No Hero Volume 6 Chapter 7

No Hero Volume 6: Heaven or h.e.l.l

Original Novel written by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

Heaven or h.e.l.l, Seventh Level: Cross, Upright and Inverted—translated by Michimochi (proofread by Trespa.s.serby & elisa; C/E edited by lucathia)

"Who's done dealing with the robbers on their end? The robbers I'm chasing have divided into two groups: one group seized An Xiang Ye hostage, and the other kidnapped a small boy. I'll go save the kid first. Whoever is free, go and rescue An Xiang Ye. I've already uploaded the robbers' approximate escape route to your cell phones."

What? Wait a sec! I'll go save the boy. You go rescue An Xiang Ye! You have to rescue him without fail. If anything happens to An Xiang Ye, it'll definitely cause an uproar…

Click!

… He actually hung up on me!

First Wind promptly said, "Solitary b.u.t.terfly, calm down a bit. Dark Sun was communicating with all the heroes. He just stopped talking! He didn't hang up on you!"

He did hang up on me because I was the only one who responded!

"Jeez, you are usually a cool-headed person. Why have you been so easily agitated recently, especially when it comes to Dark Sun… Ah, is it your period?"

Most certainly not!

"Oh, right. I remember now. Your period is at the end of the month, so at the end of every month you always ask me to help you watch over the northern district."

Good, you remembered! My anger and period are not related whatsoever!

"Can you two remember that I'm still on the line?" Dragon Peace helplessly said, "Or is it that in the future, at the end of every month, you also need my help to watch over the northern district?"

Crc.r.a.p! I totally forgot that Dragon Peace is still here….

"Ohh! Your help would be so awesome! From now on, at the end of every month, I won't ever be overworked…"

FIRST WIND! Shut up already!

Melody and I hastily followed Aren to the hospital room. On the way, I could not help asking first, "What happened exactly?"

"I don't know." Aren shook his head and said, "Not long after administering the painkillers, Ah Ye kept howling in pain and then wanted you to come."

Hearing this, I simply used x-speed a few times. As I darted in front of the hospital room, painful cries could be heard even without opening the door.

It hurts, ow… Charles! Charles, where are you?!

I immediately swung open the door and cried, "Young Master, I am here!"

The young master whipped his head to look over. I almost jumped out of my skin because his face was a mess from crying! It was not as if the young master had never cried before, but he had never cried with so little restraint!

"Charles! Charles! It hurts!" The young master wailed, "My feet hurt! It really hurts…"

I immediately slid by the bed. The young master grabbed my arm. He squeezed it so hard that it hurt. This was also an unprecedented situation because even if the young master was seriously injured and needed someone to support him, he would support the majority of his own weight, unless he really was completely unable to do so.

Today, the young master actually used this much force in grabbing me. Does this mean it really hurts so much that he cannot stand it?

I turned my head to look at the others. The young master was not the only one in the room. There was also Mr. An Te Qi, Bramble, May, and Dell—even Melody and Aren had come. It was just that only now did I have time to notice them. Besides Mr. An Te Qi's usual composed expression, the others were either dumbfounded or had a full on fl.u.s.tered expression.

But since Mr. An Te Qi has that kind of composed expression, the young master's surgery should have been successful, yes?

I hesitated for a bit. The sound of the young master's weeping intermittently drifted over. Although he no longer bawled loudly, the tears and whimpers had not stopped. He sniffled just like a child.

I picked up the cross on my chest and said, "Young Master, Father Yue came by earlier to ask about your well-being. He even gave me a very unique gift. Look!"

The young master looked up at me. He had cried so much that his eyes were red. Crying like this, his eyes will definitely be puffy tomorrow. If there is time later, I must help the young master ice his eyes for a bit.

I smiled and asked, "Young Master, look. Does this cross necklace suit me?"

With tears still in his eyes, the young master chuckled, nodded his head, and said, "It suits you!"

"It is even made of pure silver!" I stated while smiling. Once I finished, the young master chuckled again.

I continued, "Father Yue even told me that this cross was from a vampire. Next time, shall we ask him about the cross's story?"

After hearing this, the young master's eyes sparkled. He nodded and said, "O.K.!"

"There is also this." I pulled out the small bible that had the cover with the engraved cross and turned it toward the young master. At this moment, I really could not thank Father Yue enough and said, "This bible was also given to me by Father Yue. Would you like me to read its stories for you?"

