795 “Old Friend”
....
795 “Old Friend”
The leader of the enforcers was around forty, clean-shaven, with dark brown eyes.
He responded to Lumian’s question without any expression, “There’s no such rule.”
He meant there was no rule stating that all items on a thief’s body should go to the victim.
Lumian smiled and asked, “But there’s also no law specifically prohibiting it, right?”
“Right.” The leader of the enforcers nodded slowly.
Lumian’s smile broadened. “Coming to Morora means cutting all ties with the past, right?”
This was inferred from what the clergyman Heraberg had said in the cathedral.
“Yes.” The enforcer did not deny it.
Lumian probed further, “And this thief doesn’t have any other heirs in Morora, does he?”
Before being sent to Morora, serious criminals were sterilized. Unless they were part of a criminal family or found a partner with similar criminal interests here, no one in Morora had legal heirs.
The enforcer didn’t answer Lumian immediately. He pulled a thick book from under his black robe and started searching for the relevant records.
“Do you know this thief’s name?” Lumian asked thoughtfully.
The enforcer nodded. “His name is Worms.”
Soon, the records were found. The enforcer read in a flat voice, “His parents and siblings are not in Morora, and he hasn’t married here, at least not officially registered.”
“So, according to the laws from where I come from, a thief’s possessions go to the person who caught them if there are no other heirs or claimants,” Lumian began to explain, “Just like in a legal duel, the victor can take the spoils.”
The enforcer stared at Lumian for a few seconds before saying, “Okay.”
He and his team stood patiently as Worms’s Beyonder characteristics manifested, merging with one of his fingers, which then broke off, turning semi-transparent black.
Lumian put away the Beyonder characteristics but didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he stayed, watching as the enforcers dragged away the body and cleaned the blood and scorch marks from the alley.
The clouds above thickened, and lightning and thunder grew more frequent.
Finally, the alley was clean and quiet, with only Lumian remaining.
Lumian nodded thoughtfully, murmuring to himself, The enforcers seem to remember the appearance and names of every Morora resident…
After becoming enforcers, they are still human but not quite human anymore…
He felt that the so-called enforcers, who were actually experimental personnel, acted like puppets following set procedures, lacking self-awareness and deep thinking.
He had deliberately asked if Worms’s belongings were his, not out of greed for the Beyonder characteristics, although that played a small part, as Beyonder characteristics were valuable. He had long figured that Worms wasn’t a Sequence 7 Marauder, as a Sequence 7 called Cryptologist would have deciphered some of the secrets of the items in the Traveler’s Bag and understood their dangers, not dying just after examining three items.
Lumian even doubted Worms had reached Sequence 8 Swindler, because the thief didn’t seem smart enough.
Lumian’s questions to the enforcers were not to showcase his talent in being a negotiator or exploit loopholes but to test the enforcers’ state.
And he had his answer.
He felt that after becoming enforcers, these serious criminals became like the wax figures in the Sauron family’s Red Swan Castle or a combination of the Iron and Blood Cross Order Supervisor Olson, but without the violent madness, instead exhibiting a gentle indifference.
Is this the combined effect of the 0-01 corruption and Morora’s sealing influence? Lumian was unsure if he would retain his self-awareness if he joined the enforcers, or end up just following Morora’s rules, becoming a puppet of the City of Exiles or 0-01.
This made him waver in his original plan to approach 0-01 as an enforcer.
He laughed softly, asking in a low voice, “Termiboros, do you want to be Morora’s puppet?”
Termiboros ignored him.
Whoosh!
The downpour finally arrived, shrouding Morora in a mist of rain and a doomsday-like gloom.
Lumian followed the shelter of the huge buildings, avoiding the rain as he headed to the place where the strongest feedback from the Abscessed Hand’s missing parts came from.
When he reached his destination, his clothes were half-soaked by the wind and rain, and the water on the street was nearly up to the steps.
