Embers of Embers

Chapter 298 Patient Zero
Lorenzo didn't know who sent the letter, but judging from the secret blood, the other party must have known something and had evil intentions.
But as Oscar said, this is a conspiracy, a conspiracy that Lorenzo cannot refuse. Even without these, Lorenzo still wants to see Shermans. He is the only one in the old Dunlin who has been in the past. People who know and have seen themselves may be able to get some confirmation of their suspicions.
He stepped on the soft green grass and headed towards the manor.
The process of sneaking in is not difficult. There are not many guards here. They are basically the guards Shermans brought away from Feilengcui. Perhaps they have been protected by the purification agency. Most of them have relaxed their vigilance and don't think there will be anyone. Find this secret place.
In fact, this is the case. With the development of steam technology, people have abandoned backward towns and devoted themselves to developed big cities. Old Dunling is like a magnet, attracting everyone around it.
Under this circumstance, the noble manor in the past has also fallen into decline. Compared with here, people prefer to live in the city center of Old Dunling.
It was empty and dilapidated, and it looked like Shermans had just moved in. Lorenzo lurked in the shadows, looking for traces of Shermans.
After Advent, a schism also occurred within the church, and the mysterious new pope was crowned on top of this.
Thinking back on everything that happened in the Stasis Temple, under the mask of steel were the same fiery eyes as Lorenzo. Obviously, Seni Lothair was a demon hunter, so he was wearing the mask. Now, when he was crowned Pope, who among the demon hunters was he?
The aftermath of Advent was more than what Lorenzo seemed to understand.
While thinking like this, Lorenzo dodged one patrol after another. Some of them had a vague impression that Lorenzo had seen them in the Seven Hills. This further confirmed their identities. These Everyone is a follower of Shermans.
Lorenzo stopped and turned sideways to hide himself. Soon someone walked past him. The man was limping on crutches.
Yager did not realize that the crisis was coming. He reluctantly moved forward with a cane. Shermans did not wait for him. At this moment, he did not know where the old man had gone.
Lorenzo looked at his back from a distance. It was him who launched the attack on him in the Rat's Nest. Now everything is confirmed. At that time, it was Shermans who was searching for the whereabouts of "Apocalypse".
But now there is no sense of tension in the manor. It seems that these people are on vacation. Could it be that they have given up searching for "Revelation"?But is this the only force they have against the new pope, or have they received stronger help?
No one could give Lorenzo the answer, he had to find it slowly on his own.
……
The curtains were closed tightly, and the room was dark. Fluorescent candles rose. They burned slowly around the sacred cross, and the melted wax spread on the ground like a solidified Red Sea.
Shermans tried his best to restore the pious atmosphere here to the Cathedral of Saint-Naro, but unfortunately, he knew very well that this was different, no matter how he restored it.
He slowly sat on the chair, put on his thick glasses, picked up a pen, and opened an exquisitely decorated and very old book.
There is no title of the book, nor the name of the author. The cowhide cover is just monotonous dark green except for the decorative patterns. The spine is covered with scars. It looks like it has been added and changed many times, and new paper has been added to it. .
This is Shermans's notes, or diary. In short, it is a book he uses to record, and the things recorded are complicated and messy, making it difficult for him to distinguish them.
Shermans is an extremely pious cardinal. He does not have those extraordinary ingenuity or terrible force, but he has profound attainments in theology. Although in the eyes of those atheists, these actions of Shermans It seems extremely ridiculous, devoting your precious life to the empty god.
During Shermans's long life, he comprehensively analyzed the Gospels and used human thinking as much as possible to speculate on the mysterious gods. He began recording from the day he became a believer until today.
Opening the thick book, it was filled with his handwriting. He flipped through it laboriously, and when he reached the end, it seemed like he was dying, and there were only a few pages left in the notebook.
Gently brushing the white paper with his withered palm, he sighed, although it was not much, it was enough for him.
He was too old, and his thoughts were slow. For a while, he couldn't remember what he should write, so he had to look at the handwriting in front.
This notebook not only records Shermans' life, but also records the recent history of the evangelical church.
The changes of the Evangelical Church and the rise and fall of the Demon Hunting Order, from the hunt for the "last demon", the "Holy Grail", to the outbreak of Advent Night, were also mixed with the struggle for power within the Evangelical Church. There is the game between the faith faction and the war faction.
Shermans also did not realize that it was his devotion to faith and theological research that made him watch and record all this from a neutral position, and that the burning fire on Advent Night burned too much. With so much information, the notes in his hands seemed extremely precious.