The young master nodded and said, "O.K." When he finished speaking, his face suddenly twisted a bit, as if from a flash of pain.

I hastily said, "Young Master, which piece would you like to listen… Huh?"

Once I opened the bible, I discovered that the text was upside-down. But just now the cover was indeed… I flipped the book over to look. When the text was right-side-up, the cross actually became upside-down.

What is with this bible? No, is this even a bible?

The young master urged, "Charles, hurry and read me a story."

"Al-All right." I opened to the first page of the bible. Only then did I realize that the text within was not printed at all but handwritten. The script was written quite elegantly. However, it seemed to use very archaic language. Even the text was in calligraphy. Nowadays, I am afraid there is simply no one who would write in such a hand. Fortunately, I have read quite a few archaic works and I could still recognize the words.

I started reading out loud. "As the result of many years of research, the existence of another civilization before ours can be confirmed. Henceforth, I shall call it the Ancient Civilization. Modern-day human beings, at most, can be considered the survivors. As to why the ancient civilization perished, there is currently insufficient evidence to draw any conclusions. Therefore, it will be omitted from this discussion."

This content seems to be completely unrelated to the Bible?

"Evidence shows the Ancient Civilization was more advanced than the current one… 'Advanced,' I am afraid, is not exactly correct as the direction of their development was not the same. Compared to our mechanical civilization, they seemed to be experts on the modification of biological forms. I do not completely understand what their so-called 'modifications' entailed and only have a rough understanding. They seemed to extract their own flesh to conduct all sorts of experiments, which created mult.i.tudes of human-like but also non-human-like organisms. These organisms each had their own characteristics. Among them, many of these beings can now be found in the midst of local legends, such as vampires…"

"Vampires?" The young master revealed a curious expression and said, "Hurry, continue reading!"

"Yes." I continued, "Amongst them, there was a race called the night race. They are among the many races created by the Ancient Civilization. Many of their features are very close to what is described in local legends on vampires. Their race is labeled as the failed product that came closest to perfection. The night race is clearly mighty. They possess immortal life, but it is accompanied with almost no reproductive capabilities as well as an inability to be exposed to sunlight, or they risk being reduced to a pile of ash…"

Is reading this kind of story really all right?

As I read out loud, I grew more and more uneasy. I felt like I was onto some enormous secret. If what was written was indeed true, then this really was a colossal secret.

I looked up at the others, but they looked back at me with touched expressions. This made me feel confused. Is this kind of story emotionally touching? Shouldn't astonished and dismissive expressions be more suitable?

At this moment, Melody walked to the hospital bed. I followed her with my eyes and realized that the young master had fallen asleep. She pulled up the bed sheet to tuck the young master in.

Upon seeing this, I closed the book in my hands, stood up, and then said to Mr. An Te Qi, "Please come with me for a bit."

The two of us left the room together. I thought for a bit, then walked to a corner farther away from the hospital room.

"Why did he only cry in pain after using the painkillers?"

I turned around and seized Mr. An Te Qi by the collar. I am not going to give him a chance to sweep this under the carpet! I growled, "The young master looked very much in pain. Did the surgery go wrong? Or was it that the painkillers are completely useless?"

Mr. An Te Qi pushed up his spectacles, abnormally calm, and said, "Don't worry. The a.n.a.lgesics work, of course. It just can't be helped that the a.n.a.lgesics can't completely erase the pain. That earlier situation was due to giving a ma.s.sive amount of a.n.a.lgesic shots, resulting in Ah Ye's current muddled state of mind. He is unable to use his willpower to force himself not to cry out from the pain. Therefore, he will only keep crying out."

I was stunned, then I continued my interrogation, "Why did you use a ma.s.sive amount of painkillers?"

"Because a small amount is the same as none!" An Te Qi said in a helpless tone, "Ah Ye's physique is different from the average person's. The dose that an average person uses simply doesn't work on him. He must use a ma.s.sive amount of a.n.a.lgesics in order to have any effect. As a result, he was previously very reluctant to use them."

An Te Qi sighed and said, "In fact, letting him holler in pain is better than letting him desperately endure it. It's much better than chatting with you with a smile, right? There's a big difference in the level of pain when he doesn't use painkillers. Now, you understand how much Ah Ye usually endures, right?"

So it was like that. I nodded in comprehension. With this nod, I realized I was gripping Mr. An Te Qi's collar! I hastily let go and apologized, "I am truly very sorry!"

