietly by his side.

Finally, the young man spoke again, "We cannot let our guard down. We must continue to send people to follow him, just in case he discovers something at the last minute, until the very last moment arrives."

Another person was somewhat surprised. "Is it really necessary to pay so much attention to him?"

"As I said before," the young man said softly, "He is the Knight of the Evening Star."

"Then... what exactly is it?" Jie La Er asked Bai Wei as soon as he returned to the first floor.

"Dismemberment, what else could it be?" Bai Wei said casually. "I'm quite experienced in this area."

That's not what I meant!

"Shouldn't you already have the answer yourself?" Bai Wei said with a light laugh. "The reason why you couldn't find Number 44, and why the total computing power didn't change even though Number 44 disappeared, is right there. Number 44 is still here, and he has been integrated into the body of every clerk."

Bai Wei's words made Jie La Er tremble. The thought of how someone he used to know had ended up like this made him clench his fists involuntarily.

"Why, why would anyone do this? What are they trying to do?!"

"The truth is this cruel." Feeling Jie La Er's slightly trembling body, Bai Wei said calmly, "And you've only just uncovered a corner of it. So, do you want to continue?"

"...certainly."

"So where do you plan to start?"

Where to buy...

Jie La Er began to think.

In Lyra, the only people capable of doing such a thing to an official should be the Five Archbishops, but they have almost stopped showing their faces more than ten years ago, and few people know their true situation. It is impossible for Jie La Er to find them and question them one by one in a short period of time.

So, besides the bishop, who else can directly influence the staff?

Jie La Er paced back and forth on the first floor.

Then, as if struck by a thought, he slowly raised his head and murmured, "Maintainer."

"Um?"

"Maintainer, it's the Maintainer. Anyone who wants to touch the administrators needs to go through the Maintainer!" Jie La Er became increasingly agitated. "The Maintainer who were in charge of maintaining the administrators ten years ago definitely know this!"

"Really?" Bai Wei said with a smile, "Then we have a lead, don't we?"

"Yes, we have a lead." Jie La Er wanted to go find the Maintainer from ten years ago immediately, but he froze as soon as he took a step. "No... I can't."

He thought of something.

"The Maintainer's information... has always been kept 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, and anyone can get it," Jie La Er said. "But it's not allowed; that's an ironclad rule, and I can't break it."

Bai Wei raised an eyebrow.

Lyra and her gang believe in rules above all else. No matter who it is, they must follow the rules. Even the Skeleton Squad, who wanted Jie La Er dead, had to follow the rules.

Rules are the most important thing for Lyra believers.

Even though Jie La Er had been tormented for more than a decade, he still refused to cross this red line.

"Even with the truth right in front of you, are you still unwilling to take another step forward?" Bai Wei asked.

"No." Jie La Er gritted his teeth and refused Bai Wei once again. "Rules cannot be broken."

You really do have principles.

But...

Bai Wei wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he looked to the side. If he remembered correctly, there should be someone here who could change Jie La Er's decision.

Sure enough, not long after, a woman suddenly appeared beside Jie La Er.

After seeing Jie La Er's back, she softly asked, "Jie La Er?"

Jie La Er stiffened slightly upon hearing the voice, and slowly turned his head to look at the woman who had suddenly appeared.

"It really is you..." The woman slowly approached Jie La Er, her expression dazed. "When I heard they were telling me you were here, I couldn't believe it. How many years has it been since we last saw each other..."

Jie La Er looked at the woman, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "Sha Na..."

"It's been five or six years since we last met, I think, but I can't remember the exact time." The woman had walked up to Jie La Er, her voice growing lighter. "Finally, I've seen you... I've been dreaming of seeing you, Jie La Er. But you never showed up..."

"Sha Na ..."

"I've been waiting for this day." The woman pressed her body against mine. "Really, I've been waiting for so long..."

Jie La Er didn't move, and Bai Wei watched quietly as well.

With a "pfft".

He slowly lowered his head, looking at the dagger plunged into his waist.

"Ah, I finally did it, I finally did it." The woman, who had been so gentle just moments before, suddenly became agitated. She pulled out the dagger and stabbed it in again. "You finally showed up, Jie La Er... I've been looking for you for ten years, why do you still dare to show up!"

She became hysterical.

"Do you still remember my husband?! My husband Hermes! You called him brother! You brought him into that Contaminated Land! Then why didn't you bring him back?!"

The woman's movements finally caught the attention of the Skeleton Corps, and two members immediately rushed over.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"Warning! Warning! The widow of a traitor is hurting people! The widow of a traitor is hurting people!"

Upon hearing this address, the woman's expression became even more sorrowful, and she continued to roar as she attacked Jie La Er.

"Did you see that?! Did you see that?! You didn't bring my husband back, and you turned him into a traitor! You'll carry this shameful name with you even in death!"

She was hysterical.

"Why?! Why you of all people? Why is it you, the culprit, still alive?!"

"Why won't you die? Why won't you die?!"

The woman was quickly subdued by members of the Skeleton Corps.

She was sobbing uncontrollably, while the members of the Skeleton Corps were having a cold conversation.

"As a criminal who has also violated the rules, Madam, your sentence will likely be extended by another ten years."

"Hahaha..." The woman laughed and cried at the same time, "I have nothing left! I have nothing left, so why should I care about these things? I just want to kill him, let me kill him!"

The woman was quickly dragged away, leaving Jie La Er standing silently in place.

He did not back down an inch while being attacked by the woman, and now his entire abdomen is bleeding profusely.

Only then did Bai Wei slowly speak, "Do you need your wound treated?"

Jie La Er remained silent for a long time.

Then he turned around and walked towards the archives.

Let me recommend Qi Mao's book again! This was the first book I ever got a free gift from. Ah, I wish I could become a master like him! Also, starting tomorrow, updates will be at 11 AM.

During the ritual to summon the demon, Aiwass finally recalled his memories of his past life.

This should be an online game that his own company has been publishing and operating for six years. Now, his adoptive father is the leader of the villainous organization in the latest version.

Six years later, his true identity will be exposed, and he will hesitantly switch sides from the protagonist's side. Ultimately, because he decides to take a fatal blow for the player character, he is killed in the cutscene by his righteous and wicked older brother before he even has a chance to enter the instance.

—But actually, it's not a big problem. Because Aiwas also knows many secret advancement paths unique to player characters, as well as the principles of these paths as esoteric knowledge, he should be able to reverse his unfortunate fate...

So now there's only one question left.

"According to the original plot, shouldn't I have been saved by the protagonist before this ridiculous ritual even started?"