CHAPTER 577: CHAPTER 349: GU WENYU’S FUNERAL (PART 2)

Gu Qiye couldn’t really recall what happened later that day.

He only remembered that on the train back to China, Su Zimai was first red-eyed, head hanging, lost in thought for a long, long time. Her face was pale, and the eyes she had just lowered quickly became shrouded in a mist of tears.

At that moment, she suddenly reacted, slowly raised her head, and stared at him angrily.

For a long time, she nearly threw a tantrum, hitting and scolding him like a hysterical little madwoman.

But then, Su Zimai again lay in his arms, hugging him as she cried for a long, long time.

The light and shadows swayed in the train carriage, like a drunken dream. The girl cried silently, while the young man stared blankly out the window, lost in thought.

They also wished it was just a dream.

If only this were merely a dream, how wonderful would that be?

But at that time, Gu Qiye had no strength left. He couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality, just sat there limp, lifting his hand to stroke Su Zimai’s hair.

When Gu Qiye snapped out of the haze of memory, the sunset was almost gone. The twilight covered the hillside, the faint residual red lighting up Gu Qiye’s bewildered profile.

He lifted his head, the funeral before his eyes was still continuing, or rather, had not even begun.

Gu Wenyu’s body had long been lost along with the fire on the Deserted Island. Now, the coffin was empty. On the simply arranged altar stood Gu Wenyu’s tombstone.

A circle of white wreaths surrounded the tombstone.

This was an embarrassingly simple funeral, with no well-prepared eulogy, no luxurious decorations, only silent people gathered together.

After all, everything happened too abruptly, too suddenly, no one expected this sudden death, they didn’t have time to put much thought into the funeral;

Another reason was that now every family member is either an international fugitive, or being watched by the Salvation Society, or both, being international fugitives watched by the Salvation Society, so they must keep a low profile to avoid trouble, with no time to hire professionals to host the funeral.

But the main reason was that everyone here knew in their hearts that Gu Wenyu wouldn’t like such formal and solemn funerals.

So, every arrangement for the funeral was very casual, like a makeshift troupe.

This guy was carefree when alive, and probably carefree after death.

If he were standing here, he’d surely say, "Hey, funerals, just go through the motions, it’s not like the dead can jump out of the coffin and kick your butts," thinking of this, for some reason Gu Qiye suddenly chuckled softly.

He could even imagine the tone his brother used when saying this. That’s the funniest part.

A moment later, Gu Qiye moved his gaze away from the tombstone and looked up at Su Zimai standing under the banyan tree in the distance.

As if sensing his gaze, she slowly lifted her head too, glanced at him silently, then quickly looked away.

Su Zimai seemed not to have forgiven him yet, or maybe hadn’t forgiven herself.

She had locked herself in her room for the past two days, curled up by the wardrobe with her knees hugged, not saying a word. Even when Gu Qiye brought food, she ate nothing.

At this moment, they finally met eyes. Su Zimai’s eyes held no blame, no anger, just emptiness.

"Xiaomai, let’s go over there, your big brother is waiting for you," Ke Qirui came over, placing a hand on Su Zimai’s shoulder, guiding her to Gu Qiye’s side.

On the other side, Su Wei adjusted his glasses and emotionlessly walked to Gu Zhuo Case’s side, reaching out a withered hand to silently push Gu Zhuo Case’s shoulder forward.

The few family members gathered in front of the ridiculous empty coffin, Gu Zhuo Case hung his head, his face gloomy and dark.

From Su Wei’s sleeve flew out a Teaching Ruler. The ruler slowly enlarged, like a shovel, digging a large pit in front of the tombstone.

It then flew inside the empty coffin, sending it into the pit.

As the ruler stirred the sand, about to bury the pit, Gu Qiye suddenly reached out his hand, stopping his grandfather. Then, under Su Wei’s puzzled gaze, he squatted down, slowly scooped a handful of earth from the ground, and poured it over the coffin.

In the dead silence, the rustle of falling sand and soil hitting the coffin board echoed in the cemetery.

Su Zimai stood behind Gu Qiye, silently watching his back. He earnestly and attentively scooped earth from the ground, piece by piece, into the pit.

"The revenge is taken... but the debt, is not yet paid," Su Wei said hoarsely, with hands behind his back.

"Grandpa, we have to find the Salvation Society people," Gu Zhuo Case said solemnly, his voice trembling with restraint.

"No, Wenyu would prefer we live well," Gu Qiye said, "Let’s end it here, dad, grandpa, let’s not persist further."

Without turning his head, he lowered his voice, "Is losing more people in this family for the sake of revenge something that makes you happy? Would mom be happy? If she knew...Wenyu died there for her."

Gu Zhuo Case and Su Wei both fell silent, unable to respond.

