Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 643: Section 453: Dominoes (Part 3)

Chapter 643: Section 453: Dominoes (Part 3)

"I’m searching for an answer, my Sophia," he sighed, "why she died, but I won’t have that answer anymore."

The old man sitting in front of Malin sighed. To Malin, he seemed to have completely lost faith; he was moving sorrowfully toward his end. Malin wondered whether he should tell him the truth about the girl—that she, like Colin, was just an experimental subject produced there.

She was an adopted daughter, a child that was picked up. Her parentage was related to the Casters, which led to the glory of the Mischael family.

In the end, they chose to completely side with the Casters. In Malin’s view, this was not a betrayal, but the other families were shocked by the transformation of the Mischael family. They instinctively sensed danger, thinking that the Mischael family had embraced Chaos and eventually chose to carry out a massacre.

Speaking of Sophia, the girl was outstanding. Sadly, in the end, she couldn’t escape the fate of being an experimental subject.

She died, and her death appeared very mysterious to outsiders. It’s impossible for a girl in her teens to die suddenly. Malin’s stepfather sought the murderer who killed her, without realizing that he would never find the culprit.

Even more, he got absorbed by the Casters and became their assistant in collecting materials.

Up to now, he hasn’t understood that he’s been collaborating with the real murderer. His actions... were merely creating more suffering for the Casters.

Thus Malin ultimately couldn’t bring himself to reveal the truth, and he understood why old Hoffman sighed when mentioning his foster father—he must know something, aware that Gaiate would never find the truth.

Considering his father’s poor condition, Malin specially prepared breakfast for him using powder made from the World Tree’s Acorns and stopped him from thinking of leaving.

"Father, don’t go. Stay in Carterburg."

"Foolish child, to stay here and have you end me?"

The old man looked at Malin and shook his head, "It’s too cruel, for both you and me. My child, I took you in, hoping to give Maya a companion. She’s already with you now. Let me go, don’t make Maya sad."

"Father, where can you go? You’ve said your Transcendent Sequence is falling apart, that so-called Truth Sequence... Can it be stripped away? Perhaps if you strip that away, you could live much longer." Malin looked at the man before him— he truly wanted to save him, just like that year, that day when he extended his hand to pick up Malin, then a child, on the street corner.

What’s destined is meant to be. If he can’t save this father, how could Malin accept Maya?

"That’s impossible, child. The Truth Sequence can indeed be stripped away, but it is a unique sequence. If you don’t immediately choose a new master for it, it’ll quickly fade away, then autonomously select a new master. We who possess the Truth are actually the prison of the Truth."

Then the old man explained in full to Malin the uniqueness of the Truth Sequence—he who possessed the sequence was nominally a special Transcendent Sequence, but in reality, it was more like a prison holding the sequence captive.

The owner of the Truth Sequence would lose all additional lifespan and retain only the lifespan inherent to their race; for elves, it would be three hundred years, for humans, it would be only a century or even less. The purification of bloodlines could indeed bring additional lifespan, but the Truth Sequence has another peculiarity: while possessing it, one must select an event’s truth to chase after.

Malin’s father, without hesitation, chose to seek the murderer who killed Sophia that year.

But he was doomed not to find the murderer, for Sophia died when her lifespan as a subject expired.

It’s unpleasant to say, but that’s the reality: no one poisoned her, no one cursed her.

So when the owner of the Truth Sequence cannot complete the pursuit of truth and reality, the sequence no longer strengthens its master but instead starts to devour the owner’s body.

This is why the man, though only in his sixties, aged like Hoffman.

"My child, I cannot harm any one of you, Maya has achieved the Legendary, she can live a very long life, long enough that you won’t be able to spend her entire life with her unless you also become Legendary. Therefore, I disagree with your request," the man said with the determination akin to asking me to leave. "I will select an Apprentice and pass on my Demon Hunter Sequence along with the Truth Sequence."

This man was incredibly stubborn, Malin finally saw it today. He simply did not want to pass the Truth on to Malin, even using the threat of death to press his point. Malin had no choice but to agree in the end, but on the condition that his father could not leave Carterburg.

He would choose a child from the orphanage’s apprentices to pass on the legacy.

"Since you’re going to pass on your Sequence, it must all be done here in Carterburg. We can’t let you leave this place and venture into the wilderness; if you died out there, or turned into a different kind, I would ultimately have to Purify you myself," Malin insisted.

Faced with Malin’s persistence, the old man took a step back.

After concluding the negotiation, Malin took the old man for a health check at the Benevolent Church. The Priests said that Malin’s father was in decent health, although he was severely aged, his early ascension to the Silver Folk gave him superior physical condition, ensuring he wouldn’t die anytime soon.

Moreover, they confirmed that Malin had been feeding his father powder made from the World Tree fruit. Although the old father disagreed with Malin’s ’waste’, after Malin took out a whole box of the fruit at once, he tacitly permitted Malin’s ’wastefulness’.

However, the father decided to return to his small building to live, saying he wasn’t comfortable in a big house, leaving Malin with no choice but to reach out to the old lady’s granddaughter-in-law. Malmoor Kachev, the old lady, had passed away last year and left her house at 418 Carfa Avenue to her grandson’s family. Malin re-rented the second floor, and Bobplane, knowing Malin wanted to rent it, agreed readily.

Malin specially gave him two doses of medicine, and also provided him with a new mass-produced semi-automatic rifle.

Bobplane was very happy, and Malin was quite satisfied too, all for the sake of the old father.

And looking at the almost unchanged second floor, he was very pleased as well.

"This is what feels like home," said the old man with a child-like smile as he stood in the living room.

He sat down on the sofa, looking at Malin and Maya: "In the blink of an eye, my daughter and son have grown up, and become able to change on their own, that’s wonderful."

"Father," Maya sat down beside him, "Malin and I may be very busy sometimes, but whenever we have time, I will come to see you."

"That’s alright, it’s normal for young people to be busy, don’t waste your time on an old man like me. Just live your lives well."

With that, the old man started to hustle Malin and Maya out.

Kicked out of the small building, Malin and Maya stood at the door.

"Malin, do you remember? That year, the first time we went shopping," Maya said.

"I remember, we stood here just like this, not knowing where to go, and you led the way," Malin replied.

"Mm... Malin, let’s go," Maya smiled, extending her hand, waiting for Malin to take it.

Malin nodded and placed his hand in hers.

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