Real stars

Ya'an City three days later.

Small stalls were set up on both sides of the busy and neat streets, and people were constantly coming and going. The shop signs were spotless, and the shop assistants inside were smiling. It was autumn, and the slightly cool breeze was blowing on people's cheeks. Judging from the appearance of the city alone, there was no trace of the panic when it was attacked before.

Ordinary people only care about the daily hustle and bustle of life and work hard to survive. As long as daily life can still proceed as planned, passers-by in a hurry will hardly notice that the details have changed.

For example, the patrols of the bloodline have become more frequent, the captains of the patrol teams in each district no longer go to the Earl's Mansion in the early morning, some unfamiliar faces have appeared around, and some have left Ya'an early and spread throughout the territory within three days, becoming the new eyes and ears of the Earl's Mansion...

Ya'an methodically completed all the deployments before his departure and temporarily delegated the power in his hands, forming a good system to support the operation of the entire city.

Before leaving, he came here on purpose. At that time, Mason was chatting with Rambo. Brainworm was really a treasure trove of actions. Whatever he asked, he would get a refreshing answer. Seeing how harmonious they were, Yaan's smile deepened.

"I'm glad to see that you two have such a good relationship. After all, the safety of the entire territory will depend on you two for the next month."

Rambo was also extremely ruthless in front of his superiors: "Excuse me, Lord Earl, we still have the support of all levels of people in Ya'an City and the help of the nobles."

Yanan said helplessly: "Yes, yes, but the core part is still in your hands. Oreius, I ask you to protect this place when I am not here."

The red-haired young man readily agreed and asked him for some weapons supplies.

Yaan laughed dumbly at being blackmailed before leaving, but finally agreed to give him another 200 rounds of bullets. When everything was ready, he and Shaken left the territory quietly at dawn and headed for the central region. Before leaving, he also told Mason not to come to see him off, so as to avoid being missed by Shaken.

Mason naturally agreed to be able to be lazy. After Ya'an and his group left, he took a patrol mission and went to the streets to relax.

But before accepting the mission, he had never thought about bringing a little tail. The handsome red-haired young man walked on the street, his eyes moved down, facing the round head of the child.

People passing by would sometimes cast slightly strange looks at the child, and then quickly move away before they noticed, for fear of attracting her attention.

Bloodline people - even if they are just young bloodline people, they are threats that ordinary people cannot easily deal with. Vera bit her lip and tried to ignore the gazes of others.

The black lines on his face caused by pollution looked like a coiled spider, and became more vivid after the blood fusion ceremony. If you stare at it for too long, it will make you feel dizzy and nauseous.

Even so, her physical condition did not improve much. Her two short legs walked very fast, stumbling and following the person in front of her. Mason walked for a while, but finally stopped when the other person was about to lose her, sighed, turned around, and looked down at the other person helplessly.

"Why are you following me?"

"Master Rambo said I could follow you."

The little girl looked up at him, her voice soft and thin. Her wounds had long been healed by the bloodline, but she was left in the Earl's mansion because of mental trauma. After the red-haired young man went to visit her, Vera's mental state improved at a visible speed. She passed the test in just two days, and performed the bloodline fusion ceremony on the third night.

Perhaps because what Vera swallowed were two human-faced eggs, she succeeded beyond belief. Ordinary bloodline people would have a period of discomfort, but Vera was able to control her breath the next day and even wanted to go out on the street with patrolman Mason.

Rambo was very interested in this and agreed to Vera's request in exchange for letting him do research.

Mason, who was betrayed by Rambo without realizing it, said: "......"

What else can I say?

He wanted to resist, but the brainworm sitting in the office glanced at him coldly, pushed the document on the floor as high as his legs and said, "If you approve this, I will revoke my previous permission."

Looking at the densely packed small characters, Mason's scalp tingled. He admitted defeat without hesitation and chose to follow the brain worm's instructions.

It's better to bow your head when it's time to do so...The only problem is that Vera seems to have become dependent on him because of what he said to her before.

Mason advised kindly: "What you need now is not to patrol the streets with me, but to go back and train your skills."

The child looked at him and said, "I asked Sister Aina, and she said that you are the most powerful bloodline in the Earl's Mansion."

Ina was the female bloodline who gave her psychiatric treatment that day. Mason's mouth twitched and he said sincerely, "We are different."

Vera asked back, "What's the difference?"

The red-haired young man said seriously: "I rely on my natural talent."

Vera: “…”

A change finally appeared on his serious face, which was like that of an adult. If it were in an RPG game, a big red question mark would probably appear in his head because of what he just said.

She thought for a moment, her expression a little sad: "I know I have poor talent, I will work hard. I just want to learn from you how to become stronger."

This... I can't help you asking me. We are not in the same ability system at all. Mason scratched his hair, squatted down and looked directly into the other person's eyes: "You can patrol with me if you want, but you can't scare anyone casually, understand?"

"Um!"

Vera nodded vigorously, following him like a little tail, looking around from time to time.

