They ran and chased one after another, their target clearly the summit, the crack leading to true death.
"Mr. Beirut! Mr. Beirut!"
Seeing Between Life and death in his current semi-conscious state, Xia De had no physical form and could not touch any physical entities, only emit very faint sounds.
He tried to call out, but Mr. Beirut did not answer at all. He chased after that figure, both appearing so blurry in the fog:
"Is this not another lifelong love? Are all the citizens of Mi Fort so infatuated?"
Xia De muttered to himself, then had his waking self on the chair touch the Mind Crystal Ring on his finger, his vision in Between Life and death fixed on the back of Mr. Beirut's head:
"Mind Blast!"
Strictly speaking, Xia De and this gentleman were not in the same space. Moreover, he was only looking with his eyes, not following the strict casting steps of pointing a finger at the target, so the power of Mind Blast was greatly reduced.
But even so, Mr. Beirut, who was running, stumbled sharply, then continued to chase the faint, blurry figure.
Not far above was the summit of Between Life and death, and if Xia De did not stop him, he would probably truly be confused by the phantom of the soul and step into true death:
"Stop, you can't go any further!"
The Mind Blast just now still had an effect, and Mr. Beirut finally gave an answer this time. His steps did not slow down, and Xia De could only see his back, so he did not know what expression he had at this moment:
"I really want to catch up with her."
Mr. Beirut's voice was also blurry, which is one of the characteristics of dreams.
"Is that your fiancée?"
"No, that's my older sister. She watched me grow up, but I didn't expect a severe illness to take her life."
"But do you really think she would want you to follow her into death?"
Xia De continued to ask, and Mr. Beirut's steps finally slowed down. And the shadowy figure in front also slowed down, maintaining a distance that Mr. Beirut could see:
"Before she left, she held my hand on her sickbed and said that she hoped I would live a peaceful life."
"Then what are you doing now?"
Xia De pressed on:
"Following the dead, following someone who wished you a happy life into death, is that truly your and her wish?"
Mr. Beirut's steps slowed down again; now he was almost just walking.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Since she has already left, what you can do is not to follow her, but to remember her. As long as you remember her, the traces of her existence in this world will not disappear."
Mr. Beirut sighed and finally stopped. He and Xia De looked at the figure standing on the steps above. In the thick fog, she was not clear, but she was indeed waiting:
"I have seen her countless times in my dreams, and I have wanted to catch up with her countless times. But this is the only time I feel closest to her."
"Then put a bouquet of flowers on her grave."
Xia De said softly:
"Remember to tell her that you are living very happily."
The gentleman slowly turned around, tears streaming down his cheeks. He walked in the direction he came from, then paused, looked back at the ethereal figure above, waved his hand in a final farewell, and then walked down the mountain.
His figure melted into the fog.
"That's good; it seems stubborn people are still a minority."
Barton's stubbornness made Xia De feel regret, and this time's successful persuasion made Xia De very happy. He wanted to leave this dream, but he heard another voice:
"Detective?"
"Hmm?"
Xia De actually saw Priest Augustus, the old man wearing a white Priest's robe, with a large brass-colored incomplete circular holy emblem of Mr. Dawn hanging on his chest, walking out of the fog. Who gave this old gentleman a new hairstyle, he now looked exceptionally energetic, as if he had aged ten years younger.
"Priest? You can see me?"
"Of course not."
Priest Augustus shook his head:
"But I can hear voices. Since yesterday, when the church arranged for us ordinary Priests to enter Between Life and death and set up a camp on the summit of Between Life and death to protect our safety, I have seen at least four ordinary people who came chasing their longing within 24 hours. And that's just what I saw.
The first three were kicked away by me sneaking out... I mean, I persuaded them to leave. The fourth one was mumbling as he walked, and then I heard your voice."
The Priest looked left and right:
"Where are you now?"
"I'm still in the real world, having accepted a commission to help persuade that gentleman back."
"That's good, then you should leave quickly, Between Life and death is not suitable for anyone to come now. Not only are the newly born undead, but even the undead who have been stranded here since the last epoch have started moving around; the situation is really bad."
"Okay, Priest, I entered Between Life and death yesterday and saw that Joey Barton. He is fusing a relic and can even turn Between Life and death into his Mystic Lock. It has been confirmed that he has devoured the clown's power and wants to enter death through the three passages to retrieve the souls of the departed."
