Chapter 22 Chapter Twenty Two

Juliette discussed some relevant matters with the coroner in the plowing area and gave him the report.Only then did she discover that Manais had no relatives or family members.The onlookers asked a bunch of questions, and she answered them all.Then, alone, she climbed the eight long flights of stairs to her empty office. For the next day, she did almost nothing.The small office seemed to be crowded with the souls of too many dead people, which made her feel suffocated, so she did not close the door of the office.The door is open all day.All day, she tried to concentrate on sifting through the files on Holden's computer, but an unspeakable grief haunted her, preventing her from concentrating.When Manais was still in the office, she couldn't stand seeing him like that every day, but now that Manais was gone, that feeling was even more unbearable.She couldn't believe he was gone.Manes had brought her here, then suddenly left her alone.She suddenly felt as if he was humiliating her.Thinking of this, she immediately cursed herself secretly, how could she have such a terrible and selfish thought.

Her mood was agitated, and her mind was racing with thoughts.Occasionally, she would look at the image on the wall outside the door, watching the gray clouds slowly slide across the sky.She couldn't be sure if the clouds were thick today, and if she could see the stars at night.For a long time, she had felt strong and independent, needing no one, and proud of it.But at this moment, an indescribably terrible loneliness was biting her, so another thought faintly emerged in her heart, a thought that would make her feel guilty. All day long, she continued to wrestle with the countless files.During this time, people came and went in the restaurant, lunch time passed, dinner time passed, and finally, the last ray of sunset finally disappeared, the big restaurant was completely shrouded in darkness, and the noisy restaurant fell into silence again.She looked at the turbulent clouds in the sky, with an incomprehensible longing in her heart, longing to see the person she met the other night again.The man who chased the stars.

People on the forty-eighth floor above the bunker all eat in this big restaurant, and every meal time, the restaurant is full of noise.However, even though the office is next to the dining room, Juliet forgot to eat.Later, when it was past dinner time and the staff turned off the lights and were about to leave, Pamela walked into her office and offered her a bowl of soup and a plate of bread.Juliet reached into her pocket to give her some meal tokens, but Pamela refused.Pamela kept staring at the empty seat of Manes, her eyes were red, obviously crying.At this time, Juliet suddenly thought that the staff of the big restaurant probably had a good friendship with the deputy security officer, better than anyone else.

Pamela went out in silence.Juliet managed to eat a few mouthfuls, but she really didn't have much appetite.After a while, she suddenly thought of a method that could be used to quickly filter Holden's files.That's the spell checker.Set a few names to search, maybe you will find a clue.Then she thought about it again, and finally figured out how to operate the software.By this time, her soup was already cold.The program started, and her computer began to process the huge amount of data.So she picked up the bowl and a few file folders, walked out of the office, and sat down at a table against the wall in the dining room outside.

She stared blankly at the wall, trying to find the star she saw last time.At this moment, Lucas suddenly appeared next to her silently.He silently pulled up a chair and sat down, took out his board and paper, then looked up at the dark night sky outside, silent from beginning to end. Juliet couldn't figure out why he did this.Is it because he is very polite and dare not disturb her, or is it because he is too uneducated to even say hello?Later, she comforted herself that he should be very polite.In this way, she gradually got used to the silence between the two of them.It felt as though the two were sharing a moment of peace after a horrible day.

A few minutes passed.Ten minutes passed.The stars still hadn't appeared, and neither of them had spoken.Juliet had a file folder on her lap just to give her something to grab.At this time, there was a sudden sound of laughter from the stairwell, as if a group of people had come to the landing of the residential area below.After a while, the sound also disappeared. "Your partner is gone. I'm sorry," Lucas finally said.He caressed the paper with his hand.So far, he has not made any marks on the paper. "Thank you," said Juliet.She didn't know how to respond, but a thank you should do the trick.

"I've been looking for stars, but I can't see them," she added. "Of course I can't see it. I can't see it tonight." He pointed to the wall. "Today's clouds are too thick." Juliet looked at the night sky, but there was only a faint afterglow of sunset in the sky, and she could hardly see the appearance of the clouds.In her opinion, the clouds seem to be similar every day. Lucas shifted a little in his chair, but barely noticed. "Since you're the security officer, I figured I'd better confess to you." Juliet reached out to touch the police badge on her chest.She keeps forgetting who she is.

