Embers of Embers

Chapter 372 Farewell
A month has passed since the terrible storm. After being shut down for a few days, the huge machine in Old Dunling started rumbling again. The furnace was ignited again, and the machinery in the factory pushed the assembly line. The hot water vapor The gray smoke rose into the sky again, and everything was as usual, nothing had changed.
A month later, people still mentioned the storm from time to time, and the radio also broadcast some strange stories derived from it, such as rainstorm monsters and the like, but people just looked at each other and smiled. There are no monsters in this world. Those are just people's fantasies.
In the eyes of the citizens, it was just a rare storm. They knew nothing about the secret war that took place under the heavy rain.
The world is still the same, harmonious and beautiful. Everyone plays a fixed role and does their own thing. Some people are eager to live, and some are eager to die.
People were coming and going in the old Dunling Central Railway Station, and warm light fell through the dome, dyeing the place with a layer of gold, like a glorious palace.
No one knows how long this sunny day will last, but bathing in this precious sunshine, everyone has a smile on their face.
Mrs. Van Roode slowly sat down on the bench next to the platform with her luggage. She looked at her watch and saw that there was still some time before her train would arrive.
She didn't look very good, her face lacked color, as if she had gone through a tiring thing that had consumed all her energy.
Just like what she said to Lorenzo at that time, she had her eye on a small town far away from the old Dunling, and was going to spend the rest of her life there with her savings. It would be a good time, sparsely populated there, and it would always be sunny.
Mrs. Van Lourdes was thinking about beautiful things, but she couldn't laugh at all, and she didn't even have any expectations.
"Then, I'll send you here."
There was a voice from the other side. Shrike walked to Mrs. Van Rude with the remaining luggage. He did not sit down, as if he was in a hurry and was in a hurry to leave.
"Well, thank you, Shrike? I remember that's the name, right." Mrs. Van Rude looked at Shrike and then asked.
Mrs. Van Rude knew Shrike, but the relationship between them was not close. He came here because of Lorenzo. If it were not for Lorenzo, Shrike would not be here at all.
"Yes."
"I remember that appearance is very important in your business. I have written down your appearance. You won't encounter any accidents, right?" Mrs. Van Rude joked.
"How is that possible? After all, as the 'landlord', you have helped me a lot, and after today we will never meet again. Maybe you will die in a few years."
Seven years ago, in order to deal with Lorenzo, a foreigner, Shrike casually threw him to Mrs. Van Lude. He himself did not expect that so many things would happen later, completely beyond imagination.
"Oh? Really? I thought there was no such thing as 'retirement' in your industry." Mrs. Van Roode was surprised.
Mrs. Van Rude didn't know the inside story of all this. She didn't even know the existence of monsters. In her opinion, Shrike was a gang boss in the lower town and managed some thugs. Although Lorenzo claimed to be a detective, he was probably also a detective. Serve the slayer of darkness.
Most people may be scared, but Mrs. Van Rude, who was a former air cavalryman, doesn't care about this. On the contrary, she finds it interesting.
"I just didn't expect you to come see me off in person. After all, you are...a gang boss?"
"Probably so," Shrike replied.
"Is it Lorenzo's request? Or is it a will or something? This guy never disappears for more than half a month. Even if he disappears for more than such a long time, he will leave a note in advance... I was just joking, I didn't expect that guy I really thought I would throw away all his things."
Mrs. Van Rude said with some nostalgia that it was just a joking threat, but Lorenzo actually took it seriously. Whenever his "business trip" lasted for a long time, he would leave a note and one month's rent. .
"But this time this guy didn't leave a note or rent. He disappeared for a month. Is he dead? It stands to reason, he has been in your business for so long, and he can live safely for such a long time. Is that considered lucky?"
Mrs. Van Rude looked like she had seen through everything. In her opinion, Lorenzo, as a killer, failed in a certain operation, was penetrated by a stray bullet, and died like a wild dog on the roadside.
This conjecture deviates from the real situation, but if you think about it carefully, there is not much difference.
"I don't know. He may be dead or not dead. After all, we haven't found his body yet." Shrike answered.
"Did it happen in that storm?"
"Ah."
"It's too bad. Maybe his body was washed away by the river and was sinking to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish. It rained really hard."
It was obviously a very serious matter, but the two of them seemed very leisurely when talking about it.
"Where's Sig?"
Mrs. Van Roode asked again.
Shrike fell silent. He remembered Lorenzo's roommate and the arrest that took place in front of 121A Cork Street.
According to the records of the Black Mountain Hospital, Sigurd was eroded. During the subsequent body recovery, the scavengers confirmed the identity of the corpse, and Sigurd was transformed into a demon.
After looking at Mrs. Van Rude's old face, the originally indifferent Shrike suddenly hesitated.
