Embers of Embers

Chapter 243 Mutual Aid Society
The cold wind of Jiudunling blew against the cheeks. Perhaps it was time to discharge the fog, and the fog on the streets increased significantly. They rolled violently, and black shadows emerged one after another. Then they broke through the mist and hurriedly walked on the streets.
When Hercule said that, the chaotic traces became clear in Lorenzo's mind in an instant, from the cause to the result, from who came to all their intentions.
Lorenzo naturally knew what was happening in the north, where he killed Lawrence, which led to the search for "Revelation". Likewise, it attracted not only the purge agencies and the Evangelical Church, but also those who Exile, when you think about it, everything makes sense.
Shermans arrived in Old Dunling not to escape, he was also looking for the "Apocalypse", the opportunity that would allow them to take back everything.
At this moment, Lorenzo no longer cares about chasing Shermans, but goes to warn the purge agency that the fight for "Revelation" is not only the current ones, but also those hiding in the shadows.
Lorenzo moved quickly. He had to bring the news to Arthur as soon as possible. Be vigilant. In this matter, Lorenzo still needed to eliminate the behemoth of the agency.
Maybe this is a life of hard work, Lorenzo felt like he was traveling all day, arriving from one place to another.
From beginning to end, Arthur did not reveal the specific location of the purification agency. Lorenzo didn't care much at first, but looking at the current situation, Arthur was actually guarding himself. After all, with the power of a demon hunter, , if you can really sneak in, it will be too easy to kill them all in one pot.
But in order to cooperate, Arthur still made certain concessions, such as giving Lorenzo a specific contact point, but rather than the contact point, Lorenzo preferred to call that place a staff dormitory.
Rushing into the building on the street, the doorman saw Lorenzo's appearance clearly and allowed him to pass according to the traffic regulations. Then according to the house number in his memory, Lorenzo kicked open the door and shouted loudly.
"Joey!"
Amidst the crisp sound of loading, several people rolled over the sofa and used it as a cover. Then they set up their guns and pointed them at Lorenzo. Just when they were about to fire, they saw Lorenzo's face clearly.
"Mr. Holmes?"
Several people recognized Lorenzo and slowly put away their firearms in horror, while others had expressions of fear and sorrow on their faces.
"Can you knock on the door properly?"
These people are the permanent personnel stationed here, and this is one of the dozens of strongholds of the purification agency scattered throughout the old Dunling.
They are well hidden and look like an ordinary residential building from the outside, but if an unlucky thief wants to come in and steal something, he may not even be able to get past the doorman at the bottom of the building.
However, although it is called a stronghold, Lorenzo prefers to call it a staff dormitory. Joey usually stays here if he doesn't have any extra tasks to do.
The roar of the machine sounded slightly. In the living room, a steel pillar ran through it. The outer shell was polished. In the alternating gaps, one could see the rotating gears and the operating machinery underneath. The indicator lights flickered on and off. As Lorenzo came closer, it began to emit a high-pitched chirp.
This is a large Geiger counter. One of the jobs at the stronghold is to maintain it and collect data. Tables are piled next to it with some records and reports on them.
Passing through the door next to the living room is Joey's bedroom. It is estimated that many people will envy Joey. He only takes a few steps from getting up to working.
This is why Lorenzo calls this employee dormitory. Joey doesn’t seem to have a good relationship with the family for some reason. He only goes back for the holidays on God’s birthday. Usually he lives here and sleeps in the dormitory while working. At the same time, we are extremely dedicated to our work.
Lorenzo remembered that Kestrel lived in this kind of staff dormitory, but he had a lot of work now, and he was very busy.
"Where's the Joey?"
These stationed employees can't get to the heart of the matter, and Lorenzo has to inform Joey.
"He's out," someone said.
"Going out? Do you have any temporary tasks?" Lorenzo asked. If there were no temporary tasks, Joey would not leave here.
