Chapter 723: Under the Night Curtain

It is said that five hundred years ago, on the night Prince Hyman and Miss Regina were married, the people of Jade City, spared from the flames of war, wept with joy and spontaneously organized an all-night revelry that swept through the entire city:

People paraded with torches, danced to their hearts' content, sang loudly and drank freely. The newlyweds Hyman and Regina wore wedding garlands, walked out of the palace hand in hand, joined the ceaseless dancing procession of the people, and accepted the cheers of ten thousand and the blessings of the whole city, bringing that boundlessly joyful night to the peak of revelry.

This was the origin of "Queen's Day" and the "Sleepless Night Parade" in the Emerald Celebration of later generations.

On this night every year, Jade City had no curfew, no locked doors, and no prohibition on gatherings. Streets and alleys large and small would be lit with lamps that burned through the night, allowing the people to go out singing and dancing, hosting banquets, setting off fireworks, and celebrating all the beauty and happiness worth singing of.

Although Duke Zayen had lost power in recent days, Emerald Palace had changed hands, and the whole city was uneasy, with many people either closing their doors or leaving the city to avoid disaster, tonight, for the sake of livelihood, many shops, stalls, traveling merchants, and resident traders who had prepared for a long time and planned to earn a sum from the celebration still braced themselves to continue working and receiving guests, hoping to recover some cost during the night parade. Add to that patrolling soldiers and security officers, market and road officials working with bitter faces, craftsmen and porters busy with lowered heads, and some distant travelers who liked watching excitement regardless of trouble, and this year's Sleepless Night Parade, while not as bustling and crowded as in the past, could at least barely make do and not betray its name.

Except in one place.

Under the night curtain, Lausanne the Second walked through the streets and alleys outside North Gate Bridge, or rather, the gutters and dirt roads separated by crooked single-story houses. His steps were soundless, his figure dim, perfectly blending into the night.

Compared to the bright lights and flow of people in other parts of the city, outside North Gate Bridge, whether houses and alleys or squares and roads, all was dimly lit and desolate.

Only the bright moon in the sky treated all equally and shone upon the world.

In the air, filled with a faint fishy stench, homeless wild cats chased rats in the gutters, while wild crows on branches cursed at the moon.

In the distance, from a crude dwelling whose lights had long been extinguished, came the quarrel of a husband and wife. "What's wrong with smoking a little herb? Who the hell am I earning money for? Who! Think it is too little? If it is too little, stop living with me!" There was a child's frightened crying, heavy objects thudding to the ground, cups and plates shattering. The dog tied outside the house barked madly without end, drawing more barking from farther away...

Such scenes were everywhere outside North Gate Bridge, among the poor streets and crude alleys of the new suburb, giving one a gloomy, numb feeling that made one drowsy.

Just like his past.

Beneath the moonlight, Lausanne the Second felt the weight and warmth of the longsword on his back. Expressionless, he stepped over a filthy water ditch, then passed a row of leaning fences.

A large dog tied to the fence sensed a stranger and growled a threatening warning with fierce momentum. But the instant he approached, its whole body trembled, and with tail lowered, it crawled back into the corner, shivering.

Clever, sensitive, able to judge the times and situation, bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Lausanne the Second's gaze did not move, and he continued forward.

But that is why you will forever be only a dog tied up.

Able to see only the scenery within reach of your chain.

The next moment, Lausanne the Second's steps trembled, and his face twisted in pain.

Not good.

Again!

In an instant, the muscles all over his body tightened involuntarily, spasming and twisting...

Starting from the heart, every organ and tissue in his body began roaring, struggling, and trembling, thirsting for killing and plunder, conveying this impulse over and over to his brain like storm waves striking the shore.

Yes, the brain.

That fragile, empty, dazed brain of his, which, after endless torment, had long since not much reason left.

Thinking of this, Lausanne the Second's face turned fierce. He clenched his fist, swung his arm, and struck his own chest with enormous force.

Bang!

Quiet, he said to them.

The heart beneath his ribs trembled slightly and contracted violently under injury and pain.

But Lausanne the Second's expression was savage, and without hesitation, he struck again.

Bang!

Quiet, quiet, quiet!

Lausanne the Second's eyes trembled as he roared and warned every uncontrolled organ and tissue in his body.

Listen to me.

Mine!

Me!

But this time, every part of his body was desperately resisting him, struggling madly. They longed to overwhelm his will, drown his reason, and seize his spirit.

Lausanne the Second clenched his teeth.

Of course. He was injured. Poisoned.

