"We are Guardian, but also a group of pitiful creatures constantly fighting against danger and madness."
Dunn's words echoed in Old Neil's house, between the Corrosion floors, walls, and ceiling, and in Klein's mind and heart.
Never before had he felt that sentence more deeply than he does now.
He felt he might never forget this feeling, even if he returned to Earth in the future.
In the almost frozen atmosphere, Dunn walked toward Old Neil's "corpse," half-squatted down, took out a white handkerchief from the upper pocket of his black trench coat, and covered the pair of dark red, crystalline, pained eyes.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Klein saw the piano keys stop jumping on their own, and a nearly transparent figure vaguely appeared there.
This... Klein had activated his Spirit Vision outside the door, was stunned.
He hadn't noticed this strange "spirit" at all before!
Was it due to interference from Old Neil's mind or the influence of his uncontrolled abilities? Klein watched as the almost invisible figure rapidly evaporated and completely disappeared from his sight, and he vaguely understood something.
In the midst of a heavy, oppressive feeling, he heard the captain give the order:
"Search Old Neil's house carefully, looking for any possible clues."
"Okay." Klein was stunned for a few seconds by his own voice as soon as he opened his mouth. It was so hoarse and so low, like he had a bad cold.
"Okay," Loyao replied.
Her voice was in a similar condition to mine... as if both nostrils were blocked... Klein glanced at this female teammate who never showed any expression, as if he were seeing her for the first time.
He placed his cane on the umbrella stand in the foyer, walked past the Sealed Artifact "3-0611," and strode heavily into the living room. He went up to the second floor and searched for clues in each bedroom.
Old Neil would hire short-term cleaners regularly to clean the room, so it wasn't the typical mess of most bachelors; everything was neat and orderly, as if a real lady of the house was present.
Half an hour later, Klein found some manuscripts on the bookshelf in Old Neil's bedroom, which contained haphazard records of some strange and eerie rituals:
" Life Refinement."
"The required materials include: 100 ml of water from the Elven Spring ( Golden Spring on Sonia Island ), 50 grams of Star Crystal, half a pound of Gold, 5 grams of Phosphorus, 30 grams of Hematite... and a large amount of fresh human blood."
Below the blood of the living, Old Neil added a note:
"I could consider drawing from my own collection, accumulating it little by little, and storing it using Ritualistic Magic."
"I could consider extracting my own..." Klein closed his eyes briefly, his fingers crumpling the draft.
Thursday morning at nine o'clock, the Moon, Raphael Cemetery.
Klein, dressed in a pure black suit and shirt, stood quietly in a corner of the cemetery, holding a silver-inlaid cane.
In his breast pocket was a neatly folded white handkerchief, and in his palm he held a serene and dignified bunch of deep sleep flowers.
At this moment, Dunn, Frye, Leonard, and Kenley carried the black coffin containing Old Neil's "body" step by step to the front of the tombstone, and silently placed it into the dug grave.
As she watched the brownish-yellow soil being shoveled down, Rozanne, dressed in a long black dress and wearing a small white flower in her hair, began to sob softly.
"Can anyone tell me if this is all true?"
"Why did things get out of control? Why take the Potion? Why become a superhuman? Why are there Wraith? Why are there Monster? Why can't there be a safer way? Why, why, why..."
Klein listened in silence until Old Neil's coffin was covered by soil, until all traces of his existence were buried deep in the grave.
"May the goddess protect you." He drew a Crimson Moon on his chest, then stepped forward, bent down, and placed the bouquet of deep sleep flowers in front of the tombstone.
"May the goddess protect you." Dunn, Frye, and the others simultaneously tapped their chests four times clockwise.
Klein looked up, straightened up, and saw the black and white photograph on the tombstone:
Old Neil wore his classic black soft hat, his exposed hair was mottled and gray, his eyes and mouth were deeply wrinkled, and his dark red eyes were slightly cloudy.
He was so calm, no longer sad, no longer in pain, no longer fearful.
Below the photo is an epitaph, taken from a recent entry in Old Neil's diary:
"If you can't save her, then stay with her."
A cool morning breeze blew by, and the serene, quiet, and silent atmosphere of Raphael Cemetery touched everyone present.
Around noon, Klein, holding the form signed by the captain, headed towards the armory.
He pushed open the half-closed door and saw Bright, with a thick black Brett, sitting behind the table.
Klein was visibly taken aback for a moment before handing over the application form:
"Fifty rounds of standard ammunition."
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the silver-inlaid tin can on the table, and he seemed to smell the rich aroma of hand-ground coffee, and he seemed to hear those words with hidden laughter in his ears again:
"Why wait until you have extra money? You can write an application to Dunn and ask him to approve the expenses!"
Brett glanced at Klein's expression and sighed:
"I can imagine how you feel. I can't believe that Old Neil has left us like this. Sometimes, I even feel like this might be a dream created by the captain."
"Perhaps this is the fate of many Nighthawks," Klein replied with a wry smile.
After this incident, he felt much more disappointed and resentful towards the church leadership who concealed the " Acting Method."
"May such tragedies become less frequent, and may the goddess protect you." Brett drew a Crimson Moon on his chest, took the application form, and walked into the armory at the back.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The smell of gunpowder filled the air as Klein fired at the target in front of him in a fit of rage until he ran out of brass bullets. Only then did he tidy himself up and take a trolleyless public carriage to the home of his martial arts instructor, Gawain.
He continued practicing set after set in a self-destructive manner until Gawain called him to stop.
"Fighting training is not for hurting yourself," Gawain said in a deep voice, staring at Klein with his slightly cloudy, dark green eyes.
"I'm sorry, teacher, I'm not in a good mood today," Klein sighed and offered a brief explanation.
"What happened?" Gawain asked calmly.
Klein thought for a moment and replied briefly:
A friend of mine suddenly passed away.
Gawain was silent for a few seconds, then raised his hand to touch his beginnings of graying gold sideburns, and said in a vacant tone:
"I once lost 325 friends in five minutes, at least 10 of whom were the kind of people I could trust with my back."
Klein sighed with realization, "This is the cruelty of war."
Gawain glanced at him, then suddenly chuckled self-deprecatingly:
"The cruelest thing is that I will never be able to avenge them, never be able to fulfill their wishes, never."
"And you, you still have this opportunity. Although I don't understand exactly what happened, I know you are still young, and you have many more opportunities."
Klein was silent for a moment, then suddenly took a breath and said with renewed vigor:
Thank you, teacher.
Gawain nodded slightly, and said expressionlessly:
"Rest for 10 minutes, then redo ten sets of the previous exercise."
"..." Klein was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure how to respond.
Friday morning, in the Nighthawks's recreation room.
Klein, Siga Tron, and Frye sat around the round table, but they weren't playing cards. One was reading a newspaper and flipping through a magazine, another was staring blankly out the bulging window, and yet another held a pen, wanting to write something but unable to put anything down on paper.
The room was so quiet; no one spoke, no one joked, and the atmosphere was almost heavy.
Whew... Klein let out a breath, put down the newspaper, and intended to focus his attention on reading various materials.
Just then, Dunn Smith knocked and entered, looking around before saying:
" Klein, come out here for a moment."
What's going on? Klein stood up with a sense of unease and followed him out of the recreation room.
Dunn at the top of the stairs leading underground, turned around and glanced at him, saying:
"The people from the Holy Cathedral have arrived."
The people who are testing me have arrived? Klein's nerves tensed immediately.