Chapter 186: Human Face

Chapter 186: The Human Face

Neo began focusing on clearing the white roses around the tombstone, while Karen stood with him for a moment before turning to walk away, leaving the space to Neo and Elisa.

Walking back toward the caretaker's cabin, old Saman, who had just washed the dishes and tidied the kitchen, was cleaning his pipe. Seeing Karen's approaching figure, he smiled and greeted him:

"Yo, came back alive."

Karen stood in place, taking a fresh, earnest look at this elderly cemetery caretaker.

"What are you staring at?" old Saman said crossly.

Karen sat down on the steps, looked around, and asked, "How long have you been working here alone?"

"Almost thirty years."

"That really isn't easy."

"I don't think so, these thirty years have been spent very peacefully."

"Retiring soon?"

"Yeah, retiring soon."

"No children?"

"None."

"How pitiful."

"That's really not true, many who have children actually find their later years much more pitiful."

"True enough."

"Why ask all this?"

"The Pavaro Funeral Parlor is short a handyman. If you retire from here, you can go to work at Pavaro Funeral Parlor. The work isn't tiring, and the benefits are excellent."

Old Saman immediately shook his head: "No more, no more, at such an old age, you're actually still thinking of exploiting my labor?"

"Some old people have nothing to do after retirement, and their health suffers instead. I was afraid you wouldn't be used to it."

"Not going, not going." Old Saman shook his head firmly, "Once retired, it's retirement. Take a good rest, I don't want to toss and turn anymore."

"Alright then, seeing how quite pitiful you are, I'll come over every night to cook dinner for you."

A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of old Saman's mouth. He turned his head to look at Karen sitting there, only to find Karen looking up, absorbed in the night sky.

"Heh, so this is where the groundwork leads, you've started coveting the old furniture and old appliances in my house?"

"No, my hands just itch and I wanted to cook for you."

"I say, you boy grow up looking so handsome, but how can your skin be so thick?"

"Can't help it, always having to reject the young ladies' declarations of love, after a long time, it's hard for the skin not to grow thick."

"To say such things, that really is shameless enough." Old Saman wondered, "Are the elders in your family like this too?"

Karen thought of Pu'er's assessment of the young Dis.

"My grandfather was like this too when he was young."

"No wonder then, genetic."

"Should be."

"What about now, is your grandfather still the same as before?"

"As one gets older, naturally it's not like that anymore."

"Yeah, it was still better when young, not so many thoughts. As one gets older, one seemingly lets go of many things, but when you want to pick something up again, you find your back aches terribly and you can't bend down at all."

"What do you want to eat tomorrow? I'm very good at cooking fish."

"Really?"

"My cat likes to eat it very much."

"Heh, if you had agreed when I asked you earlier, it should have been more interesting, rather than making up for it now. It always feels a bit lacking, how should I say, less natural, more contrived."

"Without adding seasoning, dishes are very hard to make delicious."

"Seems so too, but, did that one just let you off like that?"

"Otherwise? Did you think he would straight up kill me?"

"I originally thought there would be a very high possibility, because what you did was very grave, practically offending the majesty of a sacred church."

Old Saman still took the initiative to speak out.

"How did you know? I don't think you are very familiar with Pavaro."

Because in Pavaro's work notebook, there was no record of this old man. With Mr. Pavaro's rigorous working style, if he discovered anything unusual about the old man, he would certainly have recorded it, just as the Lemar Pottery Gallery was recorded in the notebook.

"I am the property management here, they are the residents here."

"But they are buried underground."

"Do residents living in apartments never go out the door?" old Saman asked in return.

"That sounds like a line I should say, do you also believe in Order?"

"To a certain extent, yes, what I believe in is the beauty of spatial overlapping. Of course, space being in perfect order is also a kind of beauty."

"Space..."

Karen suddenly thought of something.

Old Saman placed both hands over his chest and said sincerely:

"Praise Pamires."

Karen fell silent.

"It seems you know of the Pamires Church?"

"A very great church."

"Oh?" Old Saman was somewhat puzzled, "Such words shouldn't come from the mouth of someone who believes in Order."

"Does Neo know your identity?"

"Of course, otherwise why would he come here every night."

"Oh, so that's how it is."

"Relieved?" Old Saman smiled, "Were you afraid of me just now?"

"A little, but not too serious."

"You've also seen the direction of the wind?"

"Just ordered the newspaper a while ago, saw it from the newspaper."

