Embers of Embers

Chapter 245 The Two Knights
Following the familiar route, Joey quickly returned to the station. There are many places like this in Old Dunling, and some of them are unmanned. They usually serve as safe houses with medical supplies and food inside. , and some weapons, enough to sustain those seeking asylum for a period of time.
After saying hello to the guard, Joey was allowed in. Sometimes the working principles of the cleanup agency are so rigid. Even if they are familiar with each other, Joey still has to go through formal procedures in order to avoid accidents. The only advantage of familiarity is that , that is, when he breaks the rules, the guard will break his legs with a shot instead of directly shooting him in the head.
These are the operating rules of the purification agency. Only by adhering to the absolute rules can they ensure that the darkness does not have the slightest chance to erode order.
With a long sigh and forgetting all the bad things he had just experienced in Whitechapel, Joey adjusted his mentality, opened the door and prepared to continue working.
"You're back?"
As soon as he opened the door, a discordant and unpleasant voice sounded, as if he was mocking Joey, and he also deliberately made the ending sound very long.
Lorenzo moved the sofa to the door and sat there carelessly, guarding Joey for who knows how long.
"Lorenzo?"
Joey never expected that Lorenzo would find this. Of course, if this guy came, he would definitely do nothing good.
Just as he thought, Lorenzo didn't give Joey time to think, and jumped up from the sofa. He hurriedly pulled Joey away before he could step into the house.
"What are you going to do?" Joey was a little confused as to what Lorenzo was going to do.
"For the most important thing, take me to see Arthur. This is related to the Book of Revelation." Lorenzo said directly.
The footsteps on the stairwell kept clicking, and the doorman opened his sleepy eyes. Usually there were not so many people entering and leaving this building.
Lorenzo signaled to the uncle. He looked really anxious and said to Joey as he walked.
"Joy, because of your... personal privacy issues, I have been delayed for a long time. Please hurry up."
Standing on the busy street, Lorenzo stopped and looked at Joey expectantly.
"what are you waiting for?"
After hearing "Apocalypse", Joey understood the seriousness of the situation, but he was a little unclear as to why Lorenzo looked at him like this.
After waiting for a few seconds, Lorenzo called out.
"Car! Carriage! We're not going to the Shattered Dome on foot!"
This guy was as fast as the wind, and it affected Joey's thoughts from the beginning. Only then did he react, and then walked towards the building. The door led to the open space inside the building, where a dark carriage was parked.
"If you ask me, you should give me the address of the Broken Dome, otherwise it will be really troublesome every time."
In the fast-moving carriage, Lorenzo complained like this.
Joey shook his head. He had rejected Lorenzo's request many times.
"Impossible, Lorenzo, that is our core, our brain. It needs to be kept in an absolutely purified state and must not allow any potential danger to exist."
"Am I a potential danger?"
Although Lorenzo was cheerful, there was a hint of vigilance in his relaxed attitude. It was originally like a joke, but under the current situation, he became serious.
Joey didn't notice these changes in Lorenzo. Although he was a high-ranking knight, for the purge mechanism and the entire Yin Erweg, he was just a soldier...a slightly older soldier, or cannon fodder.
The purge agency is very strict about the security level of information, and it's not his fault that there are things that Joey didn't expect.
"Probably, don't you think you are in danger?"
Joey answered after thinking carefully.
"Think about it carefully, Lorenzo, you are a monster who has come back from the dead. If your Geiger index reaction had not stabilized at that time, we would have really prepared to bombard it again!"
At that time, everyone's nerves were tense, as if they were in a doomsday battle.
Hearing Joey's somewhat joking tone, Lorenzo froze for a moment, then continued to yell and curse as usual.
The carriage traveled for a while, but this time no one blindfolded him or led the way. Lorenzo felt something was wrong.
"Aren't we going to break the dome?" Lorenzo asked.
"I didn't say I wanted to go, either?" Joey said. "You also know the current situation. To ensure safety, the Broken Dome has been closed to ensure that no one will threaten it."
