Chapter 724
: The lingering shadow
Chapter 724: The lingering shadow
The crowd eventually dispersed.
Whether they were looking happy, disappointed, or numb, the crowds gathered at the street corners, expecting others to give them jobs and food, gave Cruze a good show.
A good show about human beings struggling in desperate situations.
"I wonder if you are satisfied with today's performance?"
Just as Cruze withdrew his gaze and was about to get up and leave, two figures stood not far away.
One of them was a young woman dressed as a waitress, but Cruze had never seen this waitress since he entered the tea shop.
As for the other man, he smelled a familiar scent.
similar.
The moment this word flashed through Cruze's mind, Cruze smiled slightly and sat back in his seat.
"It seems that when I cast my eyes towards the corner, the store has already changed its owner."
"I am very sorry, sir. We meant no harm."
After the man gracefully bowed and apologized to Cruze, the waitress beside him moved a chair behind him.
The man then sat down.
Cruze noticed that even when the man sat down, he maintained a fairly elegant posture.
He is a man of extraordinary birth and prominent family background.
A gleam of light flashed in Cruze's eyes hidden behind his face.
Why on earth did this man, who could make him sense the aura of his kind and also had an extraordinary birth and a distinguished family background, appear in front of a nobody like him?
The man didn't care that Cruze was looking at him, or rather, he hoped that Cruze would look at him and inquire about his background.
This will make it easier for him to take subsequent actions.
"Mr. L. Lu. Cruze. Do you have any impression of her?"
The man raised his left hand slightly and pointed at the waitress standing next to him.
Hearing this, Cruze looked up.
The long red hair was tied into a high ponytail with a lace ribbon, and the exquisite figure was wrapped in a maid uniform which was mainly black but decorated with beautiful lace on the sleeves and hem.
She is a beautiful lady full of feminine charm.
But, this is not the point!
The point is that Cruze vaguely remembers this woman's face.
A bunch of memories that Cruze had memorized not long ago but had never used emerged in his mind.
"Ruth, Ruth Alao."
The maid whose name was revealed by Cruze immediately stood at attention and gave Cruze a ZAFT salute.
"Yes! Captain Cruze. Your subordinate is none other than Ruth Arao. Not long ago, she was tasked with protecting the Silver Wind as it made its way to Junius 7 for the memorial service."
"It's really you."
A sense of absurdity and ridiculousness arose in Cruze's heart.
Because, when Siegel Klein was stabbed to death, Ruth Alao was also killed by the thugs, and after Siegel Klein's state funeral, Ruth Alao's body was returned to her family who rushed to April City from the colonial satellite July City.
The human being who should have been declared dead and whose remains were left behind actually appeared alive before his eyes at this moment.
Such an absurd scene made Cruze feel incredible.
"Captain Cruze, what you are thinking now is not wrong. I am indeed dead. Killed by those people themselves."
As if she could see through Cruze's thoughts at the moment, Ruth Arao spoke calmly.
"Killing to silence someone? What do you know?"
Cruze understood everything at once.
The man in front of him definitely didn't do this just to let him see with his own eyes the beauty of Ruth Alao in a maid uniform.
"As expected of you, L.R. Cruze. Ruth, tell me everything you know."
The man praised Cruze and then gave orders to Ruth.
"Yes, sir." After Ruth Alao bowed slightly, she slowly opened her mouth and told everything she had participated in, experienced, and knew.
As Ruth Alao spoke, Cruze's masked eyes gradually gleamed with a gleam of brilliance, and became increasingly cold and eerie.
Ruth Alao.
She was an Adjuster born on Earth, and was one of the many Adjusters who were killed by the angry and extreme Blue Cosmos in the growing anti-Adjuster wave in recent years.
Ruth Arao, who had already lost her life, found herself walking out of the shadow of death one morning. When she opened her eyes again and looked at the world, a mysterious organization appeared in front of her, as well as the mission she was given.
A mysterious organization called The Librarians.
A mission that must be accepted at the cost of regaining one's life.
Under the coercion of the two, Ruth Arao went to PLANT and became the red elite of ZAFT.
After that, the librarian never contacted Ruth Arao again to ask her to serve the librarian or perform tasks.
Over time, the existence of the librarian was gradually forgotten by Ruth Arao.
Until the day when Lacus Klein announced that she would go to Junius 7 as a representative of the memorial service, the order came.
Ruth Arao became a guard and participated in the memorial ceremony. When the Silver Wind was about to arrive at Junius 7, she "fought" with the Earth Federation battleship that suddenly appeared, and then forced the Silver Wind into a desperate situation, and finally forced Lacus Clyne to escape alone on a lifeboat.
What Ruth Arao didn't expect was that when she was driving the King to destroy the lifeboat, an ambiguous order suddenly appeared in front of her.
"That's my order."
The man interrupted Ruth Arao's story and looked at Cruze.
"I believe that Lord Cruze has already seen those people, or has noticed their existence."
Cruze frowned slightly, recalling the familiar feeling he had in the hospital that day.
“Was Ruth Alao coerced by those people?”
"Yes, and also wrong."
The man sneered a few times.
"Those people are nothing but thieves! After gaining our trust, they not only took away the technology we controlled, but also raised their butcher knives against us, slaughtering almost all of our people, bringing our clan to the brink of extinction."
"Oh? Sounds pretty cruel."
Cruze showed a hint of surprise.
To be honest, Cruze was not surprised by what the man said.
According to the man, Siegel Klein's death was caused by those people, even...
Cruze turned his gaze and looked at Ruth Arao.
"Are you sure you killed Lacus Clyne yourself?"
To Cruze's surprise, Ruth Arao did not answer immediately, but hesitated.
"I don't know. But based on the damage I caused to the lifeboat when I was driving my mobile suit, even if Lacus Clyne didn't die on the spot, she would have suffocated to death or frozen to death."
"So, after you returned, you were silenced by those people."
"Yes! Captain Cruze. The one standing in front of you now is not the Ruth Arao who killed Lacus Clyne herself, but the copy of Ruth Arao created through the backup."
The man added.
"At the same time, the Lacus Klein who is currently in PLANT and under heavy protection is not the real Lacus Klein, but a copy of Ruth Arao."
"This story sounds like it could easily arouse other people's interest."
"But this story is true. Lord L. Lu. Cruze. We know your past, everything about you, and we know you exist."
"So, please allow us to make a deal with you!"
"You led us to take revenge on those people! And we will do everything we can to heal you from the injustice that fate has done to you."
"Hehe. So, who are you?"
Under Cruze's cold gaze, the man stood up again and saluted to Cruze gracefully.
"The last surviving member of the clan, Mathias, the stray dog struggling in the shadows, I'm sorry to make Mr. L. Lu Kreuzer laugh at me."
(End of this chapter)