Embers of Embers

Chapter 376 Office
Old Dunling still looks the same. It seems that the heavy rain didn't change anything, but there seems to be some subtle changes, but many people can't notice it.
The door of 121A Cork Street has not been opened for a long time, and there is no light in the windows. It seems to have become an empty house, no longer inhabited.
From time to time, pedestrians would stand on the side of the road and cast their gaze towards the house. They vaguely remembered this place, remembering that there lived an eccentric old lady, a tenant who was always absent-minded, and another who liked to do community service. guy.
They all seemed to have left, not knowing what to do, but such thoughts did not stay in the minds of pedestrians for too long. For them, the people and things at 121A Cork Street were just a fallen leaf in life. It's not worth caring about so much.
Just like that, dust gradually filled the stairs.
Kestrel stood under the eaves not far away, looking at the house from a distance, picking up the record handed to him, and sighed helplessly.
"How about it?"
Robin came over and then asked.
"There was no movement, no trace of anyone coming back, and the surveillance personnel didn't find anything unusual...it seems like that guy Lorenzo is really dead."
Kestrel had a sad look on his face.
A month and a half has passed since the Reichenbach crash. During this period, the cleanup agencies never gave up looking for traces of Lorenzo. According to the investigation of the crash site, they did not find Lorenzo's body. In addition, they had no idea about this lunatic. Most people believe that Lorenzo is not dead and that this guy is hiding from everyone.
"If he were still alive, do you think he would still be in Old Dunling?" asked the robin, with the same sorrow on his face.
In that desperate storm, they experienced too much together and witnessed Lancelot's death. After that, some rumors spread. It seems that Lorenzo had conflicts with the senior officials of the purification agency before that. , looking at it this way, Lorenzo's hiding is not unreasonable.
"How do I know this kind of thing?"
Kestrel answered casually, but at this moment he seemed to have seen something, and his expression suddenly became nervous.
The robin also saw the kestrel's performance and turned his eyes directly in the direction he was looking.
I saw a carriage stopped in front of the door of 121A Cork Street. More than one, many carriages suddenly stopped in front of the door of 121A Cork Street. Then the workers got off the carriage, picked up tools and ladders and started moving. Come on, the scene is lively.
"what happened?"
The kestrel looked at the robin in astonishment.
"how could I know?"
The robin was also confused. During the period of Lorenzo's disappearance, this place had been a heavily monitored area by the purification agency, basically eliminating the possibility of any outside interference. But today, such a group of people suddenly came, and it seemed that their The construction site is located at 121A Cork Street.
"Do you want to stop it?"
Kestrel asked, somewhat caught off guard by the sudden turn of events.
"This...wait."
Robin was about to say something, but was interrupted by what he saw.
On the second floor balcony of 121A Cork Street, a sleepy-eyed guy came out. He was still wearing light blue pajamas and a ridiculous nightcap.
what happened?Isn't there no one here?
The two looked at each other and read these words in each other's eyes.
But that's not the end yet. The strange guy scratched his head, looked at the workers working hard on the first floor, and then sharply caught the two people watching in the corner.
He raised his hand and waved, greeting the two of them.
"Yo! Good morning!"
Looking at that familiar figure, Kestrel and Robin were completely stunned.
……
Although Mrs. Van Rude left, the interior decoration remained unchanged, as usual, but this time the person sitting on the main sofa was no longer the ill-tempered old lady, but a smiling lunatic.
Lorenzo looked at the two guests and crossed his legs like a grown man.
"Why, you look surprised."
Lorenzo was the first to break the calm. He looked happy, as if the impact of the storm on him had subsided and he was back to his nervous self.
"How should I put it? It was indeed a bit unexpected. I thought your return... would be a bit more nonsense."
Kestrel thought for a while and replied, based on his understanding of Lorenzo, if he survived this disaster, he would definitely return in a very cool way, but he never expected that this time would be so ordinary, so Kestrel The high expectations were met with disappointment.
The robin didn't think about this, he was already ready to settle the matter here, and reprimanded the guys in charge of surveillance. Such a big living person returned here and slept here, but they didn't find anything.