"Yeah, I saw it from the newspaper too." Old Saman patted the dust off his trousers, "Funny isn't it, if I didn't read the newspaper, I actually wouldn't even know I was already so endangered."

"Perhaps there's still a turn for the better, after all, now it's just flying a kite."

"Hard now, since the wind has already been blown up, if things aren't carried through, face will be lost."

Cullen nodded. The spark had already been struck; if the fire failed to catch in the end, the dignity of the Order of Light would suffer for it, and the very purpose of trying to kindle this flame was to reshape that dignity.

"So, this is what you meant by retirement?"

"More or less." Old Saman lit his pipe and took a couple of drags, the loose tobacco glowing fitfully. "That Neo is quite amusing, and you are quite amusing too. Then again, amusing people do not kill amusing people. Still, you ought to thank me properly. Every time he came by recently, I did not hesitate to speak well of you to his face."

"Thank you."

"Go make the fish. I actually quite like eating fish."

"Alright." Cullen turned back and gestured toward the small cabin. "The things in that room?"

"Once the food you brought this time is entirely eaten up, that refrigerator won't be of much use anymore. Take it back with you. It still works if you plug it in, though the noise is a bit loud."

"You are getting on in years; your sleep must be poor."

"And so?"

"My home was just renovated, and we replaced a batch of new household appliances. I will have someone transport my new refrigerator over tomorrow morning to swap it with your old one, so you can get a good night's sleep."

Old Saman just stared quietly at Cullen, without blinking.

Cullen, as before, returned the look with a perfectly serene smile.

"I am truly curious, how do you manage to be so decent and yet so shameless at the same time?"

"You have been slandering my concern for you all evening."

"My temper has grown milder over the years. Had I met a little fellow like you in my youth, I imagine I would have thrown him into a wooden barrel. When bored at night, I would lift the lid to have him chat with me to pass the time."

"I think we could change it to a slightly more upscale establishment."

"You really are different from Pavarotti. That fellow who came to sponge meals every day was also different from Pavarotti."

"Mr. Pavarotti did not know your identity, did he?"

"Of course he didn't. Though he did help me repair this cabin several times. That man, he looked greasy and didn't seem to fond of bathing or grooming, but his heart was good."

"Yes."

Cullen remembered the last time during the tram bombing case, when Mr. Pavarotti had stuffed him with the Reals to pay for his hospitalization fees.

"If he could have been a bit more like you, he wouldn't have had to die so early."

"I shall take your words as a kind of blessing to me."

Old Saman suddenly leaned his body toward Cullen, his fingers simultaneously covering two tone holes of the vertical flute in his breast pocket. All at once, a piercing melody exploded outward, and everything in the surroundings was cut off by the waves of sound.

"Watch out for your captain, for I can feel that he is drifting on the edge of losing himself."

Cullen snapped his head up, looking at Old Saman.

"Snap!"

The melody dissipated, and tranquility returned to the surroundings.

Old Saman took another two drags from the mouthpiece, spat out a plume of white smoke, coughed once, and spat a glob of phlegm onto the ground.

"I clearly already live such a meaningless life, yet the thought of wanting to die has never crossed my mind, and I must live on even more enthusiastically than before."

"Is it absolute?" Cullen asked.

"Of course it isn't absolute, but I can feel this omen within myself. I feel that I am no longer living for myself, yet surprisingly, I am more proactive and determined than when I was living for myself. Heh, without a single shred of confusion. Do you think I am ill?"

"Can it be cured?"

"I don't know, nor have I any way of knowing. The residents lying here have no need to summon a doctor, and I don't understand it either. Who can say for certain about the matters of this world? What if there is a miracle?

Of course, you can also believe that I am driving a wedge between you two. I certainly have sufficient motive to do so."

Cullen shook his head.

"Oh? You trust me that much?" Old Saman was somewhat curious.

"For you to drive a wedge between him and me, are you just too full with nothing better to do?"

To play at driving a wedge, one had to do it between two entities of similar stature at the very least. When the gap was too glaring, what was the point of driving a wedge only to be swatted to death with a single palm?

"Hiss... right, you make a great deal of sense." Old Saman smiled. "But do you know what the clearest point is?"

"What?"

"She lies here, yet you sit here."

Cullen fell silent.

"Of course, you can also understand it as because she, who lies here, changed him, thereby allowing you to sit here. However, this kind of change was not purely for your sake.

