Who hid My Corpse!-Chapter 98 - : Eleven Open Your Eyes (For Monthly Pass Votes)

Chapter 98: Eleven Open Your Eyes (For Monthly Pass Votes)

“So, you just left like that?”

When Gerard left Carol’s shop, Bai Wei’s voice timely echoed in his mind.

“He has tried his best to reveal information to me,” Gerard said. “It’s enough.”

“Hmph… really enough?” Bai Wei said with a light chuckle. “You should be able to feel it, he knows much more than he lets on.”

“So what?”

“So what?” Bai Wei echoed. “Gerard, for ten years, you’ve been spinning in circles, never escaping the net this world has woven for you. And now, you finally have a chance, an opportunity to break free, but you retreat right after lifting a corner of it.”

...

“There will be other chances.”

“Will there? So you plan to wait another ten years?”

Gerard stopped in his tracks. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Just a sincere piece of advice,” Bai Wei said indifferently. “If I were you, I’d go back to that shop right now and use whatever means necessary to get the truth out of him. Either by force, by exploiting his years of unquenched admiration for you, or…”

Bai Wei paused.

“He has loved ones, doesn’t he?”

Right as Bai Wei finished speaking, Gerard snapped back, “Shut up! Don’t think I’m the same as you!”

“That’s also true. If it were me, I certainly wouldn’t have been played for ten years.” Bai Wei continued, “Gerard, do you remember the question I asked you before? What price are you willing to pay for the truth?”

This wasn’t the first time Bai Wei had asked him this question, and Gerard had never answered it.

But this time, Gerard didn’t avoid it and slowly said instead, “Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yes, everything,” Gerard stated. “I’ve been haunted by that nightmare of ten years ago to this day, my former comrades bearing injustice even after death. That’s why I’m willing to give up everything for the truth, to redeem their honor… But only my everything.”

As he spoke, he turned his head, looking at Carol’s little shop.

Carol was tidying up inside, carefully wiping each machine as if he were caring for his own children.

“But I have no right, for my own desires, to drag others into this. My Night Star and I are already branded as rebels; I know how painful that is,” Gerard enunciated carefully. “So I absolutely cannot let others repeat my mistakes.”

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Gerard had stopped confiding in people long ago.

And he hadn’t expected that the first person he’d open up to in ten years would be the legendary Visas.

After hearing Gerard’s words, Bai Wei was slightly silent for a moment, then slowly said, “Hmm, that’s an admirable spirit of sacrifice, and… a laughable awareness.”

Gerard narrowed his eyes slightly. “What do you mean?”

“You say you’re willing to give up everything for the truth, but in your perception, ‘everything’ is merely physical oblivion, just a lonely march towards death,” Bai Wei chuckled. “Don’t you find it ridiculous? The power you face has been deceiving you with its woven net for ten years, and it was through my eyes that you saw a glimpse of reality. Why would you think that with just your solitary resolution to die, you could stand against it?”

Gerard slowly clenched his fist.

“Do you remember the advice I gave you earlier?” Bai Wei said. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly. You don’t have much time. This advice is free, but what’s free is often the most expensive.”

With that, Bai Wei didn’t speak again, as if completely falling asleep.

But his words still left Gerard with a profound sense of unease.

He turned to look again, but Carol had already closed the shop door.

Gerard wanted to turn back to check, but then he saw two passing children toying with prosthetics; one of them aimed a fist at the other: “Watch my launching step… huh? Why won’t it shoot out?”

“Dummy, it’s locked,” the slightly older child scolded, “You can’t attack the people of Lyra City with Lyra’s weapons! Don’t you even know that?”

“Ah… ok then.”

Seeing this, Gerard felt somewhat relieved.

The “lock” was still in place.

The rules of Lyra City were still in effect, so there was no need to worry too much.

It’s better not to disturb Carol again.

Gerard turned and walked away.

…

Carol closed the shop door and hummed a tune as he walked towards the back room.

Today’s sales had reached the target, so he’d take a day off tomorrow to spend with his wife and son.

Carol took the family photo from his pocket, looking at his son’s silly smile in the picture, he couldn’t help but reveal the same smile.

Then he heard someone speak up behind him.

“Good evening, Carol.”

…

Gerard entered the train station.

He hadn’t felt his body this light in a long time. After Carol’s maintenance and inspection, he felt as if he had returned to ten years ago, his steps firm yet not heavy.

But his heart was the opposite, heavy yet not firm.

Bai Wei’s words still echoed in his mind.

“Why do you think you can fight against a force that has deceived you for ten years with just the resolve to face death alone?”

Gerard felt something was off.

“Here’s a piece of advice for you, no matter what you’re going to do, your time is running out.”

Gerard’s pace gradually slowed down.

“If you miss this chance, are you going to wait another ten years?”

He stopped, suddenly realizing something, and cold sweat immediately streamed down.

“Visas… Your eye, did it see something?”

Bai Wei said nothing.

But an ear-deafening explosion answered him.

Gerard spun around sharply to see thick smoke rising from the direction of Carol’s shop.

After a brief moment of shock, he pushed his way through the startled passengers, running towards the source of the white smoke.

This metal body, freshly maintained, allowed him to return to Carol’s shop within five minutes.

But it was too late.

The shop was ablaze, with onlookers gathered outside.

“What happened here?”

“Don’t know, it just exploded all of a sudden.”

No one dared enter, only Gerard pushed through everyone and barged in alone.

Then, he saw Carol in the corner.

His body was pierced by six metal rods, next to a collapsed machine from which the metal rods had fallen.

So it looked as if the machine had gone out of control and killed Carol.

It seemed like an accident.

Gerard stood in front of Carol, looking down at the metal rod that had pierced his heart, which also penetrated a photo of Carol’s family.

Silence, a lengthy silence.

The shop was so quiet that only the crackling of the voracious flames consuming objects could be heard.

After an indeterminate time, Gerard finally spoke slowly, “Visas, you had seen all of this already, hadn’t you?”

“Not entirely,” Bai Wei said calmly, “But I had a rough idea.”

“Who did it?”

“That’s not part of the deal,” Bai Wei said, “Are you starting a new deal?”

Gerard gently closed his eyes, “In our current deal, I can use your eye, right?”

“Yes.”

“How far can your eye see?”

Bai Wei understood Gerard’s meaning, and after a moment of silence, he said, “You have already opened the eye once this morning, opening it again, I’m not sure what will become of your body. If you really want to slaughter that guy, let me do it.”

“No,” Gerard extended his hand, grasped the metal rod that ran through Carol’s heart, and slowly pulled it out, “I want to do it myself.”

“I recall, you are not allowed to act within Lyra City, right?”

Gerard said nothing, merely flicking the blood from the metal rod into the flames nearby.

The fire consumed the blood and flared up furiously.

“Heh, since you’ve decided,” Bai Wei said softly, “then open your eyes.”

…

Ocot hummed a tune while wiping the blood from his hands with a towel, then tossed the blood-stained tissue into a nearby trash can before walking into the station.

“Hello,” he said very casually as he approached the ticket counter, smiling at the ticket clerk, “Please give me a ticket to Sky Tower station…”

Mid-sentence, the smile abruptly froze; then he quickly turned his head, looking for something.

“Sir… What’s wrong?” the ticket clerk asked, somewhat puzzled by the sudden change in Ocot’s demeanor, “Do you still need a ticket?”

Ocot withdrew his gaze, seeing nothing, yet still breaking out into a cold sweat.

After a long silence, he said to the ticket clerk, “Forget Sky Tower, give me a ticket to Fifth Zone, the sooner the better.”