Chapter 212: Sixty-two, long time no see, father (6K) Chapter 212: Sixty-two, long time no see, father (6K) “Why didn’t you tell her?” After Ina left, Bai Wei’s voice rang in Gerard’s mind, “Since you’ve already said so much, why not tell her about her brother’s situation as well?”

Gerard watched Ina’s figure disappear at the alley’s entrance, his gaze not leaving the spot, and he softly said, “You heard all that?”

“Is that a silly question?” Bai Wei said languidly, “I’m in your body, what could I possibly not hear?”

He paused,
“Though next time you and your daughter discuss how to kill me, should I think about turning my back, might that be better?”

“Could you turn your back if you wanted to?”

“Hmm… seems not really possible,” Bai Wei said faintly, “It’s like being a pig trapped in a pen during the New Year, forced to watch as humans sharpen their knives and discuss how to cook you tastily, unable to cover my eyes or block my ears.”

“What’s New Year?”

“Is that really your main concern?”

“Then… what’s a pig?”

“Heh.” Bai Wei raised Gerard’s eyebrows, “Seems you’re in a good mood, capable of cracking jokes after talking with your daughter?”

“There’s probably nothing funnier than the legendary Visas describing himself as a pig, right?” Gerard said gently, “If you’re the pig waiting to be slaughtered, then what are we? Meat already laid out on the chopping block?”

“It seems you’re still quite pessimistic about the current situation,” Bai Wei said, “Relax, if we go by my plan, you at least won’t die. You might even retire peacefully, watching your daughter bring someone with yellow hair to call you ‘Father-in-law.’ Hm… is that prospect more terrifying to you than the world ending?”

“Um… I’m starting to understand less and less of what you’re saying,” Gerard said, “But am I to take it that I won’t die like the last Host did?”

“You can take it that way.”

“And why is that?”

“What ‘why’?”

“Why did the last Host need to die, but I don’t?”

“Ts, you really are concerned with the strangest things. Isn’t not having to die a good thing?” Bai Wei said, “But it’s true, this does seem like the kind of thing you’d ponder, you Lyrians are a bit too meticulous, always wanting an answer for everything.”

Bai Wei paused for a moment before continuing,
“Simply put, it’s because the circumstances are different. You’re much stronger than that guy, and…”

“And?”

“I need to leave behind an Undying case, after all,” Bai Wei said faintly, “Otherwise, when I find the next Host and tell them that the previous two croaked, chances are I won’t even get the opportunity to negotiate.”

“Heh… I see.”

Listening to Bai Wei’s half-joking, half-serious words, Gerard smiled silently, his thoughts unknown.

“So you haven’t answered me yet,” Bai Wei said, “Why not just tell her about her brother? Not saying it now will only make it more complicated later on.”

Gerard slowly closed his eyes.

His mind conjured the image of Ian, his face serious yet filled with apprehension.

…

“Father, I want to join Night Star.”

…

“I’ve been wondering why I agreed to let Ian join Night Star too.”

Gerard’s eyes slowly opened again, still fixed on the mouth of the alley. Although Ina had left a long time ago, his gaze had not shifted, reminiscent of those fathers from bygone eras, sending off their college-bound children at the train station or airport.

“It might be because I didn’t want to stop him from becoming what he wanted to be, or maybe because I wanted to see my beloved son fighting beside me in that boundless Polluted Land,” Gerard began to speak, as if talking to himself and yet also to Bai Wei, “But no matter what I was thinking, I agreed. I let him become someone like me, and then, he encountered the same things that befell me.”

Bai Wei understood what Gerard meant: “So you regret it? You think, if you had not agreed then, he’d still be fine now?”

“Yes,” Gerard said softly, “Even though Hallman told me that he has returned, I don’t know what he has encountered, nor do I know what he has become. I only know that if I had refused him at that time, he wouldn’t have ended up like this. At least… he could have lived well, together with Ina.”

“Even if it meant he would hate you for it?”

“Even if it meant he would hate me.”

Bai Wei laughed, “So that’s how it is, your daughter hopes you would treat her like you did her brother, but you instead hope she doesn’t follow the same path you and her brother took… Hm, it has a sort of stubborn, autocratic fatherly feel to it. By the way, have you ever lied to her before?”

“No.”

“So this is the first time?”

“…Yes,” Gerard said gently, rubbing the pass from the Devil’s Army in his hand, “This is the first time, and… the last.”

…

At the iron bridge connecting the Fourth District to the Fifth Zone, Ina abruptly turned her head, looking back.

It was empty; there was nothing there.

“Do you have a problem, deputy?” a member of the Devil’s Army guarding the bridge asked.

Ina shook her head, “No problem.”

Then, she looked towards the bridge guards, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

“Why are there so few people on duty?”

“There’s been some trouble in the Polluted Land,” the Devil Knight said, “The Abyss urgently needs manpower, so most have been reassigned there.”