Chapter 160: Never Alone

Chapter 160: Never Alone

Night fell.

A black coffin rested quietly upon the mortuary table, wherein Miss Eliza lay with composed grace, her hands folded over her lower abdomen, holding down an exquisite red jewelry box between them.

Inside the mourning hall, the lightbulbs had all been replaced with warm tones, all of them burning now, casting a soft, gentle glow.

Constrained by the venue, it could not be made grand or magnificent, yet every detail exuded refinement.

Karen sat on a chair in the corner; behind him were several rows of chairs prepared for the mourners, and on the table up front stood wines, beverages, and some snacks—not expensive, but varied.

The hour had arrived.

Pick took a pen and walked outside, writing upon the directory sign: Miss Eliza's Mourning Hall.

Dincom, meanwhile, carried a jar of clear water and began to sprinkle the path leading from the outside to the mortuary table.

Alfred walked up to the sound system, and after a couple of adjustments, a song began to play from the speakers, titled "My Lord Count."

This was the theme song of a vampire movie released two years ago; the protagonist was a vampire count, and the film chronicled not his wartime exploits, but his loves, hates, and grievances.

It told the tragic tale of how he spared nothing, even selling his soul to the devil, for the sake of his beloved.

Yet Karen knew that in reality, the prototype for this figure... or precisely, the archetype of the class of people he represented, were actually ordinary humans, not blood-drinking aberrations.

Nevertheless, none of that mattered now; choosing this song was merely to suit the occasion.

Karen turned slightly, looking outward, waiting for tonight's guests.

Would Captain Neo come?

A small blue car appeared, pulling over on the side of the highway adjacent to the funeral parlor, and the weeping man from that night stepped out, dressed today in evening wear that gave him a refined texture.

Once inside, he stepped onto the mortuary platform, standing beside the coffin to gaze at the woman lying within.

From Karen's angle, the deep attachment in his eyes was clearly visible; such an expression could not be faked.

Another quarter of an hour or so passed before a black, elongated "Piersa" business sedan pulled up by the roadside, and a young woman stepped out, her features bearing a seventy-percent resemblance to Eliza's, likely making them sisters.

Accompanying her out of the vehicle were two manservants.

As she reached the entrance of the funeral parlor, her gaze swept across the surroundings, her eyes betraying a look of dissatisfaction with the environment.

Catching this detail, a smile subconsciously touched the corner of Karen's mouth; this woman exuded a familiar scent, the emotional indifference inherent to grand families manifesting flawlessly upon her.

Dincom, who had been sprinkling water, stepped aside, but as the woman approached, a security guard behind her still took the initiative to step forward, extending a hand to shove Dincom out of the way, sending him tumbling straight to the ground.

"What do you think you're doing!"

Seeing Dincom pushed down, Pick immediately rushed over to help him up, and just as he was about to demand an explanation, he was pulled back by Dincom;

Then, Dincom shifted his gaze toward Karen sitting in the corner chair, and seeing that Karen remained seated there, he climbed up on his own and pulled Pick back a little further.

The woman paused, looking toward Karen who sat in the corner;

Then, she turned around.

"Slap!"

With a sharp crack, she struck a bodyguard across the face, a bright red handprint surfacing immediately upon his cheek.

Then, the woman walked inside and stepped onto the mortuary platform.

Seeing the woman arrive, the man fell to his knees before her in submission.

The woman did not spare him so much as a glance, looking instead at Eliza lying in the coffin.

For a long time,

She reached into the coffin, took the box from beneath Eliza's hands, and opened it to find Eliza's fangs and nails within.

"Heh..."

The woman let out a laugh.

"Heh..."

The woman continued to laugh, covering her face.

Karen silently picked up a piece of sesame candy from before him, peeled open the wrapper, and popped it into his mouth; this candy was not sweet, yet it was quite fragrant to chew.

The woman placed the box back where it belonged, then stepped down from the platform and walked toward Karen.

The two bodyguards subconsciously moved to follow, but Alfred stepped directly in front of them, blocking their path.

The woman raised her hand, and the two bodyguards quietly stepped back.

Immediately after, Karen caught the scent of her perfume; it was very heavy, a pungent fragrance Eunice would never use.