It is just like how if one frequently gets unprompted nosebleeds, it is very likely not merely a problem with the nose.

Yet there is still another possibility, a possibility that can exist only in theory."

"What possibility?"

"It appears to be because she changed him, but theoretically, didn't you also appear when her accident occurred? And you, kid, are indeed very good-looking.

So..."

A teasing smile appeared on Old Saman's face:

"So, could it be that it was the contact with you that changed him?"

Cullen rolled his eyes at Old Saman. "We are having a late-night snack in a moment, leave yourself some appetite."

"Mmh, indeed. I don't fancy that flavor either. The adult actress posters plastered all over my bedroom can bear witness for me."

Cullen paid him no more heed, but silently watched the steps before him;

Old Saman stopped speaking as well, quietly smoking his pipe;

Until Neo's silhouette walked out from the distant darkness.

Cullen stood up and asked, "Captain, prepare the late-night snack now?"

"Mmh." Neo nodded.

Cullen walked into the kitchen and began the preparations.

Before long, Cullen finished cooking and brought it out. It was a very simple late-night snack: three large bowls of oil-splashed noodles. The noodles were brought by himself, and the ingredients were available right in the kitchen.

The three people sat around a small table and began to eat the noodles.

Old Saman took the initiative to speak, saying, "This kid promised me that he would come over every night to cook a meal for me from now on."

Neo nodded and said, "Before slaughtering poultry, one must certainly feed them more."

Old Saman licked his teeth with his tongue, his lips flipping incessantly at Neo as he swore silent curses.

Neo paid no mind to it and continued eating his noodles.

After finishing, Neo stood up and looked at Cullen. "Going back together?"

"Alright, Captain. I will drive you."

Cullen was about to go to the driver's seat, but saw that Neo had taken that seat first. Cullen could only loop back and sit in the passenger seat.

After Neo drove the car out, Old Saman walked over, closed the rusted iron gates of the cemetery, and then rubbed his stomach. "The noodles tasted quite good, but I didn't eat my fill. That stinky kid didn't know to make a bit more."

Gathering the tableware, Old Saman returned to the kitchen and saw that there was still a bowl of prepared oil-splashed noodles sitting in the kitchen, accompanied by several cloves of peeled garlic beside it.

Old Sam could not help but laugh:

"That rotten brat."

…

"Did he tell you everything?" Neo asked while driving.

"Yes, he said he is a believer of the Pamireth faith. So, Captain, are you checking out the site in advance?"

"He won't run," Neo said.

"Then you…"

"But he has the ability to help others run, so I come to check on him every day."

"What if orders come down from above?"

"Then he will be our squad's first target," Neo said calmly. "You don't need to feel reluctant to strike, because he will choose to attack you first."

"That way is actually quite good."

"Anyway, everything waits until the formal orders from above are handed down. It has been a very long time since the Church issued this kind of divine decree."

Although the Church of Order had dominated alone until now in this era, the truly active period of the Church of Order was in the last era;

In the last era, once the Church of Light declared a certain church to be "defined as evil," the first to stand up in response and also the first to take action was often the Church of Order.

In the mythical narratives of many churches, there was such a recorded sentence: 【Light awakened Order.】

But below this sentence, there was actually another sentence, though with the demise of Light and the true rise of Order in this era, even other churches had to delete it out of deference to the authority of Order;

Therefore, in the last era, this passage in many churches actually read like this:

【Light awakened Order; let Order protect Light.】

Neo kept driving, and after a long time, Karen finally took the initiative to ask:

"Captain, is there nothing you want to ask me?"

"Ask you what?" Neo shook his head. "I've said before, in my squad, everyone has secrets. I've also said I won't actively pry into your secrets. Furthermore, I've said I believe in Inquisitor Pavaro's choice."

Pausing for a moment,

Neo asked:

"Are these reasons not enough? Do they need to be supplemented?"

"Enough, quite enough."

"The capture operation is in two days—oh, it's past midnight now, so it's in one day. The location is at an obscure smuggling dock. What is your reason for insisting on participating?"

"Mr. Gray said I currently need real killing to improve."

"Tell the truth."

"To avenge the gentleness of the light and the sea, I want to contribute some effort."

"Bringing such personal emotional factors into the formulation of a battle plan is an extremely foolish act, because it interferes with setting the optimal loss ratio and benefit ratio."

But Captain, haven't you already agreed?