Lumian glanced to the side, seeing a sign by the door depicting a knife, fork, and wine gla.s.s, with the words in Lenburg: “Carnivore”
A bar serving food? Carnivore… Lumian pondered the bar’s name, suddenly having a strange guess, The feedback indicated that parts of Hand Bro’s body are scattered across Morora, but originally there were only two pieces…
The demon with the goat face in the Underworld cut and ate Hand Bro’s rotten flesh daily, and it regenerated…
This bar is called “Carnivore”…
Could it be that one piece of Hand Bro’s body was obtained by the bar’s owner, saving them the cost of buying meat and using it as a subst.i.tute?
Other bar owners in different cities might not do this, but in Morora, they likely would, since they were exiled here for serious crimes. The bar owner might even be a perverted butcher who killed people and sold their meat…
If that’s true, things will be troublesome. Who knows how many people have eaten and integrated Hand Bro’s rotten flesh, and what impact that might have…
Can I merge the remaining parts once I find the original two pieces?
Lumian muttered silently for a while, then ran through the rain and pushed open the heavy wooden door of the Carnivore bar.
Upon arriving in Morora, after almost rea.s.sembling the Abscessed Hand’s body, he had started referring to it as Hand Bro, half-jokingly and half to show “closeness,” hoping it wouldn’t attack him when fully restored, as there might be other dangers then.
Just as he entered the bar, bringing in the rain, Lumian saw a familiar figure.
That figure sat on a high stool in front of the bar, their hair tinged with red, eyebrows and eyes leaning towards brown, looking handsome yet unlikable due to their overly sharp features.
Albus!
Albus Medici!
Lumian tensed, though his expression remained calm as he smiled and walked towards the bar.
He used to think Albus Medici was mysterious and possibly involved in some consOriginal. Later, he learned about the existence of the Red Angel Medici, realizing this former King of Angels had orchestrated a ma.s.sive plot and successfully obtained the Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic of the Hunter pathway from Vermonda Sauron in Fourth Epoch Trier.
This made Lumian a.s.sociate Albus Medici with the Red Angel, suspecting Albus was the King of Angels’ agent, sent to Morora to find a way to get close to 0-01.
For Lumian, this was bad news, as Medici was close to ascending to the Red Priest’s divine throne!
Albus Medici noticed Lumian’s gaze and turned, looking back at Lumian, who had made no effort to disguise himself beyond restoring his hair color.
“What brings you here?” Lumian smiled as if meeting an old friend.
Albus returned the smile. “What brings you here?”
“Of course, I was captured,” Lumian laughed, sitting beside Albus and tapping the bar counter, “Give me a steak, tenderloin, medium-rare,” he told the bartender, who looked as if he had lost his parents.
“Are you mimicking me? Also being randomly captured and ordering a tenderloin steak,” Albus said, one foot on the stool’s footrest, the other resting on his knee.
Before Lumian could respond, he relaxed and asked with a smile, “What crime did you commit?”
“Murder, blasphemy, arson, causing explosions, kidnapping…” Lumian repeated the crimes he had told Guei and others before, but not in the same order.
He was relaxed as he asked, “What about you?”
“Me?” Albus jiggled his foot resting on his knee, “Murder, arson, inciting riots, attempting to overthrow the government.”
“Which government?” Lumian asked in a tone of old friends reuniting.
“Intis.” Albus shrugged, “Don’t ask me why I tried to overthrow the Intis government and ended up in this strange city in Lenburg. I don’t know either.”
That’s such a patronizing answer… Lumian nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I didn’t commit crimes in Lenburg either.”
As the two former Iron and Blood Cross Order members “chatted,” two steaks were served.
Looking at the steaks on white porcelain plates, slightly b.l.o.o.d.y and with a good-looking texture, Lumian remained silent and didn’t pick up his knife and fork.
He sensed a connection.
This was indeed the Abscessed Hand’s rotten flesh, cut from the body!
After a few seconds, Lumian glanced to the side and found Albus Medici also staring at the “steak” without moving.
Lumian smiled and asked, “Why aren’t you eating?”
Albus responded with a radiant smile. “Why aren’t you?”