by Feng Yue
Watson gave him a cold look, and said unceremoniously, “Come and help.”
“Sure.” In the shadows, the newcomer smiled and stepped forward. The broken lantern that fell on the ground illuminated the robe draped on him and the right hand he lifted. His pale index finger ignited a wisp of flame and pressed it on the pipe at the corner of his mouth. So, in the misty smoke, the pipe was lit. The reddish tobacco leaves burnt as if a fuse that was extended into the sky had been lit.
At the next moment, a terrifying glow emerged from the dark clouds suddenly. It was a furious thunder, and burnt the iron-black clouds red.
Whistling sounds burst forth one after another. Several dozens of fiery fires cut across the sky and descended as if God had cast knives of punishment. Activated by the purifying musicians, stakes smashed towards the ground, shaking the earth. Everyone staggered and almost lost their balance.
After that, a horrifying heat burst forth, accurately engulfing each and every demon, and pulled anything that exuded the aura of non-humans into the frightening inferno. In the end, in the dead silence, only gulps could be heard from the people witnessing the feat.
The men holding their weapons looked each other blankly, their faces illuminated by the raging fire.
It only took an instant before all the demons disappeared as if they had never been born. All of them were exterminated in the flames, and the fire purified everything.
Under the piercing light of the bonfire, silver hair was caught up in the hot wind. In the thin smoke that was slowly dissipating, the young man in the purple robe tilted his head and looked at one of his few remaining friends. So, he smiled happily.
“Hey, Watson.” He said, “It’s been a while.”
574 Trus
Everything returned to silence.
On the quiet street, Ye Qingxuan pushed the wheelchair along, walking slowly, like he was taking a stroll after dinner. Watson sat in the wheelchair, a blanket on his knees, enjoying the service from the noble Grand Inquisitor. As if he could feel an aura very different from that of the past, Watson sighed softly. “You’ve changed.”
“Oh?” Ye Qingxuan laughed. “For better or for worse?”
Watson shook his head. “You’ve gotten stronger.”
Ye Qingxuan asked, “Isn’t it a good thing?”
“Yeah, it’s good.” For reasons unknown, Watson couldn’t help but sigh softly. “Very good.”
“With me being away for a long time, I didn’t expect you to be getting by alright.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “I thought you would be a bit more miserable, waiting for my rescue.”
Watson snickered. “Haven’t you realized something? As long as they stay away from you, anyone can get by alright.”
Ye Qingxuan was silent. After a good while, he scratched his head awkwardly and sighed. “Your words are so cruel, Watson, they sadden me.”
“Oh come on, Ye Qingxuan,” the young man on the wheelchair snorted. Watson was unsympathetic, his tone malicious, as always. “Nobody is obliged to become a savior to other people, do you understand? Your arrogance will be your demise sooner or later, no, hasn’t it already destroyed you, more or less?”
“Who’s to say otherwise?” Ye Qingxuan shrugged but didn’t seem to mind at all.
“…” As if a sword had poked into cotton and the assailant did not see the blood he had expected, Watson had nothing to say and was instead somewhat irritated by Ye Qingxuan’s indifferent attitude.
Watson rubbed his temples, inhaled deeply, and suppressed his annoyance, calming down once more. I shouldn’t stoop down to that asshole’s level, nor bother arguing with the likes of him, Watson thought. I should have known from the beginning.
So, he changed the subject and their chat could be continued. “A lot of things happened while you weren’t here.”
Ye Qingxuan nodded. “I know.”
In the silence, Watson suddenly said, “White Crow has appeared.”
After a moment of silence, he heard Ye Qingxuan’s reply. “I see.”
“Should we track him down?” Watson asked.
“Sure, go ahead and investigate, no hurry.” Ye Qingxuan’s voice remained calm. “Since he has gone into hiding for so long, he definitely wouldn’t reappear just to buy coffee in Avalon during the discount season. On a side note, how many of our guaranteed routes remain as of now?”
