You don't even want to call me godfather

"What do you want to say?"

"I was the one who killed that cadre."

Lapland admitted it frankly, but at this time Koshe was holding a wine glass, and his eyes were partially covered by his hair, making it difficult to see his expression.

"Ok, I know."

After a while, he just said this.

"After today, I will continue to kill people."

"Ah."

"Don't you have anything to say?"

Laplande didn't understand why Koshe suddenly became like a fool and didn't respond to her words at all.

"..."

Koshei remained silent instead of answering.

"Aaaaah, this is so boring. I'm the only one talking, and it's such a serious matter. You're making me uncomfortable."

"Feel sorry."

"..." Laplande was silent. She snatched the wine glass from Koshe's hand, drank it in one gulp, and then continued, "Cascade, do you know this saying? If someone hurts his neighbor, then the other party will hurt that person in the same way-"

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," Koshei said before Lapland finished speaking. "To be honest, if I could, I would like to go back a few hours, refuse to accept the document, and forget about it."

"But there is no medicine for regret in the world. You told me this. So what do you think of me now? I believe you have calmed down. How do you deal with what I am about to do?"

"……I have no idea."

Koshe didn't know what his attitude was towards Lapland now.

Guilt? Or maybe apology?

"I won't kill you, but I will stop you. If all you want to do is revenge, I can only try my best to prevent you from hurting my important people."

"You should know that there is nothing perfect in this world, Cascade. Perhaps it is best for you to persuade me to let go of my hatred, but I know that with your character, you will not do something that goes against your principles." Laplander poured himself another glass of wine and helped Koshe get another glass and filled it up. "You said you would stop me, but you and I both know that unless you kill me, you can't stop me at all."

"I won't kill you, I won't..." Koshe took the wine glass and took a sip, "I don't know, this is too hard to think about, I have never encountered such a situation..."

"But some things are just like that, unpredictable. Just like you never thought that you would sit here and peacefully discuss this topic with me, your enemy who killed your family's cadres."

"Enemy... maybe, although I can no longer tell who is the guilty party."

Koshei clenched his fist in one hand, and the other hand holding the wine glass was trembling slightly. He lowered his head as if he was pricking something with a needle.

"Guilt? Are there any truly innocent people in this world? Don't think that Syracuse is always associated with history, legend, and nostalgia. In this country, Cascade, there is always new blood flowing in the old veins. You know, to put it bluntly, Syracuse is nothing more than a garbage dump filled with the remains of countless families."

"The path to salvation lies within it... The Godfather once told me this..."

"Redemption? Come on, Cascade, can anyone really be redeemed?" Laplander put down his glass, stood up, and said, "You probably won't understand what I'm saying. So, Cascade, come out with me."

"what?"

After leaving some money on the bar, Koshe stood up and followed Lappland to the door of the bar.

"Let's make a bet about redemption," Laplande pushed open the door of the bar and motioned Koshe to come out with him. "Although you won't like this, this should be the most efficient way."

The two men came to the door of the bar and stood at the door. Lapland pointed his finger across the road, where a man was sitting on the ground, shivering, his arms twitching.

"Did you see that guy? I noticed him when I came here. He has a ore disease, and it looks like it's quite serious," Laplande said to Koshe. "You said the way to salvation lies in it, so are you willing to bet with me whether that guy will be rescued before he dies?"

"This bet is really bad..." Koshei was a little unhappy, but still accepted the bet, "What if I win?"

"Then I will be quiet for a while, at least enough to make you forget about me," Lappland disagreed. She seemed to be sure of winning. "Of course, if I win, then the opposite will happen."

The two men just stood there, looking at a man sitting on the ground twitching and groaning in pain.

Koshe didn't know how long it was. He could only see the man's convulsions becoming more and more violent, but no one came to rescue him, not even passers-by.

"Does this situation remind you of the past?"

Suddenly, Laplander asked.

"what?"

