The Last Gentleman

Levinhome was roughly the size of a prefecture-level city that Yi Chen had lived in before his death. Going too far would take quite some time.

Since the hospital was located in the western district, he decided to also search the residential areas there,

but,

Yi Chen didn’t immediately dive into searching for corpses; instead, he was pondering another matter.

Having just encountered Director Dis by chance, attracted by his unique appearance and the sunlight radiance exuding from him, Yi Chen naturally thought of the “Sun Secret Medicine” closely related to the director himself and the hospital’s development.

After all, having gone through the ordeal at the Twilight Clinic, Yi Chen couldn’t help but link the death incidents here with the secret medicine.

He was well aware the gentlemen would never suspect elite gentlemen who had become “Doctors” through rigorous selection, let alone Director Dis, a figure of high authority.

Walking on the streets completely shrouded in fog, Yi Chen gently tapped on Knight Barry’s armor, “How much do you know about the ‘Sun Secret Medicine’?”

“Quite a famous combat secret medicine, you should know, right?”

Barry might look naive, but he wasn’t foolish at all. Yi Chen throwing such a question suddenly was too obvious in its intention.

“You, this shouldn’t be arbitrarily suspected. Director Dis’s reputation in the organization is very high, and the flare enhancement provided by the ‘Sun Secret Medicine’ is irreplaceable for the organization’s exploration of major Grey Zones.”

Yi Chen replied unbothered, “Having one more angle to consider is a good thing, and I’m only discussing it with you privately, not voicing suspicions publicly.

“You were born into the Knight Family, and your profession and traits should match well with the Sun Secret Medicine. You probably know some inside information, right?”

At that, Barry didn’t deny it. His family received a batch of secret medicine distributed by the organization every month, including Sun Secret Medicine.

“There’s no problem with the production process of the Sun Secret Medicine because the key isn’t in the patients, but rather in Director Dis.

Ordinary patients suffering from ‘Helios Disease’ are buried in the Plantation at the Hospital upon death, where they are exposed to sunlight either directly or indirectly from Director Dis every day.

Eventually, sunflower-like plants grow from the heads of the corpses.

Picking the sunflowers’ seeds and grinding them produces the liquid known as ‘Sun Secret Medicine’.”

“This process is well known to most, but the production step crucially depends on the sunlight irradiation by Director Dis, and only here can the secret medicine be produced.”

“Planting the dead, huh? Hmm… it seems like there isn’t an issue.”

The matter of the Sun Secret Medicine was temporarily set aside.

During their casual conversation, the two had crossed a street block. Staying too long in this deathly still fog was enough to make even the armored Barry continuously get goosebumps.

“By the way, how are we going to find the dead the first time? To control the death time within five minutes, we’d probably have to move the body as soon as the person dies.”

Yi Chen, rubbing his chin with two fingers, thought out loud, “Really, whether they die doesn’t matter much as long as we can determine they have ‘Suicidal Tendency’. Bringing them back alive would of course be better, right?

“However, the local gentlemen must have had this thought as well, and yet no one has been able to capture a ‘suicide’ alive these days.

“Combining this with my earlier data analysis showing that most deaths involved loners and homeless people, we can arrive at a rather unsettling deduction.”

“What kind of deduction?” Barry clearly took a moment to catch up.

“Individuals influenced, affected by ‘Death’, besides instinctively seeking death, also make sure of their ‘independence’, ensuring their deaths go undiscovered.

“Taking the recent deaths among the gentlemen as an instance, they all disappeared first and only a day or two later were their bodies discovered. This is because, with the gentlemen’s strong willpower and their possession of ‘Gentleman’s Skin’, they can resist the concept of death implanted in them for some time.

“Moreover, most gentlemen also possess self-protection and self-healing traits, making suicide much more difficult than for ordinary people.

“To ensure the smooth progress of their death, they deliberately disappear, hiding in unknown corners. Only when they are completely certain they won’t be discovered and can successfully commit suicide, do they end their lives.”

Barry recalled something and urgently asked, “The ‘living dead’ transplanted with brains in the hospital, why did he still commit suicide while we were watching? We could have completely prevented his jump, couldn’t we?”

“Thirty minutes after death, the brain tissues would have already shown problems, and his drive toward death, judgments about the environment would also have faced issues… At that time, you could see that the living dead initially looked around the hospital room, confirming no one was there before he hastily rushed to the window.”

“Hmm, that makes sense,” Barry swayed his barrel-shaped helmet back and forth.

“And this idea of ‘independent suicide,’ Mr. Helvoye’s undead brain transplantation surgery can target it perfectly.

If we control the undead in advance and then perform the brain transplant, it can effectively suppress suicidal behavior, and perhaps we can truly ascertain the real cause of death through an autopsy while the body is still alive,”

“Let’s hurry and bring Mr. Helvoye some fresh corpses.”

“Hold on, this thing depends on luck.”

After searching, on any street the two deliberately walked through, not a single death occurred, as if ‘someone’ was watching everything in secret, preventing suicides from happening if there was a risk of them being discovered.

Yi Chen also deliberately visited some families, introducing himself as a temporary patrol officer for this area, and told them they could contact him if there were any unusual situations at home.

Before they realized it, four hours had passed.

They found nothing… No deaths occurred in this area, which was normal since Levinholm City is so large, and the dozens or hundreds of deaths each day did not necessarily occur in a single neighborhood.

A growling sound came from under Barry’s armor, and he suggested, “It’s getting dark, why don’t we call it a day? We can head back to the hospital, maybe Mr. Helvoye has made some progress with the autopsies. Maybe we won’t even need to supply fresh corpses.”

“Let’s go back and eat something first. I might want to go out again tonight.”

Barry glanced at Yi Chen and saw an obvious reluctance in his eyes, along with a strong interest in these mysterious deaths.

As they were walking back, still not completely out of one street, Yi Chen suddenly stopped.

Tilting his head, illuminated by a streetlight, he stared at an ordinary single-story residential house by the roadside with a rusty metal house number—Ferro Street 112—embedded on the doorpost.

“Barry, let’s go check it out.”

“Hmm? I thought we were going to eat? Why are you still doing door-to-door visits?”

“We’ll go back after this.”

Thump thump—the iron gate knocked.

Soon after, an elderly lady wearing a pink floral apron, with kind eyes and white hair, opened the door. The strong aroma of meat wafted out from the doorway; she seemed to be preparing dinner.

“Hello, my name is William Behrens, and this is my partner Barry. We are temporary gentlemen in charge of this area. May we come in and sit down?”

“Welcome!”

Because of the presence of gentlemen, the people living in Levinhome were always very friendly to them despite the pathological condition of the world.

The interior decorations and arrangements of the house, albeit old, were very neat.

“Have you eaten yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Good, I’m home alone and can’t eat much every day. Then you gentlemen bring over extra food supplies. I was just wondering whether to give some of it to the neighbors.

Just give me a moment, I’ll prepare some food for you too. You, gentlemen, really do deserve some comfort during this special period.”

“That would be great, thank you,”

Yi Chen casually chose a seat in the living room,

Looking somewhat resigned, Barry asked, “William, you didn’t decide to visit just because you saw they were cooking, did you? Hoping to grab a meal to skip the trip back to the hospital so we can continue searching for corpses?”

“That’s one of the reasons…”

Yi Chen glanced sideways, motioning for Barry to sit next to him. He then quickly pulled out a page from the corpse registration book they had taken from the hospital and stealthily handed it to him.

The paper recorded the house number that corresponded exactly to this house.