"It's all right." An Te Qi shrugged and said, "Anyway, I'm already used to it. Somehow, the people who care about Ah Ye have always been particularly violent. You're already the least violent among them. It's just grabbing my collar. If it were Ri Xiang Yan listening to Ah Ye's heart-rending cries of pain, he would probably shoot my thigh without any hesitation. Anyway…"

Pushing up the spectacles at bridge of his nose, he said, "'Without legs, you can still help perform surgeries on Ah Ye,' is how Ri Xiang Yan always threatens me."

"… I am really terribly sorry!"

"Sorry for what? You're not the one firing the shot!" Mr. An Te Qi sighed, "His trigger-happy brother is definitely the biggest reason Ah Ye ended up so good at bearing with it… By the way, you did very well at diverting Ah Ye's attention. For the next two days, don't go to cla.s.s. Keep Ah Ye company!"

"Yes." I nodded immediately because this was what I had planned to do in the first place. With the young master in this kind of situation, how could I leave for cla.s.s? Even if I did go to cla.s.s, I am afraid that my mind would be elsewhere.

At this moment, the door of the hospital room opened. The one who walked out was Melody. Without waiting for her to walk over, I could not help but ask, "Did something happen to the young master?"

"Nothing happened. He's sleeping soundly!" Melody replied as she walked up in front of us. Then, she glanced at the cross on my chest and said, "You're probably the world's first vampire who'd wear a cross of pure silver."

"I think so," I agreed on this point.

"But, well done! Keep wearing it!" Melody picked up the cross, fiddled with it, then somewhat casually said, "If any non-humans dare to laugh at you for wearing the cross, I'll have him skewered on the Church's cross! Hmph!"

I smiled and said, "All right."

"The science fiction you were reading was awful. Next time, can you switch to a different book, please? The young master should like fairy tales better, right?"

Science fiction? True. To be honest, that is also a possibility!

In the beginning, I had seen the engraved cross on the book cover, and given the fact that it was Father Yue who had personally handed the book to me, I jumped to the conclusion that it was a bible. However, this could actually just be a handwritten novel.

After Melody enlightened me, I smiled and nodded. "Next time, I will read a story about heroes for the young master."

"That's a good idea, too."

The next morning, after the young master regained consciousness, he was no longer willing to use any painkillers, and he even burrowed completely under the sheets. Afterwards, he said with a m.u.f.fled voice, "You can all leave! Go, go do your own things. Aren, go to Luo Chu-gē's studio! Didn't you say that you're embarra.s.sed to be getting a salary? Get out, just get out!"

Actually, no one had much to do. The young master was not modeling or being a hero, so Mr. Bramble and the others did not have to watch the monitors, although monitoring could still help the police and the other heroes. However, they were the young master's employees in the end. Helping the police and the other heroes was just done in pa.s.sing and was not their main job.

Melody was pretty much in the same position. Currently, she simply could not do her work as a manager. After all, to the outside world, the young master needed to recuperate from serious injuries. If his manager continued to arrange work, it was likely that the outside world would comment that the manager was cold-blooded and ruthless.

"Yes, Young Master!" Mr. Bramble and the other two all had dark faces, but they had to comply with the order. They could only turn around to leave.

"Bramble-shū."

Mr. Bramble had walked to the door when he suddenly heard the young master calling. "Yes, Young Master. What's the matter?"

"Don't call Briar over. Even if she wants to come, definitely do not let her come over!"

Hearing this, Mr. Bramble's expression became even gloomier, but he still replied, "Understood!"

He pushed open the door and left. Dell and May followed and left even though their faces showed some reluctance. Dell simply left walking backwards, and even May frequently glanced back.

Other than the young master, Aren, Melody, and I were left in the room.

Aren doubtfully countered, "Luo Chu-gē gave me a break, so I'm currently on vacation. I just want to stay here…"

Ring ring…

Aren picked up his phone. The more he listened, the more helpless his expression became. At last, with no other alternative, he said, "There are a lot of robbery cases in the southern district. I have to leave."

In the end, Aren turned his head and looked at me. I nodded at him. With this, he no longer looked as worried. He then left immediately.

"Melody, Charles, I'm fine by myself." The young master still had not poked his head out from the sheets, but he knew that we had not left.

"Okay, okay. It just so happens that the department store has been celebrating its anniversary recently. I want to buy many, many clothes!" Melody took a flyer out of her purse and said, "Young Master, how about I buy you something too while I'm there? Look! These things are excellent!"