"What about Arthur?"
"He's not always in the Broken Dome. For meetings, wouldn't it be enough to have a room with a table and chairs?"
The sky outside the window became more and more gloomy and gray, the wind stirred up old smoke and dust, and the desolate land began to come into view. Lorenzo knew where they were going.
"Actually, you came at the right time. Merlin has always wanted to see you, but he just didn't have time. It just happened to happen."
Joey said, and then a gray silhouette rose up on the rugged ground. It seemed like a huge heart made of steel and machinery, standing on the ground. As it beat powerfully, the iron and steel roared between the machinery. Groaning, red and hot blood flowed.
"Mechanical Institute..."
Lorenzo thought a lot in his mind at that moment, but for some reason, a blurry shadow flashed in his field of vision, and something spread its wings, covering the sky and the sun.
Trying to move his gaze back, Lorenzo asked.
"Anything new recently?"
Joey knew that Lorenzo wanted to ask about the ones about Feilengcui, and he answered.
"There was nothing unusual. The mission was very obedient. They spent the whole day either communicating with senior officials or going to various scenic spots. In short, they did not give us any trouble."
"Isn't it the main event yet?" Lorenzo asked.
"What's the highlight?"
"Don't play dumb, Joey, you know what I'm asking, haven't they started making deals with the purge agencies yet? Something about monsters."
Joey shook his head, "I'm just a high-ranking knight, a relatively easy-to-use cannon fodder. How could I possibly know that? If you want to know, you might as well ask them directly."
"Arthur? That old fox is probably not telling the truth."
"It's not Arthur. He's not here right now. According to the schedule, he should be accompanying Father Anthony."
Lorenzo was startled and asked, "Then who am I going to see now?"
"The other group of temporary leaders, as well as Merlin, you know that we are very busy right now, and we always need to share the work."
Lorenzo obviously doesn't know the specific operation of the purge agency, but if he thinks about it carefully, the purge agency must have some backup plans, such as who should be replaced if Arthur, the leader, dies.
Although Arthur is not dead yet, he is obviously too busy alone.
Stepping into the familiar factory interior, the temperature here is blazing, driving away all the coldness of the old Dunling. The red molten iron falls like a waterfall. Looking from the high platform, you can see that they are building a giant skeleton, as if it were a certain The remains of a monster after death.
"What are you making?"
Lorenzo was a little curious. It can be said that the Mechanical Institute is the most advanced factory in the world, and the most advanced things are born here. The things they make are likely to change the future direction of the world.
"Airship, transport airship."
Joey glanced at it and then said that it was not a secret, at least not to Lorenzo.
"Technology gives priority to serving the military. This is the warning we received during the Glorious War. But now that the war is far away, the war machine should also be turned into productivity."
The crane pieced the heavy skeleton together one by one, like a giant assembly toy. They fit together to reveal a ferocious appearance. With the sparks and the roar of iron, the skeleton of a giant whale gradually took shape in front of Lorenzo's eyes.
"You still remember the Snake System in the Atrium, right? In order to ensure transportation capacity, Inverg's railway operation has been saturated, and external navigation is also managed by Nordro Company. And now... it's time for us to occupy the sky."
"Occupy the sky? What a big statement..."
Lorenzo looked at all this. Even though he said so, if the executor was Inverg, it might be possible. After all, airship technology has existed for many years, but it was only the first time it was used by civilians.
"The speed of the airship is not very fast, but its advantage is that it can cross mountains and swamps and will not be troubled by terrain. This is currently the second batch of production transport airships, and the trial operation of the first batch will begin in the near future. "
Joey explained to Lorenzo.
"Whether it is transporting goods or people, people will pay for it even if they are just viewing the scenery. After all, no one can refuse the yearning for the sky, and this is also the first attempt to join forces with private enterprises. Duke Salicardo is doing this for A lot of effort was made.”
Lorenzo vaguely remembered the Duke, but his only impression was that he was rich.
