Durin's Diary

Chapter 1053 Ten Thousand Miles of Eyes

Salyn Federa's grave is very small.

It was Dulin who, following her last wishes, buried her in the Fedra family cemetery in a corner of the city—the Fedra family had shed their last drop of blood for this corrupted commune in the last year of the First Commune.

Only Mrs. Salyn's mother survived.

She should have been surnamed Walter, but ultimately chose to use her mother's surname, which almost severed her ties with the Walter family.

Only her cousin Robert acknowledged her as his little cousin.

Cruel fate caused everyone in that era to wander and suffer, but there were still people like Jean Meyer who, at his own cost, told the world that the ideology had failed and the First Commune had been destroyed, but there were still good people willing to die for it.

Salyn Federa survived, and she remembered everything clearly. The past tormented her, and she never married, even though Ish Elsh from Lublin loved her and always wanted to give her a proper status. But Dulin didn't know why, he only knew that the lady never agreed.

Perhaps she still misses the photo she took with them that summer when they were young.

In the photo, she smiles with a simple and genuine smile, and the young people gathered together, their eyes filled with a bright hope for the future.

But everything was later lost to time.

Dulin understands this very well.

Because he also has a photo like this, in which the children of the tower are gathered together, all smiling, full of the unique expectations of children for the future.

But back then, who could have imagined that the adult world would be so cruel?

So, a few years later, reality gave the survivors of that night an extremely cruel lesson.

People's joys and sorrows are not shared, which is why Dulin later became the one who cleaned up the mess, because he could not find a better way to resolve all the sorrows in the world.

But the butcher's knife in his hand can.

So he spent a very long time performing the Tower Man Slayer ritual, just to sever the retribution from every successor.

They are young; some cherish their reputation, some are naive, and some are too kind.

They had never seen the despair of a first-grader firing a signal flare, nor the anger on the face of a child the size of Dulin looking at children whose throats had been slit.

They would never understand the callousness with which the mob executed entire families and then piled their bodies together for burning.

They fired at every moving, non-friendly target that night. If someone wanted to protect those damned beasts, then they would die together.

The children of the tower are innocent, but reality will kill all innocence.

It's like those young children naively believing that chivalrous stories are the main theme of this land.

In fact, they were wrong. The main theme of this land is killing and being killed. The so-called verbs and passives have been engraved in the genes of living beings for ten thousand years, even transcending time, space and cosmic coordinates.

“Madam, love and justice cannot ultimately save everyone.” After saying this, Dulin bowed and then carried the little snow leopard in his arms toward the exit of the cemetery.

At the entrance, a not-so-young man with six fingers stood by the car. He bowed to Du Lin and said, "The older folks in the bureau have heard that there are Candle Dragons on the street, but recently no Candle Dragons from the East have come to Copenhagen to report. So I think, could it be you?"

"You still remember me."

"Yes, I remember. Quite a few young people have forgotten you. I don't know why, but I'm sure this is a question that many people have as well. So I think you probably don't like having too many people asking this question."

As he spoke, Six Fingers gestured for Dulin to get in the car: "Please get in, Mr. Dulin. At least come to the station for a cup of tea."

“Okay.” Dulin smiled and got into the car. It was a good car, just a bit old, but Dulin still recognized it—it was this very car that old fish Fisher had driven to him years ago.

"The old director is getting old over there. When will he retire?"

"It will be soon. I'll see where he wants to go and I'll make arrangements for him. But I think that when people get old, they shouldn't go back to the north. It's always a good thing to live a few more years in the south."

Dulin chatted casually with Six Fingers.

The young man had a scar on his face. Dulin didn't ask how he got it, just as he didn't ask where the old director would eventually go.

Where could a surviving member of the First Commune go?

Either the Everburn Nest gets one more room, or the Lublin gets one more old man.

There is no other way.

………………

The secret police headquarters of the Northern Kingdom remained the same as before. After the inspection was completed, the guard on the wall shouted, "The boss is back!"

When Dulin came, there were many acquaintances, such as the old dwarf and the half-elf, but unfortunately they were all gone. The young people in the secret police department looked at Dulin following behind their boss with curiosity. Only the old people who remembered Dulin would come up to say hello.

Dulin would respond to each of them and offer them cigarettes.

The act of smoking brought strangers closer together.

Dulin simply placed two packs of cigarettes in the hall, as if everyone who saw them would have a share.

Six Fingers made coffee for Dulin, adding plenty of honey and sugar: "I'm quite surprised you came to this cold department."

"I met Big Toe and the others in this hall back then. They're all gone now. Is this how secret police always are—living and dying quietly?"

“Yes, I’ve had several subordinates and old friends die in the past few years, either because of Northernism, or because of Chaos. They’ve been infiltrating things a lot lately.” Six Fingers said, taking the gold cigarette case that Dulin tossed to him. “I’m still young, aren’t I, Mr. Dulin?”

"Just leave it there. If some old man tries to show off in front of you, you can put it back," Du Lin said with a smile.

The real reason is that Dulin can't wait until this guy gets old to give him the cigarette pack.

While it's not impossible, it's still too much to ask of fate. Who can know what will happen decades from now? And living for decades without illness or disaster is actually quite difficult for an ordinary person.

So Six Fingers opened the cigarette pack, looked at the cigarettes inside, and laughed like a complete idiot: "I never imagined I would receive such a memento from you."

"Now that you've experienced it firsthand, just focus on working for this land and don't court disaster by coming to my doorstep." After saying this, Dulin took a sip of coffee—the same coffee that Big Toe had brewed for him the last time Dulin came.

It has a cheap feel to it.

There's a saying that goes something like this: the coffee pot in the Secret Police Headquarters always contains the cheapest bidding goods.

But there's another saying that goes something like that.

A small gift carries great meaning.

After all, only a scoundrel would look at the brand name and not the person.

(End of this chapter)