Hearing this, the young master could not help but poke half of his face out. Melody immediately held the flyer before his eyes and asked, "Young Master, which one do you like?"

It was a flyer with different models on it. There were human models. There were also mechanical ones, such as motorcycles and sports cars and the like.

"Awesome!" The young master exclaimed, exposing his whole face. He took the flyer and looked at it, captivated.

"Great, right?" Melody chuckled. "I just knew you would like it! Look at this model of a motorcycle. Cool, right? How about modifying DSII this way?"

The young master smiled and said, "This model is so exaggerated. Modifying this way would be too eye-catching. I probably can't take that out, but letting Dark Sun ride it would be pretty nice."

Indeed, the motorcycle on the flyer was slightly fantastical. It was even more exaggerated than the motorcycle at home that Dark Sun used. If one really did ride that out, people would probably think that a science fiction movie was being filmed.

"Young Master, check these out first. I'll go and bring even more flyers back for you to look at later today. You can make your decision then! Right now, there's an anniversary promotion: spend five thousand yuan, get a five hundred yuan gift certificate. It's a really good deal!"

As she was talking, she took out a huge stack of flyers from her purse. They were all flyers on models, which amazed me. I believed that Melody was definitely not interested in collecting flyers of models. She had likely gathered these last minute in the middle of the night. It really must not have been easy gathering this many flyers.

"O.K." The young master took the stack of flyers and eagerly flipped through them.

At this moment, Melody turned to look at me. Although she did not say anything, I still completely understood the look in her eyes… A warning. Once she left, just the young master and I would be left in the room. If I dared to leave, I would probably be pierced by painted nails the moment I walked out the door.

Melody left the hospital room. At that moment, the young master raised his head to look at me. With a stiff expression, he said, "Charles, you…"

Without waiting for the young master to finish, I immediately smiled. "Young Master, I am your butler. Is it not my business to serve you?"

The young master hesitated for a moment and said, "But…"

"Young Master." I lowered my eyes and pleaded, "Please do not make me leave when you really are in need of care. I will feel that I am of no use at all. You would simply not need to spend that much money to hire me, so I am resig…"

The young master's eyes widened. In a low voice, he declared, "Of course you're useful. If you want to stay, then just stay! I don't want to hear that word!"

"So, I am 'resigned' to feeling a little heartbroken. My sentence did not just consist of that word." I smiled as I said, "Thank you, Young Master. Then, I shall stay behind and be useful as a butler."

The young master was stunned for a while. He said, distressed, "Charles, you seem to be more and more…"

More and more what?

Aggrieved, he said, "I don't know how to describe it."

"Is it a bad thing?" I was a little worried.

"No." The young master tilted his head and said, "It's just a feeling like there's no way to refuse you!"

"The employer does not need to refuse the butler. If the young master wants me to leave, then I will still leave. It is just…"

"Ah! It's this feeling!" The young master gestured at me and said, "It's this 'inability to simply command you to follow orders' type of feeling. I felt this way before, but it's happening more and more!"

I smiled and said, "That is because the young master is starting to think of me as family. The young master has just awoken and should be thirsty, correct? I will pour you a cup of milk."

As I walked over to the mini fridge to get the milk, the young master's whispered inquiry came from behind me. "Did I scare you guys, crying like that yesterday?"

I turned. The young master immediately buried himself under the sheets.

I held the milk and the cup while walking back toward the hospital bed. Pouring the milk, I slowly said, "To be honest, being able to see your fragile side is our pleasure. It signifies that, in the eyes of the young master, we are worthy of your trust. Therefore, you are willing to show this side of you."

The young master slowly poked his head out and whispered, "But I feel ashamed…"

"Do you think that when Aren drank the medicine a few days ago, and it was so painful that he cried out, it was also a shameful thing?"

"Of course not!" The young master immediately refuted, "He was really in pain. It wasn't random shouting."

I smiled and asked, "Then, why do you hold yourself to a different standard?"

The young master stilled, as if he did not know how to answer.

"Here, your milk." I handed over the milk. After watching the young master drink a few gulps, I asked, "Do your feet still hurt?"

"It hurts," the young master nodded as he replied.

As expected, it was still painful, but the young master was unwilling to use painkillers again.

"What would you like to do? Doing something can help divert your attention and make it less painful."

The young master thought for a moment and said, "Read that bible from yesterday to me."