"Oh, oh, is that so? But...it's not such a nonsense appearance, right? It can be considered a particularly nonsense appearance?"
asked Lorenzo, and then he laughed again.
After smiling, this guy finally became serious, and the two guys opposite him also became serious.
"You have been missing for a month and a half, but you have appeared now. This means that Lorenzo is not going to hide from us anymore. So you are also ready to answer our questions, right?"
Robin said solemnly, after the storm, the purification mechanism was overloaded. While dealing with the Black Mountain Hospital, it was also hunting down new religious groups and contacting the Evangelical Church.
This was a heavy blow to the purification agency, but fortunately they also gained a lot from this disaster. Even more fortunately, the storm obscured everyone's sight, and the secret of the demon was still well hidden behind the scenes. Human sanity is maintained.
It is no longer a few hundred years ago, when travel was all dependent on horse-drawn carriages, and communication was all based on letters. In this old era, information control was very convenient, but what happens in old Dunling now will be reported in the next moment through telegraphs, trains, etc. The method spreads at an extremely fast speed. If it is not controlled properly, the entire Western world will know the existence of the demon within a few days.
This is also one of the disasters that the purification agency is worried about. If the demonic corruption is spread through a large-scale message, then the entire world will fall into hell.
What is even more desperate is that the purification agencies still have no good response plan for this disaster. Even if the scavengers have a certain degree of antimemetics, there is still a big problem in terms of delivery.
Lorenzo nodded. Since he appeared, he was ready for everything.
"How did you survive?"
Without waiting for the robin to ask further questions, the kestrel said first that he later went to investigate the location where Reichenbach fell. The entire ridge was on fire. At that height, he couldn't figure out how Lorenzo could do it. Survived.
"It's simple, I wasn't thrown to death."
"that's it?"
"That's it, otherwise what do you think it is? I landed on the ground and rolled a few times to completely relieve my force? How is this possible?"
Lorenzo recalled the scene at that time. In the state of critical breakthrough, the demon hunter's physique was raised to a dangerous edge by the secret blood. As the Black Angel glided and decelerated, Lorenzo fell heavily to the ground. superior.
I remember that he lay there for a long time before he recovered. When he got up, his internal organs were ruptured and his bones were broken. This was an injury that could easily kill a human, but for demon hunters, as long as they had a breath left, they could survive tenaciously.
"About what happened on the Reichenbach..." Robin asked again.
Regarding this question, Lorenzo paused and asked after a while.
"In fact, with your ability to purify the mechanism, you will definitely be able to find out what happened during the follow-up investigation, right? Now you just need me, a person who has experienced it personally, to confirm all this."
Lorenzo thought for a moment and hid some parts of the story that he didn't want to tell.
"As you know, I induced the demon hunters of the new order to choose the Reichenbach as the battlefield, where I killed them all... You have to thank me, my actions relieved the pressure on you at that time. The pressure on Black Mountain Hospital, otherwise the melee there would be far more terrifying than you imagine.”
"Is that so..."
Robin thought about it, and the purification agency had indeed found out basically everything during the investigation. According to what Lorenzo said, it was consistent with the results of the investigation.
"Do you have any other questions?"
Lorenzo asked again, looking impatient.
His current temperament is a bit special. The robin didn't know what words to describe it for a while, but at this moment the kestrel beside him said it just right.
"You... feel like the head of the family now."
"Oh oh oh! You think so too, right?"
Lorenzo suddenly seemed very excited and sat up from the sofa with a cunning look on his face.
"Oh, this feels really good. From now on, I am the only one who has the final say here."
As he spoke, he took out a pistol from his arms and fired directly at the target on the wall.
After the deafening gunfire, a dark bullet hole appeared on the bullseye. Behind the slowly rising white smoke, both Robin and Kestrel looked a little confused. Although they were familiar with Lorenzo's acting style, they were really surprised. It's still a bit difficult to get along with him.
The door was pushed open, and the worker looked suspiciously at the direction of the gunfire. Lorenzo shook the gun in his hand and shouted to him.
"How long until it's over?"
