Crown of Silence

Chapter 414 Persistence

Five days later, the orbital carriage stopped at a station in southern Asgard. A few minutes later, a light carriage set off from the station, went around the outskirts of the city, and finally entered the manor along the mountain road.

The door opened for a moment, then quickly closed in the darkness.

Laura opened the car door and heard the sound of the ocean tide.

Nuo Da's manor was full of people coming and going and the lights were brightly lit. Someone walked down the door steps quickly, reaching out to help Laura out of the car, like a considerate and gentlemanly housekeeper.

"Professor Laura, it's been a hard journey."

"Richard? When you were in the academy, did you ever smile so considerately?"

Laura said calmly: "Unfortunately, it is still too fake, just like your boss, disgusting."

Richard's expression twitched and he couldn't help but look away: "I'm just a civil servant with a dead salary, and I'm a temporary worker without even an agreement. Please don't embarrass me."

"Really? Then I'll go to the fifth department to talk to your boss another day?"

Laura asked back, but Richard didn't dare to answer the question, he just took half a step ahead to lead her the way.

He looked careful and cautious, as if the person next to him was not a graceful and elegant noble girl, but an ether bomb that could explode at any time, a cannibal troll that chose people to eat.

Too many people have been unlucky because of this incident recently, and he doesn't want to be one of them. Even Maxwell doesn't have a temper, let alone a small employee like him?

As early as the day after Ye Qingxuan's accident, the principal discovered that when his personal barber was shaving him, all the shaving cream in the box had been replaced by a miserable green poison that would seal the throat with blood... It was a threat. Beyond words.

Who knows how many people this woman has planted hints and self-destructive impulses in their minds. If she goes crazy, half an Angel will jump into the fire pit with her.

Fortunately, Ye Qingxuan was not dead and she had no chance of going crazy.

Along the way, Richard was struck by the cold gaze behind him. He couldn't help but speed up and move along the roads and corridors of the manor.

The sound of the sea tide is gradually coming, and with the biting cold wind of early winter, the green plants on both sides of the road have been stained with a layer of hoarfrost and are gradually beginning to wither.

"He's waiting for you inside."

Richard opened the door for her, took a few steps back and left quietly.

The light from behind the door fell on Laura's face, and the gloom and madness in her eyes disappeared. Her expression changed, hesitating, like a timid little girl.

"Laura?"

A slightly hoarse voice sounded from behind the door: "Stop standing at the door, come in,"

The room behind the door was empty, with the strong smell of disinfectant still lingering, and the sound of the ocean tide came from the window. Laura walked into it, but felt the warmth of someone living here.

Finally, she looked toward the terrace.

On the terrace, a thin figure sat on a chair, silently watching the waves outside the terrace. His white hair reflected the moonlight and had grown very long at some point.

The short half-month separation felt like a long time. Laura could vaguely distinguish his appearance, but she could hardly recognize him.

She sighed softly, picked up a thick terry blanket from the back of the chair, and covered him.

Ye Qingxuan's wrist was thin and pale, with traces of pinholes and drips still remaining. Sensing Laura's gaze, he hid his wrist under the blanket.

"Let me tell you a joke. I was originally in better condition today, but the doctor is unwilling to prescribe effective medicine, so I can only take care of it slowly."

Laura didn't speak. She knew without thinking what medicine Ye Qingxuan wanted the doctor to give him.

Those medicines that seemed to have amazing curative effects were all at the expense of overdrafting the body and life. Forget it at other times, with Ye Qingxuan's current physical condition, taking that kind of food would simply be asking for death.

Not hearing Laura's voice, Ye Qingxuan smiled, changed the topic, and pointed outside the railing.

On the distant sea, the waves are surging, and when they collide with each other, they make a distant and quiet sound. In the distance, the lights of the coastal city are like stars, reflected on the sea, just like stars falling into the sea, majestic and quiet.

"This is Maxwell's private property, isn't it? Only now do I know how much that guy enjoys it."

He sighed softly: "No wonder he always likes to cry about poverty. If it were me, I would have to buy such a good manor even if I embezzled school funds. If we are short of money later, we can write a report letter to the royal family and get a reward."

"..."

Laura pursed her lips and said nothing.

She looked down at Ye Qingxuan, reached out and touched his white hair. Ye Qingxuan looked back at him with quiet eyes, unlike the young boy he had when they first met.

Like a statue of iron and stone, with sharp edges and corners, silent and quiet, no longer naive or weak.

For some reason, Laura couldn’t help but feel sad when she saw him looking like that.

"It's good to be alive."

She reached out to stroke his hair and hugged his shoulders from behind: "I wanted to give you a good beating first. You have to be obedient. If you do, I won't beat you in the future."

"Yeah, I know."