How could he say such a thing?Regardless of whether all this involves demon intelligence.
He couldn't help but feel tangled in his heart. If it weren't for Lorenzo, Shrike really didn't want to appear here, but he couldn't help it. Maybe the old man knew some information about Lorenzo's disappearance, but it seemed that she was a complete An outsider who knows nothing.
"I am not sure."
"Is that so..."
"Then it's time for me to go, bye."
Shrike nodded to Mrs. Van Rudd. He didn't want to ask anything else. He just wanted to leave here quickly. He didn't know what happened between the landlord and the tenant. He just felt that the atmosphere made him feel extremely uncomfortable. of suffering.
Mrs. Van Rude didn't say anything else. In fact, she had a premonition of something during the heavy rain. The abnormal Sigurd and the serious Lorenzo. She wanted to ask what happened, but after the two left the house, they Never came back.
Although she is very old, she is not stupid. She waited for a month and no one came back. As if she had accepted all this, Mrs. Van Roode just wanted to leave the city as soon as possible.
She had thought about the scene of parting, but she never thought that it would be in such a way, so abrupt, that she didn't realize that they had already parted after a month.
The melodious whistle sounded from the end of the horizon, and at the same time there were footsteps. The man came over and sat on the bench, leaning against Mrs. Van Rude.
She turned her head and looked at that disgusting face.
"You're not dead."
"I almost died, but luckily I'm strong, don't you think?"
Lorenzo smiled at her and flexed his muscles as he spoke, but his arms were wrapped in clothes and nothing could be seen.
"So what happened this month."
Mrs. Van Lude was not surprised by Lorenzo's appearance, on the contrary, she was still a little disappointed. In her opinion, Lorenzo might appear in a very cool way, after all, this is in line with his somewhat narcissistic personality. Character, but this time his appearance was too mediocre, a negative score.
"It's quite a lot, kill some damn guys, then go for a walk, relax and think about life."
As Lorenzo said, he suddenly remembered something and asked.
"So you're retiring?"
"You are a detective, don't ask stupid questions like this, okay?" Mrs. Van Roode said unceremoniously.
This made Lorenzo a little embarrassed. Indeed, he just didn't know what to say, so he talked about something useless.
He returned to 121A Cork Street early in the morning, but the door was locked, the furniture in the room was covered with a layer of white cloth to prevent dust, and Mrs. Van Roode's clothes disappeared.
Lorenzo naturally chased her here, and then found her about to leave. Mrs. Van Rude had mentioned her future plans, and Lorenzo knew it very well.
"So how was the month you were missing?"
Mrs. Van Roode asked again.
Lorenzo fell silent, hesitating a little, but finally laughed awkwardly and said helplessly.
"It sucks."
Mrs. Van Roode no longer said anything. The conversation between the two of them usually had some nonsensical and funny elements, just like comedians on the stage, talking about boring things together.
But this time, none of them could laugh. Everyone knew the bad thing faintly, but no one wanted to say it. This seemed to be a terrible wish. If you say it, this terrible wish will become a reality.
"So, where's Sigurd?"
Finally, it was Mrs. Van Roode who asked.
The train appeared at the end of the horizon with raging steam. It began to slow down and approached the station platform.
"He returned to the place he always longed for, that seaside town. Because he was so happy, he didn't have time to say hello to you, so he bought a ticket and left."
Lorenzo lit a cigarette for himself and talked nonsense.
"Is he happy?"
"I am not sure."
"Is home far?"
"It seems a bit far away, so far that we may never see him again."
"How did he die?"
"I don't want to remember this anymore."
The atmosphere fell into silence, and under the warm sunshine, the place was like an ice cellar.
After that storm, Lorenzo found his true self and his true authority. In this long month, he did a lot of things, including the use of the power Gabriel.
This is a wonderful power. Generally speaking, power needs to be triggered through directional guidance through the alchemical matrix on the body of the demon hunter. However, Power Gabriel is different. Lorenzo clearly carries the directional power Medanzo. Alchemy Matrix, but he can still use this mysterious power.
This is a different power, a power that has been deliberately forgotten. Lorenzo still needs to slowly dig out his understanding of it. With the help of this power, Lorenzo can easily invade by using the [gap] to shuttle. After cleaning up the inside of the agency, they also obtained a series of information about the following.
"Sorry, I brought trouble home."
After another moment, Lorenzo whispered.
Although he has never said it, Lorenzo cherishes the part of this life where he can be an "ordinary person" and live like an ordinary person, with a weird landlord and strange roommates, and they have supper together from time to time. , have a festival.
Lorenzo valued these things so much that he never brought any trouble home. This was his first and last mistake.
"Say something, Mrs. Valloode. Whether it's scolding or scolding, say something."
