That night, the sounds outside were unusually noisy.
At around three in the morning, Clifton sent someone to wake Pan Long and the others. They rode in an old-fashioned automobile that still looked somewhat like a carriage, jolted along rough roads for nearly an hour, and finally reached the ritual site.
It was a flat, barren stretch of wilderness with nothing to obstruct the view. The magnificent sight of "the heavens covering the earth" lay before them. The sky had yet to brighten, and the land was pitch-black, while stars crowded the heavens. It looked like black velvet studded with countless jewels draped over the earth, stirring a feeling too profound for words.
"Two things fill the mind with ever-new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me," Douglas said softly.
At that moment, he no longer looked like the stubborn detective who found fault with everything. He looked like a poet—a young poet brimming with passion and dreams, his heart nearly overflowing with romance.
Even the hard, cold lines of his face had softened.
Beneath the stars, as he quietly recited Kant's epitaph, he even seemed far more handsome.
Looking at him, Pan Long could not help nodding slightly.
So Douglas had this side to him. No wonder a scholar like Natalia was so close to him. It would not have surprised anyone to hear that the two were getting married.
During his time secretly observing the Suppression Bureau, Pan Long had heard people ask Douglas or Natalia, "When are you two getting married?" more than once.
At Douglas's recitation, Natalia turned to look at him. The usual calm wisdom had left her eyes, replaced by tenderness and nostalgia.
Pan Long was