Who hid my body?

Jellal shook his head.

"Oh, I forgot, smoking is prohibited in the Pioneer Corps." Kud said with a smile, "I have a friend in the 'Devil' Corps, and he never touches this stuff either."

Gerald looked at Kud's skilled smoking action, obviously he was an old hand, so he asked in confusion: "I have never seen you smoke before."

"Although the Skeleton Corps doesn't have a clear ban on smoking like the Eve Star and the Devil, there is also a rule that the captain cannot touch cigarettes when performing dangerous missions." Kud said, "And when you saw me, I was always on such missions."

Gerald understood, and he nodded: "Yes, you have to be on guard against me."

"Yes." Kud did not deny it, but smiled again, "It was a dangerous and long mission."

After this conversation, the atmosphere between the two became more relaxed. Even Gerard forced out a rare smile, which he wasn't sure if it could be considered a smile. To be honest, this was quite difficult for him, after all, he hadn't smiled like this for twenty years.

Jellal looked at Kud in front of him, this familiar yet unfamiliar junior.

The reason why they are familiar is that they have been together for several years, and the reason why they are unfamiliar is that they have never had such a conversation in these few years.

As Kud himself said, he was always wary of Gerard, so much so that he would not even touch his favorite cigarettes, making Gerard think that he did not smoke.

"Why?" Gerard asked suddenly.

"Are you saying, why did I decide to talk to you?"

"No," Gerard said, "I mean, why did you throw the weapon out of the car?"

After hearing Gerald's question, Kud's expression suddenly showed obvious surprise for a moment: "You're asking this?"

"Because I'm really curious." Gerard said calmly, "If you want to talk to me, why don't you just drop the weapon at your feet? Why do you have to throw it out of the car? Does that make you look more determined?"

Seeing that Gerald was asking seriously, Kud couldn't just brush it off. He answered seriously, "Determination is one thing, and on the other hand, I've heard about the rules of your pioneer unit. When a member who has left the team returns to the team, you must first ask him to throw his weapons as far as possible to prevent him from being contaminated and using them to hurt others. After disarming all his weapons, you will conduct a contamination test on him... Is there such a rule?"

Gerald seemed to have guessed that Kud's behavior was related to the rules of the Evening Star, so he nodded and said, "Indeed, because the 'body lock' can only lock the metal parts and prosthetic limbs on the body, and there is no way to lock individual weapons, so we need this rule to eliminate possible hidden dangers."

"I know that every rule of Eve Star was paid for with blood." Kud shrugged and said, "So, I did a good job?"

"If this is a contaminated area, then you did a good job."

Kud smiled and said, "I can't help it. I made that decision very suddenly. I can see that you have been on guard against my attack, and so have I. After all, in the eyes of the public, you are the one who is polluted, so I don't know if it is right to contact you rashly."

"And you threw away your weapon?"

"Because as long as that thing is still around, we will never be able to take that step." Kud stretched out his hand and gestured with his own axe. "No matter what I say to you, you will devote some of your energy to guarding against whether I will give you an axe in the next second. If that chain sword is next to you, no matter what you say, I will also be wary of whether you have the intention to chop me in two. This is not the first time we have met, but most of the time, we are wary and wary of each other. Of course, maybe you don't, but I do, but this can't go on. The problem we are facing now is huge, and we shouldn't focus on guarding against each other."

After hearing what Kud said, Gerard finally understood that Kud was not as calm as he seemed when he was on the gear train.

He was also betting that Gerard was not crazy.

In order to make himself confident in his choice, he used the most radical means and threw his weapon directly out of the car, leaving himself no room for regret.

But this seemingly exaggerated move achieved the best effect. If it weren't for his desperate attempt, it would be hard to say whether the two of them could have tried to have a heart-to-heart talk like they are now...

After all, without enough courage, it is absolutely impossible to resolve the stereotypes and prejudices of the past decade in a short period of time.

