The gentlemen in the rain move on, and a woman appears in front of the path between the tombstones.
Holding a red umbrella in her right hand and a bouquet of flowers in her left, she squatted in front of a newly erected tombstone. The woman has gray-brown hair that seems to have faded, is wearing a thick autumn dress, and the red scarf around her neck looks very warm. Wearing ordinary braids, she looks about twenty-five or sixteen years old, but when you look closely, she feels a little inexplicably old.
The location of the woman is not on the path that Xia De and the doctor must pass, but is separated from the path by a piece of lawn. But Xia De still stopped, and the doctor glanced at the woman who was putting 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 went to Marilyn Handel.
The spirit of Joey Barton stood beside the woman and stared at the tombstone, and soon noticed Shad's arrival. He didn't speak, but turned around and nodded slightly to Xia De. Xia De walked over and saw the name on the tombstone:
【Joy Desmond Button】
[died in late autumn 1853]
【For love】
It wasn't until Shad approached that Ms. Marilyn Handel realized that someone was coming in the rain. She put down the bouquet of flowers, and hastily wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes:
"Mr. Hamilton."
There are some hard-to-detect gray lines on the face, which are symbols of the curse of death.
"Haven't you left Tobesk yet?"
"The train is two hours away, and we're going to Carson Rik for the winter."
Xia De nodded, looking at the simple tombstone, only the name and the year of death were written, and the cursive letters of "For Beloved" are probably the epitaph:
"I didn't expect you to erect a tombstone here."
he said softly.
"Although he will be with me forever, we still need to commemorate him...it means he has been here..."
Ms. Handel is wearing thick clothes and looks a little weak. The most intuitive expression is her pale lips.
"It's good to have a tombstone, at least there are traces left."
Xia De nodded, took out his business card from his pocket and handed it to Ms. Handel:
"If you encounter difficulties that cannot be solved, you can write to me."
He didn't agree with Joy Barton's approach, but Ms. Handel had no grudge against him:
"Good luck with your journey."
"I wish you a happy life too."
Ms. Handel bowed slightly to Shad, and then left here with an umbrella. Xia De stood in front of Joy Barton's tombstone and looked at her back, then saw Mr. Barton's soul and turned to wave goodbye to him.
From the beginning to the end, Shad did not communicate with Joey Barton. After all, there is nothing more to say.
Miss Galina got some information about the chosen ones from Barton on Wednesday night, and in return gave a bearer money order to the penniless Marilyn Handel who had just been resurrected. Next, Xia De has no way of knowing where this woman who is burdened with a sinful soul and the curse of death will go, but they will definitely embark on the road of redeeming the soul.
For those souls, and for themselves.
[She has become a ring warlock. 】
The voice in the ear whispered in the rain, and Ms. Handel's figure was gradually blurred in the rain. Xia De reached out and touched Button's tombstone. He let go of his frowning brows, and suddenly smiled, then turned around and returned to the path to meet the doctor.
The doctor didn't inquire about the identity of the person just now, and after meeting with Xia De, he continued to walk forward, talking about their topic:
"The detective in your family also said just now that everyone is mortal, and no one can escape."
Xia De nodded slightly:
"But some people left, came back, and didn't want to leave."
This refers to Count Dalark.
"But when some people leave, they don't want to look back."
This refers to Detective Sparrow Hamilton who seems to have let go of all burdens.
"But some people would rather come back, just to redeem another soul."
This refers to Marilyn Handel who 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."
Xia De sighed, and the doctor continued briskly:
"Not only are mortals mortal, but even everything has its end. This is the rule of this world. Although it is ruthless and cruel, it is fair."
The doctor gave an example:
"Like, I don't want these boots of mine to last forever so I don't have an excuse to buy new ones."
"Actually, the boots are not broken, and you can buy a new pair... Forget it, it doesn't matter."
Saying goodbye to Ms. Handel, Xia De felt better for some reason:
"But everything has a beginning and an end, which is indeed a good thing. The world is not frozen, some come and some go. This is a dynamic balance, which is really fair."
Doctors agree:
"It's like you and Sparrow Hamilton. The detective is gone, but you are here. Maybe our city really needs Detective Hamilton!"
The blue-eyed doctor was joking, and Xia De also looked at Qiu Yu with a smile:
"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 in winter, expand my career planning, and stop being so busy."
Although ring magicians earn much more than ordinary detectives, the status of detective is a necessity for outlanders to live in the civilized world. Not to mention earning less, he couldn't throw it away even if it was a gold pound.
"Winter is coming again, and it's also the end of the year. Spring, summer, autumn and winter, it's always been like this."
The doctor nodded.
"Winter has come, can spring be far behind?"
[So, are you? 】
The voice of "her" chuckled in the rain, Xia De thought for a moment:
"Of course. Even if it 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 arrived at the resting place of Mr. Sparrow Sparrow Hamilton, and the doctor stopped first, letting Shad go forward to clean the wet leaves hanging from the tombstone.
The stranger squatted down slightly, brushed his left hand over the cold and wet surface of the stone tombstone, and thought of many things in an instant. Half a year has passed since the midsummer of 1853 in the general calendar came to this world. The Outlander has changed a lot, but the detective is still buried here.
Raindrops hit the umbrellas, and the rain slid down the tombstones, and finally settled in the late autumn dirt. In the atmosphere at this time, Xia De wanted to say a few words to suit the occasion, but he couldn't say what he said.
