He drew his gun, restrained the old man, and handed him over to the coalition forces.

But who was Laplace arguing with?

Just when Pace was feeling confused, he suddenly smelled a faint floral scent.

No one else seemed to smell the scent, only he did.

It must be her…that stupid little sister.

It was she who ended the final launch of the Tower of Babel, and it was she who controlled Laplace.

According to the subsequent interpretation of the database, the last launch of the Tower of Babel is called the Destruction Protocol. The tower will draw strong factor energy from the earth, tearing apart the plates while destroying most of the Admir continent with uncontrolled annihilation beams.

If it really comes to that, no one will survive.

But the agreement was terminated, and the reason for the termination was very strange – all the [Babel Tower Prisms] disappeared without a trace. And the strong factor energy that had been gathered in the [Core] also disappeared. It was not energy dissipation, but a disappearance at the conceptual level.

It’s as if an eraser had “erased” all the main parts of the Tower of Babel.

The Tower of Babel had these spare parts in its warehouse, but replacement was a long process, so the “erasure” of those parts directly left the Tower of Babel, whose tower base had been captured, without the ability to fight back.

Perlis Havrgard personally conquered the Tower of Babel. Without her, even if Pace and others who entered the tower could capture Laplace, this land would be turned into scorched earth. What would be the meaning of victory?

But she just turned around and left, without even leaving a trace of her back, without even seeing me for the last time.

Pace lowered his head and sighed softly beside the stone table where the argument had taken place.

He seemed to be back in the snow-covered mansion. At the door of the mansion, the girl walked into the blizzard alone and went her way.

This time, Pace knew there was no way he could catch up.

“…”

Just as Pace was filled with hesitation, a cry of surprise came:

“Look!”

A familiar feeling came over him, and Pace looked up suddenly, only to see a white halo suddenly appear on the horizon.

The source of the halo was the Tower of Babel – pure white flames ignited from the base of the tower, leaped up the tower like a dragon, and burned to the top of the tower in just a moment.

The white light enveloped the horizon of the Admir continent, like a flash of star, and completely dissipated after a few dozen seconds.

When it dissipated, there was no trace of the Tower of Babel on the horizon.

“…”

Pace could no longer hear what the people around him were saying. He smiled as he watched the white flames dissipate.

For some reason, he suddenly recalled a line from Wilkin’s Fairy Tales:

“He said: When the pure white fireworks light up the tower of Babel on the horizon, we will set off.”

As expected, she was still so resolute and decisive. Once she made up her mind, she overturned the table.

Pace turned his head and looked at the people who were arguing a second ago – most of them were staring blankly at the horizon, including the [Protector of the Great Wall].

When they came to their senses, Pace said:

“Now, you can all rest assured, right? After all, she is still watching us.”

“She was watching all of us.”

……

“…The Weiser Meteorological Office reports that the energy reserves in the clouds are moving upwards recently and that heavy rainfall is expected in the federal region over the next two days…”

“…The observatory announced that subtle changes are taking place in the star map in the near future. The positions of some key constellations have deviated from before, and even two identical constellations have been observed at the same time. At the same time, the White Flameid meteor shower will begin…”

“…the Dila garrison is distributing food rations on the streets of Vizel. After the riots ended, we finally saw the city regaining its former vitality…”

“…The Alliance announced that the trial of Laplace von Valantia will be held today, when…”

“…”

In the dark cell, Laplace sat on the bed, staring at the TV at the other end of the room.

He kept switching channels, seemingly without any method, but his silver eyes seemed to be filled with pieces of light and shadow.

Just through the fragmented information, he could guess that time was about to come.

“Laplace, it’s time.”

The cell door was pushed open, and two coalition soldiers walked in and waved to the old man beside the bed.

Laplace did not speak. He silently switched the channel back to the observatory and looked at the star map of the day that was displayed.

The starry sky is still as deep and beautiful as ever, just like the eyes of a lover frozen in amber.