"I'm very grateful that you believe me." Gerald said slowly, "But I still want to know what prompted you to make such a choice. The reason you gave in the car was that they wanted to kill me...but they have always wanted to kill me, and you even did this for a long time."

"Yes." Kud did not deny this, "but what I mean is... an explicit order. In the past, he would not issue such an order. Most of the time, he would just give some hints, such as asking me to drop you off at the edge of the contaminated area and reduce my support for you. Even in the city of Somme in the Rhine, it was a similar deal. But tonight, my immediate superior gave me an explicit order. He asked me to get rid of you with the axe I threw outside. But before that, such a thing would never happen. Because you are innocent on the surface."

Hearing what Kud said, Gerald fell into a brief silence.

Just as Visas said, his enemies were already using means outside the rules to deal with him.

It is even possible to issue the most direct order to kill him, a person who is apparently innocent.

"But you refused to do so." Gerard asked, "For you, is there really a big difference between indirectly killing me and directly killing me?"

Hearing Gerald's question, Kud turned his head and looked at him, then smiled: "If the difference is not that big, I wouldn't be here to tell you so much... I have even lost my weapon, can't we be more honest with each other?"

"I'm not questioning you, I'm just telling the truth." Gerald said, "For most people, there is no difference between the two. It just wants me to die."

"This is the crux of the matter. There is a big difference." Kud said softly, "Rules may be just empty words in other realms, but in Tianqin, they are the most basic operating logic and the capital that we are most proud of. Of course, it is also because we are human beings, not just machines, and we do not rigidly execute the rules. Many times, we will take advantage of loopholes in the rules to do some... not so compliant things, such as getting rid of you who may be contaminated. Before this, many people, even including me, believed that you had been contaminated ten years ago, but just used some tricks to bypass the detection and the judgment of the rules, so we also used loopholes in the rules to kill you... Although I also think this is not very appropriate, I am willing to do it, because in the final analysis, we are all playing around the rules. "

At this point, Kude paused.

"But now, when that order came down, I knew that everything was different."

While Kud was talking to Gerald, Bai Wei was also quietly observing the captain of the Skeleton Corps.

In the game, Kud also showed up, first in Som City, where he completed the deal with Corey and let Gerald die there. But this was not his original intention, and he mentioned more than once in subsequent conversations with players that this was the thing he regretted the most, especially when the final disaster broke out, Kud realized more clearly what he had done.

By that time, it will be too late.

The game doesn't explain his final fate, but after the disaster, he has never appeared again, and it is unknown whether he died or escaped.

But judging from his performance tonight, he probably won't run away.

And because of Bai Wei's appearance, Gerard did not die in Som City, and even ended up being together with Kud by accident.

So how will things develop next?

Even Bai Wei was getting a little excited, so when Gerald and Kud were talking, Bai Wei didn't say anything and just watched.

Kud didn't know that it wasn't just Gerald who was looking at him at the moment. He was still saying, "And it's not just that. There are too many things that are beyond common sense. For example, the guy named Ocot you met yesterday, you said that he had eight illegally modified mechanical arms in his body. I thought it was just your wishful thinking, but today I found another one with two mechanical arms, and he was a colleague of the Skeleton Corps... I don't know how he passed the physical examination, which surprised me, but what surprised me even more was that, except for me, no one else thought it was wrong and just thought it was just a trivial matter. But in my memory, the Skeleton Corps installed mechanical arms, which is definitely not a trivial matter, so..."

"Don't you know whether you are crazy or they are crazy?" Gerald gently interrupted Kud's words.

Hearing Gerald's sigh, Kud stopped and threw the burnt cigarette butt in his hand into the trash can beside him.

With a "bang", the spark quickly disappeared into the darkness.

"You can describe exactly how I feel." Cooder said, "It seems that you have been living like this for the past ten years."