“Not many are left,” Watson replied. “Only two secret routes remain. Plus, with the demons in upheaval now, the ships get overturned easily.”
“I will give you 50 more men, all of them purifying musicians of the Religious Court of Inquiry, don’t worry about the demons.” Ye Qingxuan placed an envelope on the thin blanket covering Watson’s knees. “The matters on the list, settle them properly in secret. Lola will assist you.”
Watson pinched the envelope to gauge its thickness and snickered. “You have just gotten back and are already starting to send people on errands?”
“Capability invites laboriousness.” Ye Qingxuan patted his shoulder. “I don’t have many people that I can trust now.”
Watson was silent. He said no more.
…
After a long time, their long walk was finally over. The wheelchair stopped outside an inconspicuous villa. Upstairs, someone cautiously lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out. One could vaguely hear the sound of arrows being nocked, the rustle of steel scraping against each other lightly. After getting a clear view of the visitor on the wheelchair, the hostility dissipated rapidly. The gates opened, and the respectful subordinates took over Ye Qingxuan’s job of pushing the wheelchair, surrounding and protecting Watson.
“I’ll say my goodbyes here,” Ye Qingxuan bid farewell. “I’ll get going. If you need to contact me, go to Westminster Abbey and find an old man named Shi Dong. Although the old fellow is a slick, you can trust him.”
He turned and left, but was stopped by Watson’s yell. “Hey!”
Ye Qingxuan turned back.
“Not gonna come in and have a look?” Watson asked. “Many are awaiting your return.”
Ye Qingxuan smiled. “Nah, downtown is yours now.” He nodded as a gesture of farewell. “Sherlock Holmes is dead. Although I’ll miss those naive times, I no longer need to disguise myself with a mask.”
He paused and said, “From now on, there is only one Ye Qingxuan.”
…
In midtown, inside the clock shop that had been closed for a long time, quiet ticks sounded one after another. After being closed for a few months and experiencing multiple upheavals, the place was still spotless and well organized. On the counter laid Hermes’ favorite crockery set. The tea leaves were of a high-quality Indian variety that he had left behind. The tea was still hot, with swaying vapor rising from it.
Ye Qingxuan sat quietly, drinking the tea.
In the clocks’ ticking, Setton, who was sitting on the armchair, carefully took off the pair of glasses that looked funny and tiny on him and closed the storybook in his hands.
“I see.” He whispered, “He has really died…”
“Yeah.” Ye Qingxuan nodded.
“He was so annoying that it isn’t surprising that he got killed.” Setton asked, “Did he have any regrets in the end?”
“No.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “I heard that he was smug and triumphant.”
Seton was silent.
After a long time, he sighed softly. “It’s indeed something he would do.”
“What are you going to do next?” asked Ye Qingxuan.
“Yeah, what am I to do?” responded Setton.
Setton sat in the chair, but he was too burly, and he looked as if he had been squeezed into the chair. When he scratched his head, the chair creaked. “He was the one who hired me as his bodyguard when I was unemployed, but all I had to do was clean and tidy the place. Although he was mouthy, he never deducted my salary, nor did he prohibit me from taking up other jobs in private… Now that he’s no longer here, there’s no point for me to stay in A
valon. While Anglo has no time for surveillance, I might take my leave?”
Ye Qingxuan was silent for a moment, then asked straightforwardly, “To find Gaius?”
“What for?” Setton sneered. “That guy has never been in his right mind. The more people that have died for him, the more abnormal he becomes. I’m afraid that he has become so twisted by now that even demons would be put to shame. I’m no fool, and I only want to stay as far away as possible from that thing.”
Ye Qingxuan said nothing.
Setton shook his head. “Is my senior still okay?”
“His situation can’t be considered good, nor is it exactly bad.” Ye Qingxuan replied, “He’s leading a pretty comfortable life, and is well-fed. Although he is under constant surveillance, his basic demands are met, and he can continue doing his research without anyone disturbing him. I think he’ll like this sort of life. “
Setton nodded. “He has been wanting to live like this for his whole life, though unexpectedly he finally found in prison. Since he is fine, I have nothing to worry about anymore.” As he said so, he reached out and fished about his pockets. He took out a small notebook filled with numbers on every page.