The worker looked at Lorenzo, then at the robin and kestrel sitting upright, and he swallowed.
"Soon, sir."
After saying that, he closed the door without even looking at it, and motioned for others to speed up. Although it was a business involving money, meeting these strange customers would always cause a sudden increase in psychological pressure.
The two people's eyes were still at the door. Suddenly Kestrel thought of something and asked Lorenzo.
"What are they doing?"
Lorenzo's expression changed slightly, like a cunning fox, and he said mysteriously.
"You'll find out soon."
There was constant noise outside the door, and no one knew what the great detective had been doing secretly after missing for so long, but Kestrel suddenly felt a little nostalgic, which reminded him of the time when he first met Lorenzo.
A particularly reliable psychopath, rather than a bitter and hateful avenger, of course, these two identities do not conflict, but it is obvious that this somewhat neurotic guy is more reassuring at the moment, especially when he is driving something that is not funny. When making a bad joke.
"If possible, I hope you can come back to the purification agency with us. There are many things that Arthur wants to ask you face to face."
Unlike the kestrel that came for an outing, the robin still knew what he should do. After the small talk, the conversation came to the main topic.
They were not aware of the previous conflict between Lorenzo and Arthur, but they were also vaguely aware of some of the inside story, which made the robin a little nervous. Although the guy in front of him looked very kind, but as a lunatic, this The most frightening thing about human beings is their uncontrollability.
Maybe the next moment Lorenzo, who was smiling, would pull out his sword from nowhere and chop everyone present. And if he thought about it carefully, this was indeed something he could do.
"I know, I know, but please wait a moment."
Lorenzo looked at the door expectantly.
Amidst the noise, the doorbell suddenly rang, and a courier walked in doubtfully. He was a little curious about what the workers outside were doing, and even more curious about the three weird guys in the house. However, in line with professional ethics, he knew very well that he could not Should ask more.
"Is Mr. Lorenzo Holmes here?" he asked.
"Here! Here!"
Lorenzo got up and ran over excitedly.
He put the signed express delivery on the small table and opened it under the curious eyes of the two people.
It was a gun, a finely crafted shotgun. Robin and Kestrel remembered this gun deeply. It was Lorenzo's favorite weapon. Although it was blown to pieces in the fatal fight on the train, But today it appears again, from the hands of a certain craftsman.
"Winchester……"
Lorenzo whispered and stroked it, just like in his memory. At Lorenzo's request, the craftsman carved it together with the little poem.
It seemed that Lorenzo would pick up the gun and fire at the target in the next second, but he didn't. After a moment of nostalgia, he picked up the shotgun and hung it on the wall.
At this time, the two people who were watching discovered some subtle changes in 121A Cork Street. Lorenzo placed several brackets on the wall of the main entrance and hung the shotgun high, so that guests would see it as soon as they entered. To this raised firearm.
Before the two of them could ask anything, the worker opened the door again and said to Lorenzo.
"Sir, it's over. Please take a look."
"Ok!"
Lorenzo ran over happily, his pajamas swinging violently like a cloak, not forgetting to signal to the robin and the kestrel to follow him.
121A Cork Street.
The three of them stood in front of the exterior decoration decorated by workers, with different expressions.
Lorenzo looked excited, Robin was a little confused, and as for Kestrel, he was in a trance looking at the plaque hanging next to the door.
The wire was bent into the shape of a firearm, with a few rough handwritings randomly outlined on it. As the workers placed the Nixie tube into the gap, the dazzling light after the electricity was turned on almost blinded the Kestrel's eyes.
Lorenzo, on the other hand, was very satisfied with all this. He walked up to the two of them, with his back against 121A Cork Street, stretched out his hand and handed a business card to the robin who was still a little dazed.
"This is the Winchester Detective Agency. We take on all the work we can handle. But if it's related to monsters, please pay double the price."
Lorenzo's smile gradually grew crazier, but the bright light behind him only lasted for less than a few seconds. It might be a quality problem. The Nixie tubes kept flickering on and off. In the end, only a few scattered ones were still on. Light, a gaudy look.
(End of this chapter)