old dream

Chapter 167 Shadow Flicker
After the party, Elena was supposed to go back to the apartment with Ji Lian, but Linus seemed to have some work to do, so she was going to stay and help.

Therefore, Ke Lin and Ji Lian also said goodbye first.

After leaving Linus' mansion, the two had their own concerns, and neither of them said a word.

On the way, with the dim light in the car, Ji Li'an was reading the recommendation letter, but she was a little absent-minded.

In the end, the two went back downstairs to her apartment.Colin parked the car on the side of the road without pulling out the key.Ji Lian got out of the car by herself, fumbled to open the door of the apartment building in the dim light, and then she turned her head and waved to Colin.

Colin also raised his hand to say goodbye to her through the car window.Ji Li'an smiled complicatedly, turned and walked into the stairs.

After the door was closed, Colin quietly listened to the humming of the engine in the night, and did not pull down the accelerator lever for a long time.

He slammed the steering wheel with both arms, thinking that his chances of completing the ceremony before the winter solstice might have faded.

But between me and Ji Lian, at least one person can still achieve the original goal, so this cooperation is not considered a failure.

But even if he comforted himself like this, he couldn't suppress some kind of manic depression.

After a while, he simply turned off the engine, pulled out the key, and then leaned back on the uncomfortable seat, folded his arms and shrugged.

The exhaustion that has always been ignored slowly poured out.Recently, he has only slept four hours a day.Do you really just want to regain the memory you lost ten years ago with such selfless desperation?
The fact that memories have been manipulated suggests some kind of danger.But ten years have passed, can it be considered that the danger has faded away?

He thought silently, and suddenly found that everything he did was becoming hollow.

And when he almost fell asleep, he didn't know if it was an illusion, as if a hand brushed his consciousness.

He vaguely seemed to see a familiar shadow.

But at this moment, there was a fine knocking sound outside the car window.

Colin shivered suddenly, came to his senses, and while blaming himself for being lax, he looked out the window.

It turned out to be Ji Li'an, tapping the glass with her fingers.

"what happened?"

Colin rolled down the glass window to ask, and at the same time glanced at his watch, he found that he had been here for more than ten minutes.

Ji Lian, who turned back, took out the recommendation letter again, and pinched it with the index finger and thumb of both hands, as if to tear the letter in half.

But before she could, Colin grabbed her arm.

"I don't have to go to Danaro." Ji Lian said:
"As long as you promise me one condition."

"what?"

"Let Elena live."

"No, I'm not asking what the conditions are." Colin said puzzledly:
"I can help you with this, really...but I don't want to blackmail you with it."

You should still go to Danaro.This is pretty much your only chance.

"Well, then it's not a deal," she confessed:
"Whether you succeed in this matter or not, I will choose to stay."

Ji Lian exhaled lightly, then raised the corners of her mouth, and a bright smile that Ke Lin had never seen appeared on her face.

Maybe this is what Ji Lian used to be like, a genius who was not recognized in church schools, but always exuded a certain fatal magic power.

"The Grand Duchess, Annette Schuman Edmond, died of tuberculosis less than a decade ago."

"Judging from the results, the best doctor in Danaro couldn't save anything. Therefore, I believe that there is no 100% cure for tuberculosis in this world, even in the Principality of Sanctuary."

Her fingers were gradually exerting force, and she pulled a tear on the flexible letter paper:
"Instead of hoping that they will make some breakthroughs in just over ten years, I'd rather believe in my own ideas. After all, I believe that these years of hard work are definitely not a waste of time."

Moreover, after getting involved with the religious order, it is difficult to guarantee that the practice of finding antibiotics will not be considered heresy.

Ji Lian smiled slightly and said:

"Or if they really made any progress, then I wouldn't be unaware of it."

After all, she has been staring at the research report from the seminary.

Ke Lin unconsciously let go of his hand, and Ji Lian tore the letter into pieces without any hesitation.

