Whispering Verse

The gentlemen in the rain continued to move forward, and a woman appeared in front of the path between the tombstones.

Holding a red umbrella in her right hand and a bouquet of flowers in her left hand, she squatted in front of a newly erected tombstone. The woman has faded white-brown hair, is wearing thick autumn clothes, and the red scarf around her neck looks very warm. Wearing ordinary braids, he looks about 25 or 26 years old, but if you look closely, he looks inexplicably older.

The woman's location was not on the path that Shade and the doctor must pass, but across a lawn from the path. But Shade still stopped, and the doctor glanced at the woman who was placing flowers in front of the tombstone:

"Friends?"

"Not really, just someone I know. Doctor, wait for me."

"no problem."

So a black umbrella stopped on the path to watch the autumn rain, and the other umbrella walked towards Marilyn Hendel.

The spirit of Joey Barton stood next to the woman and stared at the tombstone, and soon noticed Shade's arrival. He did not speak, but turned around and nodded slightly to Shade. Shade walked over and saw the name on the tombstone:

【Joy Desmond Patton】

【Died in late autumn of 1853】

【For the love】

Ms. Marilyn Hendel didn't realize someone was coming in the rain until Shade came closer. She put down the bouquet and hurriedly wiped away the tears from her eyes:

"Mr. Hamilton."

There are some gray lines on the face that are difficult to detect, which are symbols of the death curse.

"Have you not left Tobesk yet?"

"The train is in two hours. We plan to go to Kasenlik for the winter."

Shade nodded and looked at the simple tombstone, which only had the name and year of death written on it. The curly letters of "For Beloved" could probably be regarded as the epitaph:

"I didn't expect you to put up a tombstone here."

he said softly.

"Although he will be with me forever, after all, I still need to commemorate him and show that he has been here."

Ms. Handel wore very thick clothes and looked a little weak. The most obvious symptom was her white lips.

"It would be nice to have a tombstone, at least it leaves a trace."

Shade nodded, took out his business card from his pocket and handed it to Ms. Handel:

"If you encounter difficulties that really cannot be solved, you can write to me."

He didn’t agree with what Joey Patton was doing, but Ms. Handel had no grudge against him:

"Good luck on the journey."

"I also wish you a happy life."

Ms. Handel bowed slightly to Shade, then left with an umbrella. Shade stood in front of Joey Barton's tombstone and looked at her back, and then saw Mr. Barton's soul turning around and waving goodbye to him.

From beginning to end, Shade did not communicate with Joey Barton. After all, there is nothing worth saying.

Miss Carina got some information about the chosen one from Barton on Wednesday night, and in return gave a bearer's money order to the newly resurrected penniless Marilyn Handel. Shade has no way of knowing where this woman with her sinful soul and death curse will go next, but they must embark on the road to redeem their souls.

For the sake of those souls, and for their own sake.

[She has become a ring sorcerer. 】

The voice in my ears whispered in the sound of rain, and Ms. Handel's figure gradually became blurred in the rain. Shade reached out and touched Barton's tombstone. His frown relaxed, and he suddenly smiled, then turned around and returned to the path to meet the doctor.

The doctor did not ask about the identity of the man just now. After meeting with Sha De, he continued to walk forward and talked about their topic:

"The detective in your family just now said that all mortals are destined to die, and no one can escape it."

Shade nodded slightly:

"But some people leave, come back, and don't want to leave."

This refers to Count Darak.

"But some people leave and don't want to look back."

This refers to Detective Sparrow Hamilton who seems to have let go of all his burdens.

"But some people would rather come back just to redeem another soul."

This was a reference to Marilyn Hendel, who had just left.

The doctor shook his head and did not comment on this:

"Isn't this the story of life? Other people's lives, other people's stories, other people's choices. You are a passer-by in their lives, witness other people's stories, and write your own story."

Shade sighed, and the doctor continued in a brisk tone:

"Not only mortals are mortal, but all things will also face an end one day. This is the rule of this world. Although it is ruthless and cruel, this is fairness."

