Chapter 228 The Third Player

The location is near Rimbaud's home.

Since Rimbaud was promoted by Mori Gugai to become a quasi-cadre of the Port Mafia, for his own safety and the safety of Saikai Haruto, he changed his address and moved to a deep woods far away from human habitation, choosing to live alone. Naturally, his relationship as a neighbor with "Mochizuki Kaoru" was broken.

Although the two were good friends, their other interactions were not affected, and occasionally Rimbaud would still visit Mochizuki Kaoru's home. But on the other hand, this was the first time that "Mochizuki Kaoru was allowed to visit Rimbaud's home."

Therefore, after receiving the news from Rimbaud, Saikai Haruto attached great importance to it and brought... a hanging bell.

——As everyone knows, "Mochizuki Xun" always gives various kinds of plants as gifts to important people.

You don't even have to worry too much. Just cut a branch of the campanula you grow at home, about a meter long, put it in a transparent glass vase, fill it with clean water, and you're done.

The main purpose is convenience.

As for the rest...ah, given his close relationship with Rimbaud, there's no need for him to bring anything extra to show courtesy, right?

So Saikai Haruto went to Rimbaud's house with the hanging bell.

As a result, as soon as I walked nearby, I saw a "wonderful" explosion.

The kind where most of the house is gone.

A good western-style villa was now in ruins, with most of it turned into rubble scattered all over the place, and only a small part was left standing, about to collapse.

Xihai Qingdou was stunned for a moment, his heart tightened, and he hurried over at a faster speed. When he arrived, it seemed that he only made it to the end of the matter - at least that's what it seemed like.

A pale golden space suddenly appeared and enveloped this area, as if forming a small world isolated from the outside world.

Three people stood at the two ends of the space. A young man with long black hair wearing a gray thick windbreaker, a crimson scarf and white earmuffs stood on one side. A boy with ochre curly hair and a thin boy with black fluffy hair fell to the ground with a thud - they landed not far from Xi Hai Qing Dou.

The boy's body did not look miserable. He was covered in blood, his clothes were torn, and his black coat was stained dark brown by the blood. His face, which was still wrapped in bandages, was gray, black, and reddish-brown, and looked a mess. His face was extremely pale due to the blood loss and pain.

The same was true for the auburn-haired young man next to him. He only looked slightly better than him, but not much better. He was struggling to get up from the ground.

The long-haired young man opposite them looked much better than them. At least at first glance, he didn't seem to be seriously injured.

Before Xi Hai Qing Dou arrived, the two sides had just finished a fight - the old man in black was crushed by the ochre-haired boy, and then the boy was knocked away by the light golden sub-space shock wave... Then he fell to the ground together with the black-haired boy who was knocked in from nowhere.

Xi Haiqing Dou, who had just arrived and encountered this scene, was so surprised and unexpected that it was hard to describe.

The ochre-haired boy, Nakahara Chuuya, turned his head and glanced at him. Surprise and vigilance flashed across his cobalt blue eyes. He didn't know what he was thinking of, but he shouted at him anxiously, "Hey! Wherever you came from, get out of here!"

It was as if they treated him as an ordinary passerby.

Perhaps it was his attire and the fact that he was holding the bell in his hand that had not yet been thrown away that gave him this illusion... Of course, it might also be because they had met before and had an impression of each other.

However, he might have forgotten that insignificant meeting.

Saikai Haruto said nothing.

"Mr. Mochizuki."

The black-haired young man with beautiful but hollow and sad golden-green eyes - Rimbaud called him softly.

There was a desolate silence in his eyes.

"I didn't expect you to show up here." He said, "As expected, Mr. Mochizuki, you are the dead soul, right?"

"Dead soul?" Xi Hai Qing Dou repeated his words in confusion: "Who is that? Lan Tangjun, did you recognize the wrong person?"

He bent down and put the beautiful narrow-necked glass vase in his hand on the ground.

"I originally wanted to give this to you as a gift, but now it seems a bit inappropriate."

He did not say that he was invited here by Rimbaud's message - it was meaningless to say this now. The text message was sent to him by someone else in Rimbaud's name, with the purpose of leading him here now.

"My memory has been restored, Mr. Mochizuki," Rimbaud said. "My real name is Rimbaud, Arthur Jean Rimbaud."

"Although we have never met formally before, I think you should know my name... just like I heard your name when I was in France. And my partner, Verlaine."

He has remembered his past memories - he was a superpower spy from Europe, and Verlaine was his partner.

The reason why he had such a big reaction to the novel "Amnesia" written by Kaoru Mochizuki was not only because the protagonist of "Amnesia" was based on him, but also because of the strong feeling he felt for the brother and sister around the protagonist - the brother and sister, when put together, happened to be very similar to his partner, Verlaine.

Dazai Osamu had deceived him half a year ago.

Mochizuki Kaoru did know him - he was the famous intelligence dealer "Dead Soul" in several European countries.

Nakahara Chuuya looked around and finally realized something was wrong: "Hey, do you two know each other?"

"Ranbo-kun and I used to be neighbors."

Xi Haiqing Dou glanced at him and nodded: "It's been a long time since we last met. I didn't expect you still remember me, the leader of the "Sheep"."

Nakahara Chuuya couldn't help but said, "Uncle, my name is Nakahara Chuuya!" He felt completely uncomfortable hearing this title now.

