bookrandom Chapter 341 Nutrient Source
Chapter 341 Nutrient Source
Bourne turned his head following Yan Xun's gaze and saw the coffin surrounded by candles.
“Yes.” He walked to the coffin. “He can be buried tomorrow.”
The coffin was tightly closed, and the semi-enclosed space had no strange smells, only the scent of mixed floral essential oils and frankincense.
Yan Xun sniffed hard, but could only smell these two things.
His actions amused Bourne. "What are you smelling?"
“I thought it would smell terrible here,” Yan Xun said. “We found the body of the cornfield owner that day.”
"The room smelled terrible."
“He looks very old, 20 years older,” he said to Byrne. “And him?”
Does he look young?
Bourne did not answer Yan Xun's question.
Yan Xun then asked about another matter, "Why did he suddenly die?"
"It sounds like this was an accident."
Byrne's expression was somewhat somber as he shook his head. "Nobody knows."
He looked at the coffin again, "By the time we found it, it was already like this."
"It all happened so suddenly."
“Perhaps he hasn’t been tested, and his faith has wavered,” Byrne said.
Yan Xun noticed that when Byrne said this, his face was expressionless, without any regret or remorse. He was simply narrating with a blank expression, which was inconsistent with the gentle and loving image he had previously presented.
"His faith has wavered?" Yan Xun asked. "Has he questioned the new generation?"
Bourne then turned to look at Yan Xun, "His faith has never been very firm."
“On several occasions, he seemed to regret it,” he told Yan Xun. “He said he kept having nightmares.”
"What nightmare?"
“He dreamed that he was pregnant,” he told Yan Xun.
"Pregnant?"
He said he saw a 'god' in his dream, who told him that he wished to have his child born into his womb.
“This has been happening frequently in the city lately,” Yan Xun said. “I know of at least…”
There were too many to count at once, but if you included those who died in the tents, the number had exceeded 10, Yan Xun thought.
“Neil, right?” Byrne asked.
Hearing the name of Conrad's brother-in-law, Yan Xun was not very surprised—since Byrne was close to Conrad, he naturally knew why he had come and through what channels he had contacted Conrad.
“Yes, he is one of them,” Yan Xun said.
"You know Neil too?" he asked.
“Not very familiar,” Byrne said. “I’ve only met him a few times, and each time he was with Miss Charlene.”
"His sudden disappearance has worried us all, especially Miss Charlene."
"You all knew about his disappearance?" Yan Xun asked.
“Of course.” Byrne said, somewhat puzzled, seemingly not understanding why Yan Xun was asking this question. “She contacted Mr. Conrad immediately and told him that Neil was missing.”
"At first we thought he was just going out to relax."
“But Charlene insisted that Neil behaved very strangely during that time. He seemed very anxious, as if he was hiding something from her.”
At this point, a hint of awkwardness appeared on Byrne's face. "You know what Miss Charlene is suspecting."
"I have a general idea," Yan Xun said, referring to his old profession in this world.
"Yes, but it was soon proven to be nonsense. Neil had no lovers. He was a rather reclusive man who usually kept himself locked up at home."
"His disappearance was very sudden."
“During that time, because he was not in good condition, Miss Charlene often stayed at his house.”
"But that day, Miss Charlene went to see Mr. Conrad, and when she returned to Neil's house, she found it empty."
"Nobody here?" Yan Xun asked. "I remember there was a maid in his house?"
“That’s Miss Charlene’s maid,” Byrne said.
"So he lives alone?" Yan Xun asked.
"Yes."
He doesn't like being disturbed.
After saying this much, Byrne seemed to realize he had revealed too much information and stopped talking.
"He'll be buried tomorrow?" Yan Xun looked at the coffin.
“Yes,” Byrne said. “At the burial, only members of the New Generation will still be allowed to attend the ceremony.”
Yan Xun knew he could no longer obtain any more information from Bourne.
He was then led by Byrne to visit the statue that had appeared in the newspaper.
Byrne made a prayer gesture again, and Yan Xun looked at the statue. "Is this your faith?"
