Chapter 730 Immortal Realm

   "It's too exaggerated. Even for a newborn, his blood thirst is too intense, like an uncivilized beast."

  On the abandoned sentry tower, Yannick looked down calmly, as if watching a stage play in the front seat.

  In contrast, Thales had to hold up the binoculars, relying on the double blessing of the lens barrel and the sin of prison river, coupled with the fireworks in the night sky that exploded from time to time, to barely see the battle ahead:

   Lausanne II roared repeatedly, looking crazy, and jumped up to the roof after Catherine, but was dragged down by the sudden net bag and disappeared in the alley.

   "Newborn, hum."

  Thales disdain to slander:

   Does your newborn look like this?

   "I guess this is because he has been blindly suppressing blood thirst. However, desire is like a flood. It is better to block it than to slow it down. The more you sit idly by and suppress it violently, the more terrifying the power and damage will be when it rebounds."

  The Feast Leader narrowed his eyes, staring at the movement below:

   "So when he was overwhelmed by blood thirst, he couldn't even maintain his basic sanity, and he became completely another person, or another animal."

  Yannik's eyes flickered, and he said with emotion:

   "As a blood race, if you can't coexist with your desires and reach a compromise, then you will completely break up—when one party takes power, the other party will be expelled and go their own way."

   No wonder, no wonder Lausanne II committed so many murders and had to do so many covers.

   "It's like Jekyll and Hyde." Thales was fascinated.

"What?"

  Thales came back to his senses and shook his head very naturally:

   "It doesn't matter, not many people know about the legend of the double-faced demon man around Xihuang."

  Yannik nodded thoughtfully.

  As the siege trap was triggered, this simple residential area in the new suburb seemed to wake up suddenly. Lights were lit inside and outside, and people were seen indistinctly, and there were screams of killing one after another.

  But the dwellings outside the encirclement are still quiet and dark.

   It seems that there is some kind of unspeakable tacit understanding between him and the battlefield.

  Thales couldn't find the target, so he had to put down the telescope.

   "Catherine—the boss of the Blood Bottle Gang who has a grudge against him—insisted on presiding over the ambush by herself, and she should be sure of this."

  The Phantom Blade plan aroused Lausanne II's blood-sucking desire, forcing him to lose his mind and turn into a beast, unable to respond to the enemy with clear and well-organized superb swordsmanship, which is convenient for catching a turtle in a urn.

   At present, it seems that there are still some results.

   But, how many connections and manpower did she use, including those from the Black Street Brotherhood?

  How effective can it be?

  If her plan fails...

   "Now you've seen it with your own eyes, Yang, that's how it is," Thales thought of this, his eyes burning, and he went straight to the topic, "What do you think?"

  The blood member was silent for a while, but his reply was impeccable:

   "In my opinion, Your Highness, the elders of this blood killer's clan have either neglected their duties, or their restraint is not effective, or they have no intention of teaching him to relieve his blood thirst."

  He narrowed his eyes, intentionally or unintentionally:

   "I don't know, did I have to, or did I have sinister intentions?"

  Thales' eyebrows moved slightly.

   "According to the traditions and laws of our family, all the damage and guilt caused by a reckless newborn will be borne by his elders and even the clan they belong to, and only they are the most suitable to restrain him..."

   "Well said," Thales interrupted his diplomatic rhetoric in time, "That's why I found the parents and invited people from Corleone's house, but it's a pity..."

  Thales sighed, and gestured to where Li was standing just now.

  The parents are irresponsible and ran away as soon as they slapped their ass.

  Leave the brats to continue making trouble.

  Yannik smiled understandingly.

  However, Thales changed the subject:

   "However, Earl Li left so quickly, I couldn't help but start to doubt: What if the Corleone family really didn't do this?"

  Yannik's eyes moved.

   "Your Highness?"

  Thales raised his head, meaning:

"If Li ignores the mess left by Lausanne II, it is because he really does not need to be responsible, because there is indeed no elder relative of this blood family in the Kingdom of the Night, and Lausanne II is not a blood family transformed by Corleone, so naturally Not bound by them?"

"Even if the killer is not a descendant of the Corleone family, they cannot be cleared of their suspicion," Yannick first affirmed Thales' suspicion, and then calmly changed the direction of the suspicion, "or on the contrary: Corleone deliberately used Such an outlier newborn who has nothing to do with blood affiliation and therefore has no responsibility, so as to be wiped clean at a critical moment?"