Lorenzo no longer had any emotional ups and downs. He clenched his palm tightly and tightened the cigarette butt that had not been extinguished. A faint feeling of pain flashed away.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"Actually, in the final analysis, I am still a human being. No matter what kind of power I have, I still can't change the nature of my heart. I am a fragile human being. I try to isolate myself from emotions as much as possible because it makes me vulnerable. , but like you said, after living together for so long, even a dog has more or less feelings."
Lorenzo murmured incoherently, like an old woman with a mother-in-law.
This feeling was really bad. He could endure the heat of the fire and the slashing of the sword, but the pain from his heart was extremely unbearable.
"Then you killed him?"
"Who?"
"The culprit."
Lorenzo recalled Moriarty's appearance in his mind. In that [gap], the guy who remained crazy until death came.
"Well, I killed him," Lorenzo replied, "but unfortunately, I couldn't make the guy feel more pain... but for that kind of person, torturing him would be boring."
"So have you been avoiding me this month?"
"That's right...one of various reasons."
Mrs. Vallood did not look at Lorenzo. She kept staring ahead, but there was nothing there.
"I'm going to retire. In fact, I originally wanted to leave the house to you and Sigurd."
"Ah."
It seemed that they really didn't know what to say, and the two of them kept talking.
Lorenzo couldn't stand the depression anymore. He took a deep breath, took out a document bag from his arms and handed it to Mrs. Van Rude.
"what is this."
"It's... some of my farewell gifts."
Lorenzo thought about what to say. He had always been a smooth-tongued guy, but now his words were dry.
"Actually, I was preparing this when you mentioned the pension to me, but I didn't expect it to be given to you in this way. I thought it would be more joyful, such as holding a banner or something."
"You also know that I am working in a high-risk industry, but the rewards in this industry are quite large. In addition, I saved money in some strange ways when I was working before... The orphanage I have been sponsoring has closed down."
Lorenzo said as cheerfully as he could.
"Hey, the housing prices in Old Dunling are really expensive. Those nuns can't continue to run the business. It won't be long before the church there will be taken down and factories will be built... For people like me, things like money It had no practical significance, so I took out all my savings and everything else to help them move the orphanage to a small town.
So in name, I am still a dean, with several nuns and a dozen children under my command. "
As Lorenzo talked, he felt baffled. This kind of thing had nothing to do with him.
"People always need to rely on something to survive. I won't say what I rely on to live on. Anyway, they are all bad things, but you are different. Mrs. Van Rude, you are already so old, you don't have Children, no husband...what you need are relatives.”
Lorenzo stopped mid-sentence. This kind of thing was really difficult. He wanted to say sorry a few more times, but he kept them in his mouth.
"With your personality, you probably won't like the monotonous retirement life, right? For you, it would be like waiting for death, so I thought you could become the dean for me or something.
There are so many children in need of love and care... there are simply a whole family full of children and grandchildren. "
Lorenzo said bad things, but this time he could no more laugh than Mrs. Valloode.
The train stopped in front of the platform, thick water vapor gushes out. In the mist, people leaned against the train, carrying their luggage and walking to different distances.
Mrs. Van Roode let out a long sigh and took the file bag Lorenzo handed her.
"Thank you," Lorenzo said.
She picked up her luggage and stood up, but was not in a hurry to leave. She looked at the endless sky behind the glass dome.
"It's such a pity that I still haven't been able to get on the airship. I really want to touch the sky again."
"Do you mean the Reichenbach?"
"Ah."
"Actually, that thing was blown up by me while playing. It exploded into pieces and fell on the ridge."
I don’t know if Lorenzo is serious or joking, but it seems to be more of a joke.
She knew this guy very well. Whenever something sad happened, this guy liked to joke and tell bad things to try to wash away the sadness a little bit, but this time they were like a torrent, and Lorenzo's bad words were meaningless.
Mrs. Van Roode never looked at Lorenzo again. She picked up her luggage and walked toward the train, leaving in silence.
"Do you hate me? Mrs. Valloode."
Lorenzo looked at her back and asked suddenly.
Mrs. Valloude stopped, and after a long time she slowly turned around and glanced at Lorenzo for the last time.
"It's like you said, everyone is human and has emotions. After living together for so long, I can't hate you even if I want to."
"I don't hate you, Lorenzo Holmes, I just... I just don't want to see you again."
Lorenzo lowered his head like a child being scolded.
"The key is in the mailbox."
The last words were carried in the wind, and Lorenzo raised his head suddenly, but he could only see a pale white mist and the closed car door.
The train slowly drove away from Old Dunling and disappeared under the horizon. Only Lorenzo was left on the platform. The wind blew up the discarded newspapers. Under the brilliant sunlight, it looked desolate.
(End of this chapter)