He held a small pencil and scribbled for a long time. He seemed to be calculating something, but he couldn’t get the numbers right every time. So, he frowned gloomily and got a little anxious.
In the end, Ye Qingxuan rescued him from the hell of calculations.
After taking a look at the array of numbers above, Ye Qingxuan extended a finger and pointed at the page. “The total here is 460,000. You made a few mistakes in the calculations above, and double-counted these two numbers.”
“Then, after deducting the amounts here and here, what’s the final sum?” Setton asked.
Ye Qingxuan said a number. It wasn’t much, but Setton was relieved.
“It’ll be enough.” Setton said, “Besides the amount put aside to help my comrades out, the rest of the money I saved in the past years is enough for me to open a clock shop back home.”
Ye Qingxuan was surprised. “A clock shop?”
“Yep.” Setton grinned, and Ye Qingxuan had never seen him so happy.
He fished out a magnifying glass out of his pocket and fixed it over his glasses adeptly, pointing to the pile of mechanical parts on the counter, and two pocket watches that looked slightly crude. “This is all my handiwork, unexpected, right?”
“Really… Unexpected.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head difficulty. “Who taught you the craft?”
“Self-study.” Setton said, “Thanks to your help, actually. I couldn’t spell and write before, nor could I read. After a little learning, I tried it out myself with Hermes’ tools when I was bored. It was quite difficult at the beginning, but making a batch of dozens of them, I got the hang of it. It’s a bit of a hassle, but much simpler than killing. “
Ye Qingxuan was silent for a good while, then laughed softly. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Setton replied.
Ye Qingxuan got up and said goodbye. Scratching his head, he said, “I originally wanted to hire you, but now it seems that you have no reason to continue killing.”
“Oh, cut me some slack.” Setton shook his head. “Not everyone finds the ability to be a monster a good thing.”
He accompanied Ye Qingxuan to the back door, saw the empty kennel in the yard, and couldn’t help but ask, “Where’s Old Phil? Still not found?”
“Yeah, I don’t know where it has gone.” Ye Qingxuan said, “I thought it was staying here with you before I came. No one’s left in the academy now, I really don’t know where it has gone.”
In this regard, Setton wasn’t at all worried. “Don’t worry, it probably just went out for a stroll. You need not fuss over nothing; it will still be alive and kicking even if Avalon gets destroyed.”
“I’m really glad to hear comforting words coming from you.” Ye Qingxuan smiled resignedly and bid him farewell.
The door closed.
He stood alone in the alley, and for reasons unknown, he thought of the girl who had once stood here back then.
I wonder if she’s doing alright.
Soon, he put out the flame of worry in his heart and returned to reality. He turned back and looked at the corner in the depths of the alley. “You sure you don’t wanna come out and have a little chat?”
After a series of rustles, the man, who had been keeping a lookout for Ye Qingxuan there for God knew how long, walked out. He stank of the smell of ditchwater, his hair unkempt, and he was such a mess that one would almost laugh upon sighting him.
“Richard?” Ye Qingxuan furrowed his brows and stared at the person for a long time, before finally managing to identify the man as his former senior who had belonged to the executive office of the Royal Academy of Music and was an agent of the Fifth Department under Maxwell.
“Why are you here?” Ye Qingxuan asked.
“I’ve been waiting for you.” Richard’s face wore no smile. Generally speaking, when it wasn’t necessary, he rarely smiled. He seemed to be suffering from very serious internal injuries, and his face was pale like he was a spent force.
How long Richard had been waiting there was unclear, and at the moment, he appeared to be almost dying.
“Waiting for me here?” Ye Qingxuan asked again.
“I know that if you return to Avalon, you will definitely come back here, so I waited for you here.” Richard leaned against the wall and sat down like he was finally relieved of his pressure. The corners of his lips lifted, briefly and reluctantly, in what can barely be considered as a smile. “No one else is around, right?”