   That's right.

   It is indeed a clean one.

  Thales glanced at Yannick intentionally or unintentionally.

   "But if Lausanne II is not Corleone, or even a blood relative of the descendants of the seven lower clans in the Kingdom of the Night, could it be..."

   "Please rest assured."

   Yannick smiled and blocked his words in time:

   "For our clan, the development of descendants is a serious, solemn and complicated matter in the clan. Once there is a deviation, the loss will be huge. Therefore, even elders with seniority and experience must be cautious.

"Not only is the number of descendants of gifted descendants strictly limited, but the process is difficult and long. From demand, reporting, public opinion, approval, to selection, training, testing, and deciding candidates, it is bound to go through many hurdles. The last step is what the public recognizes. The eternal gift of knowledge—that is, transformation.

"We—at least the Immortal Council, have extremely strict rules and supervision in this regard. From the speaker and elders, down to newborns and blood slaves, every blood race is recorded in the book, their affiliation is clear, and their actions are slightly off. There is nothing to hide from the source.”

  He looked at Thales, and the conclusion was beyond doubt:

   "He couldn't have been led out of the feast."

   Are you speaking so absolutely?

  Thales smiled playfully:

   "But what if someone deceives the superior and the inferior, and creates descendants behind your parliament's back for their own selfishness?"

  Yannick categorically denied:

   "No, the "Convention of Human Nations and Immortal Species" ensures this, and the Immortal Parliament will never allow any newborns of blood races who have not consented to be born out of sight."

  His eyes sharpened:

   "As for making descendants privately, this is a heinous crime that threatens the survival of the ethnic group and destroys the order of our ethnic group. Violators, regardless of their status or blood relationship, will be punished by the sun, and the whole family can learn from each other."

  Yannik had a serious expression and cold eyes.

  Thales looked at him for a while, then laughed.

   "Don't be so nervous, I didn't say you guys did it. Maybe when Lausanne II fled, he was bitten by any wandering blood outside and transformed into..."

   "Not possible."

  Yannick interrupted him with a half-smile

   "Transforming bloodlines is far from easy, it requires source blood."

  Thales twitched his eyebrows:

   "What blood?"

  Yannik said seriously:

   "Original blood - the most precious blood essence in our race, is also an important medium for creating descendants and passing on 'gifts'. However, pure original blood is often only condensed by the blood clan in the extreme state."

  If the source blood absorbed during the transformation is not pure enough, excessively diluted and mixed...

  Then it may cause the tragedy of flesh and blood collapse—this is not uncommon in the early history of the blood race, and the most famous one is the eldest son of the ancestor of the blood race.

  Or worse, the newborn is completely insane during the transformation, and degenerates into a blood slave who has no reason, only desire, and is almost a beast.

   Attract the next wolf enemy disaster.

  Thinking about it, Yannick continued:

   "Besides, the source blood is extremely sensitive. Once it coagulates in the blood race, it will evaporate completely in less than an hour. Even if it is injected into the human body, it will not last for more than a day."

  Thales came to his senses:

"That means…"

"This is not something that 'any wandering blood' can do," Yannick said solemnly, "The one who gave Lausanne II the gift of transforming him into a descendant must be a senior elder with a name and surname and a status Extraordinary extreme vampire."

  He added a sentence intentionally or unintentionally:

   "For example, like the Queen of Night and Earl Li, who were directly gifted by King Nightwing and transformed into second-generation blood races."

  Thales frowned:

   "Or Serena Corleone on the run?"

   Yannick didn't speak, just smiled.

  ——

   For a moment, Robert suspected that it was just a nightmare.

  In the nightmare, that fatal blow from the ax broke her chest open, causing unspeakable pain!

  The pain in memory made Robert gasp.

   But now...

  In the alley, Robert sat on the ground in a daze, staring blankly at his chest:

  Cracked leather armor, blood-soaked shirt, slightly itchy skin, and an... extremely ugly ax scar.

what happened?

  The weak body, the pool of blood all over the ground, and the faint echoes of shouts and killings in the distance all showed that it was not just a dream.

   "You feel hungry..." came a dangerous voice.

  At that moment, Robert's hair stood on end!

