He Shenyan knows very well how a person behaves when he is afraid.

In fact, fear is a very normal thing. When you are a child, you are afraid of the dark and sleeping alone, and of course, there are those horror stories told by your father. When you grow up, what you are afraid of is

Not growing taller, being bullied, and failing in schoolwork.

However, after adulthood, fear has turned into some concrete and even daunting-sounding words.

responsibility.

poverty.

Work.

Everyone has something they are afraid of. They are afraid of these things and don't like these things. As for Gustave now, He Shenyan felt that he almost wanted to escape from this damn sewer immediately.

He was scared to death. He Shenyan could see it from his face and his trembling legs, from the veins on the back of his hands, and from his rapid breathing.

The mage looked at this man in the darkness with a smile - there was one thing that he would not say clearly, but he knew it very well.

His bad taste is only a lot more than that of the witcher.

Seven bat-winged demons fly at extremely fast speeds in the maze-like sewers. Their unique physiological structure allows these terrifying creatures to come and go freely in the dark, and nothing can stop them from hunting - in fact, in

To the bat-winged demons' keen sense of smell, the stench of the corpse infant was extremely obvious.

They don't even need to bother to look for it, they can find these little things with just a slight sniff. If in the past, they would not hunt corpse babies, that is not their diet.

But now, they have become self-aware puppets, with only one task swirling around in their simple, almond-sized brains.

"Are you afraid, Mr. Gustave?"

He Shenyan suddenly asked. His voice was calm and sounded very empowering. The same was true for Gustave, whose breathing became calmer.

"I'm... afraid, sir, I'm afraid." Gustav admitted happily. "But compared to them, I'm more afraid of seeing my sister's cold body."

"La Valetti, what a noble surname."

He Shenyan suddenly talked about another matter, and his tone made Gustave instinctively feel uncomfortable. The word he used to describe the surname 'La Valedi' was 'noble', but his

The tone was full of ridicule, even contempt.

"I remember that nobles like you often say that they swear by their own surnames. It can be seen that the surnames of nobles are very important to them. Mr. Gustave, what do you think of La Valetti?

Is your last name important to you?"

"Or, let me put it another way. Do you think it's something you'd be proud of?"

...What kind of strange question is this?

Gustav's already chaotic brain was once again confused by He Shenyan's question. He leaned against the cold wall of the sewer, smelling the stench, and replied with a pale face: "I don't understand what you mean.

gentlemen."

"Your surname stains your status as a retired soldier. You violated people's most basic moral principles without your knowledge. You and your sister had a deformed child. For this reason, your sister went crazy

Lost it, your father died of a heart attack. Tell me, Mr. Gustav..."

Suddenly, a sense of oppression came. Gustave looked up and found a pair of shining blue eyes shining in the darkness, as dazzling as the fragments of stars, but it almost made his heart stop beating.

.

"Do you hate it, or do you love it?"

Gustav was silent, he did not answer. And sometimes, silence is an answer.

Geralt watched all this. He didn't know what He Shenyan wanted to do, and why he suddenly raised such an uncomfortable topic. Out of an instinct, the witcher's back began to itch. He felt as if

Something is about to happen.

Silence ruled the darkness, and only the sound of breathing echoed in the passage. After a while, a bat-winged demon came back, the size of a calf. It flapped its wings and knelt at the feet of the mage. Its mouth was full of fangs.

It opened, and blood foam poured out from it.

Its body began to twitch, its muscles beat wildly, and it kept jumping like a bullfrog with its head cut off. After a while, it died completely. The body began to become stiff, and the blue light lit up again, and its body

After a few seconds, it turned into a puddle of fly ash.

"They found your sister, Mr. Gustave." He Shenyan said.

Twelve minutes later, they came to an empty platform. It looked like it should be the place reserved by the elves who built the city for the sewer maintenance workers to stay. There were also some crates full of spider webs piled up.

It was full of cracks. A misty light fell from between the cracked bricks on the top of the platform.

Geralt's good eyesight allowed him to see the elven writings engraved on those crates, which made him wonder - can ordinary boxes be preserved for so long? The craftsmanship of elves is really amazing.

In the center of the platform, there was a woman lying. Corpse babies lay around her, guarding her like lifeless statues. Above them, the remaining six bat-winged demons were hanging upside down from the ceiling.