They had been heavily implicated. Of course they were not satisfied. Although things had been eased and restored somewhat, the rare poison that old judge had placed in the wine had endless aftereffects. It had taken him an entire day to recover some strength.

But he knew he could not yield or compromise.

Because they would never be satisfied.

Thus the sinister whispers began.

"Then have a glass of wine with me, child."

In his memory, the dying old judge lifted his wineglass, took a light sip, and revealed an expression of enjoyment.

"Let me tell you everything, and you will understand."

This scene made Lausanne the Second tremble slightly, becoming part of his indelible memory.

He remembered that at that time, he had already seen through everything. Thus, confidently and unhurriedly, he extended his hand and, under the old judge's slightly nervous gaze, raised that glass of wine.

"I know you poisoned this."

Through the glass, he saw with satisfaction the old man's eyes tremble and his expression change greatly.

That was shock and regret, unwillingness and disappointment.

"But out of respect, I am willing to drink a glass with you, Mr. Brennan." The next second, he grinned. "To your courage and boldness."

And to the will that endured pain.

He smiled, gracefully tilted his head back, and drank the poisoned wine in one gulp.

Not bad.

It was fine wine.

Worth the price of enduring the poison within.

He wondered what great highborn figure had been qualified to enjoy it before this.

When he put the glass down again, as expected, he saw doubt, daze, and confusion in the old judge's eyes.

And disbelief beyond expectation toward what he had done.

"Why, why?"

The old man trembled as he stood, his face showing the pain of the poison taking effect. The other party was only an ordinary old man with no strength to truss a chicken. How could he endure this?

Why?

But he only giggled and did not answer.

Why?

In any case, you would not understand.

Until the wine poison in his own body also began to take effect.

But at that moment, he met the old judge's eyes.

The old man froze, then suddenly understood something.

"I understand, child. I have seen people like you..."

Although his expression was pained under the torment of the poison, the old man's words became incomparably gentle, even carrying faint melancholy.

"You want to put something down, yet the pain is hard to soothe. You want to grasp something, yet you are lost and hollow..."

Perhaps because the poisoned wine was taking effect, he trembled sharply and subconsciously stood.

"You understand too little, and what you do not understand is too much... You do not know what you should be loyal to, so you can only grit your teeth, lower your head, and numb what is before you, easing the pain and depression just a little..."

Perhaps because of the poison's effect, he was struck as if by a heavy blow. Shocked, he retreated one step and unintentionally knocked over the chair.

The old man could no longer support himself and fell painfully to the floor.

"It is all right, child. I have had it too." The judge on the floor forced out a smile with all his strength and shakily made the Sunset's final prayer gesture toward him. "It is all right. In the end you will understand. It will pass. It all will... pass..."

The old man's words stopped abruptly, and the light in his eyes gradually vanished.

Yet an inexplicable panic surged in his heart, and in his confusion, he kept retreating until he fell to the ground.

Why?

Perhaps because of the poisoned wine's aftermath, the muscles all over his body began to tremble and the blood began roaring.

Long-lost fear suddenly struck, leaving him nowhere to flee.

Why, why in this old fellow's final gaze...

Was there pity and...

Sympathy?

No.

Why sympathy?

His mind drifted. Staggering, he struggled up and smashed through the window.

He threw himself into the deep dark night.

Toward his final refuge.

No!

On the small road of North Gate Bridge, Lausanne the Second abruptly opened his eyes.

Get out.

Get out!

Get out of my brain!

Get out!

His whole body trembled as he fought a life-and-death struggle with this powerful body that refused discipline, while desperately dragging himself out of memories of the past.

Listen. To. Me!

Amid pain and numbness, he worked hard to gather his attention on the sword on his back. From simple to complex, from basic to profound, he recalled and dismantled all kinds of sword moves and sword forms over and over, simulated drills in his mind again and again, and time after time forgot reality within martial skill and sword style.

Muted Cicada Sword... Forged Blade Combat Arts... Fearful Kill... Oracle's Teaching... Sea of Fire and Wild Wind... Ten Legion Forms... Thorn Rapier... Heavenly Music Round Dance...

Finally, when the young Knight Huajin appeared in his brain for the twenty-eighth time and ordered the even younger him to tighten his steps and concentrate in order to bring out the greatest effect of the "Triumphal Form," he successfully suppressed the trembling and struggling throughout his body, seized back his tottering reason, and the rebellions in every part gradually calmed.

The sinister whispers sank unwillingly into silence.

Perhaps the whole thing had only lasted a few tenths of a second, but without doubt, he had once again won a dangerous duel and survived the calamity.