"Of course." Gerard said calmly, "In the past ten years, I have thought about this question more than once. Am I abnormal, or is Tianqin abnormal? The clerk I know does not exist, and the mission I received is fictitious. The whole world says that I am crazy and everyone wants me dead."

Kud was silent for a while, then nodded slightly: "This situation is very difficult, really difficult. I can't imagine how you managed to get through it. But now you seem to be sure... It's not you who's gone crazy, right? In fact, I'm very curious, how did you confirm this."

Jellal also fell silent, and then Kud saw that Jellal's left eyebrow raised abruptly, which made Kud a little stunned, but when he looked closely, the eyebrow on the left eye returned to normal, as if it had just twitched casually.

"I, have no way to answer this question." Gerard shook his head slowly.

"Okay." Kud nodded, "I understand."

Gerald looked at Kud again: "But I don't understand why you are so sure that the problem is not with me, but with Tianqin? It took me ten years to confirm this, but it seems that you only took a day or two. Do you have a special talent? Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't want to answer, after all, I didn't answer your question just now."

"No, this is not an unanswerable question for me." Kud shook his head and said, "I am sure that the problem is not me or any special talent. It's just that my luck is better than yours. I haven't been abandoned by this world... Do you know that there is such a department in Tianqin, which is stationed outside Tianqin City?"

"You mean..." Gerard thought for a moment and said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

Cooder nodded: "Yes."

The Department of Diplomatic Affairs is a very special department in Lyra. As the name suggests, it is the department used by Lyra to conduct diplomacy with the territories of other churches.

But the special thing is Lyra itself.

For this world, Tianqin itself is extremely special. Everything in this city, whether it is metal prostheses, gear trains, or various tools, is unique and cannot exist anywhere else. And these things cannot function after leaving Tianqin, so the Tianqin people themselves do not like to communicate with the outside world, because once they leave the city for a long time, 80% of their things will become scrap metal.

That is why we need such a special Ministry of Foreign Affairs to communicate with the outside world using external things.

For example, the carriages they used to travel to and from the Rhine were kept outside the city by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, many things from outside that were not allowed to be brought into Tianqin were also placed there.

However, few people in Tianqin City know about this department.

"My father is a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Kud said, "So I know more about this department than ordinary people. In fact, it is not that special. The work in it is very easy because Tianqin does not have many diplomatic affairs. The reason why my father joined this department is purely because he is allergic to motor oil and cannot accept too high a degree of mechanical modification. The people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are mostly old men similar to my father. They don't have much pursuit of machinery, but rather yearn for a simple life in the outside world. On weekdays, they just raise horses and grow vegetables."

This is indeed incompatible with Tianqin's painting style, but it is indeed a part of Tianqin.

This is the special point.

"You went to find your father?" Gerard asked.

"Yes." Kud nodded and said softly, "To be honest, I haven't had a good chat with my father for a long time. The relationship between him and me is like that between Tianqin City and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I will only go to him when I need something for a diplomatic mission, such as a carriage, and he will only see me when there is an order from above... On weekdays, we have no intersection. So when I was confused by yesterday's case and subconsciously went to him to chat and talk like I did when I was a child, I discovered something... very scary."

Gerald asked subconsciously: "What?"

"...Tianqin has changed without any of us realizing it." Kude said, "My father went to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs twelve years ago. During this period, he never returned to Tianqin City. So the Tianqin in his memory is the Tianqin twelve years ago, but it is completely different from the Tianqin now."

When he said this, Jellal could clearly see that Kurd's expression had changed, and it became so... horrified.

This skeleton team leader had never shown such an expression even when facing himself. His forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, and his breathing became heavier when he spoke.

He seemed to be extremely nervous, so much so that when he tried to light another cigarette to calm himself down, he couldn't light the match because his hands were shaking.

In the end, it was Gerard who held his hand.

"Don't be nervous." Gerald said in a deep voice.

