Embers of Embers

Chapter 370 Lorenzo’s good friends
"How does it feel? Arthur."
Abigail lifted and took off the wrapped gauze bit by bit. Maybe it was because of being a ranger. Although Arthur was older, his physique was still much stronger than ordinary people. The previous hideous wounds were now gone. It healed a lot, leaving a light white mark under the old skin.
"Not bad..." Arthur said, recalling everything he had experienced before, he couldn't help but sigh, "It feels good to be alive."
Arthur rarely has nightmares anymore, but ever since he woke up, he has always dreamed about that last stretch of the journey.
That incredibly long journey.
In the long corridor covered with rust and blood, whether he was moving forward or retreating, there was only an invisible darkness. He ran like crazy, but he could never reach the end, and could only survive in this long period of despair. The will is wasting away in it.
Stepping through the thick pool of blood, smelling the suffocating stench, and witnessing familiar corpses one after another...
"You are lucky. There are basically no fatal injuries. The only thing that needs attention is the wound on your shoulder."
Abigail picked up the scissors and alcohol cotton and continued to treat the wounds on Arthur's body.
"That guy seemed really crazy. I had no strength at that time. I was in the same room with that guy. I was not killed by the demon, but I was almost bitten to death by him."
Arthur smiled wryly, looking to the other side of the ward, there was a patient tied up on the iron bed at the moment, William, the previous technical chief of the perpetual pump.
It seemed that he didn't like his current state very much. He whimpered and growled from time to time, struggling hard like a wild animal.
Since the collapse of the Perpetual Pump more than ten years ago, William has fallen into madness due to high-intensity erosion and turned into a patient. Now he eats whatever he sees. In the storm half a month ago, if If the rescue had not arrived in time, the unconscious Arthur would have had his throat bitten out.
"It seems like this incident has touched you a lot." Abigail looked at Arthur's expression and continued.
"What does the little girl know..." Arthur tried to refute.
Compared with Arthur, Abigail is indeed a little girl. She and Nicholas are considered to be the new generation of scholars of the Purge Agency. In addition, because she has been in the underground scientific research area for many years, her skin is a little sickly white. He looks much younger.
"I just...understand others a little bit."
"What do you mean?"
"Like living, like being afraid of death?" Arthur couldn't help but laugh half way through.
Arthur has never been a person who is afraid of death. As the commander leading the purification agency, he can be cruel and ruthless, easily sacrificing others, as well as himself.
But this time he was afraid. In that deep darkness, he was so afraid of death that he even longed to pray for mercy from the God of Death.
"I can't die, at least I can't die with this information. Cole spent so much effort to pass the torch to my hands, how can I let it go out in my hands?"
Arthur's eyes were looking at the ground, as if he was in a daze.
"So what did you get?"
Abigail asked curiously, about what Arthur knew in that darkness, he hadn't told anyone so far.
"Clues, clues that lead us to the truth."
Arthur raised his head and looked at Abigail, his old eyes filled with blazing fire.
“According to Cole’s intelligence, after he was eroded, his consciousness remained somewhat awake, and his consciousness was trapped in a strange place.
A place he is very familiar with, like a strange spiritual world, or... [gap]. "
Abigail was startled. She knew something about the [Gap]. In the eyes of alchemists, it was regarded as the end of darkness, a deep spiritual space that existed but few people could reach it.
"Do you know what this means? Abigail."
"what?"
Arthur took a deep breath. During the half month of treatment, he had been thinking about all this, the connection between monsters and humans, and what the nature of monsters was.
"Perhaps, all the people who have been alienated into demons have not lost their minds. They are still alive, but their wills are separated from their completely alienated bodies. Their wills are imprisoned and trapped in a space called [the gap] in the cage.”
Abigail's pupils were constricted to a point, and a cold wind blew across her back in the closed room.
Seeing her slight reaction, Arthur laughed hoarsely.
"It's interesting, right, but it's just my speculation. In order to confirm this possibility, I will need your full efforts from Black Mountain Hospital."
"This kind of thing..." Abigail still felt a little incredible.
"Don't panic, you are still too young, we will purify the mechanism, no... Isn't that what we humans do to monsters? Face the unknown, speculate on the unknown, and then verify it in a way we can understand, turning the unknown into the past Know."
Arthur continued to think about everything, everything that Cole had entrusted to him before his death.
"Cole escaped from the [gap] for some unknown reason, so maybe we can find a way to wake him up."
His eyes fell on William.