"Probably not. To be precise, he has a day off today." Another person said. They knew that Lorenzo was a friendly force, and he should be considered their superior in his position, and he would answer everything he knew.
"At this time, you still have vacations at work?" Lorenzo felt a little surprised.
The whole old Dunling was secretly in chaos. Lorenzo expected that a group of people would be staring at the risk of dark circles and sudden death, working to death at their workstations, but how could they still have a vacation?Are you sure it's not absenteeism?
"It's okay to rest... for a day."
They don't quite understand Lorenzo's current urgency. There is a strict level of information confidentiality within the purge agency. Many times after a battle, even the most outside people like them don't know what they are doing.
This method can effectively prevent the spread of erosion. Just like in this stronghold now, these personnel only know how to record the real-time index of the large Geiger counter. They don't know anything about other more critical things.
"Where has he gone?" Lorenzo asked.
The unreliability of the entire purification mechanism appeared again. Without this contact person, Lorenzo could only go to the lower city to find Shrike.
"This may be related to personal privacy."
A few people knew about it, and they said hesitantly.
"what?"
Lorenzo looked over, but he never imagined that this rest was related to personal privacy.
"What? Did he go on a date?"
……
"After all, this kind of thing is actually a bit hard to talk about, so I hide it very well...probably, it's actually very bad, so bad that every time I come here, my friends think I'm here for a date."
In the warm and comfortable room, everyone carried different chairs or sofas and sat in a circle. Joey was also among them. He listened quietly and looked at the man who was speaking. He was already the father of two children. Father, but when he said this, his wrinkled face still smiled awkwardly.
The people present were both men and women, with a wide age range and different status categories. It was simply a hodgepodge. Logically speaking, these people had no intersection at all, but they appeared here neatly at this moment.
The man was still talking and talking about his current situation and ideological consciousness. From time to time, there would be applause to encourage him.
"To be honest, I didn't expect to see you here."
Sigg was a little scared, but here he overcame his restraint and introversion, and spoke to Joey next to him with a little courage.
"I didn't expect it. How long have you been here?"
Joey remembered Sig, who was Lorenzo's roommate. Although he hadn't met many times, he was the notorious Lorenzo's roommate after all. Joey couldn't help but be impressed with him.
From Joey's perspective, those who could live with Lorenzo were not normal people.
"It's been a while, but I haven't seen you. Do you rarely attend? Is this your first time here?"
Maybe it was because of the same appearance here that Sig could accept Joey better.
"Me too, I joined a mutual aid group a long time ago. This was the advice given to me by my doctor at the time. He said I should find someone to chat with more. However, my condition improved a lot later, and due to my busy work schedule, I only came here once a month. , maybe you didn’t come when I came.”
Joey whispered. At this time, the man's speech ended and another woman spoke.
She burst into tears, telling about the difficulty of life and the dangers of being addicted to hallucinogens to herself, and then thanked everyone. It was everyone who made her find the feeling of family, where everyone helps each other and makes progress together. Get off that hallucinogen bug.
The more she talked, the more excited she became, her face turned red, as if when she got excited, she wanted to press everyone's heads and become brothers together here.
But there are many people in the same situation as her. They applaud vigorously or whistle. These people have just quit hallucinogens and their mental state is only close to normal. Whenever they encounter something happy, they will Like this.
Joey and Sig, who had been quitting for a long time, seemed much calmer now and could be clearly distinguished from the crowd.
This is a mutual aid group for hallucinogens. The members here are poor people who have been exposed to hallucinogens and had their lives ruined by it. However, they did not choose to degenerate, but worked hard to quit hallucinogens and live strong. By.
There are many such small groups in Old Dunling. Because of the problem of hallucinogens, these things are a shame for many people and they are unwilling to mention them to others. Everyone has no choice but to get together like this and help each other.
"Are you also troubled by hallucinogens?"