“It was a feeling of being stuck,” Laplander said. “It was like finding a dying bird next to a church.”

"..."

Koshe was speechless. At this moment, the man who was suffering from the oripathy attack suddenly stiffened and fell to the side.

"That's enough, this is just nonsense!"

Koshe couldn't sit still anymore, and under Lappland's expectant look, he ran towards the man.

"Hey! Brother, wake up!"

Koshe held the man's shoulders and helped him sit up from the ground, avoiding the Originium crystal on his neck and patting his face.

“Uh…uh…cough cough——”

The man's eyelids twitched, he opened one eye with difficulty, and then began to cough violently.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

Koshei asked him.

"Ahem - no, I'm not dead yet," the man sat up straight, waved his hand, and said, "I haven't lost to the mineral disease yet."

"That's good……"

But come to think of it, does this mean that someone saved this man?

Koshe turned around, and as he expected, Lappland had disappeared long ago, and he had no way of knowing whether he had won or lost the bet.

On the rooftop of a low building not far away, Lappland sighed softly as he looked at the man rescued by Koshe.

"God has mercy on you, but it's only temporary."

It sounded like something was being said to the man, but it also sounded like something was being said to someone else.

"Cascade, you're cheating."

Lappland's hands were on the handles of the two swords at his waist.

Some decisions can save lives, while others can kill people.

Since Koshe did the former, Lapland would undoubtedly become the latter.

Chapter 16: Wall of Discrimination

Laplande always comes and goes without a trace, and knows the terrain of Syracuse like the back of her hand.

If Koshei had not used all his connections to search carefully, he might not have found her.

But now, Koshe was obviously held back by the man in front of him and couldn't chase her.

Helping people to the end is the most basic principle.

After helping the man sit up, Koshei was acutely aware that he reeked heavily of alcohol.

It was so strong that even Koschei, who had already drunk three or four bottles of whiskey, could smell it.

"Thank you. How long have I been unconscious?"

"Not long, maybe a dozen seconds. If it's due to mineral sickness, anything longer might be a problem."

The man's thanks drew Koshe's gaze back from the bar door.

"Chaos, just call me Chaos," Chaos rubbed his forehead and said, "Excuse me, what should I call you, my friend?"

"Cascade, Koshe Cascade, I prefer to be called Koshe," Koshe said, "Your name doesn't sound like a Syracusan."

"Cascade...I didn't expect that I would be so lucky tonight. I was rescued by my godson."

"You don't look particularly drunk."

"I'm not drunk all the time, my friend. At least I'm sober now. As for why this happened, it's probably because of the reaction between the alcohol and the Originium particles in my body."

Chaos said so.

"Then why did you drink so much alcohol when your oripathy was so severe?"

"To be honest, I'm already quitting drinking. I hate quitting drinking, and I also hate people holding glasses of wine in their hands. But sometimes I still have to smile at those people I hate. Every one of them knows that I'm an alcoholic, so they want to know what I'm running away from. Some bastards who firmly believe in Freud's theory spread this theory to everyone," Chaos touched his pocket and took out a pack of cigarettes from it. "I was originally from Ursus, but I fled here because I couldn't stand the discrimination there."

He opened the cigarette box, but it was empty.

"Why come to Syracuse? It's not very peaceful here either."

Koshe took out his cigarette box, took out two cigarettes and handed one to Chaos.

"When people care more about their differences than their commonalities, bad things will always happen. My friend, I just want to survive. This is what I want to do. I'm alone here and haven't seen my family in almost ten years. I just want to be alone. This is what I want." Chaos took the cigarette, lit the butt, and took a deep breath. "Those Ursus people looked at us like rats, you know, scum and dirt. Not all of us infected are like this. I don't want this to happen, but I can't do anything about it."

"Perhaps they are afraid that you will infect them with the mineral disease. I have seen this kind of thing quite often. I can only say that everyone has strange ideas. Don't take it too seriously, Chaos. People's imagination is always very rich. This is very natural."

