“Brother, will we die?”


  “No.”


  “Then why are Mom and Dad dead?”


  “.…… I don’t know, but I won’t let you die.”


  For more than a decade in the escape capsule, Carl woke up every day and asked Auguste this question. He never understood why he and Auguste were so weak at that time, but the powerful Ayulons almost died.

  Just as he did not understand why Lydney, who had been so light, was now so heavy in his arms.

  “Lydney…… Lydney……” Carl gently put Lydney on the ice, rolled over and climbed up, took Lydney in his arms and gently patted his face.

  Lydney’s face was very cold. He was bleeding too much. His face was gray and his breath was very weak. The wound in front of his chest was slowly overflowing with warm blood.

  “Lydney…… Open your eyes…… I beg you…… Don’t leave me……” Carl knelt on the ice and silently shouted Lydney’s name. Tears dropped on Lydney’s face and mingled with the cold water of the lake.

  “Carl!”


  “.…… Goodness!” Colin clenched his fist and stood next to him, watching Carl murmur in a low voice, covered with blood. As soon as they squeezed out of the crowd, they ran to Carl’s side, only to see Lydney shot into the lake from a distance.

  Corson rushed forward, pulled Lydney’s eyes open, and held his wrist. “He still has a heartbeat, but no pupil dilation. Call the Emergency Center!”


  “It’s too late…… It’s too late…… There is no plan at all. Do you think the emergency center can still send a car to rescue him now!!!” Carl shook off Corson’s hand and shouted loudly. His eyes were red and bloodshot. “The first high explosive bomb missed him, and the second one even used a grenade that was explicitly forbidden a hundred years ago. Where have you seen a common riot using a grenade gun?!”


  The impact of the merchant ship incident a hundred years ago was so great that the Empire had explicitly prohibit arms companies from producing grenades, a non-humanitarian weapon. Since then, grenades had gradually disappeared from interstellar space.

  The Empire had always been strict in the control of arms. Civilians were protected by mechanical police and cannot possess weapons. The attack weapons that some rich nobles possessed were all equipped with machine armor. They must be used only by the presence of organic armor. Flower Street would not let machine armor enter Flower Street through mooring ports. They couldn’t avoid the sudden raid and riot caused by mechanical police on the lamp embankment.

  Carl could hardly control his emotions. He could feel Lydney’s heart beating weaker and his breathing lighter. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Don’t leave me, please. Lydney……”


  Colin had moved his eyes and stepped aside. Carl’s crying was depressing and low, but with deep despair, it tore at his eardrums. Colin took a deep breath and felt that he was going to be driven mad by the depression.

  Suddenly a white figure jumped over and knelt beside Lydney. The sound of knees knocking on the ice was very clear.

  It was Hai’an.

  When Hai’an was suddenly thrown down by Auguste, he heard his hoarse roar: “Carl! Lydney! Get down!!!”


  After a few loud explosions, he heard people screaming and crying, and Auguste rose from him in a moment. When Hai’an looked up, he could see clearly that the ice where Lydney and Carl were standing had now become a pool of blood.

  The strong smell of blood made Hai’an feel like vomiting.

  Not far away, several thugs armed with machine guns fired at innocent people, harvested their lives wantonly, blown up meat flowers and blood wetted the ice, the cold bodies of the deceased gradually stiffened in the cold wind, and many people died. Hai’an could feel the expanding atmosphere of death around him, and his nearest life, Lydney, was also gradually disappearing.

  Hai’an ran unconsciously to Lydney, stumbled on the ice, and green vines grew under his feet, paving a smooth road for him. They quickly withered and disappeared after he left.

  “JianJian!” Auguste quickly caught up, too. In such a chaotic situation, Hai’an was a moving target. The green vines were so obvious on the sky-blue ice. But Hai’an was so anxious that he mobilized the elements of wind so quickly that Auguste could not catch up with him for a moment.

  Regardless of the pain in his knees, Hai’an sat down on his butt, put his palm on Lydney’s chest, gasped, and silently read the magic of healing.

  But after a long time there was no response, and Lydney’s heart stopped beating.

  Hai’an tried to stabilize his trembling hand and clenched his teeth. “I’m sure I can save you……”


  He did not want to see anybody leave in front of him.