"Although I don't know why you, Rimbaud, think I'm a 'dead soul', and I do have an impression of the 'Verlaine' you mentioned, I am indeed just a novelist."

Saikai Haruto nodded to Nakahara Chuuya, then looked at Rimbaud with a troubled look on his face.

"Rambo-kun, did you have any grudge against the 'dead souls' in the past?"

Rimbaud shook his head.

"None of this matters anymore. I only have one thing to do now... and this matter has nothing to do with you for now. If possible, please leave here and pretend that you didn't see anything, Mr. Mochizuki."

This was a concession he made due to being rescued by Mochizuki Kaoru during his amnesia.

Dazai Osamu coughed twice quickly at the right time.

The young man looked ashen, and gave Xi Hai Qing Dou a pale smile that was so weak that it looked like he would die accidentally in the next second. He said in a weak and trembling voice, "Teacher Mochizuki, is there any way to save us? I don't want to die like this."

"Hey, what are you talking about, you sinister bastard? This guy is just an ordinary guy, right?"

Nakahara Chuuya opened his mouth in shock, as if he was afraid that Saikai Haruto would be tricked by him and come here to die. But after glancing at Dazai Osamu, he suddenly turned his head again, his expression also became anxious and terrified: "Wait, Dazai, you guys are really not going to be able to hold on, right?!"

Xi Haiqing Dou was silent for a second.

Dazai Osamu is really good at acting. But Nakahara Chuuya seems to be too easy to fool, right?

"You really are causing trouble for others, Dazai-kun."

He spoke slowly, with no sign of nervousness on his face except helplessness, as if he was not on a battlefield where the atmosphere was so tense that a fight might break out at any second, but rather chatting with someone normally: "Are you so sure that I can save you?"

"I'm not sure, actually." Dazai smiled. "But there's no other way."

Xi Haiqing Dou looked at him for two seconds, and said as if to compromise: "Ah, I understand."

This guy Dazai Osamu...what kind of script did he get from him?

It's really terrible.

“Wait…!” Not knowing what message he had received, Nakahara Chuuya suddenly stopped moving and looked left and right with obvious suspicion on his face: “Hey, what the hell are you guys doing?”

"If possible, I don't want to be an enemy of you, Mr. Mochizuki." Lan Bo sighed, his golden green eyes were empty and tired, "After all, you have helped me a lot, and I have always been grateful to you."

He moved his fingers, but still did not choose to take action immediately. Instead, he asked calmly, "Are you really not going to leave? It's not too late to leave now... To be honest, I don't really want to kill you, Mr. Mochizuki."

Seems polite enough - if he's not talking about murder.

Suddenly, Xi Haiqing Dou seemed to have become the center of this space.

"Ah, but this child is asking me for help, and there is nothing I can do about it."

Said Saikai Haruto, he looked at Dazai seriously again, he seemed to have compromised depression and helplessness: "I can't bear to watch someone who asked me for help die in front of me. Even if I turn around and pretend that I didn't see it, it would only be deceiving myself."

"And, to be honest, I don't think violence can solve all problems."

He took a step forward, directly crossed the pale golden barrier, and walked into Rimbaud's subspace without any hesitation.

"—So, I want to take them away," he said.

One after another, pale golden, cube-shaped space waves attacked him, and the space in front of him rippled with waves that seemed to have substance, spreading outward and gradually dissipating. In just a blink of an eye, those space waves passed through his body - and then scattered and hit the ground as if they had lost their target, creating one deep pit after another. The soil splashed in all directions.

Xi Haiqing Dou was unharmed.

Nakahara Chuuya blinked rapidly.

"…Are you kidding?" His voice became a little dry. "Is it possible that in this world, ineffective abilities are distributed wholesale? No, or is this guy a transparent person?"

"Can't you see it? Chuuya, you are indeed a slug with an empty head."

Dazai Osamu laughed and sneered, but he seemed to have accidentally injured himself and coughed twice in succession.

"This must be Mr. Mochizuki's special ability."

Saikai Haruto stood in front of Dazai Osamu, lowered his head and asked him: "Can you still hold on? Or, how long can you hold on?"

"It hurts. The wounds on my body are still bleeding."

Dazai Osamu complained in a completely childish tone: "I guess I can't hold on for much longer."

"Hold on a little longer for your own sake, Dazai-kun."

Xihai Qingdou sighed helplessly, reached out and pulled him up from the ground, hesitated for a moment, still couldn't overcome the inner resistance to hug him like a princess, and instead half hugged and half lifted him up like a child.

"So that's how it is... He is also a space-related psychic?"

"But even if it's a space-based esper, it's impossible to take them both away... I've defeated other space-based esper in the past."

Rimbaud's expression suddenly became serious and he raised his hand.

The surrounding space was split, collapsed, and disappeared, and was shrouded by a light golden sub-space.

"Hey, uncle, put that guy down quickly!"

Nakahara Chuuya was horrified: "Wait a minute, that suicidal bastard's ability is invalidated!"

——If you come into contact with him like this, his abilities will be negated!

Saikai Haruto seemed to be stunned for a moment, then directly handed Dazai Osamu to Nakahara Chuuya.

"Then I'd like to trouble Mr. Zhongyuan to help me look after him for a while."

He readily changed his address to Nakahara Chuuya, not forgetting to add, "Is that ok? It will be done in a moment."

The corner of Nakahara Chuuya's mouth twitched.