Ever since the battle with that strange, ever-changing monster in the sewers, when he had suddenly lost control, similar struggles had only become more dangerous, making his reason totter.

Next time, would he still be this lucky?

Lausanne the Second recovered control over his body, felt the sword's weight again, exhaled, and continued forward.

The moonlight was bleak and clear. The surrounding shabby single-story houses grew quieter.

The sound of breathing inside each house grew fewer and fewer, and even the crowing of chickens and barking of dogs lessened greatly.

Born and raised here, Lausanne the Second knew that as Jade City's administrative district with the cheapest land prices and shortest history, and he even suspected whether the area outside North Gate Bridge had its own administrative officer, the new suburb contained mostly bottom-level workers and servants from all trades in the city.

At this moment, they were either carrying tools into the city, going to shops, workshops, warehouses, docks, or the residences of great households to honestly work and serve others, especially on the night of the parade, and would only be released at dawn to return home; or they had no work and nothing to do, and might as well extinguish the lamps early and sleep with heads covered, saving firewood, oil, and food, then rise early tomorrow to go into the city or even outside the city to find work that paid cash.

It was as if the bright, warm, exciting, and alluring scenery of the thousands of lights in Jade City, only a bridge away, had nothing to do with their lives.

The famed, pleasure-filled Emerald Celebration was, in their eyes, only another chance to earn money through labor. At most, during these days, their bosses paid wages a bit more fully and customers gave slightly more tips.

As for Emerald Palace, standing on the high slope and giant rock in the city, flying the Iris Flower banner, receiving and sending off countless powerful figures, representing the highest power of the South Coast, it was only an enormous god that inspired awe and admiration, yet was always far away beyond reach.

Untouched by worldly smoke and fire, unrelated to mortal dust.

Thinking to this point, Lausanne the Second clenched his fist.

There is no wine in the bottle, Lausanne.

In the past, Turnbull had said this to him.

"You once thought there was wine in the bottle. That was why you fell to this point..."

Lausanne the Second abruptly raised his head and looked straight toward the brilliant lights of the distant palace.

"Then do you want to know what is actually inside the bottle?"

No.

He should not have needed to know, nor care about these things.

He should have been like the people around him, muddled and numb, repeating the lives of the previous generation under his elders' repeated warnings and kind persuasion: "Ah, living in Jade City is already quite good," "Working is at least better than farming or fishing outside," "At least we have the rules of official lords protecting us."

As long as he had not met Handro Huajin.

As long as he had not become a knight's attendant.

As long as he had not gripped a sword hilt.

As long as he had not raised his head.

As long as he had not...

Wait.

Sensing something, Lausanne the Second looked around in the alley.

So quiet.

Too quiet.

Excessively quiet.

Even if this was North Gate Bridge during the Sleepless Night Parade.

Lausanne the Second slowly raised his head.

In the distance, an abandoned watchtower that had stood unused for a long time stood quietly beneath the moonlight.

Like an elderly person at the end of life.

In the darkness, he looked at that watchtower and stared for a very, very long time.

Lausanne the Second, battle-hardened and having survived countless near deaths, was far too familiar with such a scene.

He knew what this was.

A trap.

A dangerous trap intended to hunt him.

Everything was clear in his heart.

Lausanne the Second took a deep breath and suddenly felt a long-lost exhilaration.

Every part of his body began to grow excited again, stirring restlessly.

Yes. Had they said "yes," "good," or "go"?

Lausanne the Second felt it.

This was a rare tacit understanding between them.

It was the moment when, as eternal mortal enemies, they wholeheartedly reached a compromise.

Then go.

The next second, body and mind as one, he stepped and leapt onto an open rooftop.

Under the night curtain, and also beneath the moonlight, the killer revealed an almost sickly smile.

He did not hide or conceal himself. He stepped toward the direction of the watchtower.

Thales lowered the telescope in his hands.

At this moment, he stood on a five-story abandoned watchtower, looking down under the bleak moonlight at the countless single-story houses and crude dwellings of half the new suburb, or in local terms, outside the bridge.

Compared to the sleepless brightness and flowing colors of other parts of the city, the entire new suburb appeared dim, desolate, and pitch-black.

Pitch-black...

Under the moonlight, Thales sensed something and raised his head to look toward the brightly lit Emerald Palace in the distance, bright as day, then looked at the dim streets and alleys beneath the tower.

"What my eyes see..."

Thales murmured and spoke the cold, numb famous words of his ancestor:

"Is only darkness."

But as soon as the prince finished speaking, another steady voice sounded faintly from the air, continuing Thales' words:

"Waiting for the fire of civilization to light the wilderness."

