CH 2

A strong light engulfed everything in an instant.

Rode closed his eyes and tried to block the light with his hand, but it still penetrated through his eyelids.

After an unknown amount of time, when the strong light subsided, all the monsters had turned into ashes. The air became bright, the sky widened, and the environment was no longer oppressive. The shadows and anomalies disappeared.

Eleven people dressed in blue robes stood in front of him.

A young woman led the group. She was beautiful and looked no more than twenty years old. She wore a peculiar long robe made of blue and white, with a conspicuous triple flame emblem at the collar.

"Don't be afraid," she said softly, her voice as gentle and clear as a mountain bird.

As soon as she spoke, Rode lost his last bit of hope - he could understand every word she said, but he could not comprehend her language.

"You are safe," the girl's companions dispersed and began to survey and clean up the scene.

Two people walked towards him.

Rode quickly adjusted his mindset. The only way now was to pass himself off as a victim. As long as they didn't suspect him, there was still hope.

From a positive perspective, he might not be the culprit. A tattoo did not prove anything. Maybe it was just a coincidence? Perhaps the owner of that hand was not the killer at all?

There were many possibilities, and things didn't always develop towards the worst outcome.

With his thoughts sorted out, Rode was no longer fearful and waited quietly for his fate to unfold.

The two people who approached him were a burly white-haired man and a long-haired girl.

The white-haired man walked up to him and took out a slightly red glowing stone, placing it in front of Rode. He said coldly, "Speak."

"Huh?" Rode was confused. "What should I say?"

But the man had already put away the stone.

"No signs of corruption, no loss of spiritual power." He seemed to be checking Rode's condition. The other girl squatted down and gently patted him, seemingly checking his body. She said softly, "Relax, don't be nervous. The Guardian has arrived, everything is fine."

"Hmm... what's this soft thing? A furry ball? It's cute. It must be your beloved pet, right?"

Rode was a bit at a loss, but fortunately, the patting didn't last too long. The girl's hands were quick and soon turned him upside down, searching every corner.

"This security check is really strict," Rode thought. "Why doesn't my world have this?"

He also wondered, "How come she didn't seem to notice the pattern on the back of my hand?"

The girl stood up, gently holding his arm and smiling, "Take a few steps."

Rode felt confused. Was he limping?Apart from the headache that was bothering him like a toothache, I didn't feel anything wrong, right?

With the help of the young lady, Rode took two steps forward and she smiled and said, "It's okay, you're healthy."

Rode dumbly agreed and suddenly felt a little worried. These people were so strange. He didn't know if he, a‘no quality assurance product’, could adapt to the future life.

Looking up, he saw that everyone on the scene was busy collecting scattered items on the ground and touching each corpse with a green stone.

Rode felt like the restless corpses calmed down after being touched, but he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.

"That's a curse-breaking stone," the young lady explained kindly.

"It can lift the curse of zombification and help their souls rest in peace. Don't be sad, they will return to the embrace of fire."

Rode's heart skipped a beat. Could it be because I stepped on that weird symbol?

He saw another person walk up to the lamp in the pile of corpses and carefully loosen the hand of the body holding the lamp ring, gently opening the top of the lamp and pouring some red powder into it.

In an instant, the lamp became brighter and the flame inside stabilized, no longer looking like it could go out at any moment.

The young lady smiled and said, "Great, the fire hasn't been contaminated, it's just running out of fuel."

Rode's mind raced. They didn't suspect me immediately, but I can't just sit still, or I'll look very suspicious.

He quickly said, "Um...you better not disturb the scene. Maybe you can find some clues."

"Don't worry, someone has already made a copy of the scene," the young lady said, winking at the white-haired man next to her.

Rode glanced at him and saw that the man was staring at him intently, with a long charcoal pencil floating in front of him, quickly drawing on yellow paper.

"You look like you've recovered. The death of your companion doesn't seem to have a big impact on you. You're very strong. I like this type of boy the most," the young lady said, releasing Rode's hand and walking away lightly.

"I'm Aro, a level two physician of Kimberly. It's nice to be able to help you."

The burly man walked up and said coldly, "Please recount the experience before and after the incident, especially before and after the deaths. Don't leave out any details. We need to find the hidden doomsday cultists based on these."

Here it comes!

Rode's heart tightened.

"I...I don't remember," he hesitated and saw the cold gaze of the burly man, so he changed to a more secure wording.

"I can't recall."

This was a universal answer. It took countless details to fabricate a lie, and if one detail was exposed, the entire lie would be exposed.Moreover, he didn't know what means these people had.

The burly man narrowed his eyes.

"Why can't you remember?"

"I, I don't know, I was too scared...there were corpses everywhere...my head hurts so much, I think I was injured, maybe that's why I lost my memory..."

