Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 99

“How could this happen? He just disappeared suddenly?” Jolene covered her mouth in disbelief. She had been eagerly anticipating a reunion with the son of an old friend just a few minutes ago, but now it felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her, leaving her chilled to the bone. “How could that child…”

Kepler placed a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down, Jolene. We can’t lose our heads.” He turned to the silver-haired young man. “Do you have any idea? About what might have happened to him…”

Joshua held his forehead, his shirt drenched in cold sweat. If Kepler looked closely at his eyes, he would see that the golden rings in his so-called “Abyssal Fire” eyes had become extremely thin, like a taut string ready to snap at any moment.

“No clue,” he said. “I never thought something like this would happen… I was completely unprepared.”

“Do you have any enemies?” Jolene asked urgently. “Could someone have come seeking revenge?”

Joshua’s mouth twitched. “Enemies… he could have more than a dozen, and I have even more.” He looked up at the elegant woman in front of him. “We are fugitives wanted across the galaxy, madam.”

“Oh my god.” Jolene nearly collapsed into Kepler’s arms. Joshua thought she would express disbelief that the son of her old friend had become a fugitive, but Jolene only let out a sigh. “Oh, Lord, that child has really achieved something, hasn’t he? Even in our day, we were only wanted on a few planets.”

Kepler held her shoulder and gently patted it in comfort. “Don’t worry, Jolene, he’ll be safe. Maybe it’s just a simple kidnapping for ransom. After all, anyone living in Avalon is either rich or noble. Perhaps they just want money?”

“You’re right…” Jolene said. “Maybe we’ll receive a ransom call soon. Yes, that’s right, the child will be fine.” She covered her face. “Oh, merciful Lord, if his parents knew, how heartbroken they would be…”

“They won’t know,” Joshua said as he stood up and headed upstairs. “Alois’s parents are already dead.”

Jolene looked up in shock. “What? Dead?”

“He said they died many years ago.”

Kepler stared intently at the silver-haired young man’s back. “You seem to know him well? What’s your relationship? Friends?”

Joshua turned a corner on the stairs. “We sleep in the same bed every night. What do you think our relationship is?”

Jolene gasped, and Kepler continued to stare sharply at him. “Where are you going?”

“To contact some friends,” Joshua said, already on the second floor. “He wouldn’t be overpowered by a few small fry. If it really was just a simple kidnapping, Alois would already be back home, sitting in the living room, reminiscing with you two.”

Kepler looked at the empty staircase, holding the trembling Jolene tighter.

“He’s an assassin,” the shrewd moneylender said to his companion, revealing his guess. “You’ve surely heard his name.”

“Joshua Euler?”

“No. The assassin, the Mourner.”

Epolyne drove Dr. Frank Shelley around Avalon Mountain. The doctor was excited, gesturing and shouting about turning this place into a research lab and that place into a testing ground. Epolyne casually responded a few times. Her communication terminal suddenly beeped, giving her a legitimate reason to stop listening to the doctor’s endless thoughts, which made Epolyne quite happy.

“Hello, yes. What? …No, not yet… Yes. Alright, I’ll inform the doctor.”

The call was short, bringing some not-so-good news.

“What happened, dear Epolyne?”

“The company just received a complaint. An employee had scheduled a time with a household in Avalon to discuss relocation, but our employee hasn’t shown up.”

The doctor adjusted his glasses. “Could it be a major traffic jam?” He laughed. “Remember, the security guard said our diligent negotiator passed by him not long ago. Did the company send two different people?”

“No, only one.”

“Ah…” The doctor twirled his hair, looking at the red land outside the window. “A negotiator came to Avalon but didn’t complete the task. Why is that?”

“Do we need to send someone to find him?”

“No, this matter isn’t worth our effort,” the doctor said lightly. “Call the police. Isn’t that what they’re there for, to protect the people? Now it’s their turn to shine.”

Alois opened his eyes. The effects of the anesthetic gas were wearing off. Apart from feeling dizzy and slightly confused, he could mostly control his body again. But control didn’t mean freedom. He found himself in a dark, damp room with no windows, only a rusty iron door. He was tied to a heavy chair, his hands bound behind the chair back, with ropes winding from his armpits to his neck. He recognized this as the Empire’s typical binding method because prisoners could never untie the ropes themselves and would strangle themselves before they could.