Thales frowned when he heard this.

At some unknown point, a strange figure had appeared beside him, standing shoulder to shoulder with him on the tower, looking down at the countless intertwined and scattered residences below.

The sudden uninvited guest caused a small disturbance among the Star Lake Guards guarding above and below. Many were about to rush to the top floor to protect him, until Mallos, standing at the other end of the tower, heard and ordered his subordinates to remain calm.

"If I remember correctly, this was Black Eyes John's answer to Chancellor Halva before his northern campaign against Eckstedt."

The sudden visitor spoke softly, as if afraid of waking the pitch-black silence before them.

"It is just that the first half is easier to recite, so it spread more widely and achieved his byname."

Thales scoffed softly.

The fire of civilization.

"Then Black Eyes was not wrong," the youth shook his head toward the clustered residences below. "If flames of war also count as the 'fire of civilization.'"

The guest beside him was silent for a while.

"That is not false," the guest's Western Common was pronounced properly, even carrying an old-fashioned flavor characteristic of ancient imperial speech, except it lacked emotion. "One must know that wherever Black Eyes' army's iron hooves reached in the past, Northland villages, towns, fortresses, and palaces all burned with raging flames, rising to the sky and spreading across the land. It cannot be said not to have 'lit the wilderness.'"

Thales smiled, and the smile was sarcastic.

He turned and formally examined his guest.

"You truly are hard to invite, Count Li. It is said Butler Ashford found several middlemen, turned seven or eight corners, and even had to wait until night before he barely delivered the invitation to you?"

Li Corleone, from the Kingdom of Night across the great ocean, with a Far Eastern face, bowed lightly.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. For well-known reasons, when my clan goes out, the resting place chosen is extremely important. It must be cautious, careful, and absolutely secret."

Thales looked at this vampire envoy's meticulous etiquette and felt the corpse-like dead silence around him. He was silent for a good while, then smiled.

"Understandable. Then I suppose the other one was also this troublesome?"

Another fresh and confident voice sounded from Thales' left:

"Not necessarily."

Hearing this voice, Li did not move. Thales turned and looked to the other side.

"If you want to find me, two messenger crows will do," a handsome young man in luxurious attire appeared soundlessly on Thales' left. "Even if someone follows their flight paths one after the other and finds my hiding place, I will still have time to respond."

He looked toward the layers of rooftops below the tower and clicked his tongue.

"After all, times have changed."

Li remained motionless, his gaze like stone.

As if he had not heard, or disdained to hear the other's sarcasm.

"Good evening, Yannik." Thales smiled and nodded.

Yannik Fraser Hollier, from the Immortal Council of Banquet Territory and acting master of the Rejuvenation Court, smiled brightly and bowed to Thales.

Just like this, Thales stood in the middle, with two vampires from East and West on his left and right. One was silent, the other smiling faintly, but there was always a strange pressure in the air that made people unconsciously nervous.

"I will not waste words," Thales stood for a while and could not be bothered to pay attention to the generational grievances represented by these two vampires. He went straight to the point. "I believe both of you know that in these days, Jade City has encountered a small trouble."

Small trouble.

Yannik smiled.

"Only a few obstacles. I am certain that with Your Highness Thales' ability..."

But Thales did not let him continue.

"An assassin."

The prince's face was solemn, his tone stern.

"To be precise, a ruthless assassin whose strength has reached the extreme class. He has been slaughtering, taking lives, seeking revenge, and disturbing order in Jade City without restraint, inciting public anger."

Yannik could not help becoming serious. Li's expression did not change.

"Therefore..."

Thales paused, put his hands behind his back, and turned. Under the moonlight, he appeared even more silver-bright and righteous.

"I invited you both here tonight precisely to ask you to lend me a hand, capture the culprit, and restore peace to city governance."

The watchtower was silent for a long while.

Both guests were motionless, seeming to digest and chew over Thales' meaning.

"What?"

After several seconds, Li of the Kingdom of Night spoke softly. "Us? Capture an assassin?"

Thales smiled politely.

"Forgive my bluntness, Your Highness," Yannik carefully examined Thales, his gaze meaningful. "You currently control Emerald Palace, command the Jade Legion, and have many talented people under you. Moreover, the royal family is wealthy, and under a reward of a thousand gold, brave men will surely appear. Why seek out us vampires, let me be direct, loathed by all, to serve as hired muscle?"

Thales took a deep breath, turned back, and looked beyond the watchtower.

"Because," under the moonlight, he said playfully, "it is night now."