old dream

Chapter 357 Empty Seat
Colin tried to move his arm under the quilt, feeling that his body was extremely heavy.A sudden flapping of wings made him turn his head to the left side of the hospital bed, where there was a small bright window.The thin gauze curtains are reflected white by the late winter sun, but the scenery outside can still be vaguely seen.

A small flock of white pigeons had just passed by, and at the end of the line of sight was a stretch of shiny orange roofs.

It's about five stories high...

"Are you awake?" Nancy's voice came from the right.

Colin didn't want to disturb their dark card game, but while Nancy was in front of the referee, she still caught the slightest movement on his side.

"here is?"

he asked in an imperceptible voice.

"Just another safe house," Nancy said. "It's not far from the embassy district, but no one can find it here."

"What about... the courthouse and the theater?"

Colin paused when he opened his mouth, because he originally wanted to ask about Pale Earth, and some thoughts had been lingering in his mind since he left the theater, so he almost asked here directly.

But when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them abruptly.

Because no matter how Bod Ives looked in the theater, or the unheard of horrible sacrifices in the nightmare, Colin felt that bad changes were taking place in them.So, he doesn't talk about her when other people are around.

Even better not to mention it to Nancy.

"Theatre." Nancy looked away from the game for the first time, and glanced at Colin with a smile:
"You can try to listen to the voices outside."

This is the fifth floor, and the sounds of people and traffic on the street are slightly blurred.Colin turned his head out of the window again, because there were countless small but crowded noises outside, it's okay if you don't pay attention, but it can give you a headache if you listen carefully.

For Danaro, a city on the verge of collapse, is groaning uneasily.

It seems that even the wild dogs are barking extraordinarily hard, every driver stuck in the road is ravaging the horn of the car, and the old and thin horse keeps snorting.So of course there will be more people—as if they thought it was too noisy outside the window to make them hear clearly, they all turned up the radio at hand to the maximum volume.But except for the thousand exciting or brisk dance music, almost everyone is listening to the same channel, and the loudspeakers of all sizes on the street are also roaring and looping the same majestic voice at the same time. The voice even seemed to resonate in the high altitude of Danalo, making that hysterical speech break free from the countless noises of the city, even Colin who was lying on the hospital bed could vaguely hear:
"... Shout out again! Long live the great benefactor of the Principality, Marshal Edmund!"

"The saboteurs have been arrested! The strength of Danalo's security system has been proved, and the innocent civilians in the theater have been protected! History will tell us that the shameful and pathetic enemy, any conspiracy against the Principality will be thwarted! Severely punished! ..."

"This is……"

Ke Lin listened to the roar on the high-pitched radio, stayed for a while, and suddenly found it difficult to understand:
"Wait, if they're declaring 'victory' at this point, how are they going to conduct the search publicly afterwards?"

"It's very simple. There will be no more large-scale raids." Nancy clasped the chip tightly in her hand with a snap, her eyes glowing brightly:
"The one in the palace didn't make up his mind after all. Rather than being found out that the current Danaro is a sieve that leaks everywhere, he would rather let us play like this."

"Where is the Grand Court?"

"The coal-burning ventilation problem has caused collective poisoning." Nancy said: "This is the explanation in the newspaper, and it is estimated that there will be no follow-up."

"Is that so..." Colin murmured thoughtfully.

On the hospital bed on the far left side of the room, two members of the dark river were still playing cards without saying a word. They played cards very quickly, so they played as if they were fighting, and the cards were ringing loudly.Nancy kept her eyes on the game, but after a while she said:

"...Speaking of which, when I was blocking that McBride, I heard an interesting thing."

"What?" Colin asked.

Nancy repeated what McBride said, including the origin of the gate of reality and illusion he said, and the inhuman realm that the Grand Duke had reached more than ten years ago.

"What do you think?" Nancy asked:

"Can you believe what the mammoth said?"

Can you believe this dreamlike words?Was that Mike hallucinated by his superior Jiwei for too long?Ke Lin rethought his impression of the Grand Duke, a strange but familiar person.He knew the lady-loving grand duke from Bernice, he also knew the old friend that his uncle Craigie occasionally mentioned a few years ago, and he personally experienced his courage in the Stade Institute, and in the future Arriving at Naro, he witnessed the extreme failure of his domain.

"Sometimes I feel he is a very contradictory person."

Ke Lin thought about it and said, "Very capable, but on the other hand very incompetent..."

Looking at Colin who was lost in thought, Nancy directly stated her conclusion:
"A few days ago, I might have believed the mammoth story a little bit, but now I'm absolutely sure," she said:
"If the Grand Duke is really what McBride said, or even if he is only half as strong as he said, how can Danaro be in this state now? What reason does the theater and the police department have to stop and endure this situation? A bad breath?"

If a person had really been on top of the third veil more than ten years ago, entering a realm that the world has never heard of, then it would be an exaggeration—why didn't he just work harder to unify the Ankh Alliance?And with such an existence, how could it be possible that even a Danaro could run such an undercurrent, and even a few small thieves who pushed their noses on their faces couldn't handle it? !

"...Indeed, you are right." Colin said.

If McBride's claim is true, it makes no sense.

But for some reason, the sense of disobedience in his heart could not be resolved.

The sluggish and incompetent response of the Garden Palace and the theater organization in the past two days made him feel like he had been punched in the cotton. Instead of being relieved, he felt a little uneasy.

He knew that Nancy should have the same sense of disobedience, but he didn't know how to express it.Intuition told Colin that the palace might not be what he had imagined, nor even what Nancy had imagined for more than ten years. All their cognitions about the Grand Duke were probably wrong on a more fundamental level... …

Maybe he's far stronger than expected, but also, possibly, weaker than any most optimistic forecast.

"Anyway." Nancy took a breath and said:

"How to ascend, can he still surpass the law of mirror image?"

Regardless of whether the Grand Duke or not is human, he must be within range of the theater ritual.General Vanus' sword will surely behead him.

Edmund, die for the seventh generation!

"...Remember this day! The great Commander Edmund will always reap his victories! Come, show your gratitude and loyalty to the great benefactor of the country!"

Up to this moment, the tweeter outside the window was still chattering endlessly.Listening to those unreserved and meaningless compliments, and thinking of the Grand Duke's inaction and powerlessness, Ke Lin slowly felt absurd.

It felt as if the palace and its throne were empty.

(End of this chapter)