Bourne only said that it was a revelation Mr. Conrad received in a dream.
"Where did Ellie work before?" Yan Xun asked.
Byrne led him to Ellie’s studio—which was in a similar location to the one the artists had mentioned; it was very clean and tidy, and looked like it had been thoroughly cleaned.
“He left too suddenly,” Byrne said.
“We even suspect that he had private debts, otherwise he wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye.”
He gestured for Yan Xun to feel free to tour the place, and seeing Byrne's actions, Yan Xun realized that he would not be able to find any clues here.
Even if there were any, the other party cleaned them extremely thoroughly.
Excluding the members who died last night, the new generation now has only 29 people left. There are no servants here, and they have to do the work themselves.
Everyone was assigned tasks; some needed to clean, and others needed to cook.
Bourne did the same; he quickly took his leave, saying he still had work to finish, and indicated that Yan Xun could move around freely there.
The three-story house near the artificial lake is the residence of church members.
These people all had wings and wore almost identical white robes, making them look as if they had arrived in heaven and met angels.
Upon seeing Yan Xun, they seemed to have been instructed beforehand, and all showed friendly smiles.
Yan Xun carefully observed their faces but couldn't find any that resembled those next to the cornfield. However, he soon noticed something amiss: a young girl with freckles on her face had a somewhat evasive look in her eyes.
Yan Xun kept glancing at her face out of the corner of his eye and noticed that she looked somewhat like Bonnie.
He silently noted down this characteristic, and then chatted with the believers again.
Yan Xun fully expressed his envy and longing, asking them how they could grow wings, as if seeking knowledge from them. He was particularly curious about how a middle-aged woman grew wings, and kept asking about her family situation.
“…I don’t know,” the middle-aged woman said, not understanding why Yan Xun was so curious about her.
She simply made a prayer gesture and said that when she woke up, she had grown wings.
“My husband has grown wings too.” She said this, her expression not exactly happy.
“It’s a pity he passed away that very night,” she told Yan Xun. “I was luckier.”
Yan Xun then showed a knowing expression, and then asked the girl with freckles on her face.
“I work at a bakery in the city,” she told Yan Xun. “I was at work when I learned that winged people had appeared in the city. I found out about it from the shop owner.”
“However, those who grow wings always die quickly.” She told Yan Xun, “That night, I discovered that I had grown wings too…”
She seemed to still recall the panic she felt at the time, but she quickly calmed down.
"I asked my friend for help."
"Fortunately, Mr. Conrad was already safe and sound by then," she told Yan Xun. "I was very lucky too."
Yan Xun stared at her for a while, then said, "You are indeed very lucky."
She felt uneasy upon hearing this. She looked up at Yan Xun, somewhat confused about his meaning.
Fortunately, Yan Xun quickly smiled and said, "I hope we can all be this lucky."
"Are you a detective?" she asked quickly.
"Yes," Yan Xun said.
She seemed to want to ask something more, but reason quickly stopped her from continuing. She simply shook her head. "This is the first time I've ever met a detective."
“If you want to investigate anything, you can find me on the second floor of the pharmacy,” Yan Xun told her. “I’m very good at helping people find missing items.”
He didn't mention the pharmacy's exact address, but everyone in the city knew that in this instance, the only pharmacy people would mention was the landlady's.
"A pharmacy?" She looked a little confused. "Where?"
Yan Xun looked at her and gave her the specific address.
She immediately looked enlightened, and then nodded repeatedly.
When Bourne arrived, Yan Xun was helping them with some simple cleaning.
“You can stay in any of the empty rooms here,” Byrne said to Yan Xun. He led Yan Xun away from the room, and Yan Xun returned to the long corridor.
Where is Levy?
"He is near the artificial lake."
As Bourne spoke, he gestured for Yan Xun to look at the artificial lake, and sure enough, he saw Levi's figure.
"He's been there the whole time?" Yan Xun asked.
“He doesn’t seem interested in this place,” Byrne said.