Bark, bark, she tore it very carefully and crisply, and finally, she stuffed the remaining small handful of crumbs into Colin's hands:
"Just in case, I still want to remind you."

Her cool hand was still covering Colin's, and between the two palms was a torn letter of recommendation:
"Don't get me wrong, I definitely didn't stay here for you."

She lowered her eyes and said softly:
"It's just that I prefer to believe in myself than to leave my fate in the hands of others."

…………

At the same moment, Leon unconsciously sighed while walking in the dark alleys of the old city.

Leon, a former senior soldier of the Nale Group Army, was also the first batch of people to join the lieutenant's subordinates.

The agency once entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of transporting cash.Now, he has another job on his body, which is to visit an adopted child every week.

It was said that it was the child of an agent of the "Northern Organization", whose parents died at the hands of the agency, and was later handed over to the care of a wounded colleague.

The Lieutenant was truly a great man who made a difference in the lives of all his colleagues.

Today, the daily income of Leon, the earliest participants, has reached about [-] to [-] Ori, which may fluctuate depending on the danger and core of the work, but it is at least ten times that of the working class.

But as their lives became richer, they began to discover that some traumas would never be healed by money.

It doesn't mean everyone, but some people, not a small proportion of people, who still haven't gotten out of the haze of the Nale battlefield.

They've been enslaved by something.Even if you get the money, you just want to squander it as soon as possible, as if keeping the money will hurt yourself.

This is not because they are ignorant of savings, or greedy for enjoyment.

It's that these people simply cannot accept what happiness they can get.

Out of respect for the lieutenant, they are still performing their work meticulously.But privately.But some people gradually fell into bad habits, drinking, gambling, and even some more dangerous attempts.Money just makes them start to be able to vent their madness.

Even though the lieutenant solved the survival problems of most people, in some families, the crying of women and children continued.

Pacing to the destination while thinking, Leon took out the key and opened a room.As a result, a strong smell of alcohol came to the face.

In a single room, you can see more than [-] wine bottles stacked around at a glance.

Leon frowned, and took off the wide-brimmed short hat on his head.While waving his hand to disperse the smell, he walked inside.The room was dimly lit, and a man was grunting heavily.

A four or five-year-old boy was curled up in the corner of the room, seemingly taking a nap.Live with a single man and don't expect him to be well looked after.

Leon bent down and gently shook him awake, the little boy turned his head sleepily, looking at the visitor.

"...he didn't hit me."

The child said this as soon as he saw Leon's face.Leon nodded, but still lifted up the child's clothes to check for any wounds on his body.

No, the child was not abused.Leon also breathed a sigh of relief.He thought for a moment, then reached out to help the boy organize his clothes.

It can be seen that he wore them all by himself, and the fabric was crooked, which couldn't keep out the cold well.

"The hem is best tucked into the trousers."

After all, winter is coming soon, Leon told him carefully:

"Put the trouser legs into the socks, and it will be cold in a few days..."

Finally, Leon stuffed some change into the child's pocket as usual, and he patted the child's arm:

"I'll be back next week," he said.
"If you have any questions, you can tell me."

The boy nodded.

After Leon stood up, he glanced at his colleague's room.Once again, I wanted to persuade him to live a good life, but I also knew it was futile, and the other party seemed to be sleeping deeply, so I gave up.

He put his round, dark, wide-brimmed hat back on, and after a final salute to the child, he left the room.

When the lock of the door was closed, the snoring that had been ringing stopped abruptly.

The veteran who had been seriously injured turned over from his dirty bed with a frightened and flustered expression.

After getting acquainted with the child step by step, the veteran began to let him run outside on the street, because he just wanted to get some child support and didn't want to spend too much energy taking care of him.

But last night, that child brought a stranger back to his home.Since then, the veteran has been kept under control and has never been able to leave the house.

"That's the man."

The child said to an unusually dark corner:

"That person must be able to contact Heinrich."

Leon had carefully examined the room, but found nothing unusual.

Following the child's words, a shadow seemed to flicker in that dark corner.

(End of this chapter)