Silent Crown

Chapter 115 Report Your Name

Ye Qingxuan was furious. He did not care about being the key to Avalon’s Shadow now, only the fact that the Rossis had tried to hurt him and were now trying to kill him was enough to harden his eyes. It seemed that they wanted to force him into a dead end. But he did not remain silent for too long. He asked, "Then what about the Butcher?"

There was an undertone of anger in his voice, causing the Pyramid King to misunderstand. He quickly shouted, "That’s the Professor’s fault! I swear, it has nothing to do with me. I just wanted the Eastern kid’s body, but that *ss hired the Butcher and escalated everything. It was ruined for everyone!"

"Oh? Professor…" Testing the name out, Ye Qingxuan could not help but remember the beast that had terrorized him that day, and the robed shadow beside it. He was a musician too. He quickly thought of all connections but there was still something important lost in the fog. He could not connect it all together.

"If you want to find the Blood Path, you should hurry…" The Pyramid King’s voice seemed to be happy at his misfortune, "We received news yesterday that the Shaman is back. He hates dark musicians. Once he gets into power, everyone who breaks the rules will be hung or drowned in the quagmire. It’ll be impossible for you to work downtown." The Pyramid King paused. When he mentioned the name, fear flashed through his eyes, "Everyone is starting to panic now."

"You’re all so scared of him?" the dark shadow asked tauntingly.

"You don’t understand. You’re not from here, you don’t understand." The Pyramid King was bitter, "The Shaman is not just a legend. He was an entire era of downtown, do you understand? He was the Dark King back then…

"When he was the most powerful, he controlled half of Anglo’s Dark World through Avalon’s downtown. Everyone dreamed of kneeling before him to kiss his ring and pledge loyalty to him.

"The elites couldn’t control him, and the police were all loyal to him. The Royalty had to ask him if they could wear silk pajamas. He was the king of Anglo in the shadows! Some say that he had even met the Pope… If he didn’t go missing, all of downtown would probably be his now." His eyes flashed with discontent, "To him, we’re just rats eating his leftovers. Even if times have changed, all he needs to do is clap and many will want to follow him. If he really is back, we have to kill him before he can control everything…"

"Didn’t he run after being persecuted by the Royal Musicians?"

"Royal Musicians? They used to be his partners! How could the Royal Musicians live so lavishly without that man’s money?!"

Ye Qingxuan did not reply. He had never imagined the Shaman to be so powerful. He was just lucky that the legendary Dark King was still trying to get his own power back and was not focused on King Arthur’s hidden treasure yet.

"Last question." Ye Qingxuan looked at him, "Do you know who ‘old guy’ is?"

"Old guy?" The Pyramid King tried not to laugh. "Are you kidding me? There are thousands with that nickname in downtown. How do I know who you’re talking about?!"

"Really? That’s a pity." Regret flashed past Ye Qingxuan’s eyes as he looked away, "You can go now." Turning, he waved his hand, "I’ve lost interest in you."

The Pyramid King froze in disbelief, followed by ecstasy. He had not expected the man to really hold his promise. He could live now. But why did he feel so humiliated? He could feel the shadow’s eyes glancing at him for the last time. The gaze was cold, full of disdain and pity. It was as if the man was looking at a fly, a bug or some other insignificant thing. Was he just a rat the man could kill depending on his mood?! As if his life was so useless that he did not want to take it.

"You’ll regret it!" Sam screamed in his mind. "You will regret it…" Crawling back, he pushed himself up and prepared to leave cautiously, but when he stepped out of the cemetery, he looked back again. The eerie shadow was standing under the ghastly moonlight, looking down at a tombstone. He seemed to have become one with the cemetery’s darkness. The moonlight cast a sharp shadow behind him, like a beast dancing menacingly.

The Pyramid King looked at the shadow and hesitated. Hate flashed past his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by fear. He gave up on a sneak attack. "You…who are you?!" he yelled. "Tell me your name! I want to know your name!"

Hearing his voice, the shadow in the darkness turned around, looking at him coldly. His dark eyes sent chills down the Pyramid King’s spine. They was arrogant and cold, like checking if the rat had the right to ask for his name. Silence.

The Pyramid King’s face reddened and he turned in anger. But then he heard a voice behind him.

"You can call me Sherlock," In the darkness, the youth was actually racking his brain for a name. When he looked down at the tombstone beside him, his eyes lit up and reported the name on the stone. He said, "My name is Sherlock Holmes."

--

Ye Qingxuan finally could not take it anymore. After the Pyramid King left, he collapsed next to the tombstone, gasping for breath. If the Pyramid King had left a few minutes too late, he really would have collapsed. Skipping levels and activating the dark melody had pushed him past his limits.

Beside him, Bai Xi scrambled to hand him a tube of green medicine. It was high quality recovery medicine. Ye Qingxuan did not have the energy to ask where she got it from. Taking it, he tipped his head and downed the medicine. After panting for a long time, he finally felt his mind recover.