This was not out of curiosity. Occasionally, a few pairs of translucent spider pupils would appear in her dark eyes. She was memorizing the patrol route in her own way.

Mason simply slowed down his pace and began to instruct her seriously: "You must pay attention to controlling your abilities and not harm or affect ordinary people. If you notice abnormal changes in your emotions, it is very likely that you have been affected by pollution."

"Ya'an is generally safe. If you find any problems, contact your superiors immediately."

"This store has good clothes and is very popular among girls. Ollie often asks Rambo to bring her here to buy clothes."

“This dessert is delicious...”

The topic got off track. Vera stared at the exquisite desserts in the dessert shop window for a while, and just when Mason thought she wanted to eat a certain dessert, the girl whispered, "My sister can make this, too."

She was talking about a simple homemade pastry. Mason didn't know how to answer for a moment, and only heard the other party's small voice.

"We didn't have sugar, so we had to add sweet fruits. My sister made delicious snacks, fragrant and soft. One time, when Lady Amira was inspecting the village, she happened to pass by my house. My sister gave the snacks she had just made to Lady Amira, and she was praised."

"My sister wanted to teach me, but I didn't learn it. Why didn't I learn it at that time?"

Mason reached out and rubbed the other person's head silently. The girl's eyes were red. She wiped her eyes and turned away from looking at the dessert cabinet.

Mason touched his pocket and found that the tragedy had happened again. He thought about whether he should get a salary or something, otherwise it would be too cheap to pay for dessert for the little girl.

Even so, the red-haired young man resolutely entered the dessert shop, shamelessly bought a bag of cakes, and handed them to Vera.

The girl didn't take it immediately, and asked gloomily: "Lord Orelius, can I really still eat it?"

Is she still qualified to eat these snacks? Is she still qualified to see those she has hurt?

The other party stuffed the cake into her arms without any consideration: "Why can't you eat it? Go ask Rambo to approve the expenses later. You are already registered in the Earl's Mansion, so you should have some pocket money."

"That's not what I meant..."

"Since no one is worried about Robbie, then there will be no problem."

The person who answered said lightly, "Eat. There is no point in getting tangled up here. Just keep going. We will meet again one day. Then I will tell them about this in person. No matter what the result is, I will take responsibility for it."

Vera sniffed, opened the bag, and stuffed the food into her mouth in big mouthfuls. The ambiguous sweet taste touched her taste buds, and the girl finally shed tears. She sobbed and swallowed the snack, swallowing her tears and the cake together, her little face looked pitiful.

Passers-by cast subtle reproachful glances at him, making the young man feel like an irresponsible ghost father. He struggled for a moment, then gave up, bent over, picked her up, and wiped her face.

"If you want to protect everyone, you can't cry easily."

Vera tried hard to suppress her tears: "I'm not crying, it's just that the cakes are too sweet..."

"Okay, okay, it's the sweetness of the cake that made you cry."

Mason said perfunctorily, holding her and continuing to patrol quietly. The weather has been good during this period, and the sun is warm but not hot. He walked forward for a while, and the girl buried her face in his shoulder and whispered, "If I don't cry, can I protect everyone?"

"You still need to be trained well. There are many bloodline people in the Earl's Mansion. You can ask them for advice."

"Then how can I be as strong as you?"

"...eat well, sleep well, exercise well, and of course, the most important thing is to be someone who can make everyone see the stars."

Vera was silent for a while, then she said softly, "During that time, the Baron always said that he could see stars if he looked up. Actually, I know what they are. Everyone knows."

This time it was Mason who was stunned: "Then you..."

"I thought the Baron was terrifying, and that the bloodline people were all monsters. I, I couldn't hear anything he said, but in fact, we all knew it, and we agreed that no one would tell the Baron the truth."

Vera's voice became lower and lower, finally turning into an almost inaudible whisper.

"...We agreed that as long as the Baron believed it was a star, we would say it was a star."

When everyone was discussing this matter, she just wanted to fit in with the group, avoid being discovered, and find a chance for revenge.

But now when she looked up, she could always think of the stars hanging between the dry tree trunks. Because Amira said they were stars, so they also said they were stars. The bright stars hung on the branches, maintaining a fragile yet indestructible trust.

Mason patted her on the back without saying a word. People were passing by them, men, women, young and old, with different expressions of joy, anger, sorrow and happiness on their faces.

"Everything will be fine."

The red-haired young man's gaze passed through the crowd and into the distance, as if he was seeing a day long, long in the future.

One day, there will be a real starry sky shining on this earth. Just like the sky above the world tree, everyone can find his or her own star.

He imagined that kind of future in his mind. He stopped in front of a courtyard, bent down and put the girl down.

Vera realized something and stared at the ordinary door with a panic expression, as if there was a dragon's den and a tiger's lair. She didn't dare to face her companions' disappointed eyes, and she was even more ashamed to tell them the truth. She just wanted to turn around and run away.

"Come in."

The man who brought her here put his hand on the girl's shoulder and whispered.

"They're waiting for you inside."