He vaguely remembered opening the door for a business representative, and then what happened? He was kidnapped? Why would they kidnap him? He wasn’t the lover of a prince. What could they gain from him?

What about Joshua now? Could he be… in danger too? No, no, he was the Mourner. Who would dare to touch him!

The iron door creaked open, accompanied by a grating noise, and a man in a black trench coat walked into the room. Alois stared at him in surprise because half of his face was normal skin and features, while the other half was covered in silver-gray metal, with a red-glowing prosthetic eye rotating in the metal eye socket. The man walked slowly towards Alois, and from his uneven footsteps, Alois deduced that one of his legs was also a metal prosthesis.

Alois stared at the strange man, trying to find a familiar face from his remaining half, but failed. He didn’t know this guy.

“I guess you’re trying to figure out who I am.” The man’s voice sounded like metal scraping, unbearable to hear. “No need to guess. You don’t know me, have never seen me, and could never know my identity.”

As he spoke, he smiled, his entire face twisting. “But I’ve heard of you, Alois Lagrange. Maybe I should call you senior?” He walked around behind Alois, observing the bound young man with great interest. “Or predecessor?”

“Are you an Empire soldier?” Since he called him senior, he must be a junior from the military academy.

“Used to be,” the man said, walking back in front of him. “Ever since I got injured in the war…” He raised his right hand, pointing to his half-metal face, and Alois saw that his right hand was also a prosthesis, “I was ‘forced’ to retire.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Alois said coldly.

The man twisted his face into a smile again. “No need to feel sorry. I was a pilot, and after my fighter was shot down, half my body was burned to ashes. Fortunately, the technology was advanced enough to not only save my life but also allow me to continue to be useful.” He suddenly stepped forward, gripping Alois’s chin with his metal hand, forcing him to look up. “Do you know who did this to me?”

Could it be me? Alois thought.

However, the name the man uttered far exceeded his expectations.

“It was Joanna Begrel.” The man’s normal eye widened, while the prosthetic eye trembled. “Although I suffered immensely, I also gained immense pleasure—because I watched Joanna Begrel die before my eyes! Hit by the mothership’s artillery, not even ash was left! Hahaha, hahahahaha…” He half screamed, half laughed.

“Bastard!” Alois roared. He remembered now, during his last battle alongside Joanna, there was a fighter that kept entangling them. In the end, Joanna intercepted it, allowing Alois to escape. The man in front of him was that fighter pilot! “You… bastard!” He couldn’t finish his words because the man was choking him so hard he couldn’t breathe.

“What? Want to avenge your superior?” The man sneered. “Don’t worry, I’ll send you down to reunite with her soon. But before that, you need to answer a question…”

Alois was close to suffocating when the man slightly loosened his grip, allowing him to breathe and speak.

“Tell me, dear senior, where is the chip you switched from the Duke?”

Hearing the Duke’s name, Alois wasn’t surprised at all. The Duke discovered the chip switch and sent people to track them, only making a move when they reached Olympus. He should have known. The assassin who killed Miss Leia was also the Duke’s minion. The Duke just repeated the trick, and he fell for it again—damn it!

“I don’t know,” Alois rasped. “I think you should ask Joanna yourself.”

Then he was punched hard in the stomach. Being hit by a metal prosthesis wasn’t pleasant. Alois almost threw up.

“Don’t play games,” the man said. “Where’s the chip?”

Long destroyed by Leo, Alois thought. There’s no such thing in the world anymore, and even if there was, only Leo would know.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just a regular pilot. The captain wouldn’t tell me such important things.”

“Really?” The man leaned in, whispering in his ear. “You’re so ordinary? Ordinary enough for the mad bitch to help you escape? Ordinary enough for even Darius Bayes to want to capture you? Ordinary enough to visit the Duke with the mad bitch? Cut the crap, Alois Lagrange. I suggest you behave and tell me everything you know, or…” He pressed Alois’s shoulder, the metal fingers digging deeply into his skin. “I’ll reenact everything that happened to me on you.”

“I really, don’t know, anything.”

The pressure on his shoulder vanished.

The man walked towards the door, calling out to someone. “It seems he’s determined to resist. Maybe his companions know something. Let’s send a gift to that guy to make him think about how to answer us.”

Several people dressed like the man entered the room. “What gift, Mr. Faraday?” one of them asked.

“Let’s start with his hand.”

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