“Hurry up, it’s time.” The soldier urged again.

Laplace put the remote control aside, then stood up and stretched out his hands to the soldiers.

The soldiers put a pair of handcuffs on his hands and led him out of the prison and into a prison van.

The prison van was driving on the streets of Wezel. After the rainstorm, the sun only favored the city for a few days before continuous rain covered the city again. The messy asphalt road was full of water, and the streets that used to be clean were in ruins. The Dila garrison was everywhere, clearing debris and distributing rations on the streets.

Through the car window, Laplace silently gazed at the street scene of Wezel, his silver eyes as calm as a pool of water.

He looked up, but did not see the familiar silver tower on the city’s skyline.

“…”

Soon, the prison van arrived at the academy building. Under the escort of the soldiers, Laplace walked into the property that once belonged to the [Academy]. Here, he would face his own trial.

The soldiers escorting him watched the old man curiously all the way. Most of them had only known about Laplace from TV before. They once hated the tyrant who built the tower so much that they imagined him as a demon from hell.

But now, there was only a calm old man in front of them. There was no distracting thoughts on his body, and his only remaining silver eye exuded an ethereal aura in the rare moments when they looked at each other.

That was not the look of a man heading for the execution ground. In their imagination, Laplace should have been roaring and resisting, and finally being escorted to the court in a miserable state.

He was still wearing the same clothes he was in when he was arrested: a white shirt and a bow tie, with spots of blood on his collar. If he wiped off the blood, he would not look like a defeated leader at all, but more like a king walking to the negotiation table.

For no reason, the soldiers began to fear Laplace, the lone traveler who traveled through two civilizations.

Laplace didn’t pay any attention to the people around him. He just walked silently through the corridors of the academy building and finally came to the courtroom.

The moment the door opened, it was pitch black. A few seconds later, a beam of light came down from the dome, illuminating the trial platform in the dark.

Laplace walked to the platform alone, stood on it, and looked straight ahead.

He saw lights come on, each time illuminating a familiar face: they were the main generals of the World Alliance, all of whom were present at the trial, looking at the criminals who had been taken prisoners.

There were dots of white light in all directions, like stars. Behind each white light were countless pairs of eyes, all focused on the old man at the same time – this trial would be broadcast to the whole world, and everyone would witness his conviction.

“quiet.”

The judge showed up. Judging from her accent, she was from E-Tran. Laplace couldn’t see her face clearly, but she had a pair of ice-blue eyes.

She recited Laplace’s crimes one by one in a calm voice:

“Laplace von Valantia, according to the Academi Federation Code, you are guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes, invasion, illegal human experimentation…”

The accusations flowed into the darkness like water, flowing through Laplace’s body. Needle-like gazes pierced into his body from multiple angles, dissecting him, as if to tear him into pieces.

But he just stood in the darkness, looking up at the star-like black ceiling, his silver eyes indifferent.

“…For multiple crimes, you will be sentenced to death.”

A calm female voice read out Laplace’s crimes and passed judgment.

Laplace lowered his head and looked at his handcuffed hands. A sense of weightlessness came over him.

Oh, my judges, why do you need to pretend to be civilized?

Human history will eventually disappear, even the sea will be submerged, but memories will be forever engraved in time.

The earth and the starry sky will give fair judgment on everything that human history cannot determine.

You are wolves in sheep’s clothing, dogs that have degenerated into wolves.

The moment you break free from the ropes, you are out of control.

Why bother pretending to be so?

Laplace suddenly laughed. He raised his head. The dark scene had long since disappeared. He was standing in the courtroom that was lit incandescently from beginning to end, looking directly at the Odin-born female judge on the podium who looked like she had just graduated from college.

“I have a better idea.” He spoke tiredly, his voice was low but everyone could hear it.

“You have no right to speak!” shouted Harry Smith in the gallery.

