Chapter 750: Chapter 17 The Light of Dust

When they arrived back at the Knight Order headquarters, it was already past three in the afternoon. Gongsun Ce got out of the car first and said in a venting manner, “Don’t follow me!”

Alandia sat in the driver’s seat, looking at him through the car window.

“You can act on your own, but please do not leave the vicinity of the Knight Order headquarters…”

The Dawn Knight seemed to want to add some precautions, but he didn’t listen. He was upset and walked away briskly, leaving the knight alone in the car. Knights in white armor came and went, and as Gongsun Ce watched these glamorous people, he recalled everything he saw in the Eastern District and felt even more irritated.

Kerky Hyde was wrong, and he was not surprised at all; he was too accustomed to this pattern. Chaotic management, discrimination against Superpower Users, and ultimately, the innocent suffered while the higher-ups enjoyed peace… He had seen countless similar incidents back in Sky City, and now here he was in the capital of the majestic Country of Morton, only to find it was just a seemingly more peaceful capital of the Realm.

This world is totally fucked! Beyond saving!

“To hell with it!”

Gongsun Ce cursed out loud in the hallway, attracting the astonished glances of the knights. He ignored them and wandered aimlessly through the vast Knight Order headquarters, not seeing his elder brother and Orianna. He was fed up; he was hungry but had no desire to eat, filled with anger yet no one to vent to. The names on the doors along the hallway flashed on the edge of his view. Archives, common armament storage, tea room…

“Bang!” He kicked open the tea room door like a hot-tempered gamer and stormed in. Three knights were sitting around the table drinking tea; Knight Yuliy frowned, Knight Gafri showed a look of shock, and Knight Macrow, who had just brought the teacup to his mouth, awkwardly opened his mouth and said, “…Good afternoon?”

“You’re drinking tea?!” Gongsun Ce challenged.

Macrow looked down at his teacup and awkwardly replied, “Yes.”

“You still have the face to drink tea?!”

The old grandmaster swayed his teacup sorrowfully and said, “…Yes?”

Yuliy, agile like a cheetah, stood up and roared thunderously, “Do not be rude to the Grandmaster!”

“Mind your manners, gentlemen.” Gafri quickly put down his teacup and stepped between the two young men before a fight could break out. He pushed Yuliy back to his seat with one hand and pulled Gongsun Ce to an empty seat on the side, speaking in his impeccable tone, “Please take a seat, Mr. Gongsun. I believe you must have encountered some controversial issues… Why not discuss it with us, officials born and raised here, who have a broad vision and abundant practical experience?”

Knight Gafri smiled broadly, and the young Daoist Master found no reason to refuse.

…

It took Gongsun Ce fifteen minutes to explain the situation from start to finish. He angrily drank up his tea, putting the cup down hard on the saucer as a punctuation to his narration.

“That’s terrible, Gafri,” the old grandmaster shook his head sorrowfully.

“Yes, Grandmaster,” Gafri nodded, “just like every day in the Eastern District.”

“You’re just standing here making snide remarks?!” Gongsun Ce’s anger rose again, “Like a bystander?”

Yuliy shouted sternly, “What right do you have to accuse Knight Gafri? He was patrolling Shadow Mist City all night yesterday, fighting for the safety of Supibia!”

Gongsun Ce was momentarily at a loss for words, and Gafri gestured, “Control your volume, Knight Yuliy.”

Yuliy took a deep breath and lowered his voice, “Every day, every knight risks their life to protect the capital. You can be angry about the injustices and filth in reality, but you have no right to criticize an old man who’s diligently performing his duties!”

“Am I already considered an old man?” Gafri gaped.

The old grandmaster looked sympathetically at his hairline, dragging the note, “Oh, Gafri… It’s not the time when your hair was thick…”

“That has nothing to do with our current topic, Grandmaster!” Gafri raised his finger vigorously, turned his head, and cleared his throat, “Ahem… Sorry, what is our current topic?”

Gongsun Ce scratched his head awkwardly, “Knight patrols… I don’t understand. Someone was transformed alive into a beast, so does that mean all the beasts in Shadow Mist City are…?”

The old grandmaster nodded regretfully.

“You should guess, the place we live in is not ordinary. This is a residual effect brought by the phenomenon of the giant dragon. Under extreme pressure, desires, strong cravings can cause humans to metamorphose into beasts.”

Macrow tugged at a strand of his hair, mimicking the appearance of a beast.

“We call them beasts of desire. Before the establishment of the Barrier of Shadow Mist City, the beastification symptoms pervaded all across Albion Island; anyone could potentially turn into a beast. Therefore, our ancestors built this barrier, which largely isolates the influence of the giant dragon phenomenon, allowing people to live normally.”

“But isolation does not denote a complete solution,” Gafri took over, “Many beasts of desire and spectral spirits have merged with a certain… massive, complicated, inscrutable, and highly threatening system brought by the giant dragon. They can’t be completely killed and will resurrect after a period using malevolent forces.

You should understand, too many beasts of desire and spectral spirits pose a threat to the stability of the barrier. They might breach the boundary between the virtual and the real, threatening the reality of the capital. This is the meaning of knight patrols— to eliminate the threats and protect the capital.”

Gongsun Ce said incredulously, “Over and over again? Even… even though many of them can’t be killed?”