The doctor gave an example:

"Like, I don't want my boots to never break so I don't have an excuse to buy new ones."

"Actually, the boots are not broken. You can buy a new pair. Forget it, it's not important."

After bidding farewell to Ms. Handel, Shade felt better for some reason:

"But it is indeed a good thing that everything has a beginning and an end. The world is not frozen. Some come and some go. This is a dynamic balance, which is really fair."

The doctor agreed:

"It's like you and Sparrow Hamilton. The detective left, but you came. Maybe our city really needs Detective Hamilton!"

The blue-eyed doctor joked, and Xia De also looked at Qiu Yu and smiled:

"Although you all call me a detective, I haven't completed a few serious commissions this autumn. I plan to take a good rest in Tobesk during the winter, expand my career plans, and stop being so busy."

Although a ring magician earns much more than an ordinary detective, the identity of a detective is a necessity for outsiders to live in the civilized world. Not to mention how little he earned, he couldn't throw away even the gold pounds.

"Winter is coming again, and it is also the end of the year. Spring, summer, autumn and winter are always like this."

The doctor nodded.

"Winter has arrived, can spring be far behind?"

Shade said, then realized it was a poem from his home world. It's a pity that he only remembered this sentence, otherwise when Agelina invited him to the salon, she could have written it down to prove that she was not illiterate.

[So, are you? 】

"Her" voice chuckled in the rain, and Shade thought for a moment:

"Of course. Even though he has an intimate relationship with a well-known female writer, the education level of this body is still at the level of 'Sparrow Hamilton Tutor'."

He slowed down because the two finally came to the resting place of Mr. Sparrow Sparrow Hamilton. The doctor stopped first and asked Shade to go forward and clean the wet leaves on the tombstone.

The stranger squatted down slightly and brushed his left hand over the cold, wet stone surface of the tombstone. He thought of many things in an instant. Little half a year has passed since he came to this world in the midsummer of 1853 in the common calendar. The stranger has changed a lot, but the detective still sleeps here.

The raindrops hit the umbrella, and the rainwater slid down the tombstone, and finally fell into the late autumn soil. In the current atmosphere, Xia De wanted to say a few words to suit the occasion, but he couldn't say anything.

But fortunately, foreigners still have friends in this world:

"Here lies the loyal Sparrow Hamilton."

Dr. Bill Schneider stood behind Shade and said:

"Eternal loyalty, persisting to the last moment for duty."

Shade stood up, took a step back, and looked at the tombstone with the doctor in the rain.

"At this moment, he is sleeping here. Even if he cannot return to his hometown, his soul has rested in peace."

Although there are only a few sentences, it still expresses Shade's mood very well:

"Doctor, you can actually try submitting articles to newspapers."

he said with a smile.

"Oh, detective, don't make fun of me. I don't have Louisa's literary talent. But when I was young, I did consider my career as a writer and a civil servant."

So Bill Schneider became a very successful psychiatrist.

After making a joke, Shade put one hand in his pocket and held an umbrella with the other, and suddenly asked softly:

"Doctor, since all mortals are mortal and everything in the world will come to an end, will this world also come to an end? It will not be destroyed by some conspiracy or by a force that we cannot imagine. It really just naturally came to an end.”

This question was raised because of Sister Devlin's statement that "the fire has gradually gone out", and also because Mr. Edmund of the Light Guiding Order often mentioned things like the destruction of the world to Shade. He was not sure whether or when the end of the world would come, and this became a new secret he wanted to know.

The doctor was silent for a moment, listening to the sound of rain and thinking carefully:

"I think so, but I can't imagine that kind of scene. The destruction of the old world will lead to the birth of a new world, I'm sure of this."

Shade nodded and wanted to ask what they would do if the end of the world was next year. But when I thought about this question, I felt ridiculous, so I shook my head:

"What you just said is right. All mortals are destined to die. Although the ending is doomed, we can find ways to extend the length and make life more meaningful. If the world will one day end, I think there will be many People, pay the price to extend the life of the world and make our world more meaningful, right?”

