Chapter 80 Open your eyes (asking for monthly ticket)
"So, you just left like that?"
When Gerard left Carol's shop, Bai Wei's voice sounded in his mind at the right time.
"He has done his best to reveal information to me." Gerald said, "That's enough."
"Heh...is that really enough?" Bai Wei chuckled and said, "You should be able to sense that he knows much more than he lets on."
"So what?"
"So... what?" Bai Wei said, "Jerard, for ten years, you have been spinning in circles, and have never been able to escape the web that the world has woven for you. And now, you finally have a chance to break free from this web, but you immediately retreated after lifting a corner of it."
"There will be another chance."
"Really? So you plan to wait another ten years?"
Gerald stopped walking and asked, "What do you want to say?"
"It's just a sincere suggestion." Bai Wei said calmly, "If I were you, I would go back to that store right now and use various means to get the truth from him. Either use force, or use his long-standing admiration for you, or..."
Bai Wei paused.
"Doesn't he have someone he cares about?"
As soon as Bai Wei finished speaking, he heard Gerard yelling, "Shut up! Don't treat me like you're the same as me!"
"That's true. If it were me, I would never be plotted against for ten years." Bai Wei said, "Jerald, do you remember the question I asked you before? How much are you willing to pay for the truth?"
This was not the first time Bai Wei asked him this question, and Gerald never answered.
But this time, Gerard did not escape, but slowly said: "My everything."
"Everything about you?"
"Yes, everything I have." Gerard said, "I am still haunted by the nightmare that happened ten years ago. My former comrades are still suffering injustice after their death. So I am willing to give everything I have for the truth and to give them justice... but it's just everything I have."
As he spoke, he turned around and looked towards Carol's shop.
Carol was packing up the store, wiping each machine carefully as if he were treating his own child.
"But I am not qualified to drag others into this for my own selfish desires. My Eve and I have been branded as traitors. I know how painful this is." Gerard said word by word, "So I absolutely cannot let others make the same mistake I made."
Gerard had never confided his true feelings to anyone.
And he had never imagined that the first person he confided in in ten years would be the legendary Visas.
After listening to Gerard's words, Bai Wei was silent for a while, and then said slowly: "Well, it is indeed an admirable spirit of sacrifice, and... a laughable awareness."
Jellal narrowed his eyes slightly, "What do you mean?"
"You said you were willing to give up everything for the truth, but in your perception, all that is meant is the annihilation of the body and a solitary death." Bai Wei chuckled and said, "Don't you think this is ridiculous? The power you are facing has been hiding it from you for ten years, and you only saw a glimmer of the truth with the help of my eyes. Why do you think you can fight against such an existence with your awareness of dying alone?"
Jellal slowly clenched his fists.
"Remember the advice I gave you earlier?" Bai Wei said, "Whatever you want to do, do it quickly. You don't have much time. This advice is free, but free things are often the most expensive."
After saying this, Bai Wei stopped talking and seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.
But these words still made Gerard feel extremely uneasy.
He looked back again, but Carol had already closed the door.
Gerard wanted to look back, but then he saw two children passing by playing with their prosthetic limbs. One of them pointed his fist at the other and said, "Look at my catapult start... Hey? Why can't it be launched?"
"Stupid, it's locked." Another child who looked a little older lectured him, "You can't use Tianqin's weapons to attack Tianqin's people! Don't you know this?"
"Ah... all right then."
Seeing this scene, Gerard felt a little relieved.
The "lock" is still there.
Tianqin's rules are still in effect, so there is no need to worry too much.
It's better not to bother Carol anymore.
Gerald turned and left.
…
Carol closed the shop door and walked to the back room humming a little tune.
Today's turnover has reached the target. I'll take a day off tomorrow and spend time with my wife and son.
Carol took out a family photo from his arms. Looking at his son's silly smile in the photo, he couldn't help but smile the same way.
Then he heard someone speak behind him.
"Good evening, Carol."
…
Gerard entered the station.
He hadn't felt his body so relaxed for a long time. After Carol's maintenance and inspection, he felt like he had returned to ten years ago, with his steps firm but not heavy.
But his heart was the opposite, heavy and uneasy.
Bai Wei’s previous words were still echoing in his mind.
"Why do you think that you can fight against a force that has been hiding from you for ten years just by being prepared to die alone?"
Gerard felt something was wrong.
"Let me give you a piece of advice. No matter what you decide to do, you don't have much time left."
Gerard's pace slowed down little by little.
"If you miss this opportunity, will you wait another ten years?"
He stopped and suddenly realized something, and cold sweat instantly broke out.
"Visas...did you see anything with that eye of yours?"
Bai Wei didn't say anything.
But he was answered by a deafening explosion.
Gerard turned his head sharply and saw thick smoke rising from the direction of Carol's shop.
After a brief moment of daze, he pushed away the frightened passengers like a madman and ran towards the direction of the white smoke.
This maintained metal body allowed him to run back to Carol's shop within five minutes.
But it was too late.
A big fire had already engulfed the shop, and passers-by were standing outside the shop, watching.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. It just exploded suddenly."
No one dared to enter, only Gerard pushed everyone away and broke in alone.
Then, he saw Carol in the corner.
His body was pierced by six metal bars, and next to him was a collapsed machine, from which the metal bars had fallen.
So it looks like the machine went haywire and killed Carol.
It was like an accident.
Gerard stood in front of Carol, looking down at the metal bar that pierced his heart, as well as a photo of Carol's family.
Silence, a long silence.
The shop was so quiet that the only sound you could hear was the crackling sound of the fire devouring objects.
It was unknown how long it had been before Gerard slowly spoke: "Visas, you've seen all this a long time ago, right?"
"Not completely." Bai Wei said calmly, "but there is a rough idea."
"Who did it?"
"This is not included in the transaction." Bai Wei said, "Do you want to start a new transaction?"
Jellal gently closed his eyes. "In our current deal, I can use your eyes, right?"
"Yes."
"How far can your eyes see?"
Bai Wei understood what Gerard meant. After a moment of silence, he said, "You've already opened your eyes once this morning. If you open them again, I'm not sure what will happen to your body. If you really want to kill that guy, let me do it."
"No." Gerard reached out his hand, grasped the metal bar that pierced Carol's heart, and then slowly pulled it out, "I want to do it myself."
"...As I recall, you were not allowed to take action in Tianqin City, right?"
Gerard didn't say anything, he just threw the blood on the metal bar into the flames beside him.
The fire devoured the blood and instantly became stronger.
"...Heh, since you've made up your mind." Bai Wei said softly, "Then, open your eyes."
…
Ocott hummed a song while wiping the blood off his hands with a towel, then threw the blood-stained tissue into the trash can beside him and walked into the station.
"Hello." He walked to the ticket office very easily and said to the ticket seller with a smile on his face, "Please give me a ticket to Babel Station..."
Halfway through his words, the smile suddenly froze, and then he immediately turned around, trying to look for something.
"Sir...what's wrong with you?" The ticket seller looked at Ocott with some confusion, "Do you want a ticket?"
Okot withdrew his gaze. He didn't see anything, but he still broke out in a cold sweat.
After a long silence, he said to the ticket seller, "Let's not go to the Tower of Babel. Let's get a ticket to District 5. The sooner the better."
(End of this chapter)
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