Embers of Embers

Chapter 244 Whitechapel
"Chasing danger?"
Joey felt that the conversation was becoming more interesting, and he looked at Sigg, who was slightly reserved.
This man had always given him the impression that he was a bit timid and autistic and introverted, but listening to what he said now, it was obvious that this man was more than that, and that was just his appearance.
"People are complicated, aren't they? The same person has multiple faces, just like Lorenzo."
Sigg always mentioned Lorenzo intentionally or unintentionally, as if this detective had some attractive magic power.
"How to say?"
There was still plenty of time, and Joey still had a lot of free time to chat with him.
"Lorenzo never tries to hide anything, and you should be able to feel it, right? He is a complete lunatic, the kind with a tendency to self-destruct, but he never hides that he is a lunatic, and sometimes he even leads to Proud."
"From a certain point of view, he can't be honest. I've always been afraid of the conflict between him and Mrs. Van Lude. You also know her character, right?"
Hearing what Sigg said, Joey thought of the grumpy old lady, and he began to understand Sigg's worries.
"Once a conflict breaks out, it is likely to end in blood, but Lorenzo has never done anything excessive. It's like he turns into a madman when he goes out, but after stepping through the door, he becomes normal again."
Sigg thought about Lorenzo.
"He is like a dead tree..."
He spoke softly.
"You can peer into the cracked tree lines of a dead tree that is dying. There is a raging fire burning inside, burning and carbonizing everything about it from the inside out, until it dies."
"But even so, there are still new green shoots on the dry surface... So I think Lorenzo is very interesting, very interesting. I have always been curious about how he became like this."
Shige said, his words had a strange feeling, and Joey couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
"You should ask him personally. Aren't you his roommate?"
"But he is very dangerous... People like to chase danger, but at the same time, people will also hesitate before that danger, just like... the dark side of human nature."
Sigg continued to state. He looked at the other people in the mutual aid association. There were men, women, old and young. Everyone seemed normal and harmonious.
"Look how friendly everyone is, like brothers."
Looking at them, some people have already started exchanging contact information, while others are preparing to go on a trip together.
"Joy, can you imagine? This is a group of people who almost fell into that fatal hallucination before. They sold their property for the sake of short-lived and illusory happiness. Some of them even went astray..."
The voice gradually became gloomy, and what Sigg said was not a lie. Things like this might be happening in the lower city now.
"I used to think that human nature and even the world have two sides, either black or white, good or evil. But the longer I come to Jiudunling, the more clearly I can realize my mistake. There is no such thing as good or evil. Evil is just a hazy gray."
Sigg lowered his head. Rather than talking to Joey, he seemed more like he was talking to himself at this moment.
“Everyone is a mass of ever-changing gray, a pitiful body of self-contradiction, composed of black and white. When you are good, the white part is more, and when you are evil, the black part is more. There is no so-called absolute. "
"Contradiction runs through each of them. I am very curious about everything about Lorenzo, but I am too afraid to step forward."
Sigg looked at Joey, who had been silent for a long time, and said helplessly.
"I usually talk very little."
"It can be seen that you are very conflicted. You want to communicate with others, but you are afraid of it. Even what you told me is just through mutual help, right?"
Joey briefly analyzed Sig. Everyone is contradictory. He is like this, so is Joey, and so is Lorenzo.
"It feels good to say it." Sigg laughed. Even after spending so much time in Old Dunling, he still had very few friends, or even none at all.
He murmured in a low voice.
"Just like this, human beings are social animals. We can see countless similar people when we walk on the street, but there are very few people who can really see our hearts, and we will always be in the loneliness of our souls."
"What did you say?" Joey didn't hear him clearly.
"Nothing." Sigurd said.
Suddenly, for some unknown reason, the scene became silent, and even people's conversations became weaker. Just when Joey was confused, magnificent music sounded, and the old pipe organ started to operate again, and the melody changed from the copper-colored mottled It surged out of his pores and filled every part of this space in an instant.
The melody is urgent and short. When you realize that you want to listen carefully, it is over. Then a man slowly walks over, smiling and waving to everyone.
"It seems that everyone is in good mental condition. I hope you will end this pain as soon as possible." The man said.
His status seemed to be very respected, applause and whistles were heard constantly, and some people even came up to him and gave him a big hug.