After the battle on the ice of Bena Lake, Xia De met the Priest in the forest. The Priest was also looking for Joey Barton, and it was for an unknown item on him. At that time, Xia De had promised to share information about Joey Barton with the Priest.
"Fusing a relic? Oh, if you didn't say it, I would have forgotten he was from The Society of Truth. Things are a bit troublesome, but it doesn't matter. Don't worry, I'll be guarding the summit; I won't let him enter the land of death from the summit. In Between Life and death, I'm not that ordinary old human anymore."
He said self-deprecatingly, and because Mr. Beirut was approaching consciousness, Xia De also had to leave:
"I hope tomorrow's ceremony goes smoothly, praise Dawn!"
"Praise Dawn... You absolutely must not run into Between Life and death again, here's the..."
Xia De did not hear the last half of the warning because he had fully woken up.
Except for the groggy Mr. Beirut, everyone else in the room quietly left. After a moment, a sobbing sound came from the room; he still remembered the dream just now.
Xia De and Sister Michelle both breathed a sigh of relief. Sister Michelle escorted Xia De back to the lounge upstairs.
"Sister, why do people always hope to bring back those who have already left?"
"Because there are regrets."
The middle-aged Sister gave the answer without much hesitation.
The two were not walking side by side on the stairs; Sister Michelle was one step lower than Xia De.
"Regrets... Some people can be persuaded, while others stubbornly want to make a big mistake. Actually, I'm also very conflicted; I understand his actions, but I think he really made a mistake."
Although Sister Michelle did not know specifically who Xia De was talking about, she did not mind continuing the conversation.
The two turned at the second-floor staircase. Xia De saw the decorative oil painting on the wall: a blind person with cloth wrapped around their eyes, opening a door to light in the darkness.
"This is normal. You sympathize with the unfortunate, but you don't confuse your sense of right and wrong just because someone is pitiful. As for stubborn people, if you can't persuade them, then give up."
Xia De thought about it, and it was indeed true:
"So what should I do?"
"Why do you ask me what you should do? Haven't you already known the answer by asking this question?"
Sister Michelle smiled, and Xia De looked at the steps beneath his feet:
"Yes... Actually, I really admire that person; it's such a pity."
The fog in Middelburg grew thicker.
Helping to save Mr. Beirut just now was merely a small effort for Xia De. But Sister Michelle still insisted on giving Xia De a reward.
The Spiritual Cultivation Order had helped Xia De so much without asking for money, so Xia De certainly couldn't accept it this time. But Sister Michelle insisted that it was her private commission to Xia De, and in the end, she still gave Xia De 5 pounds as a reward, which made Xia De very embarrassed.
Rescuing Mr. Beirut, who had dreamed of entering Between Life and death, was just a small interlude during the waiting period. And in the somewhat long afternoon, many other things happened in the city.
The first anomaly appeared around two o'clock: an earthquake.
The earthquake was very sudden. One second, Xia De was still sitting on the sofa reading, about to reach for his teacup, when Mia, who was lying on the sofa, suddenly sprang up. It jumped onto Xia De's lap, meowing with its fur bristling. It looked around as if an invisible enemy was opposing the cat.
And before Xia De understood what Mia was trying to convey, ripples actually appeared in the red tea in the cup on the table:
"Earthquake!"
Only then did Xia De perceive the trembling of the floor, but the Vibration only lasted for a dozen seconds before stopping. The intensity and destructiveness of the Vibration were incomparable to the two major Middelburg earthquakes described in the newspapers from a few days ago, which Xia De had missed.
Mia seemed very scared. Even when Xia De held her, her fur was still bristling, and it took a while to calm her down. Xia De also left the room again to check the situation in the House of the Blind. Although there were not many visitors today, some blind people were injured due to panic during the earthquake, and some hanging paintings and furniture indoors also fell due to the earthquake.
Xia De helped Sister Michelle coordinate the restoration of the House of the Blind. During this period, even neighbors came for help; the House of the Blind had a good reputation in the vicinity.
The occurrence of this sudden small earthquake was certainly related to the anomaly in Between Life and death. Xia De, being in the House of the Blind, was simply unaware of what exactly happened.
But what was certain was that the inconceivable-grade relic, Between Life and death, could not allow the church to seal it. After the nails sent from Between Life and death to reality were successively removed, Between Life and death itself would certainly launch a more powerful resistance against the seal this afternoon, before the ceremony began.
Between Life and death itself had no self-awareness, but just as nature resists human destruction, this Level 0 relic would spontaneously generate phenomena of resistance against the seal.