Sigg asked cautiously. He still doesn't know what this guy who is connected with Lorenzo does, but according to his guess, he should be the group of people who killed people in the lower city. Logically speaking, Why would he choose to quit when he should be in the company of hallucinogens all day long?
"Well, it's a very complicated and long-standing thing. I haven't touched that kind of thing for a long time except for work needs. It's just that sometimes there are many worries that I can't tell others. I can only come here to find similar people."
The kind Joey is talking about are people like Seager, who are haunted by hallucinogens and destroyed by hallucinogens.
Sometimes people are like this, they instinctively identify similar things, like a strange balance. If you stand alone with everyone without wearing pants, you may lower your head in shame, but when everyone is When you are not wearing pants, you are probably not only not ashamed, but also happy to whistle.
Although it sounds a bit nonsense, Joey is indeed like this. Regarding hallucinogens, he rarely tells others. Even colleagues like Kestrel only know a rough idea. Only when he gets here, Joey can Say what you have and don't have without any pressure. Maybe this is also a kind of talking about people and talking about ghosts.
"What about you? This is actually a work-related injury. Why did you come into contact with hallucinogens?"
Joey asked curiously.
In fact, Sigurd was lucky. If the hallucinogen he encountered was the kind mixed with secret blood, maybe he would be able to see Lorenzo's heroic appearance and be chopped down amidst the cheers of the demon hunter. head.
Mentioning this, Sigurd's expression was slightly startled, and then he became melancholy. He smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Like everyone does."
He glanced at the people around him. Everyone was laughing and laughing, but there was a little numbness deep in their expressions.
"It's always because of some damn curiosity, or the mentality of giving it a try," Seager said.
"Many people are like this. They have inexplicable confidence in their own self-control. They feel that they only use it once and will never touch it again. But the result is that they fall into the quagmire step by step. The more they struggle, the deeper they sink, until Inseparable from that filth.”
Sig's voice was filled with regret.
"Actually, I'm lucky. I was able to wake up and didn't continue to be confused."
Joey nodded. He could understand this. As a member of the purification agency, he was a high-ranking knight with a special spirit. But even he almost fell into the psychedelic state.
"Because of my work, I can't reveal too much, but as you said, it's similar to everyone here. I have arrogant self-confidence, and then I stumble and fall into the quagmire."
Joey muttered, although it has been a long time, but it still reminds him, and he will come back here from time to time, which is the best proof.
"Work...are you working with Lorenzo?"
For the same reason, Sigg rarely was wary of a stranger like Joey. Instead, he lowered his guard and started chatting with him.
The atmosphere of the scene gradually became more lively. Several patients seemed to have known each other at first sight, and now they were hugging each other and crying loudly, and there were a group of people cheering them around.
"Well, it is."
Joey didn't know why he mentioned Lorenzo.
The two of us just listened to the confessions and cheers of those people, and we started chatting with each other.
"Actually, I envy Lorenzo." Sigg suddenly said for some reason.
He looked at Joey and said with some hesitation, "Do you know Lorenzo?"
"learn?"
"Well, you should be able to tell that I am a bit introverted. Although I have been roommates with Lorenzo for so long, I actually don't know that guy at all. He is like a mystery."
Joey smiled bitterly, "He is not a good person, you'd better not know too much about him."
"I know this, but you may not know it. Sometimes when he comes home, his clothes are dripping with blood, and the amount of bleeding is huge. A normal person would have died long ago, but he seems to be fine and overjoyed... This blood is other's."
Shige didn't realize that his behavior was different from usual, and even his words were different.
"But that's how people are sometimes, right?"
"What do you mean...?" Joey was a little confused.
"Just like when we first came into contact with hallucinogens, we all knew it was dirty and dangerous, but we still touched it... Just like you are standing on a tall building, you know that the closer you are to the edge, the more likely you are to Falling, but you can't help it, right? You can't help but stick your head out and look down at the majesty below from the highest point."
Hig said.
"This is human nature. It's not so much curiosity, but chasing danger."
(End of this chapter)