He Shenyan snapped his fingers, and a burst of dust fell. The bat-winged demons had disappeared. The corpse baby and Gustav's unconscious sister were lying on the platform. She was breathing steadily, and was worried about what was about to happen.

Nothing.

Gustave looked at his sister, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.

"Go, Mr. Gustave." He Shenyan said softly from behind him. "Go and rescue her."

Gustave did as he was told. He took the first step, and then the second step. His stiff knees and muscles that became difficult to move made his walking movements look extremely funny. The corpse babies surrounding his sister

It made him extremely nervous.

Just looking at their purple skin and the umbilical cord falling on the ground almost made Gustav faint. The fifth step, the sixth step... Gustav got closer little by little.

she.

He called softly: "Anna."

The woman didn't answer, so Gustave called again. There was still no answer, and he began to unconsciously think about the worst. At this moment, the woman he called Anna opened her eyes.

The next second, she started screaming. The corpse babies opened their eyes one after another. Geralt's pupils shrank and he wanted to rush forward immediately, but He Shenyan stretched out his hand to stop him midway.

"what?"

"Don't worry." The mage shook his head calmly. "Let us wait and see."

Gustave had no idea what they were talking about next. In fact, his mind was completely blank, leaving only the most basic instinctive reaction.

He called to his sister with a trembling voice: "It's me, Anna, Gustav! Don't you remember?"

The woman still didn't answer. She crawled back on her hands and knees. She didn't feel the intimacy of meeting her biological brothers at all, only pure fear. The corpse babies followed her, and the umbilical cord dragged on the ground, leaving a series of squirming wet marks.

.They grinned and screamed at Gustav.

"What's going on? Is she insane?"

Geralt softly asked He Shenyan who was standing aside. He knew that the mage was not the kind of cold-blooded person who would watch innocent people die, so he was very confused by his lack of help.

"Maybe." He Shenyan nodded noncommittally. "But I'm more inclined to believe that Mr. Gustave didn't tell us the truth."

"I didn't find any doubt in his account."

"Me too, Geralt. But I doubt everything. What's more, although Mr. Gustav claims that he has retired, but... he is still very young now. A strong man

The man stayed well in the army, why did he retire and come back? He was not injured and he still achieved so many honors in the army."

He Shenyan turned around and showed a smile to Geralt: "And, as far as I know, Vizima is located in the south, which is full of plains and hills. The scouts in their army cannot teach the so-called 'hiding'

Traces’ approach.”

"you mean......?"

"He may be a spy or something. Of course, I doubt whether he is. After all, Mr. Gustav's appearance and figure are too conspicuous, which is not suitable for intelligence work."

The witcher quickly went through the story Gustave told in his mind. This time, he still found no doubtful points in it. All the questions raised by He Shenyan had other explanations. They were

It can be explained. But because of this, Geralt became suspicious.

The whole story is... perfect.

"Don't come here! Get away! I don't even know you!"

The woman called Anna screamed and ran away, completely different from the calmness she had seen Geralt before. Of course, it might be because she was woken up from her sleep - in short, those

The reactions of the corpse babies became more intense as her emotions fluctuated, and many of them had already arched their backs.

That was a sign of an imminent attack.

Gustav obviously understood this. He swallowed and blurted out his words in an anxious tone: "Oh my god, Anna, calm them down! It's me! Gustav! Could it be that you really forgot?"

Me?"

His voice was loud, and Anna paused, her face filled with confusion: "...Gustave?"

"Yes, Gustave! Gustave la Valetti!"

As if the surname La Valette triggered something, the face of the woman called Anna suddenly distorted. She screamed again, this time, her voice was full of hatred: "La Valette?"

Aren’t you going to let me go?!”

ha!

He Shenyan clapped his hands happily, and he laughed like a child who spent the whole afternoon solving riddles: "Look, Geralt, I knew it wasn't that simple - oh, it's up to you

Take action."

He shrugged in a rather nonchalant manner: "It seems like those corpse babies are going to pounce on him and eat him."

The witcher rolled his eyes at him - Do I have a bad taste? You really don't have any idea at all!

He pulled out his silver sword, threw the scabbard to the ground, and rushed forward like a gust of wind.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Chapter completed!