However, Karen did not ask this directly. What if the captain wanted to find a reason to back out?

At this moment, Neo glanced at Karen and continued:

"You should say that you now have an urge similar to the last time at the gas station when you lured those two poor fellows into the woods with gunfire, and whether you are eager to try something out again."

"Yes."

"Mhm, this reason is very appropriate, because it is part of the benefits, understand?"

"I understand, Captain."

"Since it is not an operation for the whole squad together, there will be no unified assembly. Tomorrow night at eight o'clock, Mellong Dock."

"I'll remember, Captain."

"I'm almost home. I'll get off first, you drive back yourself."

"Alright, Captain."

Neo's form turned into black mist and flew out of the car window.

Karen stepped down from the passenger seat, walked around the front of the car, and sat into the driver's seat. Touching the steering wheel, he spoke to the empty passenger seat beside him:

"I have something to do so I'm leaving first. Alfred, drive home by yourself."

After saying this,

Karen's fingers flickered continuously, extending outside the car window.

Then,

He smiled to himself.

Purr was right; after he became an Inquisitor, he must first learn this spell.

Karen restarted the car and looked around, finding that this place was not far from the St. Thor Building, which was the psychological clinic where he used to work.

"So the captain lives in the city center."

Karen drove the car into King's Avenue, hesitated for a moment, and turned the front of the car into Second Street. Since it was so close, he might as well go to the pottery gallery to take a look. Last time he instructed the Allen Manor to supply raw materials to Lemar, the cooperation should have been reached long ago.

The car stopped at the entrance of the pottery gallery. Karen got out and walked over, reaching out to push, only to find the door locked. At this late hour, people had long closed up.

Just as Karen turned around preparing to leave, the lights inside turned on. Selena, wearing cute pink pajamas, ran over very happily and opened the door.

"Haha, Brother Karen, you came to see me, didn't you!"

"Of course…"

"You knew my brother wasn't home tonight, so you deliberately came to see me so late, didn't you!"

"Of course not."

Selena reached out and hugged Karen's arm: "Come on, come on, come in and play. Brother went on a date with a councilman's wife tonight. I was asked by him to help organize materials in his workshop. Come, Brother Karen, I'll take you inside to visit my brother's workshop."

"Is this not a good idea?"

"It's nothing. Recently, brother obtained a family's material supply, and his hands are very wealthy right now. Come on, come on."

Karen was dragged by Selena to the workshop located in the basement.

Upon entering, Karen was drawn to a doll of a young boy. He had a feeling that when he walked in, this doll seemed to be sizing him up.

"Come, come over here. I'll take you into my brother's collection room."

Selena opened a door, inside of which was a very deep and dark space.

"Come in, Brother Karen."

Karen bent down and walked inside. After going deep, the space suddenly became open and spacious.

On the ground lay many dolls. Most of these dolls were already of ancient years, and some even had age spots growing on their bodies.

When you approached a young doll, you could perceive its vitality; when you approached an elderly doll, you could experience the feeling of late twilight.

Even though all of these dolls remained entirely motionless.

Serena chatted endlessly, guiding Kaelen through her brother’s collection, until they arrived before a row of framed facial portraits, where Kaelen paused.

"Serena, are these portraits of your ancestors?"

"Oh, no, definitely not. These are portraits of my brother’s clients. He’s quite wicked, you know—whenever he crafts a mask for someone, he takes a mold of their face and hangs it here for his own amusement.

What’s more, the higher the cost and the more effort a mask takes to make, the closer he places its portrait to the front. He's terribly mercenary, isn't he? That’s why I’ve never considered him a true artist, even though he insists he is.

Look, look, the second one in the very first row is the portrait of the mask you had him make last time, Brother Kaelen."

Kaelen saw Mr. Pavaro’s portrait hanging there.

Then,

Kaelen shifted his gaze to the portrait in the number one spot, and his expression instantly froze.

Seeing this, Serena quickly interjected, "No, no, Brother Kaelen, please don’t misunderstand! The mask Brother made for you used excellent materials; I personally oversaw it. The only reason it doesn't compare to the first one is because back then, someone held my life hostage to force my brother to make a mask for him. For my sake, Brother had no choice but to use the absolute best of everything to complete it.

That’s why his portrait is ranked first, and it’s also a major reason why Brother has always despised the Church of Order."

Kaelen’s eyes remained locked onto that first portrait,

because the face in the painting

belonged to Neo.