  She entered a fighting state, struggled to get up from the ground, but fell to the ground again because of the stars in her eyes.

   "You dirty bloodsucker—"

no no!

   Where's her weapon?

   Move!

   "... dizziness, nausea, emotional ups and downs, oversensitivity, and wound itching and even repeated low-grade fever," the voice ignored, but continued, "You need to rest and eat."

  The sound of the human body turning over came—it seemed that the monster was searching the body of Old Bu.

what did he say?

   Hungry? eat?

  Robel came back to his senses and tried his best to think.

   No, not possible.

  She stared blankly at the scar on her chest:

  Her injury is fatal, it is impossible to survive, even if she survives, it is impossible to recover so quickly...

unless…

   Eat.

  Robel thought of something, his face turned pale.

No.

  She raised her arms tremblingly, and gritted her teeth as she looked at the monster in front of her—his armor was torn, his body was filthy, and he was so embarrassed that he even lost his goggles.

   But there is no doubt that at this moment, his eyes are sharp, his movements are calm, and he is no longer weak and weak as before.

   is almost in full bloom.

   As for the reason, the skinny giant corpse on the ground explained everything.

"you you…"

  With vigilance and fear, Robert trembled:

   "With such a serious injury, I can't live, unless..."

"Yes," the monster only found a hatchet and a few daggers from the giant man's body, as well as a money bag sewn into the lining of his clothes, looking very dissatisfied, "I gave you a drop of origin blood. "

   And it was the purest kind that he could give.

   "You survived."

   It's over.

  Robel trembled all over, and fell limply to the ground.

No…

  The huge shock and despair ruthlessly impacted her spirit.

  Source blood.

   Vampires create descendants and transform the blood used by newborns.

impossible.

  She pressed her chest, feeling the faint phantom pain, dumbstruck.

impossible.

  The shouting and killing around are still there, and the fire is flickering.

   A few seconds later, the same great anger and shame replaced the previous emotions, flooding Robert's heart.

   "How dare you, how dare you..." She gritted her teeth and trembled violently, "I will become, become..."

   Right at this moment, a swordsman holding an eternity lamp rushed into the alley sullenly, saw the corpses of Robert and the giant man on the ground for the first time, and asked in surprise, "What happened—"

  Boom!

  The monster flashed in front of the swordsman in an instant, and the latter fell down without even seeing the shadow clearly.

   "What does it matter?"

  The monster put down the limp swordsman, and picked up his lamp and sword:

   "You survived."

   Stop decaying from now on, live forever, maybe even become stronger and faster, isn’t that bad?

  Looking at the fallen swordsman, Robert was stunned.

   Lausanne II skillfully lifted the steel ax left by Denver, and threw it effortlessly in the other direction above his head.

  The steel ax swept across countless roofs, and landed in the distance outside the countless walls, making a piercing sound.

  The shouts of killing all around suddenly gathered there.

   "Fuck you, monster!"

  The sound of killing brought Robert back to his senses, and she picked up the alloy silver knife and pointed it at Lausanne II.

   "No, I'm human, human, just human..."

  She gritted her teeth, her eyes were red.

you can not…

   You can't do this to me!

  I still want to inherit my mother's business, hunt vampires, hunt...

  Thinking of this, Robert's eyes gradually dimmed, and the tip of the knife kept trembling.

   Hunting myself?

   Feed on blood, hunt for life to survive, hide in the dark, cannot see the light, trapped by blood forever...

  Wherever it goes, brings death, fear and destruction to people...

  Robel felt a chill in his heart.

No.

  All the stories she had heard since she was a child, all the training she had received, became the last straw that crushed her at this moment.

  Robert took a deep breath, tremblingly, but also decisively turned the scimitar.

  The tip of the knife was aimed at her heart.

"No."

  Her eyes are firm.

   "I will never become a monster who harms others and benefits myself."

no way.

  Robert closed her eyes, and gripped the handle of the knife tightly.

  Farewell, Mom, to the nineteen cats in the house—especially the picky eater.

   Lausanne II stroked the long sword in his hand and narrowed his eyes.

   "Didn't your mother teach you?"

  Robert paused:

   "How do vampires transform?"

What?

  Robert opened her eyes suddenly, anger welling up.

  How could he still have the face to mention her mother?

"Of course I know!"