"What guilt?" "I knew the clouds would be thick tonight, but I ran up anyway." Juliet couldn't help but smile, but it was very dark here, and she believed he couldn't see her expression. "I've read the 'Convention', and it doesn't seem to mention that lying to yourself is a crime." Lucas smiled.Strangely, Juliet suddenly felt that laughter was so familiar, and she was so eager to hear that laughter.At this time, Juliet suddenly had an urge to hug him, put her head on his neck, and cry.She felt that her body was about to move, but she still didn't move.That does not work.She knew in her heart that despite the throbbing in her heart, she couldn't do this kind of behavior.She told herself that she should just be too lonely and have lingering fears.This morning, she held Manais's body with her own hands, and felt that the once-living body suddenly lost its breath of life.At this moment, she suddenly longed to be in contact with people, but at this moment, there was only this stranger in front of her eyes.She doesn't know him well enough.She can't touch him yet.

"Then what are you going to do next?" He gradually stopped smiling. At this time, Juliet almost blurted out what she wanted, but luckily Lucas spoke again, helping her out. "Do you know when and where the funeral will be?" he asked. In the dark, she nodded. "It will be held tomorrow. He has no relatives, we don't have to wait for someone to come up from the bottom, and this case doesn't need to be further investigated." Juliet suppressed tears, "He didn't leave a will, so the funeral must be done by I'll arrange it. I've decided to bury him next to the Chief."

Lucas looked at the image on the wall.Fortunately, it was already pitch black outside, and it was difficult to see the corpses on the dunes. "This should be his wish too." He said. "I think they are a pair of lovers, but they are very secretive and don't let the outside world know." Juliet couldn't help confiding the secret, "Even if they are not lovers, at least they are very close." "I've heard rumors," he said, "but what I don't understand is why they're so secretive. Nobody cares." Now, sitting in the dark, facing a stranger, she felt at ease for some reason, and naturally wanted to say what was on her mind.In the past, with so many friends at the bottom, she couldn't say these words.

"Maybe they don't want people to know," she said loudly. "Jens was married. I guess they decided to respect her dead husband and not make their relationship public." "Really?" Lucas seemed to draw a few times on the paper with a charcoal stick.Juliet heard the sound and immediately looked up at the wall, but she really couldn't see half a star.What is he drawing? "I really can't imagine that people can fall in love secretly like this," he said. "When two people fall in love, why must other people's consent be required? Why must they abide by the provisions of the 'Convention' or seek the consent of the woman's father?" she said. "No need? How can those two people be together? Could it be that they can be desperate and love as much as they want?" She didn't speak. "What's more, how do they participate in the lottery?" He insisted on his own thoughts and continued to ask, "I can't imagine two people being together but not making it public. Two people falling in love should be something worth celebrating and should be blessed by everyone. Don't you think? That's why there is this kind of ceremony, the man has to come to the door to ask the woman's father for permission—" "Well, haven't you been with anyone yet?" Juliet interrupted him suddenly, "I mean... I just think, listening to you speak, you're right, but you don't seem to— " "That's right, I really haven't been with anyone yet." He couldn't wait to rush to say, and inadvertently helped her out, "My mother has been keeping a close eye on people and asked me to find someone quickly, but fortunately, I I can still handle her. She reminds me every day, saying that every year I delay, the chance of drawing lots is reduced by one year, and her chance of having a grandchild is getting slimmer and slimmer. Listening to her tone, it seems that I I can't do arithmetic myself. I'm only twenty-five years old." "It can't be helped, old people are like this." Juliet said. "how about you?" She almost blurted out about her secret love affair.It was a strange feeling, as if this young man in front of her, this complete stranger to her, could be trusted. "I haven't met the right person yet." She wasn't telling the truth. Lucas laughed, it was so youthful: "No, I was asking how old are you? Oh, is it impolite to ask such a question?" She suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.She had thought he was asking if she was with someone else. "Thirty-four years old." She said, "According to the regulations, it is very rude to ask such questions, but I am too lazy to care about the rules." "The security officer has the final say." Lucas said a cold joke and laughed to himself. Juliet also smiled: "I haven't fully adapted to the job of a security officer." Then she turned her head to look at the image on the wall, and the two fell into a moment of silence again, but the silence at this moment was a kind of enjoyment.Sitting side by side with a man is a strange feeling. She feels as if she has suddenly become younger, and besides him, there will be an indescribable sense of security, at least not so lonely.She sensed that he, too, was a loner, like a weird-sized washer that couldn't fit a bolt of any size.In the past, he always lived on the upper floor of the bunker, but she was on the bottom floor of the bunker. Whenever he was free, he would go to the top floor to watch the stars, but whenever she was free, she would go into the underground mines, looking for the most beautiful rocks. .They are located at both ends of the bunker, but they are so similar. "It looks like it's hard for the two of us to get anything tonight." She finally broke the silence, unconsciously rubbing the open folder on her lap. "Oh, not necessarily," Lucas said to her, "it depends on what you're up for." Juliet smiled.At this moment, a small voice came from her office across the restaurant, almost hard to hear.It was the computer on her desk that made a "beep" sound. The search program had finished processing Huston's data, and the results had been displayed.