"This guy has a lot of secrets too, Abigail."
Abigail's eyes also moved to William. After Arthur's explanation, she also understood the identity of this guy. He was the previous Merlin, who was also the previous technical director of the Perpetual Pump.
"More than ten years ago, an accident named the Red News Incident occurred in the Everlasting Pump. It was also because of the Red News Incident that demons were once rampant in the old Dunling. It was even said that Eve was caused by the aftermath of this incident. ……never mind.
William seemed to be doing some experiments at the time, but judging from the information Cole gave him, he seemed to have found the so-called [truth]. Our observation at the time was that huge erosion instantly descended on the Perpetual Pump, and we directly Lost contact with it.
Even today, we don’t know exactly what happened in the Perpetual Pump that day. When we rangers rushed into the Perpetual Pump, there were only monsters that suddenly appeared inside and corpses on the ground. All records were deleted. Some kind of power was deliberately destroyed, and all the people fell into madness due to erosion. "
Arthur's eyes gradually became serious.
"Mordred...that is, Cole, and William, they all fell into madness during the Red News incident...
No...there's something wrong with this..."
The more he recalled the past, the more Arthur recalled various doubts. No, this was not a doubt, but after so many years, Arthur combined his existing intelligence to correct the past Red News incident. At this moment, Some of the doubtful points at that time seemed to become clear.
Immediately, a cold hand stroked Arthur's neck, and he suddenly felt an indescribable uneasiness.
He vaguely felt that something was blocking him, like a wall.
"It's so similar..."
"what are you saying?"
Abigail couldn't hear Arthur's words clearly.
"It's so much like...like another Advent night."
He whispered in a voice that Abigail couldn't hear.
Looking back at this time, Arthur couldn't help but wonder whether there really is a so-called destiny in this world. The understanding of monsters used to be very slow, but in recent years, they have been advancing by leaps and bounds. Armor technology, the Holy Grail and the pseudo The Holy Grail, the decline and rise of the Demon Hunting Order...
These incidents have occurred one after another in these years, as if someone has accelerated the process of history.
"Lorenzo Holmes..."
He couldn't help but recite the familiar yet unfamiliar name, and Arthur rubbed his temples vigorously. In the past, with the physique of a ranger, he didn't care about health care and the like, but now it seems that he has to pay more attention. After all, he has to work hard to live, at least until he knows the truth of all this.
"Where's Merlin?"
"He should be in his castle," Abigail said. "Black Mountain Hospital has become a ruin, and there is no place to take care of many patients. He dedicated his dusty castle."
"Is that so..."
Arthur thought, and then asked again.
"Have you found Lorenzo's whereabouts?"
"I don't know, but according to their speculation, that guy is most likely dead, but we haven't found his body yet." Abigail answered.
In the storm half a month ago, in order to destroy the extremely strong source of pollution, Gareth commanded the Navigation Dawn to launch an artillery bombardment at the Reichenbach, completely destroying the flesh and blood airship.
Lorenzo was also on the airship at that time. Although someone finally observed that he and the Black Angel escaped from the airship, after all, it was an altitude of [-] meters, and the heavy Black Angel did not have any flying ability at all. All he could do was glide, but at this height, gliding could only slow down the coming of death, the impact when he landed would still easily kill him.
"The Black Angel lost control strangely again... But you have to ask Merlin for the specific situation. According to the operating records on the Voyage to Dawn, it was actually Merlin who opened the hatch himself and released the Black Angel."
Abigail said, picking up the report from the table nearby.
"This is what they sent this morning. It is a survey of the crash site of the Reichenbach."
Arthur picked up the report, which contained several black and white photos.
The wreckage of the Reichenbach crashed on the ridge, and the raging fire also spread to the nearby dense forest. Through inspection of the wreckage, many demon corpses were found, and from the index of the Geiger counter at that time, plus the inside of the Black Mountain Hospital, Comparing the corpses of those demons, they speculated that these corpses were demon hunters who had transformed into demons.
The Black Angel that fell several kilometers away was also discovered. The original sin armor nearly fell apart and plowed hundreds of meters of impact tracks on the ground.
However, they did not find Lorenzo's body.
"Do you think that guy is dead?" Arthur asked.
"Probably, after all, at such a high altitude, maybe the strong wind when he fell blew him to another place... Anyway, the place has been blocked by the scavengers. If he died, his body would be found sooner or later."
Abigail seemed to think of something as she spoke, and then said to Arthur.
"By the way, the New Order has left. To be precise, it has fled."