After he finished speaking, Koshei also lit a cigarette for himself.

"You want me to not care too much about their looks? Koshe, my friend, you should be smart enough not to try to educate an alcoholic. Alcoholics are not suitable for education. My friend, we will be divided until one day we explode. Part of this process is very interesting, and part of it is very bad."

"Have you ever thought about how to solve this problem?"

"If I had a car, I could find a job. I'm not a fool, my friend. But it's really hard to turn things around now. I've been looking for scrapped cars or second-hand cars. If I had a car, I could leave here." Chaos seemed to be choked by the smoke, his eyebrows slightly wrinkled. "A lot of what you said makes sense, my friend. You are able to seriously and for a long time reflect on yourself and see the essence of things. This is a talent that most people don't have. Most people will spend a lot of their life energy to maintain the dignity they never had."

"Dignity, maybe. Pain and fear are not death. There is still room for redemption," Koshe flicked his cigarette and watched the ash slowly fall to the ground. "You have to forgive and forget. Life is full of misfortunes."

"I just hope people can understand each other and stop the hate, man, life is too short, I want to know if my mom is alive and well, to find my family."

Chaos stopped smoking.

The cigarette butt burned all the way down the cigarette body to the filter, and only after he felt it was a little hot did he react and threw the cigarette away.

This topic was too serious, so serious that he himself felt a little at a loss.

He didn't know why he confided his inner thoughts to Koshei, a man he had known for less than an hour.

"Hiss...it's really cold tonight."

Thinking of this, Chaos ended the topic with a blunt remark.

"It won't be long before winter comes."

Koshe nodded and put away the cigarette box. He had smoked enough cigarettes today, so many that it made him feel sick. He had never been like this before because of anything.

"When the weather gets cold, I will remember when I left Ursus. I walked towards the southeast of Ursus, walked and walked, crossed the seemingly endless snowfield, and arrived at Syracuse at the last moment before I collapsed. When I was about to faint, I was helped by a kind person."

"Believe me, everything will change," Koshe didn't know how to comfort the man in front of him. He was even more helpless than he looked. He could only say, "One day, there will no longer be high walls of discrimination on this land, and there will no longer be people as cold as ice."

Although this is a naive or even fantasy-like vision.

But at least this idea is undoubtedly a good one before everything is too late to remedy.

"I hope to tear down the wall of discrimination and make war and death dim. The infected people in Ursus put their hopes in the wilderness, but can only survive on the remnants in the snow," Chaos said as if he suddenly thought of something. "Although I don't know why, it's as if some power in the dark drove me to say this sentence that I have never heard before. But thank you for accompanying me through this difficult night, Koshe, my friend, may God bless you."

"Of course, Chaos, my friend, merciful Heavenly Father, may you help all the sick to recover soon, provide shelter for the homeless, give food to the hungry, and warm the wanderers in foreign lands. Amen," Koshei said after a brief prayer for Chaos. He stood up and patted his clothes. "It's getting late, Chaos. I have to go back. I have a worrying sister waiting for me at home. Perhaps I shouldn't let her worry about me."

"Well, thank you again, Koshei, good night, Koshei."

Seeing Koshe was about to leave, Chaos did not try to keep him. He was used to being alone, but occasionally he needed a place to vent and someone to talk to.

"Good night, Chaos."

After saying goodbye to Chaos, Koshe walked back without saying a word. There was a long straight road from the mansion to the bar.

The road was very long and he was silent the whole way, stopping regularly from time to time, turning around and looking at the street behind him.

Because he could feel that someone was following him, and even though he was hiding well, the Cascade family's unique insight and intuition told him so.

Ever since I started my long conversation with Chaos, this feeling of being watched has never dissipated.

Finally, when he stopped and turned back regularly and deliberately let the other party master this pattern, Koshe unexpectedly broke this pattern and turned back ahead of time.

He caught a glimpse of red, and strands of silver hair.

Chapter 17 Wolf Hunter Red