Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

Ledo stood in the foyer, reading a note by the light of a chandelier.It was still a few hours before morning, and he felt tired.As soon as the Duke returned from the command post, a Freeman messenger delivered the note to the guards outside. The note said: "A thick smoke during the day, a beacon fire at night." He thought: what does this mean? The messenger left without waiting for an answer, and never had time to ask him a question.He disappeared without a trace like a shadow of smoke in the night. Redo stuffed the note into his coat pocket to show Hawat later.He brushed back a small lock of hair on his forehead and sighed softly.The anti-fatigue pills were wearing off, and he hadn't slept for two days after the dinner party, the last time he slept was before that day.

Aside from military matters, a disturbing incident had occurred in Hawat, who was reported to have been summoned by Jessica. He thought: Should I wake Jessica?There is no need to play any secret investigation games with her anymore.is it necessary? That Duncan Idaho be damned! He shook his head, no, not Duncan.I should have been honest with Jessica from the beginning, and I have to talk to her now to prevent further damage. The decision made him feel better.He hurriedly left the hall, walked through the large living room and the hallway, and walked towards the family quarters. At the aisle divider, he stopped.There was a slight groan in the passage leading to the servants' quarters.Leido buckled the shield belt, and held the double-edged dagger in his right hand.With the sword in his hand, he felt a little relieved.The strange sound made him shiver.

The Duke walked softly across the corridor, cursing the dim light.Here, there are only the smallest chandeliers every eight meters, and the light of the chandeliers is dimmed to the dimmest.Black stone walls swallowed the light. There was a sticky mass on the ground.Leido hesitated, and almost opened the shield, but he didn't, because it would hinder movement and hearing... Also, he has always been suspicious of the batch of captured laser weapons. He walked quietly towards the mass, and saw that it was a man, head down.Leido turned him over with his feet while holding the sword, and took a closer look under the dim light. It was Toke the Smuggler, with a knife mark on his chest, and stared at the depths of the darkness with his unrepentant eyes.Leido felt the wound...it was still hot.

Why did this person die here?Leido asked himself, who killed him? The groan grew louder, and it came from the central engine room down the hall, where the motors responsible for the shielding of the entire house were installed. With one hand on the switch of the shielding belt and the sword in the other, the Duke walked around the corpse, walked through the corridor, and quietly looked around the corner towards the shielding machine room. A few paces away there was another sticky mass from which the sound came.The mass moved slowly and hard towards where the Duke was standing, panting for breath, still talking.

The Duke suppressed his worry and fear, walked through the corridor, and came to the crawling figure.It's Mapes, the Fremen butler.Her hair was scattered over her face, her clothes were in a mess, and there was a large pool of blood on her back. He touched her shoulder, and she propped her elbows up, barely raising her head to look at him, her eyes were empty and dazed. "You," she gasped, "kill...the guards...send...find...toke...escape...the mistress...you...you...here...no..." She fell On the ground, the head hit the ground with a slap. Leido felt for her pulse, it was gone.He looked at the blood on her back: someone stabbed her from the back, who?His mind was spinning rapidly. Did she mean that someone killed the guard?And Tu Ke... Jessica sent someone to find him?Why?

He started to stand up, his sixth sense alarmed, and hurriedly reached for the muting switch...too late.The heavy blow stunned his hand, a dart pierced his sleeve, and he felt a burst of pain, followed by numbness spreading from his arm to his whole body.He raised his head with difficulty and looked towards the end of the corridor. Yue stood at the door of the central computer room, a bright chandelier on the door shone on his face, reflecting yellow light.There was silence behind him, not the sound of an engine. The more, Reido thought, he destroyed the housing shield engine!Our door is wide open!

Yue walked towards the Duke and put the dart gun in his pocket. Finding that he was still able to speak, Leido gasped and asked, "Yue, what's wrong?" The numbness reached his legs, and he slipped and fell, his back against the wall. Yue bent down and touched the Duke's forehead, with a sad face.The Duke could feel his touch, he seemed dull, distant... "The medicine applied on the dart is specially selected," Yue said, "You can talk, but I suggest you not to do so." He looked towards the hall, turned around and pulled the poison dart from the Duke, and threw it aside.The sound of the dart falling to the ground sounded very distant and faint to the Duke.

Lei Duo thought: Impossible is Yue, he has been pre-programmed. "What's going on?" Redo asked softly. "I'm sorry, dear duke. I did this because I had more important things to do," he touched the diamond pattern on his forehead, "I find it strange that I have overcome my preconceived feverish conscience...but I think To kill a man. Yes, I am so eager to do it that nothing will stop me." He looked down at the Duke: "Oh, not to kill you, dear Duke, but Baron Harkonnen. I wish to kill the Baron." "Male... Hake..." "Be quiet, my poor duke. You don't have much time. The tooth I put in for you has to be replaced. After a while, I'll make you unconscious and replace your tooth." He opened his mouth. hand, looked at something on it, and continued, "This is a replica of your tooth. Its heart is exactly the same as the nerve. It can escape the inspection of ordinary scanning detectors, even fast scanning. But if you press hard , bite through the surface, and then when you exhale hard, the air around you is filled with poison... the deadliest poison."

Lei Duo looked up at Yue, the man's eyes were full of madness, and beads of sweat appeared on his face. "Poor duke, you're going to die anyway," Yue said, "but before you die, you'll have a chance to get close to the baron. He must believe you're too poisoned to attack him. You'll be tied up and injected with poison. But the attack can take any form. You must remember the tooth, Duke Ledo Atrez, remember the tooth, must remember." The doctor moved closer and closer, his face and the loose skin on his face blocking Leido's view. "Which tooth?" Yue muttered.

"Why?" asked the Duke. Yue knelt down on one knee beside the Duke. "I've got a devil's deal with the Baron. I've got to make sure he's done his half as well, and I'll understand when I see him. But I'll never go to him empty-handed. You're my ransom, poor Duke. I See him and you'll know it all. My poor Vana taught me many things, one of which is determining the truth in a tense confrontation. I can't do it well every time, but when I meet the Baron... By then, I will know the result." Leido tried to look down at the tooth in Oshi's hand, and he felt that all this was a nightmare...unimaginable.

Yue raised his purple lips and made a grimace. "I can't get near the Baron, or I'll do it myself. No, they'll keep me at a distance from the Baron. And you... ah, now! You, my lovely weapon! He'll let you near him... laugh at you , talk big." Leido felt that a muscle on his right cheek was beginning to be anesthetized, and the muscles on his face twisted together when he spoke.Approaching the Duke, he said, "You, my good Duke, precious Duke, you must remember this tooth." He held it between his thumb and forefinger. "It's the last thing you have." The Duke moved his mouth and said, "No." "Oh, don't say no. Because I'm going to do you a little favor for that. I'll save your son and your woman, no one else can. I can get them to a place where the Harkonnen can't find them" "How... save... them?" asked the Duke. "Let people think they are all dead, let them hide among the people who have a deep hatred for the Harkonnen, these people will draw their swords when they hear the name Harkonnen, and they will even burn the Harkonnen seat old chairs, and sprinkle salt on the path of the Harkonnen." He touched the Duke's jaw, "Can you feel something inside?" The duke found himself unable to answer.He felt a distant tug, and saw Yue's hand reaching for his knighthood signet ring. "Here Paul," Yue said, "you will lose consciousness in a moment. Goodbye, poor duke, next time we meet again, we won't have a chance to talk." A cool, distant feeling spread over the Duke's jaw, and then gradually went up.The dimly lit hall shrunk to a small spot. "Remember this tooth!" Yue said, "This tooth!"