"Who is he?" Joey was a little confused. He had never seen such a person in the mutual aid group.
"Psychiatrist." Sigg explained for him.
This mutual aid group is not an ordinary mutual aid group. After all, what everyone wants to quit is not addiction to cigarettes or alcohol, but dangerous hallucinogens. A large amount of data shows that some people will become crazy after forcibly quitting hallucinogens. For this reason The psychological condition of these people requires constant attention.
The man is the new psychiatrist, and he will provide free psychological consultation to everyone in this mutual aid association.
"I don't remember this position ever happening before," Joey said.
"I don't know. Anyway, he came with a piece of paper. It was said that he was a doctor from Black Mountain Hospital. Everyone was a little scared at first, but then it got better. He was quite popular with everyone, so they didn't care. "Hig replied.
Sigg has always felt that self-narration in mutual aid groups is more like a spiritual self-narration, opening up all lines of defense and showing one's own essence. When facing strangers, this feels very bad, as if the spiritual level has been stripped naked. Others see it the same way.
The doctor was not old, he looked less than thirty, and he had a standard smile on his face, which was just right, neither stiff nor artificial.
Black Mountain Hospital?
Joey knows what kind of place Black Mountain Hospital is, but not all people there are related to monsters. To a certain extent, most doctors are normal people, but they don't know that the projects they are researching are related to monsters.
This is a very likeable guy, but for some reason, this is the first time Joey has seen this man, but he instinctively resists him, as if he subconsciously regards him as an unfriendly person.
The man was greeting one after another. There were so many people, and in a blink of an eye he had greeted half of them, and he was about to reach Joey.
Joey didn't want to talk about these useless things. He glanced at the time and saw that it was time for him to go back.
"Xig, Lorenzo is actually not that dangerous, but..." Joey paused, and after hesitating for a few minutes, he warned Shigg, "But don't touch Lorenzo too deeply, it's really dangerous, literally It's as dangerous as it sounds."
Judging from the fact that Sigg and Lorenzo have been roommates for so long without any problems, they really don't communicate much. Otherwise, this unlucky roommate would have been haunted by darkness and killed by a monster that suddenly appeared one night.Lorenzo seems indifferent, but in fact he is trying to protect these unfortunate people.
"What about you? Joey, are you also in such danger?" Higg asked.
Joey paused as he stood up and left. After a moment of silence, he answered.
"Almost, I'm sorry, we can only be friends for a while." He said sincerely, and then left quickly as if he was avoiding something.
This is the price of joining the purge agency, or the price of knowing the dark thing. Joey seems to be a normal person, but like Lorenzo, he has long since lost his normal life.
Of course, there are still some advantages. For example, if Joey hates someone, just communicate with him more, go out to eat or go shopping when he has nothing to do. It may not take long for that old man to be knocked on the door by a demon.
He walked out quickly. According to the time, he should go back to work. Although he didn't come out for a long time, he hoped that nothing would happen.
The situation in Old Dunling has become more and more serious. It is also for this reason that Joey is also feeling tired and can't stand it anymore, so he comes to the mutual aid association to calm down his mood. The communication between people can indeed be a lot of relief, but Then his steps suddenly stopped and he turned around by accident.
Joey stood on the street, looking at the place where he had just come out. The tall buildings were built with white bricks. Time had left countless scratches on them, and new branches and buds were growing in the gaps. It tells its age.
He clearly remembered that the mutual aid club was not here before, but in a small house between the buildings. But when he came today, he was informed that they had moved here. Joey always had a strange feeling, but he couldn't explain it. come out.
Joey remembered this place. Its name was St. Mary’s Cathedral. But as the Evangelical Church fell into decline and faith faded, those names were never mentioned. Few people came here. It was so majestic, but like It was as if someone had deliberately forgotten about it.
As time goes by, more and more people have forgotten its name and simply call it Whitechapel based on its crude appearance.
Time was running out. Joey resisted the strange feeling. He comforted himself that this was a normal phenomenon. After all, people who fight against monsters would have mental problems to some extent. He left without turning his head, and followed him After leaving, the deep voice sounded again, as if someone was singing loudly from behind the white wall.
The melody rises until it reaches the highest point and then falls suddenly.
(End of this chapter)