  Vampires force-feed innocent people with their blood, turning them into like themselves, crazy and out of control, eternally cursed monsters...

  At least that's what Grandma told Mommy...

  Grandma's uncle said the same thing to grandma before he died...

   And grandma's uncle got the true biography of his aunt!

  This aunt is even more powerful. You must know that her stepfather is the protector of mankind, the special secretary and bard of the first generation of immortal hunters—the grand-nephew!

  The setting sun testified that the clerk once marched side by side with Keira and his comrades, bravely faced danger on the **** battlefield, sang battle songs for them, and recorded glory!

  But such a long time, such a great, such a glorious inheritance, are all being seen by this—

   "That's right, a rookie like you who will be murdered, of course thinks that you can become a vampire by doing this." Lausanne II was careless.

etc.

  Robert calmed down, her eyes widened.

  What did he just say—transformation of vampires?

  She unknowingly put down the scimitar, and said in surprise:

   "You mean, say me, I won't, won't become a vampire?"

  But Lausanne II snorted coldly:

"you will."

  Robert's smile froze.

   "It will take at least 20 hours from the time when the original blood enters the body to when it is metabolized out of the body and becomes completely useless," Lausanne II said coldly, "If you die during this period—"

  Death in battle, falling to death, disease, old age or even stupid death, no matter what the method of death is...

   "You will transform."

   Lausanne II said quietly:

   "Resurrected by source blood and become a vampire."

  Of course, the premise is to survive the painful torture during the transformation and the mental blow after the transformation.

No.

  Robel thought blankly: He said that I would transform.

   I will die, then rise again as a vampire with fangs...

  Hoping to gain and lose again, Robert, who couldn't stand the blow, slumped on the ground, and his mood fell back to the bottom.

   It's over, there's no hope.

   "Why," she said in despair, "why fate, why the sunset and the sun, including Haoyue, are so unfair to me!"

  She was determined at a young age, studied hard and practiced hard, and finally met the first vampire in her life...

   But from the hunter to the prey.

   Could there be a more tragic fate than this?

   "Yes, this is the essence of the gods," Lausanne II said coldly, "creating injustice."

  He will come to add insult to injury at this time!

  Robel cried bitterly, heartbroken.

"No."

  I saw her crying and raising the scimitar:

"I do not accept!"

  She would rather die than...

   "I'm going to commit suicide." Robert sobbed again and again.

   She would rather die than become a vampire! Become a disgusting and dirty monster!

"you sure?"

   Lausanne II said coldly:

   "Twenty hours haven't passed yet."

  Robert thought of something and trembled all over.

  Yeah, I can't kill myself.

  He said, if I die within twenty hours, then I will become a vampire!

  Ahhhhh!

  The scimitar fell to the ground, and Robert hugged his head, extremely disappointed.

   After just a few seconds, she cleared her mind and fixed her eyes.

   "It doesn't matter, patience is the most reliable aim of a hunter—then I will wait for twenty hours!"

  For these twenty hours, I locked myself in the room, not going anywhere!

   Until I die, I won't become a vampire...

   I commit suicide again!

  Finding the solution, Robert picked up the weapon, eyes full of hope:

  In that case, I will definitely not become a vampire—

Eh?

  Robert's smile faltered.

etc.

  Holding the scimitar, she mechanically turned her head:

   "What if, what if I didn't die in those twenty hours?"

   "In that way, the original blood will be discharged by your body, purified, and never seen again." Lausanne II did not lift his head.

  Robert was stunned.

  Exhaust, purify?

   "Then I, if I am still alive, will I still become a vampire?"

   Lausanne II ignored this stupid question and just glanced at her with disdain.

  Robert's eye sockets opened wider and wider.

  Wait, according to this, as long as I don't die within twenty hours...

"ah!"

   Having figured it out, Robert's eyes filled with tears, and he lay on the ground and wept with joy!

   Great!

   Gods, thank you for favoring me so much!

  I will swear to the death to save the cat!

   "Remember, the next time you encounter a mercenary who deliberately avoids the crowd, acts alone, or even changes his appearance..."

   Lausanne II glanced at the dead Denver on the ground:

   "There must be a reason."

   Not bad.

   Lausanne II turned around and stopped looking at the vampire hunter behind him.

   is stupid.

"etc!"