The woman sat down beside him and inquired, "Are you the Lord Inquisitor of this place?"

"No," Karen replied honestly.

"Where is the Lord Inquisitor?"

"He is not here."

"Very well, I understand."

The woman pointed toward the mortuary platform and said, "The one lying inside is my elder sister."

Karen nodded and said, "It shows."

"Do we look very alike?"

"Yes."

"No, in fact, we are not alike at all. I am not as foolish as she was, to bring herself to such an end all for the sake of a man."

"For him?"

Karen gestured toward the man who still knelt by the coffin.

"Heh... Him?"

The woman smiled,

Shook her head,

And said:

"She was not quite that foolish."

Karen took another piece of sesame candy, peeled it, and put it in his mouth.

Seeing this, the woman knit her brows slightly; she too reached out, took a piece, and hesitated over whether to peel it.

"It tastes rather good," Karen recommended.

"Oh, does it." The woman peeled the wrapper and placed the candy into her mouth. "It is ordinary enough."

"Will you be taking the coffin and the remains away?" Karen asked.

"I will."

"Very well."

"In any case, my thanks to you for holding a funeral for her."

"It was our boss's arrangement; we are only responsible for its execution, you need not thank us."

The woman leaned back slightly, still chewing on the sesame candy, her gaze scouring the outside.

Just then, a figure emerged in the night, a middle-aged man with sharp, angular features, draped in a black overcoat.

Upon his appearance, the two bodyguards the woman had brought dropped straight to one knee before him.

"Father..."

The woman stood up and walked toward the middle-aged man.

"I thought Father wouldn't come."

The man did not reply to his daughter, walking instead toward the mortuary platform.

The manservant remained on his knees, his body beginning to tremble, evidently terrified of this man.

"Lord Count... I... I... I failed to take proper care of the young mistress... I, Gross, am guilty, guilty!"

The man addressed as Count merely looked at the woman lying within the coffin, then reached out, picked up the small box, and opened it.

"Extracting the Ancestral Fang is an ultimate disrespect to our clan."

Karen stood up and replied, "Because no one came beforehand to inform me of the specific procedure, we could only perform the layout according to local customs. Please forgive us."

The Count’s gaze swept over Karen, asking a question the woman had asked earlier:

"Are you the Inquisitor here?"

"No, our boss is away, I am a mere servant of the god here."

"Only a servant of the god here?"

"Yes, sir."

The Count stepped down from the mortuary platform, walked over to a chair, and sat.

The woman proactively took a piece of sesame candy, unwrapped it, and offered it to the Count:

"Father, Sister is gone, but you still have me."

The Count did not open his mouth to take the candy, but instead slapped his daughter across the face.

"Smack!"

The woman was thrown to the floor by the force of the blow.

Sitting nearby, Karen witnessed this scene;

Well, it seemed this family shared a traditional fondness for slapping faces.

"Father?"

"This is your sister's mourning hall, you should maintain the respect she is due, Edith."

Edith dared not argue, standing up with the intention of sitting down right next to her father.

"Go before your sister’s coffin, and kneel."

"Father?"

"Go!"

Edith bit her lip, but ultimately walked to the mortuary platform and knelt down.

The Count looked at Karen and asked:

"How much longer until the mourning ceremony ends?"

"It concludes at two in the morning," Karen replied.

"Very well. Have the funeral expenses been paid?"

"They have."

The Count nodded, sat up straight, and closed his eyes.

For a very long time afterward, the atmosphere became oppressive and tedious.

Those who were kneeling kept kneeling, those who were sitting kept sitting, and the one who was lying down kept lying down.

Alfred poured a glass of ice water for Karen and brought him a copy of today's newspaper, knowing his young master needed these right now.

Karen gave a subtle cue;

Alfred took the hint, pouring a cup of hot tea for the Count, who gave a slight nod of acknowledgment.

Then,

Alfred poured a cup of tea for each of the other two guests and placed them before them.

Edith raised her head slightly, looking at the cup placed in front of her, gritting her teeth but not daring to flare up.

Because the kneeling posture she and the manservant Gross held required their hands to stretch forward flat against the tiles with their hips raised, having a cup placed right before them made them look from afar like two dogs bent over drinking water.

