CHAPTER 576: CHAPTER 348: GU WENYU’S FUNERAL (PART 1)

They were either people Gu Wenyu knew, or Gu Wenyu’s family.

Besides, Zhou Jiuya from Lake Hunting also came as a guest, accompanying Ke Qirui to the cemetery. He stood with his arms crossed under a banyan tree, eyes closed, resting, his demeanor as consistently lethargic as ever.

"Captain, there are so many sensitive individuals here; what if we run into someone from the government?" Xu Sanyan asked, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his tone helpless.

Just by glancing around, he spotted the ’world-renowned’ S-Class fugitive ’Ghost Bell’, S-Class fugitive ’Mu Long’, and a newly elevated top-level fugitive ’Blue Arc’. Of course... the situation with Blue Arc was quite special.

Currently, only within the United Nations is it known that Blue Arc has defected.

Due to the public face of the Mutants Association, the United Nations couldn’t suddenly leap forward to loudly declare that "Blue Arc" has become a fugitive, having even killed several members of Rainbow Wings, less than half a month after Blue Arc’s fake death.

Wouldn’t that be undermining themselves?

You have to know what kind of stature "Blue Arc" has; even a week later, "Blue Arc’s death" remained at the top of trending topics on the world’s major social platforms.

Exposing the truth now would trigger an unprecedented disaster of public backlash. The chaos of such a scene would be unimaginable, even to the point where it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it could paralyze the entire internet.

Therefore, the United Nations had no choice but to handle this matter internally, and those sent to secretly chase after Blue Arc would naturally be internal personnel from Rainbow Wings.

"Don’t worry. This city is Lake Hunting’s territory. Whether it’s the Mutants Association or Rainbow Wings, they have to greet them first if they want to take action," Ke Qirui said softly. "At least this funeral is safe. Besides, our combat power here, even a whole unit of Rainbow Wings wouldn’t be a match for us."

She paused, teasing, "Not to mention, ’Rainbow Wings’ has already become ’Broken Wings’ now."

"I think just standing here, these people aren’t very safe," Xu Sanyan sighed. "But I didn’t expect... that seemingly foolish boy really is Black Cocoon."

"I only found out recently; sorry for keeping it from you for so long."

"It’s fine; I wasn’t familiar with him anyway. It makes no difference knowing who is behind the mask," Xu Sanyan said, pausing for a moment in silence, "So, how’s Xiaomai doing?"

"I don’t know. She’s been locked up for two whole days."

"Two days?"

"Hmm, she only came out of her room when she heard we were holding Gu Wenyu’s funeral this afternoon," Ke Qirui said softly, turning her head to glance at Su Zimai in the distance.

Su Zimai stood leaning against a banyan tree, gazing quietly at the sandals on her feet. Her drooping forehead covered her eyes, leaving everyone guessing at her thoughts.

In another corner of the cemetery, Cezar tucked Little Shark into his pocket, keeping it hidden from others.

He wore a black suit today, seemingly a bit of a child-dressed-in-adult’s attire. But fortunately, his royal demeanor emerged at this moment, making the ill-fitting clothes emit a sense of nobility.

At that moment, Cezar lifted his head, seeing Su Wei, who had just arrived, he was instantly stunned, his mouth wide open.

"Mr. Su Wei, what happened to your hair?" Cezar finally asked after a long pause.

It had only been two days, yet all of Su Wei’s hair had turned white, and the wrinkles on his face deepened significantly, as if he’d aged several decades overnight, making him unrecognizable from before.

Su Wei shook his head, walking into the cemetery with the help of a cane, "I’ve always been old; this is what I should look like."

"I see..." Cezar said void of words, looking at Su Wei’s hunched back with an unexpected pang of sadness.

He slowly lifted his gaze toward another corner of the cemetery. The setting sun cast rays over the ground, sea breezes flipping through the maple leaves that whirled down onto a headstone.

At that moment, Gu Qiye stood before the tombstone, staring at the blood-red name engraved on it. After a long silence, he suddenly turned his head, vacantly looking toward Su Zimai standing under the tree.

Meanwhile, in his mind, the events of that early morning two days ago suddenly replayed.

.......

.......

The Train Demon rushed into the tunnel, and the world was swallowed by impenetrable darkness. Gu Qiye stared blankly out the window, his mind a blank.

The billowing steam expelled by the train dissipated, like the steam vanished over the desert, engulfing Black Cocoon in that same white mist. Tears flowed unbidden from the corners of Gu Qiye’s eyes.

"Wen...yu?" he murmured, as if asking himself, or the solitary shadow in his memory.

"Brother...why aren’t you speaking?" After a while, Su Zimai’s voice emerged from the darkness.

"Xiaomai, Wenyu, he..." Gu Qiye hung his head; he didn’t know what expression was on his face, but it felt like he was smiling. He shook his head, let out a hoarse laugh, and after a long pause, continued, "He’s already..."

"What happened to him?" Su Zimai’s voice trembled, softening over time, "Tell me, tell me!"

"Maimai, don’t ask yet. Let your brother have some peace." Ke Qirui seemed to sense things were amiss, so she hesitated for a moment, then placed a hand on Su Zimai’s shoulder.

"To save us, to save me and Dad, at that moment, he rushed over; the Father of Puppets, the one who killed mom, his puppets..." Gu Qiye rambled incoherently, speaking in broken sentences.

"I don’t know, I don’t understand..." Su Zimai mumbled, lowering her head, "I don’t understand what you’re saying. I just want to know where my brother went, where he went, tell me!" Her tone grew heavier word by word, almost shouting by the end.

"He...won’t be coming back." Gu Qiye’s lips parted, using all his strength to utter the words. Then he suddenly laughed, "It’s my fault, I’m so useless... so useless for not protecting mom, mom died, and now... now watching him..." He hung his head; shadows covered his eyes but couldn’t hide the tears ceaselessly streaming down, veiling them in silence. "Died in front of me."

Su Zimai stood there, frozen.

She stared blankly at Gu Qiye, then gently curved her lips, "You’re lying, he must be joking with me; he always does this, always spinning me around..."

Su Zimai shook her head, speaking softly, "I know... I’m a foolish sister, so please, don’t bully me..." As she spoke, tears slid down her cheeks, her face marked by anger mixed with stubbornness, her eyes overflowed with sadness, "Stop lying to me..."

Step by step, she slowly walked closer to the collapsed Gu Qiye, lifted his face, bowed her head in the dark, looking directly into his eyes, "Tell me the truth... okay? Please."

Su Zimai suddenly stood still, witnesses to the vacant void in Gu Qiye’s eyes, as empty as if nothing existed. The tears from his face made her hands wet as his lips moved, resembling a marionette with broken strings. He seemed to want to say more, but no sound emerged.

Raspy syllables continued falling from his throat, a word at a time, echoing the voice of an aphasic.

In the end, Su Zimai only heard one sentence clearly.

"I’m sorry."