Having settled on a plan,
It was only now that he had the peace of mind to carefully examine the remaining fragments of Klein's memories.
Zhou Mingrui habitually stood up, closed the gas valve, and watched the gaslight slowly dim until it went out. He then sat down again, unconsciously stroking the brass cylinder of the revolver with one hand while pressing the side of his head with the other. In the darkness dyed crimson, he quietly "savored" the memories, like the most focused audience member in a cinema.
Perhaps due to the bullet passing through his head, Klein's memory was like shattered glass. Not only had it lost its coherence, but many parts were clearly missing content. For example, where the exquisitely crafted revolver came from, whether it was a suicide or a homicide, what the line "Everyone will die, including me" in the notebook really meant, and whether he participated in any strange events in the two days before the incident.
Not only these specific memories were fragmented and incomplete, but even his knowledge was the same. Judging by the current state, Zhou Mingrui believed that if Klein went back to university, he probably wouldn't be able to graduate anymore, even though he had only left campus a few days ago and hadn't slacked off at all.
"In two days, I have to attend the interview for the History Department of Tingen University..."
"Universities in the
As Zhou Mingrui silently "watched", the Crimson Moon outside the window slanted westward, slowly sinking until a faint light rose in the east and the horizon was tinged with gold.
At this time, sounds came from the inner room. Soon, footsteps approached the partition door.
"Melissa is awake... She is as punctual as always." Zhou Mingrui smiled slightly. Influenced by Klein's memories, he felt as if Melissa was his own biological sister.
However, I don't have a biological sister... he then quipped to himself.
Unlike Klein and Benson, Melissa's primary education wasn't completed at the Sunday school of the
In just three years, while incorporating many church schools, numerous public elementary schools were established, strictly maintaining the principle of religious neutrality, not involving the disputes between the
Compared to the Sunday school which cost only one copper penny a week, the public elementary school's tuition of three pence a week seemed quite expensive. But the former only studied on Sundays, while the latter had six full days of classes a week. Overall, it was cheap to the point of being almost free.
Unlike most girls, Melissa loved gears, springs, bearings, and such things from a young age. She aspired to become a steam machinist.
Benson, the eldest brother, who had suffered from a lack of education and understood its importance, supported his sister's dream just as he had supported Klein's university education. After all, Tingen Technical School was only a secondary school; there was no need to prepare through a grammar school or public school first.
In July last year, fifteen-year-old Melissa passed the entrance exam and, as she wished, became a student of the Steam and Machinery Department at Tingen Technical School. Her weekly tuition also increased to nine pence.
At the same time, the import-export company where Benson worked saw its profits and business volume shrink drastically due to the situation in the Southern Continent. It had to lay off more than a third of its employees. To keep his job and maintain their life, Benson had to accept an even heavier workload, often working overtime or going on business trips to places with harsh environments, just like these past few days.
Klein had thought about helping his brother share the burden, but having been born a commoner and entered university from an ordinary grammar school, he strongly felt his own shortcomings as soon as he entered university. For example, Ancient Feysac, the original language of all the countries in the Northern Continent, was something children of nobles and the wealthy started learning from a young age, but Klein had only encountered it at university.
There were many, many similar aspects. Klein used almost all his strength, often staying up late and waking up early, just to barely keep up with others and graduate with average results.
Memories of his brother and sister jumped through Zhou Mingrui's mind. He was only jolted awake when the door handle turned and the door to the inner room creaked open. He suddenly remembered that he was holding a revolver in his hand.
This was a semi-controlled item!
It would scare the little girl!
Also, also the wound on my head!
Seeing that Melissa was about to come out, Zhou Mingrui, while pressing his temple, hurriedly pulled open the desk drawer and threw the revolver inside, where it landed with a loud bang.
"What happened?" Melissa, hearing the noise, looked over in confusion.
She was in the prime of youth. Even though she couldn't eat anything good, her face was thin and pale, her skin was still full of luster, radiating a youthful aura.
Seeing the inquiring gaze of her sister's brown eyes, Zhou Mingrui forced himself to remain calm. He picked up the nearest item, then calmly closed the drawer to hide the revolver, while the touch of his other hand on his temple confirmed that the wound had healed!
What he took out of the drawer was a silver pocket watch with a vine and leaf pattern. He pressed the top lightly, and the lid sprang open.
It was the most valuable item left by the three siblings' father, the former Royal Army Sergeant. But a secondhand item was still a secondhand item. In recent years, it had malfunctioned from time to time. Even after having it repaired by a clockmaker, the same thing happened, which caused Benson, who liked to wear it to elevate his status, to embarrass himself multiple times, so he just left it at home.
Melissa might really have a talent for mechanics. After learning the theoretical knowledge, she began tinkering with this pocket watch using the tools from the technical school, and recently she even claimed to have fixed it!
Zhou Mingrui looked at the lid spring open, saw the second hand motionless, and subconsciously turned the top, intending to wind the pocket watch.
However, he twisted it a few times, but there was still no sound of the mainspring tightening, and the second hand remained motionless.
"Seems broken again." He looked at his sister, making conversation.
Melissa shot him an expressionless glance, quickly came over, and took the pocket watch away.
Standing still, she first pulled up the button on top of the pocket watch, and just after turning it a few times, a steady tick-tock sound of the second hand began to be heard.