"what?"
Arthur raised his head sharply and stared at Abigail.
"Yes, literally, the report on this matter is also on the table." She said and pointed to the small table next to her, where a mountain-high pile of documents had already been piled up.
"It is certain that they will also disrupt the local war in Black Mountain Hospital, but they have already prepared a response."
"You don't admit it, do you?"
"Yes, the demon hunters in the mission have always been within the consulate, and the demon hunters who acted should have sneaked in secretly, but as long as they don't admit it, we have no direct way.
While you were unconscious, the scavengers also took action, but the other party was a demon hunter after all. A firefight broke out between us. The other party was not interested in fighting, so we had no casualties, but again, we failed to stop these demon hunters. Guys, once we got to the port, we completely lost track of each other. "
Abigail explained that as an important person, she was the luckiest in this local war. She was sent out of the war zone by Shrike immediately. Therefore, she was responsible for a lot of the subsequent handling of the incident.
"Is that so? After all, the opponent is a demon hunter. Without the original sin armor entering the arena, we are still at a disadvantage against these humanoid monsters."
Arthur looked angry. He didn't expect to let the other party escape so easily. But at that time, the purification agency's energy was completely focused on the Black Mountain Hospital. Even if they wanted to pay attention to the new order, with the power of those demon hunters, they could not Difficult to pursue.
"What does the Queen mean?"
"There has been no response from Platinum Palace."
Listening to Abigail's words, Arthur couldn't help but sigh.
"So did we lose this war? To the New Order?"
"No... to be precise, we all lost, to Lawrence's remnants." Abigail looked hesitant, but finally said it.
"Based on the survivors' intelligence and our integration, I think this time we were all tricked by the guy called the Plague Doctor."
"Plague doctor..."
Arthur fell silent as he thought about the weird guy in his mind.
In this local war, countless forces were intertwined. It would take some time for Arthur to fully understand it all, but just then someone knocked on the door.
The door was pushed open, and soldiers carrying weapons came in holding two people, one large and one small.
This combination is very interesting, like a grandfather taking care of his granddaughter, and like a profiteer fooling children.
"You are finally here, Lorenzo's good friends."
Arthur looked at the two people and reorganized his emotions. Just as he thought, there were too many people involved in this incident. There were so many people that even Arthur felt that when he followed the clues and discovered these two people, Somewhat unexpected.
"The Duke of Stuart was quite cooperative. As for Mr. Oscar Wilde... when we found him, he was trying to escape on a train," the soldier said.
Lorenzo's rescue team appeared, but it lacked Hercule. He might really be worthy of being the breeder of the Rat King. Hercule has a very sensitive sense of smell. When he saw the Reichenbach's heading, it was not very clear. At that time, this guy packed up and ran away.
The two who reacted a little slower were directly targeted, and with the purging agency's control over the old dunling, they couldn't hide for long.
Seliu still had an expression of indifference, while Oscar had a shameless smile on his face.
"Oh! I finally see you! I have wanted to accuse Lorenzo of atrocities for a long time! He threatened us to do everything! Yes! That shameless bastard! We are at best accomplices!"
Oscar looked righteous, and this sudden reaction caught Arthur a little off guard, but he reacted immediately.
"Threat? So under the threat of a third-rate detective, the distinguished Duke of Stuart and Nordero... Just like this, you transferred your power to help him do this? You Nordrod even lost a fortune A Reichenbach?"
"It's not accurate to say that I am us! This time it is considered a joint venture between us."
Oscar said with a proud look on his face, and he patted Seleu on the shoulder, and Seleu nodded in cooperation with him, which was rare.
Seeing Oscar's appearance, Arthur was dumbfounded for a moment, but then murderous intent appeared on his peaceful face, and he picked up the gun and pointed it at Oscar.
Oscar was stunned, as if he didn't expect Arthur to be so direct, while Seliu became serious. Although he thought that the consequences of being discovered would be serious, he didn't expect that Arthur would not give them any chance to turn around.
Seleu thought about the next countermeasures, and at this moment Oscar suddenly said to her, with grief on his old cheeks.
"Sorry kid, this is reality, it looks like our revolutionary friendship is over."
Seliu: "?"
"Okay, I've done it all. It's Lorenzo, the lunatic, who is planning to run away from Old Dunling. We agreed that we would just help him plan an escape route, but I didn't know that this guy didn't want to escape at all!"
Ignoring Seliu's curses and fights, Oscar turned his head and shouted without reservation.
(End of this chapter)