Embers of Embers

Chapter 520 Return to Ordinary
After the naval battle with the Black Fang pirates, the voyage of the Dawn Advance ushered in a peaceful time. The scarred ironclad ship advanced in high gear, leaving a turbid white torrent on the sea. The cargo ships followed it, Moving straight forward, full of supplies and hope.
How many days has it been since we left the port of Rendona?Lorenzo also couldn't remember it clearly. The monotonous life at sea not only made people feel boring, but also the senses were blurred by the mechanical repetition.
Lorenzo no longer cared about what day it was. He just wanted to reach land as soon as possible and let his feet stand on solid ground. This swaying deck was really hard to feel at ease with.
"Lan Jade, are you bored too?"
Lorenzo turned his head and looked at Lan Jade, who was kneeling on the deck. She was holding a brush in one hand and a bucket in the other, constantly rubbing against the bulkhead to clean away the rust.
Lan Jade was too lazy to pay attention to him, or to be precise, she was too lazy to pay attention to anyone. She scratched the rust hard to give herself something to do.
"What about you? Seleu, what do you think of the sea?"
Lorenzo looked to the other side again. Seleu moved a small chair and sat in the shadow. The sea breeze was blowing on her face. It sounded quite gentle, but after a long time, it also made people a little uncomfortable. But she squinted her eyes and was stubborn. sitting on the chair.
Seliu said she wanted to see the sea, and then sat there. She was quite interested at first, but after a few minutes, even Seliu seemed to be sluggish.
The sea is a monotonous picture. If it weren't for the rolling clouds, sometimes you would doubt that you are still where you are.
But this is not too bad. Even though it is so monotonous, Seliu still likes to sit here and feels free.
Since becoming the Duke of Stuart, she has had very little free time. She is either learning new knowledge or attending various meetings. Although many people in the group also have the power to make decisions, in the end Seliu's signature is required.
For Seliu, this can be said to be a rare vacation. Of course, this vacation seems a bit exciting.
There are hurried figures on the fort not far away, and the maintenance of the Morning Glory Advance is still continuing. Before arriving at the Viking countries, some repairs can be made.
The continuous firing caused Ascalon to have some problems. The main reason was that the base was a little unstable. It can be seen that the bracket that supports the gun barrel has been slightly bent. As for the slide rail below that is used to control the direction, it has completely broken. .
Here is a restful vacation, and you can reach the stern battlefield within a few steps. Seliu has long been accustomed to such a somewhat fragmented life.
"It's okay. It's like a desert made of water, stretching as far as the eye can see. If you're not careful, you might die here."
Seliu said slowly, the afternoon sun was setting, and it was a bit hot, making people drowsy.
The crew is not like her. As logistics personnel, they speed up maintenance and work from morning to night. They are very busy, but everyone likes such a busy life. For them, in this long and boring During the trip, we finally had something to do to pass the time, and everyone was immersed in it.
"A desert made of water? It sounds quite romantic."
Lorenzo said as he felt a coolness, the chill from the sea breeze.
He looked towards the direction of the Morning Glory Advance, and a steady stream of coldness invaded him. Although most of it was neutralized by the scorching sunlight, Lorenzo was still keenly aware of it.
"It seems like the Viking kingdoms are not far away."
"How did you know?" Seliu asked.
"By feeling."
Lorenzo muttered, seemingly casually, but he had been observing Seleu.
This is a smart little girl, and Lorenzo is wary of her finding the secrets that he has deliberately hidden. Just like what he said at the beginning, Seleu must not know the information about the end of the world.
Two worlds overlap on this ship, one is the world of mortals, and the other is the hell of demons. The two are so close that you can touch each other as long as you stretch out your hand, but you just can't see their existence, one after another. A tall figure formed a wall of people to keep them out.
Lorenzo took off his shirt, picked up his special harpoon, and climbed to the railing.
When he arrived in the Viking countries, Lorenzo had no interest in continuing fishing. He didn't want to jump into cold water to catch fish.
"It's really almost here."
Lorenzo looked at the sea below. There were broken ice floes drifting along the current. They melted very quickly and there were only small pieces.
……
"Are they...a battle of wits and courage?"
The shrike came over carrying a bucket and a mop, and he couldn't take any time off, trying to find something to do for himself as much as possible.
"What do you mean?"
Lan Jade stopped what she was doing and raised her head to look at the shrike walking over.
He was facing the sun, his face was dark, and he was wearing loose clothes. Generally speaking, Lan Jade couldn't recognize him at all, but she saw the silver revolver in his pocket at a glance.
"She and him, one side racked their brains to dig out some secret, the other side hid it again and again..."