Ye Qingxuan listened quietly for a moment and shook his head. “Feel free to talk.”
“Maxwell asked me to pass this to you if he was gone one day,” Richard smiled with difficulty and handed him a copper tube, “and to bring his words to you…” He paused, reached out, and pressed his forehead. As if a lock had been opened in his skull, Richard’s eyes rolled back in his head, revealing the whites, and the power sealed in the skull was released, dominating his will.
As if the old man had returned once more, the words that were once contained in the seal were spoken again via Richard’s body. “Ye Qingxuan, you must be careful. Don’t trust anyone.”
Ye Qingxuan heard the hoarse voice of Maxwell: “Including me.”
575 The Iron of Decay
In the Westminster Abbey, beside the clock tower, in the office, one could hear the sound of gears rotating not far away. It was the crisp sound of the giant second hand of the clock ticking forward.
The fire in the fireplace glowed. Ye Qingxuan sat on the sofa and examined the copper seal in his hand.
“Ye Qingxuan, keep this in mind, don’t trust anyone in Avalon.” Maxwell’s voice still lingered in his mind. “Including me.”
“Including you?” Ye Qingxuan murmured softly and rubbed his forehead to ease his headache.
I don’t get it. What the heck is Maxwell doing? What on earth has happened? He pondered for a long time, but couldn’t make heads or tails of it, so he shifted his attention back to the sealed copper case in his hand.
It was one thumb thick and one hand long, a standard sealed case for storing confidential documents. The material looked like brass, but it was actually an alloy consisting of black gold and copper. Its hardness and tensile strength exceeded that of diamond and was used to store confidential documents and classified information.
The unique design ensured that it would be damaged once opened. The specially formulated sealing wax at the opening was perfectly intact, so no one could have possibly sneaked a look.
For some unknown reason, the cold sealed copper case felt faintly warm in his hand, as if coal had been put inside. But when he felt it carefully, it still remained cold.
The warmth is just an illusion. No, not all at. Ye Qingxuan could clearly feel it. Some sort of heat that the human body couldn’t sense seeped out wisp by wisp, causing a tingling sensation,
as if one was pricked by needles. It was faint and vague, but steel posed it no obstruction. It passed through his body and the air, then dissipated.
“What on earth is that?” Ye Qingxuan used both of his hands to disassemble the outer shell of the sealed case carefully according to the method in his memory. He only felt relieved after removing the self-destructive machinery inside and putting it aside. Finally, he unscrewed the screw of the sealed copper case. Unexpectedly, what slipped into his hand from the inside of the copper case was a heavy lead tube. What he disassembled was merely the outermost packaging of the gift.
The lead tube felt heavy and seemed to have been processed with alchemy, making it at least several times heavier than similar tubes. After unscrewing the outer layer, one could see the delicate interlayers within the lead tube through the sides. A few dozen types of odd materials were nested together in the middle, carefully enclosing the core within. It was as if something as terrifying as fierce floods and savage beasts was being sealed inside.
It was hot.
In the illumination of the faint glimmering green glow from the lead tube, the illusory heat felt by Ye Qingxuan was several dozen times stronger than that a while ago. The prickling sensation made him felt as if the capillaries all over his body had burst after doing strenuous exercise. The sensation hit in waves, but while it felt uncomfortable, his body had a strange craving for it.
It was like a reunion after a long separation…
Ye Qingxuan held the stone, which was the size of the knuckle of his little finger, and observed it carefully. But after a while, he felt dizzy, and when he moved his fingers, his movements seemed to lag. After a moment’s silence, he reached out and peeled off a layer of dead skin from his suddenly cracked palm. He could sense that the cells in his body were more active than ever. They were also weaker than ever.
They were being killed off at ten times the usual speed and were also regenerating at ten times the usual speed at the same time, undergoing some sort of slow…mutation?!
What the heck is this thing that Maxwell left for me! Ye Qingxuan thought.