Who hid My Corpse!

Chapter 109: Seventeen From now on, you are to be one-way transparent to me.

“Lord Gerard, this is an urgent mission. Please lead your Night Star to the Polluted Land as soon as possible.”

Affairs Officer No. 44 smiled as he handed over a piece of letter paper.

“This is very important, please hurry.”

…

“Captain, isn’t the location of this mission too deep?”

A meticulously dressed, middle-aged Knight pointed at the map with a serious expression.

“This has far exceeded the designated exploration range. That will be entirely unknown… What exactly are we supposed to find there?”

…

“Captain, what on earth is this thing?”

A Knight covered in wounds sat there, looking over with an expression of exhaustion yet unusual seriousness.

“The moment we took it, all the Pollutants in the Polluted Land went crazy and rushed at us. If this continues, we will all die here… I am not afraid of sacrifice, but I want to know what exactly we are risking our lives for.”

…

“Father, it seems I can only make it this far…”

The Knight, much too young, managed a pale smile as if barely hanging on to life.

“You must take it out, this is… our last hope. And Ina, please tell her… I’m sorry.”

…

“We’ve found Night Star, we’ve found Night Star!”

At the edge of the Pollution Zone, a host of fully armed Knights charged forward, the leader’s face twisted with ferocity.

“Gerard! Why did you betray Lyra?! Where did you take your squad?! Answer me!”

…

“You say you’ve lost your memory? You don’t know what you were looking for in the Polluted Land?”

A man wearing glasses shook his head.

“That excuse is too lame, Gerard, because you’re also saying that it was Affairs Officer No. 44 who issued you the mission… Do you know, there are only 43 Affairs Officers in total, there is no No. 44. Gerard, it’s time for you to pay for your crimes.”

…

What followed was a series of chaos, noise.

A flash of light and shadow from ten years ago.

The dark turned into an evening glow, casting upon the slightly bowing Mechanician.

“Lord Gerard, leave Lyra.”

Then, the dusk caught fire, turning into flames, into blood.

That fire burned, that blood spattered on the walls, the Mechanician lay in the mix of blood and fire, his pierced chest adorned with a shattered family portrait.

…

In the end, everything condensed into a small train compartment.

The mass of rotten flesh lifted its head, its star-like eyes seemingly piercing through everything.

“Gerard.”

The voice thundered from the depths of his heart.

“Fancy a… deal?”

…

Bang!

In the darkness, Gerard suddenly awoke.

He sat up abruptly, his metallic body clashing and creating a series of crisp noises due to the sudden movements, momentarily making the narrow room feel lively.

But it quickly returned to silence, darkness and loneliness immediately enveloped him, as if to say that everything that had just transpired was nothing but an illusionary dream.

Until that voice, identical to the one in his dream, resonated in his mind: “It doesn’t look like you’ve had a good sleep.”

Hearing Bai Wei’s voice, Gerard didn’t immediately respond but sat for a while before he slowly spoke, “You’ve finally decided to speak, I thought you were dead.”

In the time since returning from the Skeleton Corps base, Bai Wei had been silent, as if he had vanished from his body.

But Gerard knew all too well that Bai Wei wouldn’t leave that easily.

“I just had some matters of my own to attend to,” Bai Wei’s response came lazily as ever.

“What matters?”

“Personal affairs,” Bai Wei said with a chuckle, “but not entirely personal. Are you sure you want to know?”

Gerard didn’t respond, because he knew the unsaid second half of Bai Wei’s sentence—”It comes with a cost.”

Whatever he wanted to get from Bai Wei seemed to always come with a cost.

He felt parched, then rolled out of bed and walked over to the window, pouring himself a glass of water.

The cool water soothed his dry throat, slightly dispersing the pain from the nightmare, offering a great relief.

Then he realized that the relief he felt wasn’t just from the water, it was also his body.

Gerard wasn’t new to waking from nightmares, nor was he unaccustomed to getting up for water afterwards. But it always felt unpleasant, not just mentally but physically. These old metal parts would suddenly start stiffly after a period of disuse, rusty components and gears making an unbearable ‘creak,’ as if constantly reminding him that he was due for obsolescence.

But today, those parts made no sound, they lay quiet inside his body, smoothly aiding him in every movement.

Because, they had received maintenance today, the only maintenance they had received in a decade, rejuvenating them.

Yet the person who had maintained them…

Gerard looked down at the steel plate on his chest, the scenes from the nightmare replaying in his mind.

He softly closed his eyes, recalling his recent judgment of Bai Wei.

“Whatever he wanted to get from Bai Wei seemed to come with a cost.”

And those things that came without a cost often ended up demanding from him a far heavier price than the cost itself.

Gerard opened his eyes, as if having made a decision: “Visas, we need to talk.”

“Oh?” Bai Wei asked with interest, “Talk about what?”

“If something like today happens again,” Gerard stated, “you should tell me.”