After he was back to normal, Bai Xi began to fidget. She tried to escape, but a hand pressed down on her shoulder, "Good evening, little friend. Do you want to play a game with Uncle?" Ye Qingxuan asked in a weird voice, "I have a lot of fun games here…"

Bai Xi suddenly felt a chill. "You...leave me alone!"

"What, you’re scared now?" Ye Qingxuan asked, "Then why are you out here in the middle of the night?"

"I-I’m not Bai Xi!" The girl covered her face, "You got the wrong person. I’m John! Uh, John Watson…"

"Wow, you think of names pretty quickly." Ye Qingxuan snickered, "Do you want to add a middle name? Like ‘H’ or something?"

"Names are created by parents. You can’t just change it."

"Ha." Ye Qingxuan squeezed her cheeks, "Try to make up something better."

"I’m sorry! Cousin, I’m sorry! I just wanted to help…" Seeing Baixi suddenly become obedient, with her hands clasped together and lashes batting, Ye Qingxuan could not be angry anymore. He sighed and reached out, "Hand it over."

"What? Hand what over?" Bai Xi looked at him confusedly, "What are you talking about?"

"Really?" Ye Qingxuan scoffed. He reached into her pocket and pulled out a palm-sized leather notebook. Shaking it before her, he said, "You have guts. You couldn’t forget your old job even with an arrow to the head. Didn’t you promise to stop stealing?"

"This is called fighting fire with fire! It’s his fault!" Guilty, Bai Xi looked away. She whistled, her face full of innocence. "I just reached over…and it came out."

Ye Qingxuan shook his head, unable to do anything with her. He opened the book and studied the numbers. Thinking of something, his eyes became serious and he read through carefully.

Old Phil returned soundlessly. The giant golden dog sniffed at the blood. He wandered around the cemetery as if it was a store, stepping over the corpses gracefully. His eyes lit up. He lowered its head and picked something up in its mouth. Trotting over, he put the thing at Bai Xi’s feet. He had gracefully and selflessly given this thing to his top student, Bai Xi.

Gaping, Bai Xi bent down and picked up the bloody mirror. Flipping it over, she saw the carving of Medusa, and her eyes brightened. It was the Mirror of Medusa!

Seeing that Ye Qingxuan was focused on the notebook, she put a finger to her lips, shushing Old Phil. And then she sneakily put the mirror into her pocket.

She was just going to take a little thing. Her cousin would not mind…hopefully.

--

Ye Qingxuan flipped through the notebook quickly. He had a general impression of the content and stuffed it into his pocket. If the content was what he thought it was, he would have to think and plan carefully.

Just as he pulled Bai Xi’s hand, getting ready to leave, he heard a moan from the unconscious man in the ditch nearby. The man seemed to have fallen into a nightmare, writhing painfully.

Ye Qingxuan remembered him. His name was Hudson, and he had wanted to leave this dark world, but had been captured by the Pyramid King. It was surprising that he was still alive, but he was still close to dying.

Thinking for a bit, Ye Qingxuan halted. He pressed his cane against Hudson’s chest and the music of flowing water sounded—Rune Flow. Using Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, Ye Qingxuan stimulated the blood in Hudson’s heart, pulling him back from the nightmare.

With the nightmare gone, Hudson woke with a cry. Opening his eyes, he looked at the ruins. When he saw Ye Qingxuan’s shadow, he seemed to understand something, "Am I…dead?"

"You’re still alive," Ye Qingxuan said lightly.

"Did you save me?"

"You survived because of your own luck. I just gave you hand. Since you’re still conscious, go find a doctor before you really die."

Hudson fell silent. He forced a bitter smile onto his bloody face, "Maybe it’s better for people like me to die. Even if I live, where can I go?" He sighed hopelessly, "I ran far away to start a new life, but I was still dragged back. On the way here, I realized that the day I jumped into the swamp, I would never be clean again. I’ve sinned so many times. I have to pay for them some day."

"Then live on and use the rest of your days to repent for what you’ve done."

"Will I be saved if I repent?" Hudson asked, his voice full of hope.

"No," The youth shook his head. Studying the bloody cane, his voice was hoarse and cold, "You will live on full of guilt. You will live in this darkness until death. But you can at least try to be a good person." With that, Ye Qingxuan turned to leave.

Stunned, Hudson fell silent. Watching the shadow leave, he wanted to cry. He felt as if he had just been saved. "That’s wonderful…" He knelt down onto the bloody dirt, seeing the shadow off, "Sir, thank you."

The shadow in the distance halted, turning around. He finally looked away after a long moment, "And thank you too," he murmured. This was the most beautiful sentence Ye Qingxuan had heard over the past few days.

"What happened?" Bai Xi asked quietly. "Why are you suddenly so happy?"

"There was a question I’ve been asking myself these days, but now I realize that the answer had always been in my heart." Ye Qingxuan smiled in the darkness, satisfied and freed, "It’s not meaningless to be a good person."