Chapter 198 Questions and Retests

Chapter 198 Questions and Retests

Chapter 198 Questions and Retests

"Baggins... I... I really regret it..."

At night, in a small house where the rebels lived, after drinking a glass of inferior wine with a depressed look, the fat uncle with a red face hugged "Little Baggins"'s neck and said with tears in his eyes:
"If you hadn't saved me, you might have suffered less injuries, and you would have drunk less after being laid off, and your family wouldn't be in the current state...

Wuuuu... I... I really tried my best to raise money for you back then. Not only did I sell the house and my wife's jewelry, I even sold the reserved quota that allowed me to avoid being laid off by the military. But in the end, I couldn't even get one tenth of it.

I...I don't want to give you money, really not!

I really tried hard, even going to the relief office to kowtow to people... But your wife's illness is really incurable. If I give you all the money and let you throw it in, not only will your son be left without anyone to take care of him, you will probably starve to death, and so will my wife...

I... I'm sorry to my wife, I'm sorry to you, I'm sorry to your wife, I'm sorry to your son, I'm sorry to your family!
I…I feel sorry for everyone in my life!”

"..."

"I'm sorry... Owen was drunk and mistook you for Old Baggins, so I made a fool of myself..."

Amid the incoherent howling of the drunken fat uncle, a gentle-looking woman wiped the tears from her eyes and said to "Little Baggins" with a slightly pleading look:

"I know it's not appropriate for me to say this...but...but can you please not blame your Uncle Owen? He really did his best at the beginning...okay?"

"Um……"

Looking at the woman in front of him who was probably less than 40 years old but looked very old, Leon could not help but nodded and hummed vaguely.

After learning about the past of the two families through the fat uncle's drunken and fragmented narration, even though he had not experienced it like the real little Baggins, his heart still felt a little stuffy, as if blocked by something, and his breathing was inexplicably difficult. He suddenly wanted to go out for some fresh air.

"Little Baggins..."

Looking at Leon who was keeping his head down and not saying a word, the gentle woman sighed and then said:

"Although you haven't drunk alcohol, it's getting a little late. Your home is on the other side of the valley. Why don't you stay here today and sleep in Owen's room first?"

"No."

After shaking his head to reject the woman's kindness, Leon said softly:
"Aunt Fanny, I haven't cleaned up my house yet, and... I want to go out and get some fresh air."

"Okay... then tie your clothes tightly and don't catch a cold."

"Ah."

After pushing the door and leaving with the woman's gentle instructions, Leon walked quickly along the dark dirt road towards the other end of the valley.

……

As an undercover mission, this investigation was quite a failure.

Apart from being a qualified listener and listening to the fat uncle talk about many things in the past, I didn't get much information about the top leaders of the rebel party, and I didn't even know where my own residence was.

But...it seems that it is not all in vain.

At least I am sure that most of these rebels are not ambitious people chasing for power, but just ordinary people who want to live a stable life.

After finding a slightly higher seat to sit down, Lyon observed the distribution of buildings throughout the valley in the night breeze while seriously thinking about what to do.

If we only look at it from the perspective of a cleaner in the Cleanup Bureau, we know that we have already found the gathering place of the rebels, figured out the identity of the rebel leader, and have initially gained a foothold.

Next, as long as you show your "abnormality" and join the rebels who possess abnormal objects, you can complete the mission, help the princess find her identity, and completely wipe out this organization.

But apart from the eight or nine holders of the abnormal objects, the entire rebel group still has nearly a thousand people. Apart from their family members, many of them even have wanted notices and rewards hanging on them.

They were able to take refuge in this valley thanks to the leader's strange "door ability". If they returned to the capital, they would probably be arrested and thrown into prison immediately, and their families would once again lose the ability to support themselves.

Although all this seemed to have nothing to do with me, as long as I controlled those abnormal object holders, the rest would no longer be my job scope, but...

Looking at the coat that the gentle woman had put on herself before leaving the door, and then looking at the tear marks on the front of the coat left by the fat uncle when he was crying, Leon couldn't help but sigh deeply.