But fortunately, foreigners still have friends in this world:
"Here lies the rest of the faithful Sparrow Hamilton."
Dr. Bill Schneider stood behind Shad and said:
"Eternal loyalty, persisting until the last moment for duty."
Xia De stood up, took a step back, and looked at the tombstone with the doctor in the rain.
"At this moment, he is sleeping here forever. Even if he cannot return to his hometown, his soul has already slept peacefully."
Although there are only a few short sentences, they still express Xia De's mood very well:
"Doctor, in fact, you can also try to contribute to the newspaper."
he said with a smile.
"Oh, Detective, don't make fun of me. I don't have Louisa's literary talents. . . . I did, however, consider a career as a writer and civil servant when I was young."
So Bill Schneider became a very successful psychiatrist.
After making a joke, Xia De put one hand in his pocket and held the umbrella in the other, and suddenly asked softly:
"Doctor, since mortals are mortal and everything in the world has its end, will this world also have its end? It was not destroyed by some conspiracy or by some unimaginable force. It really just came to an end naturally."
This question was raised because of Sister Devlin's statement that "the fire is dying out", and because Mr. Edmond of the Guiding Light Order often mentioned things like the end of the world to Shad. He wasn't sure if and when the end of the world would come, and this became his new secret that he wanted to know.
The doctor was silent for a while, listening to the sound of rain and thinking carefully:
"I think it should, 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 that."
Shad nodded, wanting 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. Mortals are mortal. Although the ending is doomed, you can find ways to extend the length of life and make life more meaningful. If the world will come to an end one day, I think there must be many People, pay the price to prolong the life of the world and make our world more meaningful?"
The doctor shrugged, noncommittal, but mentioned another thing:
"Speaking of which, we seem to have forgotten to buy flowers and came here empty-handed. Go to the chapel over there and ask. I think there should be fresh flowers there."
"My house is actually full of flowers, the entire living room..."
So the images from last night jumped out again, Xia De hurriedly drove those images out of his head, now is not the right time to think about this:
"Wait, I have a flower."
He said, reaching into his pocket, paused, and took out a wilted white flower from it.
This one is the last flower I bought from a little **** the street in Fort Midhill, but it is not a rose, it is a rare white Lyon orchid, which is a subspecies of orchid, which can be planted in spring and fall Flowering, noted for the fullness of the petals.
"Look, the last flower has also found its owner."
Xia De said to "her" in his heart, bent down and wanted to put the bunch 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 inhalation, the gray air flows from the flower and enters the nose. Under Dr. Schneider's gaze, the bouquet of flowers slowly turned into a seed.
"I can't change the ending of death, but at least it can prolong the process and make life more meaningful... This flower will decay soon, but..."
Xia De called out the moonlight sword, dug a small hole in the wet soil beside the tombstone, and put the seed in it. With his fingers, he left the growth-promoting elf runes in the soil, and then buried the fingerprints and seeds together:
"I hope next spring, a flower will grow here."
The doctor nodded:
"Yes, I will come and see it with you next spring."
After finishing all this, Xia De stood up, and stood in front of the tombstone with the doctor on the left and right, holding an umbrella and looking at the letters on the tombstone.
The raindrops pattered and fell on the ground, making small splashes. The rain in late autumn played light but sad music between heaven and earth, just like the people who fell asleep here, leaving lightly, leaving thoughts and blessings.
The cemetery in the rain is like an old oil painting with a gloomy tone, and the backs of Xia De and the doctor are frozen in the center of the oil painting. What the Doctor thought of Shade didn't know, but he thought of his actions at Middlehill all autumn, of all the people and the various souls and the various things.
Finally, he thought of the seeds buried in the soil by himself. It was like he saved Grace and Helen, just like Joey Barton found Marilyn Handel. None of them could make anyone live forever, but they all made life longer, with more meaning, with a chance to face the next spring.
Of course, what Shad did would not lead to disaster.
Listening to the sound of rain is touching the heartstrings, and the slightly cold wind brings the chill of late autumn. The damp air is so real, it is as if one can feel the autumn that Tobesk is about to leave as soon as one stretches out one's hand.
Everyone is mortal, and he can't change everything, but the flower that is about to die has indeed degenerated into a seed, waiting for the next spring.
"Say something."
In the sound of rain, her voice sounded on time:
[Sixth Epoch, Universal Calendar 1853~www.mtlnovel.com~Autumn, the month of dead leaves. When the rain in late autumn falls under your feet, the slight cold wind can't take away the thoughts at this moment. The living are attached to their loved ones, but they don't know that mortals will die; the dead sacrifice voluntarily, and they don't expect that everything will die. The sinful and noble soul, carrying the curse, went far away, but the original flame ignited a new power. On the stage of unknowable fate, the red butterflies fly with you, the third act is over, but you who have stepped into death—outlander, do you really understand what is death? 】
"Isn't the description of Hongdie a bit strange?"
Shad asked, but got no answer.
"However, all things have... death..."
He pondered this sentence in the rain, feeling as if he had touched a deeper power. The [Original·Death] in the pocket glowed slightly, and Dr. Schneider suddenly turned his head, and seemed to see a huge golden sickle flashing behind Xia De, but when he looked carefully, there was nothing:
"It's hallucinations again...why do I say again?"
This rain will probably last for a long time, the end of autumn, and the beginning of winter. Whether Shad likes it or not, death is as fair as time.
Only she chuckled in the slightly cold rain:
[Outlander, you have gained new power. 】
(end of this volume)