Embers of Embers

Chapter 369 Funeral
"Ah...it's so beautiful."
Kestrel, wearing a black formal suit, stood in the mess of Black Mountain Hospital, looking at the beautiful ruins.
There is still water on the ground, and broken steel stands like the skeleton of some monster among the collapsed buildings. People walk among the ruins to repair the Black Mountain Hospital.
The sunlight spread down without reservation, sweeping away the long gloomy darkness of old Dunling. Everything in the field of vision was shrouded in warm sunlight, covered with a soft layer of brilliant golden light. The kestrel looked at the Sunny, who was almost forgotten by him, couldn't help but smile.
Sure enough, if you are fine, you still need to see more of the sun and the clear sky. Your dark heart was illuminated by warmth at this moment.
As the storm dissipated and the rainy season left, Old Dunling finally ushered in a rare calm, but after this calm there was still a lot of mess waiting for people to deal with.
The huge amount of rainfall once paralyzed the drainage system of Old Dunling. It overflowed through the streets and poured into the factories. For this reason, the entire Old Dunling was shut down for several days because of the storm. People pumped out the stagnant water and re-edited it. The buildings damaged by the strong wind, like the kestrel, looked at the clear sky and sighed.
This is a disaster, but in the ruins after the disaster, there is beauty that is difficult to see.
"The clear sky in Old Dunling is really rare... It's a pity that many people can't see it."
Lan Jade came over, sat on the raised gravel nearby, and raised her head to look at the clear sky.
Perhaps she had lived under the gloom of Old Dunling for too long. Such a bright sky made Lan Jade feel a little uncomfortable. The sun was so dazzling that she could hardly open her eyes. But in order to take one more look at this beauty, she was still stubborn. He watched until tears welled up in his eyes.
"Yes."
Listening to Lan Jade's words, Kestrel looked slightly sad, but he still forced himself to speak optimistically.
This is a bad world, this is a bad job, and these doctors are very busy now, but there are no free people to enlighten Kestrel's psychology, so he can only enlighten himself.
The heavy rain half a month ago washed away the filth in the city, but many people and things left with it. They all disappeared, as if they had never been there.
"It's started, come on, Kestrel. After all, you are the 'lucky Kestrel' now. Just seeing you can cheer everyone up." Blue Jade stood up and gave Kestrel a white flower.
Kestrel scratched his head in embarrassment, took the white flower, and muttered to himself.
"If you think about it carefully, it's really unbelievable. Am I becoming a hero?"
"probably."
Half a month ago, various forces started a local war in Black Mountain Hospital, and demons, demon hunters...all kinds of things came.
At that time, everyone thought they were going to die, but they still attacked one after another, fighting a way out of despair.
In the eyes of those survivors, these guys who lived towards death were all heroes, and Kestrel was one of them. In the final battle, he was like a madman, advancing and killing, although he was killed by the epidemic doctor in the end. It was defeated easily, but as a mortal, Kestrel did well enough.
However, this is not what attracts his attention. After briefly checking the Kestrel's mission records, he found that this guy has often escaped from death. It can be said that every time he must die, this guy will always somehow survive Come down, like this time.
Among the corpses on the ground, this guy slowly climbed up from the water, looking like he had overslept.
"What mentality did you have when you rushed forward? Kestrel." She asked suddenly.
Thinking of Kestrel's unhesitating attitude at that time, Lan Jade was stunned. She never imagined that such an unreliable guy could be so crazy once.
"For honor, for some noble reason?"
"Do you think it's possible?" Kestrel rejected these words of praise indifferently. This guy who started fighting in the lower city never cared about such things.
"What was I thinking at the time? I just saw that Lancelot was a child, and the children rushed forward. What could I do to retreat?"
"So it was because of this strange feeling of guilt that you rushed forward?"
"Not entirely, there is still fear, and there are many strange emotions. But, if you do what you love, and kill a few more monsters before you die, it can be regarded as fulfilling your duty, don't you think?"
"So... the guy who wanted to live died, and the guy who didn't want to live was lucky enough to survive?"
Hearing Kestrel's answer, Lan Jade couldn't help but feel the wonder of life.
"Maybe... that's probably what fate means."
Kestrel responded, and couldn't help but recall the last scene in his memory. It was a boy's face, an angry and frightened face. He was extremely eager to survive, but in the end he came to his end.
He has always been a big-hearted guy. After all, doing this kind of work without a big heart would be really difficult. But now he more or less feels that one familiar face is leaving one after another, as if there is a sharp knife. Cutting flesh and blood, causing great pain.
"But fortunately, at least the guys I'm familiar with didn't die...although it's almost as good as death."
Kestrel comforted himself.
After the battle half a month ago, the injured were moved to a makeshift hospital to receive treatment. Although everyone was seriously injured, everyone was rescued, but some were missing arms and legs.
Night Owl is still comatose in the hospital bed due to excessive blood loss. Knight Commander Percival is a little worse than him. Like Galahad, she has been severely corroded and is undergoing closed treatment. As for Joy...
As one of his only friends, Kestrel, no matter how big-hearted, couldn't help but feel sad when he thought about this.
When the scavengers found Joey, he was lying on the demon's body. Although he was still breathing weakly, his body was already deformed. According to the procedure, he should be executed on the spot.
Perhaps out of some humanitarian concern, the purification agency decided to treat him and try to bring reason back to the body... In fact, Kestrel knew what the result would be, he just didn't want Joey to leave in such an ugly way. He might be With treatment, he may never wake up again.
The melodious bell ringing came from somewhere, deep and distant, adding a bit of sacredness to the golden warmth.