Replacing someone else's identity... doesn't seem to be an easy task...

"Little Baggins?"

When Leon let out a long sigh, a middle-aged man with gray hair walked out silently from the shadows nearby and asked with a frown:

"Why are you here?"

Is he finally willing to come out? This person is really wary...

Leon, who had already noticed his presence and deliberately came to contact him, had already equipped himself with the Performer Badge. He shuddered when he heard the question, turned around in surprise, and said with surprise in his eyes:
"Master Chief? Why are you here?"

"This place is not far from where I live. I couldn't sleep so I came out for a walk."

Without paying attention to Leon's question, the middle-aged man answered the question first, his eyes flickering as he said:
"What about you? Why don't you go home so late?"

"go home……"

Leon was silent for a moment after hearing this, then shook his head and whispered:

"Where is my home?"

???

After hearing what "Little Baggins" said, the middle-aged man couldn't help but frowned, raised his hand and pointed at a small house with no lights on in the distance and said:
"Little Baggins, what are you talking about? Isn't that your home?"

Oh, so that’s my home.

After looking at the small house with a lonely expression and noting down the specific location, Leon shook his head indifferently and said in a very light but very firm voice:

"That's not my home, it's just the house I live in."

"..."

Not knowing that he had been tricked, the middle-aged man's heart trembled slightly when he heard "little Baggins"'s answer, and a feeling of emptiness and pain surged up in him.

For little Baggins, that was no longer his home... and the kingdom in front of him was no longer his kingdom...

No matter how many changes and efforts I have made, what was supposed to happen has already happened. No matter where the kingdom of this world goes, no matter whether the result is good or bad, it is no longer related to me. My family is no longer here, and my regrets are doomed to be irreparable. So for me who no longer has a "home", isn't this kingdom just an empty house?
"Right……"

After Leon's words "That's not home" pierced seventy or eighty bloody holes in his heart, the middle-aged man couldn't help but sit down next to him and silently enjoyed the night wind.

……

After a while, the "homeless boy" broke the silence first, staring at the lights in the valley, and asked quietly:
"Master Chief... In the end, can we really change this country and prevent the tragedy that has happened to everyone from happening again?"

"..."

"OK."

Although he did not quite believe this, the middle-aged man who still needed the existence of the rebels nodded and said seriously:
"This country is beyond saving. As long as we keep working hard, sooner or later we will be able to sweep it into the garbage dump, and then on the ruins..."

"Lord Chief."

After interrupting the middle-aged man somewhat rudely, Leon said in a confused voice:
“After you confirmed that I had no qualifications, I thought seriously about what I could do to change the kingdom without that magical ability.

But I found that I couldn't do anything, and even we, led by you, couldn't do anything either."

In the middle-aged man's somewhat shocked expression, "Little Baggins" said slowly:
“Although I haven’t read much, looking at the situation in the upper and lower houses, I think the politics that those bigwigs talk about is actually to make more people believe in you, agree with your judgment, and be willing to listen to you, so as to gather enough power to change the status quo.

But what we have done over the years is to make enemies everywhere... The nobles hate us, the Chamber of Commerce is afraid of us, the royal family wants to arrest us, and even ordinary people are distancing themselves from us. Only when they are forced into a desperate situation by pain, will we become the last choice as a last resort.

"My Lord Chief, do you really think that this can change this country? And even if you succeed in the end, how can you guarantee that what emerges from the ruins is the future you described, rather than another new kingdom that is destined to decay from the moment it is born?"

"..."

After hearing these questions that stabbed him in the heart, the middle-aged man couldn't help but stand up, looking at the "little Baggins" in front of him with doubt, and asked with vigilance:

"Who taught you that? Or... you're not little Baggins?"

"?"

"Master Chief? What are you talking about?"

After hearing his words, "Little Baggins" looked up in astonishment and said with a confused look:
"I am not Little Baggins or something else. And these words were not taught by others. They are all my own thoughts."