The doctor shrugged without comment, but mentioned another thing:

"Speaking of which, we seem to have forgotten to buy flowers and came here empty-handed. Let's go and ask at the chapel over there. I think there should be fresh flowers there."

"My house is actually filled with flowers, enough to fill a living room."

Then the scenes from last night popped up again, and Shade hurriedly pushed those scenes out of his head. Now is not the time to think about this:

"Wait, I have a flower."

He said, putting his hand into his pocket, paused, and took out a wilted white flower.

This flower was the last flower I bought from a little girl on the street in Fort Midhill, but it was not a rose. It was a rare white Lyon orchid. This is a subspecies of orchid. It can be planted in spring and autumn. Flowers are known for their plump petals.

"Look, the last flower has also found its owner."

Shade said to "her" in his heart, bending down to put the bouquet of orchids on the ground in front of the tombstone. But before the flower touched the ground, he straightened up again and glanced hesitantly at the white flower in his hand:

"The Breath of Time."

With a slight inhale, the gray air flowed out from the flower and entered the nose. Under Dr. Schneider's gaze, the bouquet of flowers slowly turned into a seed.

"You can't change the outcome of death, but you can at least prolong the process and make life more meaningful. If you put this flower here, it will fade soon, but"

Shade summoned the moonlight sword, dug a small hole in the moist soil next to the tombstone, and put the seed in it. Then he used his fingers to leave the elf runes that promote growth in the soil, and then buried the fingerprints and seeds together:

"Hopefully, next spring, a flower will grow here."

The doctor nodded:

"Yes, I will come with you to see it next spring."

After doing all this, Shade stood up and stood in front of the tombstone with the doctor, holding an umbrella and looking at the letters on the tombstone.

The raindrops fell on the ground, making small splashes. The late autumn rain plays a light but sad music between heaven and earth, just like the people sleeping here, leaving lightly, leaving behind their thoughts and blessings.

The cemetery in the rain looks like an old oil painting with cold tones, and the backs of Shade and the doctor are frozen in the center of the oil painting. Shade didn't know what the doctor was thinking about, but he thought about his actions at Fort Midhill throughout the autumn, and thought about all kinds of people, all kinds of souls, and all kinds of things.

Finally, he thought of the seeds he buried in the soil, just like he saved Grace and Helen, just like Joey Patton found Marilyn Handel. None of them can make anyone immortal, but they all make life longer, have more meaning, and have the opportunity to face the next spring.

Of course, what Shade did was not going to lead to disaster.

Listening to the sound of rain tugs at the heartstrings, and the slightly cold wind brings the chill of late autumn. The humid air is so real that it feels as if you can reach out your hand and touch the autumn that is about to leave Tobesk.

All mortals are mortal, and he cannot change all this, but the dying flower has indeed degenerated into a seed, waiting for the next spring.

"Say something."

Amid the sound of rain, her voice rang out on time:

[The Sixth Age, 1853 in the Universal Calendar, autumn, the month of dead leaves. When the late autumn rain falls at your feet, the slightly cold wind cannot take away the thoughts at this moment. The living are attached to their loved ones, but they don't know that all mortals are mortal; the dead sacrifice themselves voluntarily, not knowing that all things are mortal. The sinful and noble souls carried the curse and walked into the distance, but the original flame ignited new power. On the stage of unknown destiny, the two red butterflies fly with you. The third act is over, but you, the stranger who has stepped into death, do you really understand what death is? 】

"Isn't that description of the red butterfly a little strange?"

Shade asked, but got no answer.

"However, all things exist and eventually perish."

He pondered these words in the rain, feeling as if he had touched a deeper power. The [Origin·Death] in his pocket glowed slightly, and Dr. Schneider suddenly turned his head and seemed to see a huge golden sickle flashing past Shade behind him, but when he looked carefully, there was nothing there:

"It's an illusion again. Why should I say it again?"

This rain will probably last for a long time. Autumn is over and winter is about to begin. Whether Shade wants it or not, death and time are equally fair.

Only she chuckled in the cold rain:

[Outlander, you have gained new strength. 】

(End of this volume)