Karen used the posture of reading the newspaper to shield his face.

A blood-sucking mutant had died, and her sister and father just happened to be in York City?

And by the looks of it, it wasn't a secret infiltration; therefore, they must have come for another purpose, and it was semi-public in nature.

Karen guessed they were likely here as family envoys to negotiate a certain cooperation with an orthodox church in York City, and thus had received a degree of recognition and protection.

In fact, it was highly probable that it was the Church of Order.

Otherwise, there would be no explaining why they would appear here so brazenly, since they hadn't known before arriving that Inquisitor Pavaro wasn't here. Their daring to face an Inquisitor openly clearly meant they feared neither conflict nor being reported.

But, could it really be such a coincidence?

They had only just arrived, and Elisa had fallen into delusion and committed suicide?

Karen checked the time; it was just past midnight.

In truth, the reason the mourning period was so long was to make it convenient for people from far away to make it in time to catch a final glimpse of the deceased, and if no one else was coming, those who had already mourned didn't need to keep waiting at all.

Finally, the Count stood up and said, "Edith, take your sister home."

"Yes, Father."

Edith was finally able to scramble up from the floor, gesturing for her two bodyguards to come forward and move the coffin.

But just then, a cluster of figures suddenly materialized outside, standing a short distance away by the roadside, causing the atmosphere in the mourning hall to instantly freeze into stagnation.

The two bodyguards immediately positioned themselves at the entrance, and Edith also looked outside with a tense expression.

"Hehe... Hehehe..."

The laughter came from the manservant Gross, who had been kneeling on the floor the entire time; he slowly rose to his feet, looking at Edith and the Count before him, shouting hideously:

"The people from the Bocart and Magna families have already arrived. Second Miss, Master, you won't be leaving today."

Bocart and Magna were the two blood-sucking mutant families that stood alongside Anawas; during the peak of the blood-sucking mutants in the last era, these three families had each controlled a nation.

Edith turned her head to glare at the manservant Gross, raging, "Gross, you betrayed us!"

"No, I did not!" Gross roared furiously, "I did it to avenge my beloved mistress, I did it to avenge my beloved mistress! You, you, you are the executioners who murdered the young mistress!"

Gross stepped down from the mortuary platform and continued, "Why could you be so cold-hearted? I truly do not understand why you had to treat the young mistress this way. When I went searching for you behind her back, hoping to be granted a bottle of Rest Elixir, you gave it to me. I was truly driven mad with joy at the time, because I knew that if my beloved mistress had it, she could temporarily escape the disturbance of delusion!

When I brought it before the young mistress, she wept outright. Having been away from home for so many years, she once more felt the warmth of family; she even said she would go to the alley opposite your hotel, my Lord Count, and kneel down to pray for your blessings!

But after she drank it, the fading—it actually accelerated without warning, coming much faster and sooner than anyone had anticipated!

The young mistress did not even catch one last glimpse of that man before she was forced to pin herself down with silver nails!

Why,

how could you all be so cold-blooded?"

The Count looked at Gross. "So, you contacted the people of the Boccard and Magna families?"

"Yes, that is right. They were highly sensitive and furious that you represent Anavas here in York City to hold talks and cooperate with the Church, because they never expected Anavas would choose to betray the very collective of blood-drinking fiends!

Therefore, they desperately wanted to stop it, so I contacted them. I guessed you would come here tonight; I guessed that you, and you, would certainly come.

Because you murdered the young mistress with your own hands, as the killers, you would surely come over to admire your handiwork!

I guessed correctly, so I had the men from those two families in York City wait here. Now, they have waited out their prize.

In the young mistress's mourning hall, you all shall be buried alive with her!!!"

"Madman, madman, madman! You traitor, Gross, I shall tear you to pieces first!"

Two fangs bared from the corners of Edith's mouth, but just as she was about to pounce upon Gross, a whistle echoed from outside.

Immediately following, the silhouettes originally lurking in the dark gradually grew distinct; they wore black divine robes and black masks upon their faces, emerging suddenly like a flock of phantoms.

But how could they possibly be blood-drinking fiends, nor could they be the hidden forces of the Boccard and Magna families lurking in York City—it was entirely impossible, because they were the Whip of Order!

