"Bastet? It's in the interrogation room. The room is at the end of the corridor."

"Ah, thank you." Mulan lowered her hat and gracefully bowed to quickly slip past the tall man in front of her, who was wearing a police uniform.

"Hold on." The man frowned, raising his chin and moving his lips in an unfriendly manner, looking at Mulan.

"You're not a cursed child, so why are you looking for it?" the man asked.

"Ah, well..." Mulan's heart skipped a beat as she remembered the scene outside the police station earlier, where the cursed children who were crying and shouting to see Bastet were mercilessly beaten and thrown out.

Mulan decided not to tell the truth.

"It's for various reasons... like it owes me something... and so on."

Mulan was confident that her identity as a cursed child would not be recognized. Her condition was one of the rarest among cursed children, and it belonged to the earliest-skinned type.

Since childhood, her entire body had been covered in decay, and now her pristine skin was all thanks to postoperative transplants. However, any slight pressure would cause it to crumble, and it could hardly heal itself. The only way to cure it was through magic or surgery again.

Bastet, the cat, paid for Mulan's surgeries and allowed her to work as an apprentice to repay the debts.

"But you're too late."

"Its possessions, house, and even wife have already been seized."

"After all, it's not human, it has no human rights. Many procedures are convenient and easy."

"Just like dealing with cursed children, haha."

With his hands crossed in front of his chest, the man stared at the stiff Mulan and laughed coldly twice.

"Never mind, go ahead. Since you're going to die, go and listen to its last words." With a disdainful wave of his hand, the man turned and walked away.

Because her master was inexplicably imprisoned, Mulan was already in a bad mood. The man's words made her face turn pale.

She had just had a fight with her master before they last met. How could she still have the face to see Bastet?

Mulan hesitated in front of the interrogation room, but eventually entered the room.

Inside the room, the thick glass cover was as heavy as Mulan's short life. The dim light exuded a strong sense of death, tempting every passerby to fall into a mad despair.

Bastet was squatting behind the glass, quietly licking its fur.

It was dignified and dignified, like every wounded stray cat, still agile and self-sufficient even though it was seriously injured.

Although Mulan could even see the faint wounds on Bastet's body.

"Master..." Mulan sat on the bench in front of the cat, separated by the glass. She wanted to apologize to her master, but in such a critical situation, she felt that her remorse had to be hidden deep in her heart.

"You came, Mulan."

"We finally have the opportunity to have a good talk."

Bastet stared at Mulan, whose eyes were covered by her bangs, and the curved corner of its mouth seemed to hide a burst of daring and resolute smile.

Mulan felt uncomfortable and puzzled seeing Bastet like this. She felt that even if Bastet was really involved with the Revolutionary Army, it should not have been so easily captured.

The interrogating words stuck in Mulan's throat, burning and piercing pain entangled between his brows. He didn't dare to think if he could do better than his master in this position, but he was certain that Bastet definitely had a way to escape unharmed.

But it didn't choose that.

Master had always taught him the principle of self-preservation, yet now it was going to be executed.

What is this? Is money and fame really more important than life?

Is that what Master was trying to tell him?

Mulan imagined the scene of shouting and reproaching Bastet, how satisfying it would be.

Serves you right! Serves you right! Who asked you not to teach me the organ!

Now it's too late for you, you have no way out!

I could have taken your place! Nothing would have happened!

Everything is too late now...

Mulan roared. But unlike his imagination, his cries turned into a string of tears.

Before he could finish shouting, his wailing burst out from his facial features along with his anger.

"Why did you do this?"

"You... You're clearly different from those cursed children, aren't you?"

"Couldn't you just ignore your pitiful sympathy..."

"If you could turn a blind eye! Nothing would have happened!"

"You shouldn't have come into contact with those cursed children."

"You shouldn't have kept those musical skills hidden from me..."

"You shouldn't have saved me in the first place..." Mulan weakly rested his head on the glass panel, his fingers reaching into the ventilation holes that transmitted sound.

Mulan's desperate mood was like this unfathomable thick barrier, unattainable, like a great divide.

In this crime-low and pitiful country of Arcadia, the only crime that warrants the death penalty is treason.

Unfortunately, the conspiring revolutionary army just falls on the edge of this crime.

As a public figure, Bastet lacks the prestige that comes with this position.

In a well-fed and well-clothed Arcadia, no lawyer is willing to put in the effort to defend a mere cat.

It has nothing to do with the cost of defense. It simply indicates a simple fact: the status of a monster in Arcadia is only slightly higher than that of a cursed child.

"Do you think... my connection to the revolutionary army is just me sympathizing with them?"

"Just like how I sympathize with you?"

Bastet blinked its big eyes and flicked its ears lightly.

"It was the revolutionary army that killed your mother."

Bastet raised its hand and licked its palm again. Its voice, unable to discern gender, seemed to be casually discussing an irrelevant matter.

"What... What are you saying?"

Mulan widened his eyes, his face contorted in disbelief.

"Most of the work that keeps cursed children alive is in the gray area."

"Like debt collection, shadow bodyguards, and so on."

"However, most of the debtors are cursed children or their families."

"They can only make a living by preying on their own kind."

"In order to make the employer feel like the money spent is worthwhile, they have to beat the debtors with great force every time."

"One mistake, and they killed your mother."

"They took you, just a child back then, out with them."

"The leader of the revolution and I were old acquaintances. They asked me to raise you."

"I was already a member of the revolution."

Bastiat looked expressionlessly at Mulan.

Cats don't shed tears, nor do they cry or smile.

Mulan widened his eyes, with a fiery anger and a frost-like astonishment battling ruthlessly at both ends of his body.

He always attributed the suffering and grievances he endured to the self-righteous upper class in Acadia.

But now, this feeling, like a bow pulled with a full moon, like a barbell lifted above his head, the unplaceable hatred was driving him insane.

A thrilling change occurred in Mulan's tiny heart.

"... Ah..."

"... This, this."

Mulan's lips turned purple, and his eyeballs were swollen from crying as if they were going to cry blood.

"Do you want to know why all of this happened?"

"Come to the execution ground in an hour and see for yourself."

"You will understand everything."

The golden necklace on Bastiat's neck was like a golden ear of wheat, radiating the brilliance of fruits that could endure any wind and rain.