With Gerard's comfort, Kud gradually calmed down and his hands stopped shaking.

He glanced at Gerard, chuckled and said, "As expected of you, Xiaoxing," and then lit the match swiftly.

The cigarette was relit, and the white smoke that came out seemed to wrap up Kud's tension and make him regain his composure.

"You've been looking for Clerk 44 for years," Kud said. "In your opinion, this person who should have existed suddenly disappeared, right?"

Jellal nodded.

"So do you know?" Coode said softly, "Apart from Clerk No. 44, is there anything else missing?"

Jellal's brows furrowed slightly.

Kud didn't let him think too long and spoke directly: "Mechanical Code

He listed many terms in one breath.

Gerard said, "I know the latter one."

"Because that was Xiao Xing's job. But the things I mentioned earlier are also very important, such as the one about 'Standardized Management of Civilian Metal Prostheses'... It stipulates that civilian metal prostheses are not allowed to replace the entire arm."

Jellal's eyes widened little by little.

"Haha, you should understand what I'm saying, right? The things that were once banned are now everywhere on the streets, but I can't remember when this law was abolished. I can only find it in the book collection that my father always carries with him. Of course, my father also knows it, because twelve years ago, this was a well-known clause."

Gerald understood what Kud meant, and he asked in a deep voice: "How many laws suddenly disappeared like this?"

"I can only say that there are many, many things that I can't even remember when they were changed. For example, the skeleton member you found today who had undergone illegal modifications would have been stripped of his position and exiled twelve years ago, but just now, he was only given a minor punishment... because we can't find that clause." Kud said, "All of Tianqin's rules have been quietly rewritten without anyone noticing. The regulations that were once expressly prohibited have been erased without anyone noticing. It's not just Clerk No. 44. Many things are disappearing, and they all disappeared suddenly when we didn't notice them. Even the people in the entire city didn't feel it... except for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is not in this city."

Hearing this, Gerard's heart sank.

If it weren't for Kud's reminder, he wouldn't have noticed these things. He felt that Tianqin had been developing faster and faster in recent years. In his era, all kinds of prosthetic limbs that could only be used for military purposes were also put to civilian use. Cutting off an entire arm and replacing it with a mechanical arm was impossible ten years ago, but now it has become commonplace.

But he always thought that this was just the changing times, but he didn't expect... something deeper.

Something...disappeared along with Clerk 44.

Jellal kept repeating these words in his mind.

At this moment, Kud suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his speech.

Gerard saw that his hands began to tremble unconsciously again.

"I originally wanted to count and see how many things disappeared, but suddenly I found that the largest and heaviest thing was missed and forgotten by us, but it should be the least likely to be forgotten."

Kud's tone made Jellal's breathing slow down unconsciously: "What is it?"

He looked at Gerald and seemed to be smiling, but that smile looked more like crying.

Bai Wei narrowed Gerard's eyes.

This Kud really surprised him, as he had even discovered the most crucial thing.

"Gerald, think about it carefully and recall it carefully." After a long silence, when the cigarette had burned to his fingers, Kud seemed not to notice it. He just said softly, "Do you still remember..."

"Our God."

"What is it like?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 100 Thirty-one I can only go alone

Kud showed Gerald a torn book page.

This is a very ordinary, academic book. Because the title page was torn off, the title is incomplete and only the words "Metal Prosthetic Automation" can be seen.

But the title of the book is obviously not the point; the point is the painting on the title page.

The painting shows a huge monster, whose body is made up of metal and holy light interwoven together, like a classical and sacred work of art.

But Gerard knew that this was not a work of art.

This is...Him.

Yes, that is Lyra herself.

"Do you remember anything?" Kud said, "I tore this from one of my father's collections. He had to bring all the books from twelve years ago, as long as they were officially published."

"I know." Gerald said in a deep voice, "Ten years ago, before entering the contaminated area, Xixing would pray to this painting every time, because..."