At this point, Leon sighed deeply, and briefly recounted what he had heard at the fat uncle's house. Then he looked at the middle-aged man with "confused eyes" and said with a look of longing:
“By the way, Chief, since you can be our leader, you must know the most among us. I have something else I want to ask you.

Uncle Owen and... and my father, they did nothing wrong in fighting for the country, and the kingdom also gave them quite generous compensation, so it couldn't be said that they were wrong. My mother and I did everything, so it shouldn't be said that we were wrong either, but why did it end up like this?
My mother is going to die in the hospital, my father is going to become a bad person, I am going to live the same life as before where I was beaten every day, and Uncle Owen, who is trying his best to help our family, will feel guilty for the rest of his life... Can you tell me why all this is happening?
Also, under your leadership, we, in addition to being able to destroy everywhere, dare not even show our heads, and can only stay in this small valley. Do we really have the ability to change all this?"

"..."

……

Little Baggins should be real...right?

After responding a few incoherent words and hastily escaping from the high rocks, the middle-aged man, whose doubts were dispelled by a series of soul-searching questions but whose brain was also shut down, walked back to his residence in a daze in the night.

Why should I go out and talk to him? Why can't I just leave? What are he asking? Why can't I answer any of them?

Also, I just took a test and found that I didn't have any abnormal talents, but little Baggins could think of so many things? I had experienced so much in my previous life, but why can't I figure out anything? Is the gap between people really that big?

With a lot of questions in his mind, the middle-aged man staggered to the outside of his residence and was about to push the door open, but suddenly his expression froze and he looked at the big tree next to him.

"Who's there?"

"Master, it's me..."

Under the cold gaze of the middle-aged man, a fat man with red cheeks and reeking of alcohol walked out from behind the tree and smiled at him awkwardly.

Old Irving?
After frowning slightly, the middle-aged man let down his guard a little and asked in confusion:
"Why don't you rest and come to see me so late? Is there something urgent?"

"Actually... it's nothing serious... I just want you to use that watch to measure little Baggins again."

He took out a strand of hair he had picked up from the wine table, held it in both hands and handed it to the middle-aged man. The fat uncle, who had sobered up a lot, explained with a pleading look:
"My Lord Chief, Little Baggins carried a large barrel of oil by himself during the day, and he was very tired. In addition, he was beaten in the past two days and had not slept much. He might be in a worse condition, so he did not meet your standard, just a little short of it.

The kid didn't pass your test. He didn't talk much all day. Even though he hates others drinking, he took the initiative to drink a few sips tonight. He was absent-minded the whole time. I... I'm a little worried about his condition.

"Chief, if it's not too much trouble, could you help him take the test again? What if the child passes this time?"

"..."

So that's why you really treat him as your own son...

Looking at the hair in the fat uncle's hand, the middle-aged man couldn't help but shook his head helplessly.

"Owen, this test is not the kind of physical test that will drop in indicators if you don't get enough sleep or have just done strenuous exercise... um..."

When he said this, looking at the fat uncle's pleading eyes, the middle-aged man couldn't help but pause slightly, then he remembered those strange questions from little Baggins, and a hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes.

"Ok."

After pondering for a while, the middle-aged man nodded as if possessed by a magic spell, took the black hair from the fat uncle, and gently rubbed it on the outside of the watch.

"Squeak~"

Under the operation of the middle-aged man, the sound of gears meshing was heard again, and the watch quickly opened its "mouth" to swallow the black hair, and began to "chew" it hard once again.

"Owen, although I'm willing to test it again, you still shouldn't hold out too much hope."

As the watch began to be tested, the middle-aged man gently reminded:

"This thing not only tests the body, but also tends to test things on the spiritual and will levels. Little Baggins does not meet the standards in these aspects, so even if we test it again, it will probably be..."

"Da, da, da, da, da, da."

Seeing that the pointer didn't even shake, but was directly moved to the right side and firmly locked with six crisp impacts, and was even faintly trying to move to the right, the middle-aged man's eyes bulged out instantly and he took a deep breath.

"what??????"

(End of this chapter)