Ye Qingxuan nodded, raised his hand, patted the back of her hand, and just let her hold him, staring silently at the broken moonlight in the sea.

After a long time, he hesitated and asked softly:

"Laura, if a person has no heart, how can he still live?"

Laura was stunned and raised her head to look at him.

After Xiaoyuan was broken, Ye Qingxuan, who had lost his heart, could no longer continue. Not to mention becoming a musician, it was already difficult for him to continue living.

The Knights Templar spared no expense to rescue him, consuming many precious materials to save him from the brink of death. The doctor told her that it was a miracle that he survived.

But no one knew how long this fragile balance could last.

Everyone was waiting, but how long could Ye Qingxuan wait?

Ye Qingxuan looked at Laura with pleading eyes, waiting for her answer, as if waiting for the final judgment.

"It's okay."

She stared at Ye Qingxuan and whispered, "It's just that you don't have a heart. Believe me, Ye Zi, you will survive."

"Really? That's great."

For some reason, Ye Qingxuan smiled and looked comforted, "That's great. I was worried that I would be regarded as a freak."

He reached out, lifted the thick velvet blanket, unbuttoned his coat, and exposed his chest.

There were still traces of fine sutures on the heart. But under the sutures, there was a faint red light burning quietly.

It replaced the heart and continued to beat in his chest, supporting his life and breathing, allowing him to live from death and struggle back from hell.

"What is this?"

Laura stared at his heart dully, her eyes piercing through the flesh and blood, and fell on it, and she saw the bright red crystal embedded in his body, which was a physical object made of countless complex musical theories, replacing the organs that Xiaoyuan had integrated into the body.

She was unbelievable and almost suffocated.

"This is probably what allows me to continue to live." Ye Qingxuan pressed his heart and whispered softly.

It was the crystallization of miracles, the creation of legends, the power that alchemists had long dreamed of, turning iron into gold and giving life to dead things...

--The Philosopher's Stone!

Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes and once again thought of that childish face, the girl who woke up from the dream looked at him, smiled, and reached out to touch his face.

"I remembered you."

She recognized herself, so she put the Philosopher's Stone that saved her into his arms.

"Don't die, Ye Qingxuan."

This was her last whisper in his ear.

So, Ye Qingxuan survived, even if he lost his heart and his little source was broken, because of the life given by Elsa.

"Help me, Laura."

Ye Qingxuan fastened his buttons again and raised his hand: "The rest time is over."

Lola pursed her lips, stretched out her hand, and pulled him up from the recliner, but she didn't feel much weight. His body was as light as a dead firewood.

Ye Qingxuan put on his coat, slowly led the way in front of him by holding the wall, and finally pushed open the door downstairs.

In the wide hall, there was a silent busyness.

A dozen hurried recorders leaned over the table in the corner to record, checking the materials pushed in from the library one by one, leaving the manuscripts all over the floor, and finally, put marks on the huge map on the wall.

On the other side of the hall, half of the wall was forcibly demolished, destroying the original unified exquisite decoration style. Instead, a giant "tuner" that had just been delivered here was replaced.

The stone-like tuner was wedged into the soil, and the metal wires extended to the sky along the outer wall of the manor, catching the complex signals in the sea of ​​ether and transmitting messages. Several disciplined musicians were fine-tuning it to ensure that it could operate normally.

Richard came up and handed him a letter that had just been delivered. The seal of the letter was covered with black wax. Ye Qingxuan frowned.

"The people of the Whaling Brotherhood failed and were not retained."

Ye Qingxuan nodded: "After all, it is a smuggling group at sea. We can't have too much expectation after landing. Did they say anything?"

"Originally, they wanted the remaining half of the money."

Richard shrugged: "However, after your deputy Mr. Watson cut off the nose of their president, they returned all the advance payments."

Ye Qingxuan took the letter opener, cut open the letter and read it, and his expression was clear: "They want to make money, but don't want to cause trouble, so they decided to deal with the side that seems to be the easiest to deal with...Richard, we gave the money too readily, and were regarded as weak and vulnerable.

I'm afraid it's not enough to cut off only one nose."

Richard seemed to know a lot about the 'former military doctor', and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "If you say so, I'm afraid that guy can't keep the rest of the nose."

"Everyone knows that this is a job that makes money. If you make money, why keep your life?" Ye Qingxuan lowered his head, tore up the letter, and threw it into the trash can.

"Where are our guests now?"

He raised his head and looked at the huge map in front of him.

On the map, blood-red dots were marked, as if a tortuous road was marked with blood. From south to north, it zigzags towards the center of the earth - the Holy City.

Just a little bit more...

"Not far away, Colt, you have to hold on."

Ye Qingxuan smiled, he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, as if he had already invested in the huge map, stretched out his hand to move the chess pieces, full of expectation, whispering softly:

"Must... hold on a little longer..."