  Robel woke up startled, and gritted his teeth:

   "You're a vampire, you won't help me for nothing! But I tell you, no matter what plots you have—"

   But her words stopped abruptly—at some point, that nasty vampire had disappeared.

  Robert was left alone, sitting blankly in a pool of blood.

  ——

  Thales looked at the other party for a long time before nodding slightly.

   "Well, Li has already run away anyway," the prince said helplessly, "As the only remaining blood expert by my side, you have the final say."

  Yannik first looked flattered, and then humbly stepped back and saluted.

   "Your Highness is overrated," Yang changed the subject, "It's just that I still don't understand..."

   "Which point?"

   "The Corleone family is cunning and repeated, and their intentions are sinister. It is contemptible, but why did they choose this killer as their descendant?"

  Thales was taken aback, not quite understanding the question:

   "Um, maybe it's because, because Lausanne II was a powerful extreme killer before? After transforming into a vampire, it has higher use value?"

   "That's why it's all the more strange."

"What's the meaning?"

   Yannick explained patiently:

   "From the perspective of our blood race, we would rather choose an ignorant young man with limited experience as a descendant than an established, experienced, and well-informed extreme warrior to bestow the original blood."

   "Why is this—oh, for example, the elderly are more stubborn than the young, and it is difficult to change?" Thales guessed.

   Yannick nodded approvingly:

"Your Highness is keen. When a person becomes an extreme master, it means that his life has been fixed and his cognition has been stabilized. His body, mind, spirit, memory, including the character and habits shaped by this life experience are hard to shake .”

   He sighed:

"Therefore, the risk of transforming an extreme master into a descendant is extremely high: whether it is the possibility of failure in reincarnation, the rejection and pain of flesh and blood in the body, or the obstacles to re-adapting to the body, changing thinking, and accepting the identity of blood race as a newborn after reincarnation, They are all much bigger than transforming ordinary people, so big that it is unimaginable."

  More often, it is even a waste of origin blood, and the gain outweighs the gain.

  Thales frowned upon hearing this.

   "Let's not say that Corleone the blood fang who rules the Kingdom of the Night is the most common low-level blood race, and he should know this." Yannick said.

  So this is the principle for the development of descendants of blood races—the less experience the better, the less burden the better.

  Thales mused upon hearing this.

  But they still chose to transform Lausanne II, and it was easier to find more difficult.

  Yannik thought for a while, and said very naturally:

   "That's why I wonder: Could it be that the identity of this Lausanne II is different? It is related to the old case of Kongming Palace?"

  Thales nodded.

   "Makes sense."

   Of course there is something wrong.

  After all, Mallos said in private that Lausanne II was a former student of Master Joaquin.

   "Since this is the case, why should His Highness look far away?"

"What's the meaning?"

  Yannik bowed again:

   "It should be noted that no matter how strong the killer is, no matter how many kills, it is nothing more than a sword. In the final analysis, it is a matter of rewards."

  Thales narrowed his eyes.

   "You and I both know, compared with this sword," Yannick smiled slyly at the encirclement under the tower, "The key to the Emerald City game should be in the Kongming Palace."

   Emerald City Game.

  Thales smiled helplessly upon hearing this.

"I think so."

  It's a pity that Zhan En is not good at oil and salt, and Federico is not slippery.

   Their identities are sensitive, so he has to be polite, and he can't be as tough as Xihuang's little boy.

   And the hidden secret department is sneaky, and the royal power behind it is like a shadow.

   Only he was caught in the middle, unable to advance or retreat.

  I am not looking for the near and the far away, I am obviously bullying the weak and fearing the hard!

  Thinking of this, Thales sighed and looked down the tower:

   "However, I just talked to those two brothers not long ago. Guess what they are most concerned about at the moment?"

  Yannik's eyes lit up.

"I see."

   "Yes, I don't know whether it's a coincidence or something strange, the game between the two of them has always revolved around Lausanne—"

  Thales was in the middle of speaking, and suddenly there was a shock, and he stopped abruptly.

   "Around?" Yannick asked strangely.

  Thales was silent for a while.

  He frowned and stared at Yannick who was still smiling, feeling an indescribable weirdness.

   "Yannick," Thales changed the subject stiffly, "As a vampire, what is your ability?"

  Yannik's eyes moved slightly.

   "Your Highness?" He looked puzzled.

   "Is it spiritual?"