But that's it, Shermans didn't think about this at all, and just continued his research under this situation.
"demon……"
Shermans read softly, and his rigid thoughts gradually came to life. He picked up the pen and continued writing on the blank page.
Advent night.
That was a night that changed the lives of many people. The old religious order was destroyed. Reverend Lawrence rebelled and stole the Book of Revelation. The extremely powerful evangelical church declined from here...
This strength that lasted for countless years collapsed overnight.
Shermans was lucky. He was neutral and did not participate in the game, so he was also refused to participate in the experiment on the "Holy Grail". That night in Florence, he avoided the shadow of death.
To this day, he still remembers everything about that night very clearly, as if this memory has lost the possibility of being forgotten and is deeply carved into the depths of his mind.
At that time, Shermans felt an indescribable palpitation in his heart, as if there was some kind of existence warning him. Then he walked out of the study and saw the abominable scene.
Under the dark night, the sacred seven hills were completely engulfed in fire and burned blazingly.
After that night, only the charred ruins were left. Shermans didn't know what those people did, but he could get a glimpse of the terrible consequences. After that, Shermans What Si was thinking about was no longer pure belief, he was also thinking about another thing.
What exactly is a demon?
"I searched a lot of documents, but I couldn't find a specific time when the demon appeared in this world. It seems that it did not appear suddenly at a certain moment, but has always been with this world.
But something strange happened. If demons were born together with this world, then in that distant and ignorant era, when humans had not yet mastered iron and fire, at that time humans were simply unable to resist the demons, that terrifying power And the irresistible erosion is like a plague that cannot be contained.
It stands to reason that the so-called human race should have been completely extinct at that time, but we survived and even briefly contained the 'Holy Grail' today, thousands of years later. "
After a brief silence, Shermans seemed to remember where to start writing. He clenched the pen tightly with his rotten wood-like hand, muttered slightly, deepened his memory, and left black writing on the white paper.
"We are still alive, we have survived so strangely, so can it be proved that in some blank history of the world, in an era that has been forgotten by all, demons did not exist, and someday in the future , it suddenly appears in this world."
Shermans' movements suddenly stopped. If you say so, everything is more logical, but a new mystery has emerged. If this is really the case, then how was the monster born?
Nothing can appear out of thin air, so where do monsters come from?
"This world is very strange... The world we live in is somewhat abnormal, and I don't know exactly where its problems lie, but every time I try to understand history, the past, and monsters, I can always feel These.
The weird and twisted feeling entangled me, and I could only devote myself to faith and try to resist it.
Sometimes I am surprised to find that the stubborn Shermans will temporarily ignore his faith to explore these unsolved mysteries. This is not like what I would do, but there is nothing I can do about it. People always change. of. "
Shermans showed a slight smile. He often laughed at himself in his notes. This was one of the few times he entertained himself, but then his face turned cold.
"It was like a bottomless abyss. As I dug into the past, the weird sense of disobedience became more and more intense. I suddenly realized a problem..."
Shermans' pen stopped. He didn't dare to write. There seemed to be something peeping at him. It seemed that as long as he told the weird truth... no, even if it wasn't the truth, as long as it was slightly involved. If he writes down part of that weird truth, he will be killed by the evil power.
This is forbidden knowledge, and something unknown is guarding these secrets.
But at this moment, he didn't feel fear. Instead, he felt a strange joy. He had been addicted to this for so long that he completely confused theology with demons.
Yes, he should have understood this a long time ago. As it is said in the Gospels, evil demons were born in the shadow of God, and they are inseparable.
Shermans's eyeballs were bloodshot. He held his forehead with one hand, and the hand holding the pen trembled violently.
He suddenly thought of it, as if the wall that had been blocking his thinking collapsed, and his free will was liberated.
"Looking back at the history of the Evangelical Church, I found that we have been fighting against humans, fighting against our own kind... Yes, it is true. The demons we kill are all alienated from humans, so those [original Where is the demon? Just like a plague, there should be a [Patient Zero], a starting point that triggered all of this."
The sharp coldness penetrated Shermans' bones and clenched his heart along the bloodstream.
“We have been ignoring these things...or there is some unknown force that prevents us from thinking about them.
The demons we killed were originally humans, and the only difference was the [Holy Grail].
The demon with the concept of demon is called the [Original Demon] of the [Holy Grail], but is it the only one?Do we really understand them?
What exactly is a demon? "
(End of this chapter)