But even though Gu Zhuo Case was silent, his fists remained tightly clenched, his posture stiff as iron, and that trace of scarlet deep in his pupils lingered.

Su Wei had one hand behind her back, while the other hand was raised to gently pat Gu Zhuo Case’s shoulder.

Su Zimai silently crouched down as well, joining Gu Qiye in sprinkling soil into the pit. After a while, the outline of the coffin became increasingly blurred as the clumps of earth covered most of the coffin lid.

"What are we even doing?" she said in a low voice, "There’s not even a body of our brother left, yet we’re burying an empty coffin."

She hadn’t spoken for two days, and now the words squeezed out of her throat were a bit hoarse.

"I don’t know." Gu Qiye shook his head, "If Wenyu were still alive, he’d definitely laugh at us for being idiots."

The two of them looked up and exchanged a glance, letting out a light chuckle, and then Su Zimai’s eyes suddenly turned red.

While sinking her fingers into the soil, clutching a handful of loose earth, she said, "I wish he would suddenly jump out of the coffin and scold us for being fools, mocking us mercilessly, saying he didn’t die at all and it was all just a prank on us."

Gu Qiye remained silent for a moment, "Maybe." Saying this, he threw another handful of soil into the pit.

Soon after, the coffin was completely buried under a thick layer of sand and soil. Then Lin Yilong came over and placed a white wild chrysanthemum in front of Gu Wenyu’s tombstone.

In truth, Lin Yilong was also here for his brother, Lin Zhengquan was buried here too, and now only Lake Hunting’s territory was safe. To visit the graves of their loved ones, this was the only feasible choice.

Lin Yilong stood there silently for a moment, "Although we didn’t know each other for long, you were a friend worth making."

Cezar also approached, with no flowers to bring, so he left an Anecdote Fragment that was blank front and back.

This fragment was made by imitating Li Qingping’s method, a fragment that ordinary people could use. There was nothing in the fragment, just a hidden ring. As long as the Anecdote Fragment was crushed, the ring would appear.

This was a ring the old King had once given to Li Qingping, symbolizing the Royal Court Team’s prestigious identity.

But no high school student would wear a ring to school, so when Li Qingping came to the human world to study, he was worried about being disciplined by the director and simply left the precious ring secretly in the Terrarium. The old King was so angry when he found out that he almost caught pneumonia.

Later on, after the destruction of the Royal Court Team and on the day of leaving the Whale Terrarium, Cezar found this ring in Li Qingping’s dormitory.

And it wasn’t until now that he knew the friend Li Qingping always longed for in the human world, "Gu Wenyu," was actually Mr. Black Cocoon who had been helping them all along.

So he made this ring into an Anecdote Fragment and left it in front of the empty tombstone.

When he learned the truth from Gu Qiye two days ago, Cezar was greatly shocked, spacing out for a long time, his mouth gaping wide.

It wasn’t until the little Shark in his pocket hit him hard with its fin that he slowly came back to his senses.

At that time, Cezar was pondering whether Li Qingping knew Gu Wenyu was "Black Cocoon," and whether Black Cocoon knew that Li Qingping was actually "Red Dragon."

Cezar racked his brains but couldn’t figure out the answer, perhaps both regretted not revealing their identities to each other in their final moments.

"Truly two obstinately awkward people," he thought to himself.

"Big moth, Shasha commands you to rest in peace underground."

At this moment, Yaguba suddenly popped its head out of his pocket, speaking to the tombstone.

"Shh, Yaguba, go back quickly... there are other people here." Cezar whispered, pressing the little Shark’s head back into his pocket, then turned his head to take a quiet look at Zhou Jiuya, who was resting with his eyes closed under a banyan tree.

Zhou Jiuya hugged his shoulders, abruptly opened his golden eyes, and looked at him coolly.

Cezar shivered and quickly slipped away.

Then came Ke Qirui.

She thought for a moment, then took out a pack of tobacco from her coat pocket and placed it in front of the tombstone.

"Although I know you don’t smoke, I don’t have anything good to give you, so it’s just this." she said softly, "You’re really foolish, kid... how could you not cherish a sister who loves you so much, how can someone be foolish to this extent?"

With that, Ke Qirui inserted her hands into the pockets of her coat and turned to leave.

The day gradually darkened, and the sea breeze blew over, lifting Gu Qiye’s bangs slightly. He squinted, turning his head towards the direction from which the wind came.

From the mountain, one could see the distant bay, and at this moment, the sunset dropped below the horizon, taking away the last ray of afterglow that fell on the cemetery, plunging the whole world into total darkness where you couldn’t see your hand in front of you.

"Brother, we’re going home now." Su Zimai gently stroked the tombstone and said softly.