I was taken aback and said, "Young Master, that book does not seem to be a bible."

The young master made an "oh" sound. "Its content and the Bible's don't seem to be related, but it mentions things about vampires. I want to hear it."

"Understood." I took the pet.i.te book out from my pocket. While looking at the cross on its cover, I opened my mouth to ask, "Young Master, there is an inverted cross on its cover. Could this be a book from an anti-church organization?"

The young master shook his head and said, "That's a misunderstanding. The inverted cross is actually called the cross of St. Peter, symbolizing St. Peter's upside-down crucifixion. That's why the inverted cross is also a traditional symbol of the church. Probably because the cross happens to be reversed that it is often misunderstood as an anti-church symbol, but it is actually not like that. Therefore, if it were a real anti-church organization, they wouldn't be using the inverted cross."

"So it is like that."

"First read it to me."

"Yes, Young Master." I opened the book, then said, "But this next page has a picture pasted on it. Do you want to skip over that or take a look?"

"Let me see… Huh?" The young master took the book and after taking a look, said vacantly, "This seems to be a diagram of the structure of DNA, but this book looks like it's very old. How can there be a diagram of DNA?"

"It was probably added later? Young Master?"

The young master's face suddenly became a bit pale. He was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Just skip all of this, then! Read the book to me."

"Yes!" He seemed to be in pain again. I hastily took the book and read.

"These pictures are what I have collected over many years. On many of these pictures, text from the ancient civilization indicate that these are pictures of the night race. However, these pictures do not at all depict humanoids but rather incomprehensible spiral chains. If the so-called night race looked like this, then there is truly a huge gap between them and vampires from local legends. They actually do not even look like living beings, a puzzle that has never been solved…"

I blinked… Why do my eyelids feel so heavy? So sleepy. Is it because recently I was busy with cla.s.ses and studying, and slept too little as a result?

"In addition, there are pictures of similar shapes marked with different names. Is it possible that the creatures created by the ancient civilization all looked like this…"

Reading up to here, I raised my head and looked. The young master was already asleep. The post-surgery was probably too exhausting. This was actually good. Once asleep, he should not be in pain anymore.

I should also stop here to avoid having the sound of my reading awaken the young master.

Ugh! Really, I feel so tired. But I should go and study, or else I am afraid I will not be able to pa.s.s the midterm…

I do not know if Lieder could help put in a word for me? But even so… Taking the test myself would still be better…

"Charles, Charles?"

Hmm…

I opened my eyes. It felt like my whole body was exhausted. What is going on? I was probably a bit exhausted as of late, but with a vampire's stamina, it should still be within the range of endurance. I should not be exhausted to this degree. Hurry, get up. The young master is calling me…

I raised my head toward the bed, but the young master was sleeping peacefully. There was a complete absence of signs that indicated he had woken.

"Hi, Charles!"

I stilled and hastily sat up. Upon seeing someone I should not be seeing, I could not help blurting, "Lieder?" Is this a dream? Lieder cannot possibly be here.

Lieder laughed a little and used his pinky to push up his gla.s.ses. This action was so familiar. He really was Lieder.

"What are you doing here?" I crawled up from the bed… Wait, why can I not stand up?

No matter how many times I tried, I really could not stand up. Even raising my hands had become difficult. I promptly reached out to shake the young master. He did not even respond. It cannot be… No, no, calm down. The young master is indeed still breathing. The bed sheet above his chest is slightly moving up and down.

"Stop being so lively. You just breathed in a ma.s.sive amount of anesthetics. You won't be able to move for now." Lieder said in high spirits, "But really, I didn't expect that you would actually wake up before An Xiang Ye. Now this is very interesting. Is it because you're a vampire?"

I did not understand what was going on, but I was not stupid enough to think that Lieder did not have any ill intentions. What happened to the bodyguards outside?

"You don't need to look outside. The bodyguards have all been withdrawn. Don't even think about calling for help because your cellphone…" Lieder held something up and waved it, then said, "Is here with me!"

How is that possible? The ones outside are all the Sun Emperor's people. How is it possible for them to be withdrawn? But, if the people outside did not withdraw, how could Lieder even come in?

Lieder smiled faintly. "I guess, even if he is the little brother, being disobedient still isn't O.K.!"

I was astonished, "You knew…"

He simply answered, "Yeah, I know that this cute An Xiang Ye is Ri Xiang Yan's little brother. Or should I call him 'Ri Xiang Ye?' Or maybe I should call him… Dark Sun?"