  Yannik was taken aback.

   Ke Thales narrowed his eyes and continued to ask:

   "For example, unknowingly induce, set out the other party's true secret?"

  The air on the abandoned sentry tower became quiet.

   "Your Highness really knows how to joke." A second later, Yannick was embarrassed at first, and then smiled wryly, "People's hearts are complicated and difficult to understand, how can I have such abilities?"

  Thales looked at him suspiciously for a while.

   "Oh, it's fine if you don't," the prince narrowed his eyes. "Otherwise, I thought you were looking for the secrets of the old Kongming Palace case."

   "I'm so sorry."

  Yannik reacted and apologized sincerely:

   "It must be my words that have misunderstood His Highness."

  Yannik turned his head naturally, avoiding Thales' sight: "Let's think about how to deal with this killer—they can't stop him."

Oops.

   Thales was startled, and raised the binoculars again.

  In the lens barrel, light and shadow flickered on the wall of the alley, and there was a faint cry of pain from the senses of hell.

   Well, if Catherine can't handle it, then he's going to—

   "So, as the crux of the matter, just catch the murderer, right?"

  Thales frowned and turned around:

   "Yannick?"

  I saw Yannick bowing lightly:

   "In this case, I would like to help His Highness."

   "But before you—"

   "An uncontrolled outlier blood clan, killing innocent people indiscriminately in Emerald City, no matter how you look at it, it is not good for our family's reputation." The handsome blood clan councilor shook his head decisively, with awe-inspiring eyes: "Of course we are duty bound."

  Thales was startled for a second.

nonsense!

  Thales felt disdainful.

   That's not what you just said.

   What you said is clearly "spicy, go find your parents"!

   "Really? There are no other conditions?" Thales asked suspiciously.

   "It's a righteous act," Yannick stared intently at the encirclement below, admiring him, "What are the conditions?"

   Phew!

  Thales was disdainful in his heart, but smiled on his face.

   "This makes me a little nervous," he teased, "After all, the free ones are the most expensive."

   "It's not free either."

  Yannick smiled at him:

   "You gave me a chance to befriend the future Star King, not to offend the future Star King, even if I paid the fee."

  He smiled slyly:

   "After all, not all cold-blooded species are rigid and stubborn."

I knew it.

  Thales snorted coldly in his heart:

   "Then I paid too much, didn't I get change?"

   Yannick laughed.

   "Make people do extra things..."

  He blinked:

   "There's gotta be some tip."

  Thales squinted and observed him for a while.

   "Are you sure you're okay?"

  Thales looked down at the battlefield below: "Before reincarnating as a vampire, that guy was an extreme killer. And after his reincarnation, his body will only be stronger... Oh, or are you also an extreme master?"

   Facing the prince's probing gaze, Yannick smiled.

   "Your Highness is so young, but he puts himself in the shoes of others, which really touches me."

   "But maybe you don't know something," he continued, "After human beings are transformed into blood races, the body mechanism and organization are completely changed, and even the power of termination has disappeared without a trace. It is almost impossible to preserve the original strength and fighting style."

completely changed…

  Thales recalled the words and deeds of Lausanne II, and couldn't help thinking deeply.

  The next moment, the blood member's eyes turned cold:

   "Secondly, it doesn't matter whether it's at the extreme level or at the super-ordinary level.

  Thales was startled when he heard this.

   "It may be used to identify strengths and weaknesses, refer to superiors and inferiors, and deceive laymen and beginners," Yannick put his hands behind his back, "but it can never predict the outcome, let alone life and death."

  Boundary level is just a saying...

  You can know the strengths and weaknesses, but you can't predict the outcome.

  Thales was thoughtful.

   Does this sound surprisingly familiar?

   "What's more, in the recorded history, the extreme fighters who really died by the same opponent..."

  Yannik restrained his killing intent, and smiled at Thales:

   "Not far from half."

  Thales's heart fluttered.

   That is to say, more than half of the extreme masters who lost in history died because of...

   "After all, the old speaker said: If the old ones don't go, the new ones won't come."

   There was a slight breeze in the night, Thales felt something in his heart.

   But in a blink of an eye, there was no one around him.

   "Undead in the Extreme Realm..."

  Yannik's faint sigh came from the darkness:

   "What's the benefit of super-order?"

  (end of this chapter)