CHAPTER 567: CHAPTER 346: EPILOGUE (PART 1)

The time is 1:50 AM on August 15th, and the night is deep; inside the brightly lit Osaka Bookstore.

Cezar sat dazedly on a chair with his head lowered, his snow-white hair obscuring his eyes.

"Mr. Black Cocoon... is he really dead?" After a long silence, he asked quietly.

But the bookstore remained deathly silent, with no one to answer his question.

At this moment, three figures leaned against the yellowed walls, slumped on the ground.

Gu Zhuo Case hung his head low, placing his only remaining left hand on his bent knee, with his face shrouded in a layer of somber shadow;

Lin Yilong rested with closed eyes expressionlessly, while Gu Qiye’s head leaned against the wall, his gaze vacant as he stared quietly at the ceiling, lost in thought.

The battle suits of the three were mostly tattered and torn, revealing long, thin, blueness-black, blood-red wounds, with fragments embedded within their skin, tearing through faint flesh and blood.

Large swathes of blood flowed from their bodies, staining the walls and floor red.

Fortunately, at this moment, a Phoenix hovered above them, slowly vibrating its wings, as pieces of healing fire feathers fell.

The reddish brown feathers were cold like snowflakes, silently falling on each of their wounds.

First was the empty stump on Gu Zhuo Case’s shoulder, under the assistance of the Phoenix’s fire, his missing right arm slowly grew out, then it was Gu Qiye’s almost bone-exposing legs and hands, warm flesh covering the skeletal bones.

Lastly, it was Lin Yilong’s scapula.

Since his injuries were the lightest, with only the pair of wings and his back bones being severely damaged, in contrast, the appearances of the two next to him were exaggerated, as if they had just crawled out of a sulphur spring as fiends.

Fortunately, at this time, the injuries of the three were visibly healing. After a while, their wounds completely recovered as before.

Brand new skin grew over the wounds.

Each of them was like newborn, appearing as if they had never been injured, completely different from the terrifying scene of them sitting side by side, bloody, moments ago.

If a passerby accidentally entered before, they might have thought they were filming a horror movie and that they had stumbled onto the movie set by mistake.

Cezar silently stretched out his hand; the Phoenix, having completed its work, retracted its wings, landing on the back of his hand. He raised his other hand and gently teased the bird’s chin with his fingers.

A palm-sized Shark poked its head out of Cezar’s shirt pocket, curiously observing their expressions, finally turning its gaze towards Su Wei.

Su Wei remained silent.

Sitting behind the bookstore’s counter, he lowered his head, quietly wiping his glasses with a cloth, and as he looked down, his eye sockets were deep, his eye corners wrinkled, showing rare signs of aging.

Indeed, the Gu Family had avenged Su Ying, Lin Yilong had taken the head of a Salvation Society general, and Cezar had succeeded in wiping out the Light-Eating Bee tribe, yet everyone’s mood seemed not as bright as expected.

So, Yaguba, being kind-hearted, poked its head out of the pocket to personally adjust the mood.

"I say, what’s with the sullen, bitter grudge look?" It waved its fins at everyone and said disdainfully, "Nasty things like the fluttering moth are dead, dead as they are; what’s there to regret?!"

"Shut up, or get out of my bookstore." Su Wei said in a deep voice.

"Shut your mouth... don’t let me hear you speak again, got it?" Gu Zhuo Case rasped.

"Quiet, Yaguba." Cezar added.

"Alright, alright, you all bully Sharky, so Sharky shuts up." The little Shark pouted, retracting its head back into Cezar’s shirt pocket.

Silence fell among them again.

"Father-in-law..."

After a moment, Gu Qiye suddenly spoke.

"What is it?"

Su Wei responded absentmindedly, continuing to wipe lenses that were already clean.

Gu Zhuo Case stared at the floor, rasping, "Exactly who is that Black Cocoon fellow, from your earlier reaction, you should know his identity, right?"

Hearing this, Gu Qiye returned to reality, shifting his gaze from the ceiling, a hint of light appearing in his empty eyes;

Lin Yilong also opened his eyes, raising his head, staring intently at the old man behind the counter.

The three in the bookstore awaited Su Wei’s answer, while Cezar didn’t care at all.

In Cezar’s eyes, Mr. Black Cocoon is just Mr. Black Cocoon, it doesn’t matter who he is behind the mask. He only knew that Mr. Black Cocoon was a very, very good person without whom he would have died in the Terrarium long ago.

Su Wei remained silent for quite a while, then lowered his voice, murmuring:

"I... am tired, really, a bit tired."

"Father-in-law, he’s actually..." Gu Zhuo Case hadn’t finished asking before Su Wei interrupted him.

"Indeed, one should concede to age, it’s best not to fight it." He then slowly removed his glasses, putting them back into the case, and with his hands on his back, stood from his chair, shuffling towards the second floor of the bookstore.

He walked unsteadily, like an old man with a bent back.

Only when he stepped into the shadow of the stairway did his footsteps finally stop.

A hoarse voice came from the shadows, slowly advising the two: "Zhuo Case, Qiye, find your way back to China, don’t linger in the bookstore too long."