  Like a miracle, Hai’an’s fingertips gradually shed bright white spots, with a slight heat, Lydney’s wound slowly closed. A sharp golden light flashed, and when Hai’an moved his hand away, the original bloody wound in front of Lydney’s chest disappeared.

  Instead, it was smooth, warm, undamaged skin, as if it had never been there.

  Lydney’s body temperature began to rise, his heart beat became stronger, his face grew red, his breathing was smooth. If his wet hair, and crumpled ripped clothes were ignored, he looked as peaceful as he was asleep.

  Mechanical police have arrived, shot and killed the thugs, quelled the riot, but those who died would never open their eyes again.

  They came to the lamp festival with hopes and visions for a new year. They were laughing and smiling at one moment, but the next moment was bloody hell. Some people were killed instantly and didn’t know what happened even as they died. Others broke their limbs after being shot, while some struggled in pain and sorrow as they took their last breath.

  Leaving infinite sorrow and despair to the living.

  Hai’an took a deep breath and sat back against Auguste’s leg. He looked up at Auguste. Auguste stooped and lifted him from the cold ice. His face was calm. “We will go back first. Corson, you stay to find Jamie.”


  “Okay.” Corson answered and ran away.

  Colin watched Carl carefully hug Lydney and asked, “Can I help you?”


  Carl’s chest wound was untreated. His Ayulon form had been fused with metal prostheses. No matter how badly his body was injured, he wouldn’t die, but even so, it would hurt.

  Carl’s injuries were not necessarily lighter than Lydney’s. But Carl shook his head and held Lydney gently, afraid to hurt the person in his arms. “No, I’ll do it myself.”


  He needed to make sure Lydney was still alive.

  That he lived in his arms.

  Carl didn’t dare to recall that moment. He didn’t know if he would have gone mad if Lydney hadn’t been saved in the end, but he was sure that he would die with Lydney.

  From then on, he became a vengeful machine.

  It was definitely premeditated, but Carl was not sure which side did it for a while, and there was a great deal of suspicion against both the Freedom Alliance and the Empire.

  As Auguste said, what they brought was not a peaceful future at all, but endless blood and killing.

  Hai’an lay on Auguste’s shoulder, buried his face tightly in Auguste’s neck and hung his hands around Auguste’s neck, before closing his eyes. The elves were very sensitive to the desperate breath of death, and the air of the lamp festival was full of strong blood and the stench of burnt corpses, which made him very uncomfortable.

  “Is JianJian okay?” Colin followed Auguste and looked anxiously at Hai’an.

  Auguste reached for Hai’an’s head and held him tighter. “He should be all right.”


  “Auguste, you have to be careful, JianJian, he……” Colin frowned, paused, and continued, “.…… It’s likely that he was spotted.”


  “I know,” said Auguste, looking straight ahead in a firm voice, “but I won’t hurt him.”


  In the Church of Erenie——


  “.…… Hope will be reborn in pain, and may your soul rest in peace……” Palatine sat at a table in the corner of the church, lowering his eyes and turning the Bible, murmuring his eulogy.

  There was a knock at the door and Uncle Ye came back with Lorenzo.

  “He’s not dead.” Uncle Ye walked behind Palatine and whispered.

  “If he didn’t die……” Palatine sighed, closed the Bible, closed his eyes, turned around and hugged Uncle Ye’s waist.

  Uncle Ye stroked his smooth silver hair. “Don’t worry, everything will be alright.”


  Ignoring both of them, Lorenzo went to the other side of the table and sat down. He took out the harp and flicked it a few times. The strings made a pleasant sound. Lorenzo closed his eyes and began to sing.——


  “.…… The end of the road covered with fallen leaves is the eternal refuge, bringing the blessing of Erenie to every bloody land……” His harp’s unique crystal clear music echoed in the empty church, Lorenzo’s clean and gentle singing accompanied by the sound of the harp was like moonlight from the night gurgling out, giving people supreme music enjoyment.

  “Lorenzo…… How I wish your eyes could see the beauty of the world, not Dean’s…… A glimpse of the bleak graveyard……” Palatine’s head was buried in Uncle Ye’s arms, and his voice was dull but clear.

  When Lorenzo heard this, he plucked the harp’s strings and they gave out an unpleasant crack. The singing stopped abruptly. The strings broke and Lorenzo’s fingers were cut.

  Drip……drip……That was the sound of blood hitting the ground.