Are you going to go find him?
“I can’t let my assistant slack off,” Yan Xun said, then waved goodbye to Bourne.
……
“I think I’ve found Bonnie’s mother,” Yan Xun said directly to Levi.
Levy paused for a moment to recall, “I didn’t find any similar faces among those believers.”
“I have a bad idea,” Yan Xun said.
There were benches for resting by the artificial lake. He looked around and saw no members of the new generation, so he simply sat down and gestured for Levy to sit next to him.
"What bad thoughts?"
“Do you remember Bonnie’s father whom we met?” Yan Xun said.
Levy nodded.
“You said he’s aged at least 20 years,” he told Levy. “But the Conrad we see is exactly the same as before.”
“Bourne too.”
"He also looks very young."
“Including the other believers I see here, they are at most middle-aged,” he told Levy. “The one who died last night was also very young.”
"The first 'angel' that Liam and I saw together, although he wasn't very old, his health was very poor due to years of alcoholism."
Yan Xun looked at the artificial lake in front of him.
"Perhaps it's simpler than we think."
“When those wings grow, they drain their life force,” Yan Xun said. “Like some kind of parasite, they drain too much…”
He made a gesture, "The person who is parasitized can only die."
Levy understood Yan Xun's meaning, "You think the reason Conrad didn't die is..."
"He's very young?"
"As far as I know, Conrad is not the only young person among those who have grown wings."
“But all those people before Conrad are dead,” Yan Xun said. “Only Conrad survived.”
“I saw someone among the believers who might be Bonnie’s mother. She looked very young and had become about the same age as Bonnie.” Yan Xun was referring to the freckled girl. “She thought I suspected another woman and let her guard down around me.”
“Conrad must have known that we were looking for Bonnie. While we were staying in another building, he told her through Byrne that we were looking for her.”
Levi still seemed a little puzzled. He knew who Yan Xun was talking about, but she didn't resemble the old woman in his memory at all, so Levi didn't suspect her.
“…Are you sure?” Levy asked instinctively, but quickly added, “I’m not questioning you.”
"It's just that this is too unbelievable."
"In my memory, she always walked with a stoop..."
"But she looks no more than 25 years old now."
“She said she had always lived in the city and worked in a bakery,” Yan Xun told Levy. “That’s definitely what they told her.”
“When I told her that my office was on the second floor of the pharmacy, she looked confused and didn’t know where it was,” Yan Xun said. “But everyone who lives in the city knows it.”
"Everyone knows the landlady's pharmacy, unless you've just moved here."
Although it may seem arbitrary, this is how simple and straightforward the design of this instance is. Yan Xun had no idea that there were other pharmacies in the city—there might be, but the instance map was too lazy to design and mention them, only mentioning the landlady's one.
“Bonnie’s mother lives outside the city and rarely comes to the city, so it’s normal that she doesn’t know where the pharmacy is.”
Conrad and the others knew that he had contacted Bonnie and that he would definitely come to the New Generation. To prevent him from discovering Bonnie's mother, they deliberately concealed her background.
“Okay,” Levi nodded.
“But I still don’t understand,” he said to Yan Xun, “why has she become so young…?”
"This is just my guess," Yan Xun said.
“I told you those wings are draining the life force from their host.” Yan Xun looked at Levi. “Two strange things have happened in the city recently.”
"Some people suddenly grow wings, and some people suddenly get pregnant."
The babies born to those pregnant women were not normal infants, but rather strange lumps of flesh.
“I’ve always been curious why these two things happened at the same time,” Yan Xun said.
“If those things born will become angels, then there’s no need for people to grow wings.” He thought for a moment. “Similarly, if those people can become angels just by growing wings, then there’s no need for these fleshy balls.”
As Yan Xun spoke, he made a gnawing motion in front of Levi.
“Perhaps they need food,” he told Levy. “Those fleshy lumps can provide nutrients for their wings.”
"Let them return their excess energy... or even their lives, to the host."
"After all, those fleshy spheres also survive by absorbing the life force of the 'mother'."