"Let's go, Kestrel, we should have a moment of silence." Lan Jade patted Kestrel.
Kestrel nodded, picked up the white flower that Blue Jade gave him, and walked forward.
There is a unique cemetery in the Black Mountain Hospital. Most of the people buried here are members of the purification agency. After this storm, except for some people who had specific requirements for the whereabouts of their bodies in their wills, those who All the dead of the day are here.
More people came over, all carrying bouquets of white flowers. There were no eulogies or complicated ceremonies. The white flowers piled up in front of the tombstone, like a pure white ocean, swaying one after another with long-dead names.
The robin was sitting in a wheelchair, holding a silver cross in his hand, and seemed to be praying in a low voice. People lowered their heads and remained silent, and time seemed to freeze at this moment.
Gawain stood not far away, looking at everything solemn. He looked very bad. Although he successfully defeated the main force of the demon tide, he was also scarred, but fortunately he was not affected by erosion.
With one foot in a cast and a cane, he stood up forcefully and watched all this.
"Knight Commander Gawain."
There was a sound, and a man came over. His cheeks were a little sickly pale, and he showed a kind smile, but that smile did not make people feel comfortable in Gawain's opinion.
"Anakin? What are you doing here?" Gawain asked with some displeasure.
"I am here to reclaim Ovis Victoria on the terms of the Crown," he said.
"But he's dead."
"Even the dead must be recycled, and the blood of the king cannot wander outside the royal family."
Gawain's eyes gradually became sharper, like a sharp sword, as if it was about to cut Anakin open.
But he didn't say anything, but just this subtle change made Anakin suddenly feel an unspeakable pressure, maybe it was nervousness or something, and his smile gradually stiffened.
Sure enough, the purification agency is a purely violent organization, a legion of lunatics. Even when facing Gawain, he felt a slight fear.
"We don't have Ovis Victoria here," Gawain replied calmly.
"What did you say?"
Anakin was stunned, a little confused as to what Gawain meant.
"We only have one knight commander here who has just died in battle. His title is Lancelot. He belongs to us and should be buried with these glorious people instead of returning to that disgusting cemetery. Those useless dead souls as companions.”
Gawain's expression was expressionless, as if he had been frozen by the extreme cold. Under the warm sunshine, he exuded a terrifying chill.
"But this is the royal family's regulations..."
Anakin wanted to say something more, but then a black shadow enveloped him, and Gawain stood close in front of him. Only then did he realize how tall the knight commander in front of him was, and his eyes were cold. It was like a mirror, reflecting a somewhat frightened version of myself.
"Go back, Anakin, don't worry about the royal rules, don't make me angry, I'm already trying my best to control myself."
Anakin felt cold in his heart, and only then did he understand all this when he looked at Gawain's expression.
This wasn't indifference, it was anger. Gawain was angry like he had never been before. He was so angry that he couldn't control it all perfectly and could only maintain this cold expression.
"After this storm, we have lost too many familiar people. Before the storm, we were still drinking together, but now they have turned into cold corpses and been buried under the soil."
"Get lost, Anakin."
Anakin couldn't say anything, and his instinct drove him to retreat slightly, but in the end he regained his composure, maintained a polite smile, and said to Gawain.
"I see."
……
On the tombstone, line after line of text is arranged, which contains not much information, only the name of the deceased, the date of birth and the time of death.
The moment of silence ended, and people dispersed, discussing quietly in the corner, remembering the deceased.
Kestrel stood in front of the tombstone, gently stroking the cold tombstone. Although he was in the warm sunlight, his hand felt an unbreakable cold on the tombstone.
"What are you looking at?"
On the side, Yu Yan squatted down and carefully observed the tombstone, seemingly looking for something.
"The patients, even though they were crazy, they came back to help us in the end. I think their names should be on it too."
Those happy patients were so crazy that they couldn't tell the difference between fear and monsters, and were completely fooled by Eve's nonsense.
But it was this group of people who shouted some strange slogans in the end, carried the thermite rifles they picked up, and beat the monsters to pieces.
Thinking of this, Kestrel couldn't help laughing, and then he covered his mouth, hoping that no one else would see this rude look.
"found it!"
Yu Yan said with a somewhat cheerful tone, running her bandaged fingers across the dark tombstone.
"Cole...Gavin...Dren..."
One familiar name after another, but strangely, Yu Yan didn't feel any sadness. After seeing these things, there was still a bit of joy in her eyes.
"Looks like you don't have to take care of them anymore."
Kestrel thought she was happy because she didn't have to take care of these guys, but what Swift said next surprised him a little.
"It's so nice...that they finally died in a dignified way."
"Decent?"
"They were all members of the purification agency, but due to erosion and other reasons, they became patients and lost their minds."
Yuyan mainly works at Black Mountain Hospital, and Kestrel doesn't know about some internal matters.
"Patients like this will mostly live in a daze until they die of old age in Montenegro Hospital... It's like the edge of hell. Their death is doomed the moment they lose their minds, but because of humanity or something else , they live as zombies until the moment they die of old age.”
"It's such a long death, isn't it?" Swift said softly.
"They were once knights and soldiers like us, and they faced monsters without fear. I think if they still had sense, they would choose to die simply instead of living like this.
Fortunately, they finally died on the battlefield fighting monsters. This was better than dying in a hospital bed. It was simply better for them.
Die with honor. "
Kestrel did not respond. He just watched all of this quietly, looking beyond the tombstones in front of him. Behind them were countless stone tablets that were also standing. They were like a cold forest, spreading to the end of the line of sight. .
(End of this chapter)