“Silence!” the judge shouted, banging his gavel. “If you have anything else to say, say it.”

Laplace glanced at everyone in the audience, and finally set his sights on Akihara Ayane.

He nodded towards Ayane, and immediately shifted his gaze to the side of Ayane – the black-veiled samurai.

“The Tomb is beginning to disintegrate, isn’t it? The first hole has already appeared, and the destructive factor is beginning to spread outward. His blood will attract the attention of the starry sky, and our time will soon be up.”

In the audience, Ibuki Rin nodded and whispered something in Ayane’s ear.

Then, Ayane said:

“what do you mean?”

“Let me be your pioneer,” Laplace smiled, “I have already prepared [Stairway Three], which is a one-way ticket and cannot return.”

“I will travel to the stars alone.”

……

“Even in the coldest winters, the fire never went out.”

“…”

After crossing the snow-capped mountains, Pace finally arrived at a small settlement deep in the Wanren Mountain. This place didn’t even have a formal name. It was just a place where the [Wolf Lord] stayed when he was still wreaking havoc on the mountains. There were only a few mountain dwellers.

At this time, a blizzard was covering the mountain top. There were only a few woodcutters working near the settlement. The place was so empty that it seemed to have been forgotten long ago.

This is the only place suitable for hiding a small flower, right?

Pace wiped the snow off his flannel hat, leaned on his walking stick, and walked down the rugged mountain path to the settlement.

The mountain people living here are basically hermits who don’t pay much attention to political affairs. Pace did not bring any guards with him on this trip, and his clothes were just like those of an ordinary mountain person. With the cover of the blizzard, no one recognized him.

He got the undisturbed time he wished for and wandered around the settlement alone.

Soon, he arrived at the destination of this trip – a small wooden house located beside the mountain road. Its solid structure was made of black cedar wood, the roof was covered with white snow, icicles hung on the eaves, and faint lights shone through the wooden windows.

Looking at this small house located in the corner of the snow-capped mountains, Pace wanted to laugh for some reason, because the Thebit man gave the impression of being so burly and strong, as if he could do nothing but fight and drink.

But a man like that actually used his own hands and patiently built a small house deep in the snowy mountains? How much time would that have taken up for drinking and fighting?

As expected…he left the most precious things here.

“…”

Pace adjusted his expression, then walked to the door and knocked gently on the wooden door.

After a while, the door opened and a little girl with black hair looked up at Pace. Her eyes were as clear blue as the sky and like the clean surface of a lake, flawlessly reflecting Pace’s frosty face.

Looking at the little girl’s cute face, Pace asked:

“You are Vasily Popov’s daughter, Sofia Popov, aren’t you?”

The little girl nodded. She looked at Pace’s face and tilted her head:

“Are you Uncle Pace?”

The moment he was recognized, Pace was stunned for a moment, and nodded subconsciously:

“you know me?”

“Dad told me that if something happened to him and he couldn’t come, Uncle Pace would come to pick me up,” Sofia recalled seriously, “He hasn’t been home for a long time…”

“Did he tell you that…” Pace lowered his head.

Pace felt a tightness in his chest, as if a mountain was pressing down from the sky. It turned out that the man had already made arrangements for his funeral before he set out. He had entrusted everything to Pace without Pace knowing, just like when he made the bet at the execution ground of Wanren Mountain.

Seeing that Pace suddenly stopped talking, Sophia pointed to her lips with her index finger, her blue eyes as pure as the lake water in early spring:

“Where is Dad? Did he go hunting again? But we can’t finish all the pickled meat at home. Can you help me tell him not to hunt anymore…”

“Your father…” Pace felt his throat choked up, “He…”

After a pause, Pace squatted down, took out the pendant box that was slightly deformed by the burns from his pocket, and handed it to Sophia.

“Your father said….he will be waiting for you outside the mountain, on the other side of the sea. When you grow up, you can go find him.”