Who hid My Corpse!

Withered branches swayed slowly before coming to a gradual halt, as if waiting for the next gust of wind.

This also signified that Bai Wei's "Summoning" had just ended.

This was the only thing Bai Wei could currently do with "Taoyuan Village": after transferring energy to the giant tree, the tree would amplify his energy and trigger a response within a certain range from similar Corpse Blocks.

In fact, it was like when he was in Somo City with fingers and Bishop Corey, who had eyes; they sensed each other's presence.

And this giant tree was amplifying that sense.

It even amplified it to the deepest part of the Pollution Zone, making contact with the tongue entity itself, and even caused some abnormal noises... The Devil's Army stationed there must be having quite a headache now.

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

Logically speaking, sensing should be mutual; if he could sense Yong Xin's existence, then Yong Xin should also be able to sense his.

Unfortunately, as Visas's soul, Bai Wei was naturally a cut above Yong Xin and also possessed eyes, so this mutual sensing became a one-sided voyeurism.

Yong Xin had already been targeted by this eye; everything he did had just been witnessed by Bai Wei.

But what confused Bai Wei was the fact that Yong Xin indeed had some degree of "Domination," but the question was, without Corpse Blocks, how was he able to seal that part of the Rule inside himself?

Bai Wei was perplexed, but he was not in a hurry; after all, the initiative was now in his hands.

The outbreak of the pollutants in the Polluted Land also gave Bai Wei some ideas and speculations about breaking the situation.

It was a good opportunity to verify them.

While thinking this, Bai Wei also felt his subconscious control over his body loosening. He knew that Gerard was about to awaken, so he decided to leave Taoyuan Village.

Thus, his spirit form in Taoyuan Village began to fade slowly.

Before dissipating completely, he took one last look at the giant tree and suddenly had a strange thought—why did he name the operation just now "Summoning"? That seemed a bit too artistic.

Wouldn't "Seeking Corpses" be more accurate?

Heh.

He chuckled softly and then completely melted away in front of the withered tree.

"Father, it seems this is as far as I can go..."

"You must take it out; it is... our last hope. And Ina, please tell her for me... I'm sorry."

The young Knight showed a pallid smile as the blurry images from his memories started to come into focus again.

He took something out of his bosom and stuffed it into Gerard's hand.

"Survive."

"You must... survive."

...

"Ian!"

Gerard woke up with a start; his convulsing body immediately knocked over several pieces of hardware, creating a series of crisp sounds and startling Ju, who was still asleep on the bed.

So, the sunlight streamed into the warehouse, casting a column of light upon the still stained floor.

On either side of the column of light, an old man and a young girl stared at each other with wide eyes.

After a while, Gerard realized who the little girl in front of him was, recalling what had happened yesterday.

"...I'm sorry." Gerard, holding his slightly aching head, apologized, "I accidentally woke you up."

Ju pursed her lips, said nothing, just turned over and continued to sleep.

Then, Gerard heard Bai Wei's leisurely voice in his mind: "What? Had another good dream?"

Gerard ignored Bai Wei, but he was indeed recalling the dream he had just had.

Logically, he had had this dream many times before, always with these same fragments, these same lines, and that indistinct face.

But yesterday… or just now.

That dream had become much more complete.

The face of Ian in the dream had become clearer.

He had said more to him.

And...

Gerard closed his eyes again to carefully recall.

He then confirmed that he had not misremembered; in the dream, Ian had handed something over to him.

His intuition told him that this item was crucial.

But what was that thing?

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

Why, of all things, had he forgotten the most crucial one!

"Damn it!"

After a series of events, Gerard could no longer maintain his composure. In an outburst, he hammered the ground, accidentally shattering a thin steel plate.

Hearing the sound of the steel plate splitting, Ju turned around immediately and looked in this direction.

Gerard then realized he had lost control of his emotions and reflexively apologized again.

But then he noticed Ju wasn't looking at him; she was staring at the shattered steel plate on the ground. He fell silent for a moment before saying with slight resignation, "I'll pay for that."

With this turmoil, his previous anxiety also faded away.

Ju didn't say anything, but Gerard heard a "gurgle, gurgle, gurgle" sound, a sound he was familiar with.

Is she... hungry?

Gerard then realized that because he had blocked the door since last night, Ju hadn't had anything to eat.

"Ah, sorry."

Gerard didn't know what to say anymore, the usually thoughtful man had made one foolish mistake after another last night.

He stood up and placed his money purse to the side.

"I've caused you a lot of trouble, but don't worry, I'll be leaving today," Gerard said softly. "Of course, I'll repay the money I owe you soon, and this is... an advance payment. You can use it to buy some food."

Gerard expected Ju to remain unresponsive as usual, but he saw her nod, indicating she had heard him.

Thus, Gerard knew it was time for him to leave. His mind had mostly recovered by now, and though his body wasn't as strong as before, it was capable enough for him to move.

He then asked Bai Wei in his mind, "Do you have a target for today?"

"Of course," Bai Wei responded lazily. "We can leave now if you're done playing house."

Hearing this, Gerard wasn't sure whether to feel relieved.

He walked to the door, ready to leave, when suddenly he thought of something and turned to look back at Ju.

"Your father wasn't a rebel," Gerard said quietly. "I will prove it."

With that, he left, shutting the door behind him, leaving Ju alone on the bed, quietly looking at the photograph tucked inside the lining of the coat used as a blanket.

The photograph showed Eric and Gerard, both smiling and young.

...

Dawn had broken.

Yuri walked through the chaotic camp with a complex expression.

Last night, the pollutants deep within the Polluted Land had suddenly ran amok, charging towards Lyra.

Though the Devil's Army reacted promptly, the suddenness of the event and the sheer number of pollutants resulted in the temporary defense line collapsing instantly. The entire camp was trampled into ruins.

But not many had died because the pollutants were not targeting people; they were heading for Lyra, it was just that the camp happened to be in their path, so it was crushed in passing.

An organized assault by pollutants on a specific location was unprecedented, so neither Night Star nor the Devil had any contingency plans for this.

But it had happened.

What was even stranger was that they hadn't actually reached Lyra.

At the moment the Devil's Army's line collapsed, the pollutants suddenly stopped their advance and returned to their usual aimless state.

This change happened in an instant.

And to this day, no one could explain it.

But Yuri knew they were fortunate within the misfortune; if the medium and large pollutants had reached Lyra, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Luckily, they stopped, giving the Devil and Lyra the chance to figure out what exactly had happened.

Without a unified target, the pollutants were less terrifying. Soon, the reinstated Devil's Army defeated most of the pollutants and reclaimed the camp. So now, the camp was littered with pollutant corpses, like small mountains.

A report must be sent to Lyra as quickly as possible.

While Yuri was thinking this, his lieutenant hurried over.

"Captain," the lieutenant's somber voice came through the mask, "we've found human remains on the carcass of one of the pollutants."

"Huh?" Yuri didn't grasp the meaning right away. "One of our fallen?"

"From a certain point of view, indeed 'one of ours'," the lieutenant said. "But from ten years ago."

Yuri paused for a moment, then his expression became serious: "Are you saying..."

"A Knight of Night Star," the lieutenant said softly. "We've finally found them."