I would never have guessed that Lieder actually knew so much. Which faction is he from? Could he be from the Church? I kept as calm as possible and asked, "What do you actually want?"

"I just said a few things, and you weren't listening? If the little brother isn't—"

"Impossible!" I immediately interrupted him, "Please, do not say that kind of thing again! I do not know how you found out about the young master's ident.i.ty, but you absolutely do not understand how deep the relationship between the young master and the master is! This sudden hostility and demanding the other's life would never happen between the two of them!"

With some curiosity in his voice, Lieder asked, "You are sure? Is rivalry between brothers in an aristocratic family really that uncommon?"

I calmly answered, "The young master does not even have his own ident.i.ty. His last name is also not 'Ri.' This world simply does not know that he is the Sun Emperor's little brother. What is there to compete over?"

"Couldn't DNA testing verify that they are brothers?" Lieder snickered, "Isn't your line of thinking too simple?"

"The one who is thinking too simply is you." I shook my head and said, "The master is the Sun Emperor. If he wants to deny a matter, would DNA testing laboratories actually dare to prove it? It does not matter if you take it to any laboratory to test. Even if one or two were willing to test, it could easily be written off as the young master buying out those laboratories. As long as the master does not want to recognize the young master, the young master would never be able to truly prove that he and the master are related by blood."

Actually, with the young master's "maintenance fees," the master only needed to cut the young master's source of money, and the young master would find it difficult to support himself. Even if he currently is a famous model and singer, it was likely he would still be unable to afford those enormous maintenance fees, unless he were willing to discontinue being hero and not allow himself to become injured.

"What if it's about an inheritance?" Lieder snickered.

… Inheritance?

"If Ri Xiang Yan were to die, wouldn't the probability of your family's young master relying on DNA in order to seize the inheritance greatly increase?" Lieder raised his index finger and speculated, "Suppose Ri Xiang Yan recently encountered too many a.s.sa.s.sins, wouldn't he suspect your young master?"

If it were like this, no, it probably still would not happen. The master, he…

Lieder spoke softly, "You're shaken, right?"

"What in the world do you want?" Not batting an eye, I changed the topic. At the same time, I was very puzzled and asked, "Even if it were the Sun Emperor who dispatched you to come and kill the young master, then when we lost consciousness, you could have already made your move."

"That's if I didn't have another motive."

"Another motive?"

Lieder snickered, "Even though my side job is a.s.sa.s.sination, the side job will never be more important than the main one. Don’t you agree?"

Main job? But Lieder was only a professor. This was even more unrelated to the Sun Emperor.

Lieder walked to the window. He pulled open the curtains that reached the floor. Looking out toward the night scene, he said, "I am a professor of anthropology. After researching this many years, I have finally come to a conclusion, and I want to give everyone in the world a lecture on anthropology!"

"A conclusion?" I was dumbfounded for a moment but immediately recalled it. "It was what you said last time: 'Between man and man, there is no difference at all.'"

"You remembered it so well. You really are a rare, diligent student. What a shame… Anyway, you're right!"

He turned around and slowly said, "Even if he is called the Sun Emperor, a majestic being, he is actually not that different from the average person. His heart can be broken, he can be frustrated, he can be hurt… He can also die! Therefore, no one can be this world's 'emperor'!"

My eyes widened. Could it be that Lieder plans to kill the Sun Emperor?

"Ri Xiang Yan had me come and kill you two. Then, I'll take advantage of when I go back and report the success of my mission to kill him. It really is full of dramatic irony, right? I really like this plan!"

I looked at him, then shook my head. "You are incapable of killing the Sun Emperor."

With his thumb pointing behind him, he smiled and said, "With his help, it will be a lot easier."

A person walked in through the doorway. His face held a nasty smile… An expression a bit like when a child's prank goes successfully. I gasped, "You are that criminal from before!"

He heard me and snapped, "What criminal?! My name is Josh. You people really are the worst. I didn’t even do anything, and you want to kill me at every turn. Only b.u.t.terfly is a good person!"

"Did you not die…" After saying as much, I suddenly remembered. At that time, was it not Lieder who "killed" Josh? In fact, at that time, I only saw Josh lying on the ground. There were traces of blood under his body and on Lieder's fountain pen. Therefore, I had determined that he had died.

If Lieder and Josh were accomplices, then it would have been very easy to fake it.