These words were very appropriate, the whole process was a vague personal emotional perception, just like the perfect confession of the well-known criminal Zhang San.

And the fact was indeed like this, he just described it in a different direction.

But the burly man was unmoved and said coldly, "I found a strange blood stain at the scene, it was burned into ashes before we arrived, can you explain it?"

Rode widened his eyes, unbelievable. Even if it was burned into ashes, how could you find traces? Are you Geralt, the broken old man?

Swoosh.

The yellow paper beside the burly man turned a page, and the charcoal pen floating in the air continued to write frantically.

Rode calmly glanced at it and found that the back of that page was also filled with words.

But he was illiterate and didn't recognize any of them.

Damn.

"I, I can't remember, I was too scared at the time..." Rode hesitated for a moment and still didn't rashly reveal the strange symbols and what happened between them.

It was difficult to explain, and he had no special evidence to prove that what he said was true.

The burly man didn't say anything, and after writing dozens of pages, he turned and left.

Did he pass the test?

Apparently not.

Two people walked over silently, stood beside him without saying a word, and the meaning of monitoring was even more obvious.

Rode's heart sank.

On the other side, the burly man did not deliberately lower his voice to avoid him.

"…Reproduction complete, all information has been recorded."

"The migration team was wiped out, the lamp bearer died in battle, and he was the only survivor."

"The goods were not lost, there were unknown tracks at the scene, an unknown source of cursed zombies, some evidence was destroyed, and the cause of death is unknown."

"…I think the suspect is highly suspicious and should be handed over to the Internal Judgement Bureau for special review."

The girl in the blue and white robe remained silent and listened quietly.

The physician Aro covered her mouth, sounding a bit incredulous.

"Really? White Wolf, are you sure? I don't think he looks like a bad person."

The burly man White Wolf's cold eyes swept towards her.

"Aro, never judge a person by your feelings. There are too many suspicious points in this matter. He is the only survivor but claims to have lost his memory. He may be hiding some unspeakable secrets, trying to deceive us and carry out some terrible conspiracy to achieve his inscrutable purpose."

"But, if he goes to the Internal Judgement Bureau, he may..."

Translated by AI.White Wolf's voice became low, "There's no way around it, some things are unavoidable."

The air fell silent for a moment.

Rode's heart sank, feeling a sense of dread as if he had gone from the tiger's den to the wolf's lair.

"Isn't this too strict...I have just a little bit of suspicion, do I have to be suspected and sent to that judgment place?"

The name alone sounded like a terrible place, probably a place similar to the Gulag where people were eaten without leaving a trace.

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The special screening sounded even more sinister. Judging from their reactions, even if he didn't die, he would be ruined.

What should he do?

Just as he was in a panic, the girl in the green and white robe spoke up.

"Is there any other possibility?"

White Wolf replied, "No."

The girl in the green and white robe fell silent for a few seconds, sighed imperceptibly, and said, "Okay, then..."

Snap! The hands of the two people behind him had already rested on his shoulders. In an instant, Rode thought of the image of being arrested and taken away by the police.

"No! Wait!"

Rode quickly came up with an idea and shouted, "I have something to say."

Everyone turned their gaze towards him. Rode's heart was pounding, and the intense sense of nervousness almost suffocated him.

He was gambling.

But there was no other way.

White Wolf coldly said, "If you have something to say, say it to the executioner..."

But the girl in the green and white robe interrupted him, "Let him speak."

Rode shouted, "I want to speak with you alone!"

White Wolf's tone was slightly impatient, "Take him away..."

But the girl interrupted him again, "Okay."

She walked a few steps outside and stood in a relatively open space.

Rode was escorted by the two people behind him.

The intense sense of nervousness did not interrupt his meticulous thinking, like Sherlock Holmes. He had observed keenly that the girl in the green and white robe, with a triple flame symbol on the collar, was the leader of this group.

Although she looked young, age didn't mean everything in this world. Perhaps she had extraordinary talent, or maybe her father helped her accumulate wealth for the first thirty years of her life, or maybe her family had helped her struggle for the first three hundred years.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that her will could change his fate now.

So, as long as he could persuade her, he could avoid the tragic fate of being sent to the interrogation institution and subjected to inhumane torture.

And he happened to have a special persuasion technique.

He had learned it not long ago.

The two people behind him let go of him, slightly bowed, and then left.

The girl with light-colored eyes looked at him and said softly, "Speak."

Rode took a deep breath and calmed his sudden nervousness. He said in a deep voice, "Look into my eyes."A faint red light appeared on the girl's body, and the flame pattern on her robe flowed. The flame emblem on the collar began to burn, and the people nearby took a defensive stance.

Then, she looked into his eyes.

Rode asked, "What's inside?"

The girl looked for a few seconds but didn't notice anything unusual, and asked, "What?"

Rode said in the lowest voice he had ever used, "You're inside."