The elevator began to descend slowly, covering up the steel creation and disappearing.
The mechanical yard is just a disguise, and the perpetual pumps below are the most important place. They are built along the main trunk of the furnace pillar, building an ecosystem of steel and machinery.
As it dropped, the temperature of the air became hotter, just like Lorenzo had been here before. The sound of roaring water resounded in his ears, followed by the sharp sound of steam, which mixed with the high temperature. At the same time, thick white fog rose and surged upward.
Such moist and hot mist surged in every gap, and the red fire dyed it until it reached the deep red bottom.
Lorenzo inadvertently saw something. Behind the heavy steel, he could see something being transported on the guide rails in the gap. There was some kind of forbidden thing sealed in the familiar iron box. Lorenzo could vaguely feel it. That strange erosion.
"Is that the Armor of Original Sin?" Lorenzo asked.
"what?"
Joey was far from as sharp as a demon hunter, and he couldn't notice the goods flashing behind the gap.
Lorenzo seemed a little helpless, but he didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, everything that followed would be answered.
Different from those who came before, Lorenzo could clearly see that there were many more guards here at the Perpetual Pump, and more weapons that he had never seen were held in their hands, and he didn't know when they would suddenly explode.
Sometimes you can still see some people wearing white clothes with the eternal Ouroboros printed on them, but these scientific research madmen seem to have a lot less freedom at the moment. Everyone is followed by security guards. I don’t know if they are monitoring them or ensuring them. their safety.
While Lorenzo was thinking about this, someone came up to him, a group of guards. They surrounded Lorenzo without any explanation, which made Lorenzo feel very insecure.
"Please cooperate."
As they spoke, they checked Lorenzo's clothes to see if he had entered with weapons.
"I don't remember this procedure being done here before."
Although Lorenzo felt something was wrong, he still raised his hand in cooperation.
"special period."
Joey also felt something was wrong, but he comforted himself by saying this.
The atmosphere here has become more serious than before. Normally, those crazy people can use some strange weapons for fun, but now it is like preparing for war, working efficiently and completely militarized.
"Mr. Lorenzo Holmes?"
Suddenly someone called him, Lorenzo looked over, and saw a man coming from the end of his field of vision. Judging from the attitude of the people around him, he should be a member of the management, but Lorenzo was very angry with him. He had never seen this man.
But Joey seemed to be impressed, his face changed slightly, he understood what happened.
The man's face was serious, as if there was unquestionable determination in his expression, and his eyes were fixed on Lorenzo. Lorenzo felt that he was more like a hard sculpture than a human being.
"Nice to meet you. I've heard about your deeds before."
He stretched out his hand, and the tense atmosphere subsided a bit.
"you are?"
Lorenzo hesitated, but still stretched out his hand, and then the man responded.
"One of the knight captains, Gawain, now has me performing some of Arthur's functions."
The rumbling iron sound sounded again, and Lorenzo couldn't help but be attracted by the sound. His attention was not so distracted, but this time it was different. He felt the weird power.
The goods on the guide rail appeared again, and it was transported forward along the corridor. The iron boxes were engraved with reliefs of ghosts and gods. Before, Lorenzo could not tell what was inside, but now he seemed to have the answer.
That should be the armor of the man in front of him, one of the original sin armors brought back from the outside world in order to ensure the stability of Old Dunling, and the knight wearing this armor.
"If you have any questions, please tell me. I am currently managing part of this place."
Arthur is fully committed to dealing with the difficult mission, and the operation of the purification agency is currently entrusted to his subordinates, the knight captain.
"Actually, it's okay to say it to me."
Another voice sounded, and a woman came out from behind Gawain. She grabbed Lorenzo's hand that was in mid-air and had not yet taken it back, and shook it hard with him.
"One of the knight commanders, Percival."
Another Original Sin Armor was transported deeper into the Perpetual Pump along the guide rail, and the woman looked at him with a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Lorenzo Holmes."
(End of this chapter)