Lieder barked, "I spent so much time rescuing you from P29. In the end, not only did you not meet me directly at the meeting point, you also caused trouble everywhere in the city. You even almost got killed by Ri Xiang Ye, which would have trashed all my hard work!"

"Sorry…" Josh seemed to be very fearful of Lieder.

Looking at those two, I suddenly understood and blurted out, "You used Josh to make the guards leave. The master did not order you to come and kill the young master!"

"You really aren't easy to fool." Lieder chuckled. "Although I just spoke without thinking much, wanting to see your reactions. If even you can’t be deceived, I’m afraid that An Xiang Ye also wouldn't believe it."

The young master would never believe it!

"In actuality, I’m not supposed to be here. I have a ton of things that I'm busy with! You also know that the stuff that I do isn't easy. I have a mountain of things to plan! But I really am fond of you. At the very least, I should personally send you off. It's only polite."

"You want to kill the young master and me?"

"No, no!" Lieder waved his hands and said, "It's just that for short time, I won’t be able to see you and this cute young master. That said, his sleeping face is really very cute. Using 'cute' to describe a man in his twenties is very strange, but if it is used on your young master, it's actually very fitting."

"You’re saying that he really is Dark Sun?" Josh walked a few steps closer and lowered his head to look, making me feel very uneasy. "But Dark Sun is very handsome. An Xiang Ye looks like a kid! I also like him. His posters are all very pretty. His songs are very nice, too! Before, for the Cities Representative Election, I contemplated for so long and finally decided to vote for him rather than Dark Sun. But they're actually the same person…"

"Aren't you more of a kid?" Lieder said grumpily.

Why is the young master still asleep at this moment?

Right then, the door was pushed open once again. A person walked over and said indifferently, "It is time to leave."

"Professor Ni Cai?" I was shocked.

Although I already knew of the friendship between Lieder and Professor Ni Cai, I never thought that he was actually one of the accomplices… This is very bad. The master's official reason for coming to Sunset City was to see Professor Ni Cai, was it not?

"Why are you so surprised?" Lieder chuckled and said, "You didn't think I'd do this kind of thing alone, right?"

Lieder glanced toward the young master, then turned his head to Ni Cai and said, "Should we not give him another dose?"

"No. Even if he were awake, there is no way that he could move around freely after using a large amount of anesthetics over two consecutive days, in addition to his recent knee modification." Ni Cai shook his head and said, "Also, I don't fully understand his physical condition. He's already had the largest possible amount of anesthetics applied for the past two days. If you give him any more, he will perhaps die. Don't you have other uses for him? You don't want him dead, right?"

How dare you treat the young master this way!

"Then, let's just move them," Lieder said as he nodded.

I could not help but ask, "What on earth are you trying to do to the young master?"

Lieder first raised his index finger. "First, he will be used as a hostage to threaten the Sun Emperor." Then, he raised his middle finger and said, "Once I'm done with my business, I will gift him to Ni Cai as a guinea pig. His pay isn't cheap. Fortunately, you guys were available as a reward, so he was willing to help!

"In order to commemorate our meeting, I'll just take something from you!" Lieder walked forward. With one look, he saw the book on the bed. After an odd "huh" sound, he said, "A bible… No, this is the cross of St. Peter. A vampire holding a bible with the cross of St. Peter. Huh, even wearing a cross necklace. You really are as interesting as I thought. I'll just take these two from you!"

He took the book, and following that, reached out to take the cross from my chest. Using this chance, my right hand reached out toward his throat to stab it. If I succeed, the sharp nails will penetrate his throat…

A fountain pen penetrated my palm, but I did not feel any bit of pain, only regret that the attack had failed, although I had been vaguely aware that it was impossible to succeed. Just extending my nails to carry out this attack had exhausted all my strength. The attack was not even very strong…

"Ha!" Lieder withdrew the pen from my palm. He was not angered but actually laughed. "I'll miss you. I will definitely miss how hard you studied along with…"

Ni Cai came forward and stabbed my neck with a syringe. Then, he coldly said to Lieder, "If you want to kidnap him, then just kidnap him. If you want to kill him, then just kill him. Don't so something as dirty as robbing him."

"…Your view on the morality of different crimes is very interesting. O.K., O.K.! I won't take his cross, all right?" Lieder answered a bit helplessly.

My conscious gradually became hazy. In the end, I was only able to hear one thing.

"Anyway, farewell, Charles."