"We are the guardians, but also a group of poor people who are always fighting against danger and madness."

Dunn's words echoed in Old Neil's house, echoed between the floors, walls, and ceilings that showed signs of corrosion, and echoed in Klein's mind and heart.

There had never been a moment before that made him more impressed by that sentence than he was now.

He felt that he might never forget this feeling in his entire life, even if he returned to Earth in the future.

In the almost frozen atmosphere, Dunn walked towards Old Neil's "corpse", half squatted down, took out a white handkerchief from the upper pocket of his black windbreaker, and covered the pair of dark red, crystal clear, painful eyeballs.

At this moment, Klein saw from the corner of his eye that the piano keys stopped jumping on their own, and a nearly transparent figure vaguely emerged there.

This... Klein, who had already activated his spiritual vision outside the door, was stunned.

He had never noticed this strange "spirit" before!

Was it caused by Old Neil's mental interference or the ability he acquired after losing control? Klein watched the nearly invisible figure evaporate quickly and completely disappear from his sight. He vaguely understood something.

Feeling heavy and depressed, he heard the captain's order:

"Search Old Neil's house carefully for possible clues."

“Okay.” As soon as Klein opened his mouth, he was stunned for a few seconds by his own voice. It was so hoarse and so low, as if he had a bad cold.

"Okay." Luo Yao replied.

The condition of her voice was similar to mine... It was as if both of her nostrils were blocked... Klein glanced at this female teammate who never had any expression, as if he was meeting her for the first time.

He placed his cane on the umbrella stand in the hallway, walked around the seal "3-0611", strode into the living room with heavy steps, went up to the second floor, and searched for clues in each bedroom.

Old Neil would regularly hire short-term workers to clean the room, so there was no clutter typical of most bachelors; everything was neat and tidy, as if there was a real hostess.

Half an hour later, Klein found some manuscripts on Old Neil's bedroom bookshelf. They contained messy records of some strange and bizarre rituals:

"Life is forged."

"The materials needed include: 100 ml of water from the Elven Spring (Golden Spring on Sonia Island), 50 grams of star crystal, half a pound of gold, 5 grams of phlogiston, 30 grams of hematite... and a large amount of human blood."

Under the blood of the living, Old Neil made a comment:

"I can consider drawing my own, accumulating it over and over again, and preserving it with ritual magic."

I might consider drawing my own... Klein closed his eyes and wrinkled the draft with his fingers.

…………

Thursday morning at 9:00 AM, moon time, Raphael Cemetery.

Klein was wearing a pure black suit and shirt, holding a silver-studded cane, and standing quietly in a corner of the cemetery.

A neatly folded white handkerchief was stuffed into his chest pocket, and in his palm was a bunch of solemn and quiet sleeping flowers.

At this time, Dunn, Frye, Leonard and Coenley carried the black coffin containing old Neil's "corpse" step by step to the front of the tombstone, and silently placed it in the dug grave.

Watching the brown soil being shoveled down, Luo Shan, who was wearing a black dress and a white flower on her head, sobbed softly:

"Can anyone tell me, is this all true?"

"Why do we have to lose control? Why do we have to take potions? Why do we have to become extraordinary? Why do we have to have resentful spirits? Why do we have to have monsters? Why can't there be a safer way? Why, why, why..."

Klein listened silently until Old Neil's coffin was covered by the soil and until all traces of his existence were buried deep in the grave.

"May the goddess bless you." He drew a crimson moon on his chest, then took a few steps forward, bent down and placed the bouquet of deep sleeping flowers in his hand in front of the tombstone.

"May the goddess bless you." Dunn, Frye and others tapped their chests four times clockwise at the same time.

Klein raised his head, straightened his back, and saw the black and white photo on the tombstone:

Old Neil wore his classic black soft hat, his hair exposed was mottled with gray, there were deep wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, and his dark red eyes were slightly cloudy.

He was so peaceful, no more sadness, no more pain, no more fear.

Below the photo is an epitaph from what Old Neil had written in his recent diary:

"If you can't save her, be with her."

The cool breeze blew gently in the morning, and the coolness, quietness and silence of Raphael Cemetery infected everyone present.

…………

At noon, Klein walked to the armory with the captain's signed form.

He pushed open the half-open door and saw Brett, with his thick black beard, sitting behind the desk.

Klein was visibly stunned for a moment before handing over the application form:

"Fifty rounds of ordinary bullets."

As he spoke, his eyes swept across the silver-inlaid tin can on the table. He seemed to smell the rich aroma of hand-ground coffee and heard those words with a hint of laughter again:

"But why wait until you have extra money? You can write an application to Dunn and ask him to approve the expenses!"

…

Brett glanced at Klein's expression and sighed:

"I can guess how you feel. I myself can't believe that Old Neil left us like this. Sometimes, I even think this might be a dream created by the captain."

“Perhaps this is the fate of many Nighthawks.” Klein replied with a wry smile.

After this incident, he felt a lot more disappointed and resentful towards the church leaders who concealed the "acting method".

"I hope there will be fewer and fewer tragedies like this. May the goddess bless you." Brett drew a crimson moon on his chest, took the application form, stood up and walked into the armory at the back.

…………

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The smell of gunpowder filled the air. Klein vented his anger by shooting at the target in front of him until all the brass bullets were used up. Then he packed himself up and took a trackless public carriage to the home of his fighting teacher Gawain.

He performed set after set of exercises in a self-torturing manner until Gawain stopped him.

“Combat training is not meant to hurt yourself.” Gawain stared at Klein with his slightly cloudy dark green eyes and said in a deep voice.

“Sorry, teacher. I’m not in a good mood today.” Klein exhaled and explained briefly.

"What happened?" Gao Wen asked calmly.

Klein thought for a moment and replied briefly:

"A friend of mine passed away suddenly."

Gawain was silent for a few seconds, raised his hand to touch his mottled golden temples, and said in an erratic tone:

"I once lost 325 friends in five minutes, and at least 10 of them were people I could turn my back on."

Klein sighed with realization and said, "This is the cruelty of war."

Gao Wen glanced at him, then suddenly laughed at himself and said:

"The cruelest thing is that I will never be able to avenge them, or fulfill their wishes. There is no way."

"And you still have such an opportunity. Although I don't understand what happened, I know that you are still young and you still have many opportunities."

Klein was silent for a while, then he took a breath and said, “I’m so tired. I ...

"Thank you, teacher."

Gao Wen nodded slightly and said without any expression:

"Rest for 10 minutes, then repeat the previous exercise for 10 sets."

"..." Klein didn't know what expression to use to respond.

…………

Friday morning, in the night watchman's entertainment room.

Klein, Siga Theon, and Frye were sitting around the round table, but they were not playing cards. One was reading a newspaper or flipping through a magazine, one was staring out the oriel window in a daze, and one was holding a pen, wanting to write something, but couldn't put it on paper.

The room was so quiet, no one was talking, no one was joking, and the atmosphere was almost solemn.

Huh… Klein exhaled, put down the newspaper, and planned to focus on reading various materials.

At this moment, Dunn Smith knocked on the door and came in. He looked around and said:

"Klein, come out for a moment."

What's going on? Klein stood up with a premonition and walked out of the entertainment room.

Deng Enli stood at the entrance of the stairs leading to the underground, turned around, glanced at him and said:

"People from the temple are here."

Someone is here to test me? Klein's spirit tensed up.