Karen had seen Tyers and his squad members; those members of the Whip of Order squad possessed none of the temperament of the people before him, that chilling aura that inspired awe and dread.

The two groups of people, with a single glance, could be distinguished by a clear hierarchy of competence.

So, the strength of each Whip of Order squad actually varied by a vast margin?

"How... how can this be!" Gross stared at the crowd outside in sheer disbelief.

At that moment, a cloud of black mist manifested in the center of the mourning hall. When the black mist dissipated, Neo's figure was revealed.

"The factions of Boccard and Magna that illegally entered the city have already been purged by Order," Neo said with absolute composure.

"Neo!"

Edith looked at Neo, a look of pleasant surprise surfacing upon her face—a surprise that was not as simple as merely learning she would not be surrounded.

The Count also looked at Neo, his gaze highly complex.

Gross, however, pointed at Neo. "You... you... you... how could you do this, how could you do this!"

"I knew you would not be satisfied merely with helping her hold a funeral; I knew you would find a way to avenge her. Yet you are but an ordinary man, incapable of seeking vengeance on your own, so you could only contact other factions. I knew back when we were in Sump City that you had channels to contact the other two families."

"I only sought those contacts back then to help the young mistress buy the Rest Fluid, but facts proved the Rest Fluid of the other two families was utterly useless to her, ha ha ha... You even calculated this into your account?

The young mistress misjudged her man, she truly misjudged him! Neo, you are nothing but a beast!"

Neo replied with great serenity, "The Count represents the Anavas family this time in York City to negotiate cooperation with Order. I must ensure the Count's safety; this is for the sake of Order."

"Then what about the young mistress? What does she even count as in your eyes?" Gross screamed at the top of his lungs.

Neo's gaze fell upon the coffin resting on the mortuary table.

The Count spoke up, "According to our agreement, this cooperation was supposed to be conducted in secret. Now, you have effectively made it public. The Anavas family will have no path of retreat left—this, too, is the outcome you desired, is it not?"

Neo shook his head. "I am merely responsible for ensuring your safety, my Lord Count."

Edith walked toward Gross. "Traitor, I shall kill you first!"

A leather whip directly barred Edith's path.

"Neo, let me kill him! He is a servant, yet he dared to betray his master's house—he deserves to die!"

"He is an ordinary man; he needs to face judgment," Neo said, entirely unperturbed.

"Neo, do not stop me! He is a servant of my house, I have the right to dispose of him! Do not stop me, Neo!"

Evidently, Edith and Neo had known each other long ago.

Neo stepped to Edith's side and placed his hand upon her shoulder:

"Stand still. Do not move."

With the physical contact, Edith suddenly grew somewhat unaccustomed; she seemed a little shy as she said:

"Very well, I will listen to you."

Neo looked at the Count standing there and inquired:

"My Lord Count, was the Rest Fluid you gave to Gross a fake?"

Upon hearing this question, a flash of horror appeared in Edith's eyes.

The Count assumed a solemn expression. "I could have chosen not to give her the Rest Fluid, but since I chose to give it, why would I give a fake? In the past, I could sit idly by and watch her, who betrayed the family, step into the abyss of fading, but as a father, I would not actively step forward to give her a push.

Furthermore, now that we have a cooperation with the Church of Order, by giving her the Rest Fluid, I could use your relationship to link the ties between Anavas and the Church of Order; the elders at home would not object to this either.

In truth, when I saw Elisa lying in the coffin, my first reaction was that you, for the sake of your own future, wished for Elisa to die, so that her identity would not become a drag upon you.

I know that because of Elisa, your squad was stuck in Sump City for quite a few years, unable to secure a promotion. This time, you managed to obtain this opportunity with great difficulty."

Neo murmured, "So it was not you..."

The Count took it as a matter of course, "Of course it was not me."

"Then it must be her."

A black dagger suddenly appeared in the hand Neo had placed upon Edith's shoulder, severing her head in an instant.

Gripping Edith's hair, he held her head up before his face:

"Though she never spoke of it to me, I knew she missed home terribly, and missed her family too.

It is just as well; you shall accompany her in her burial.

This way,

my Elisa will not be lonely anymore."