Shrike shook his head helplessly, "This seems like a pitiful predicament."
"We've been in this predicament, doing... barely bright things, but we can't tell anyone about them."
Lan Jade and Shrike are quite familiar with each other, probably because they have experienced life and death together. Lan Jade is somewhat more talkative towards Shrike.
"By the way, Shrike, do your family members know what you do?"
"what?"
Shrike didn't expect the topic to lead here.
"I'm curious, how would you explain such a job to your family and lie? But once you tell a lie once, you need more lies to fill it up. Don't your family notice anything?"
Lan Jade asked very curiously.
"Why do you ask this?" said the Shrike.
"Just curious."
Lan Jade explained, her expression seemed a little troubled.
"Myself...I don't need to explain to anyone. The same goes for Kestrel. Joey, you know that their family has been affiliated with the purge agency for generations, just like the Phoenix family. As for Robin, his family is very The simple and rough explanation is that he is a military chaplain who always goes on business trips to dangerous places to pray for the soldiers."
"It sounds really messy." This was the first time Shrike heard these things, and then he felt strange, "If nothing else, do people really believe the bullshit like the robin?"
"At least he does look like a pious priest, more than that."
Lan Jade pointed at Lorenzo not far away. This guy was standing on the railing, holding a harpoon with a rope in his hand, looking at the surging sea with excitement.
"Well, it looks like our priest is going to go hunting."
Even Blue Jade admired Lorenzo's self-entertainment spirit at this moment. A guy like this can survive strong no matter where he is thrown.
"I remember the regulations. Each of us uses a code name to act. We should keep our past secret, right?"
At this time, Shrike remembered the regulations.
"Are there any such regulations?"
The blue jadeite leaned against the newly cleaned bulkhead. The sun was scorching hot, and the water stains on it evaporated in a short time.
"Talk about whatever you want, Shrike, just to pass the time. I'll be here for who knows how long."
The shrike thought for a moment, put down the bucket and mop, and leaned into the cool shadow.
"Actually, my situation is similar to Joey's. My family has been affiliated with the purge agency for a long time. Every generation has one or two unlucky people who are dragged into the purge agency." Shrike pointed at himself, "That's me. A generation of unlucky ghosts.”
"But something special is that only the core members of the family know about the existence of the purification agency. It is probably limited to the head of the family, service members, and members who have served in the purification agency. In other words, most people in the family don't know about us. doing what.
Over a long period of time, this has become a consensus rule. No one will ask us these things. Even if curious people ask, our answers are confidential and we cannot say anything. "
"It sounds quite boring." Lan Jade felt a little bored.
"What do you think it will be?" Shrike asked.
"Probably... your family saw through your lies, so you had to tell more lies, and then you were busy repairing them."
Lan Jade rarely showed her casual side, her expression was still cold, but now she definitely gave off a much warmer feeling.
"Now I wonder if you have read the pamphlets distributed by the scavengers." Shrike said.
"booklet?"
Lan Jade had some impressions. She couldn't remember the specific content, but she vaguely remembered that it had nothing to do with her, so she didn't pay much attention to it.
"Yes, they often send out some identity information booklets, which contain different professional identities, professional knowledge, and some questions and answers. If you memorize some of them, you will have a new identity."
"Is that so? Then I probably didn't pay much attention. Anyway, besides the purification mechanism, I had nowhere else to go."
Blue Jade and Kestrel are somewhat similar. They both have no place to go back to, so they just stay in the purification agency and easily adapt to such a strange life.
However, the two people are very different in personality. Kestrel is always very optimistic. In his words, if there was no purification mechanism, he should have died in some dirty puddle. Now he enjoys every day All stolen from Death.
Based on this idea of ​​living one day and earning one day, Kestrel's life was surprisingly good.
Lan Jade is on the other extreme. Maybe it's because her past experiences are still bothering her. She always looks gloomy, doesn't say anything, and stays silent.
After working with Lan Jade for so long, there were only a handful of times when she talked too much. The most recent time in Shrike's memory was on the death train, when the two of them confided in each other about the will and prepared to go to the place of death.
then……
Shrike thought, and looked aside, only to hear Lorenzo cheering, and then he jumped down holding the harpoon, making a beautiful splash.
This guy is the happiest, right?
"Sometimes I think about the future, Shrike, where we will end up."
Lan Jade suddenly said, she stared into Shrike's eyes without any emotion at all.
"future?"
"If all the demons are killed, and all the things and things that appear because of the demons, such as the purification agencies and the demon-hunting sect, what will be our final outcome?" Lan Jade thought, "When the forest is no longer When there is prey, the hunter loses the meaning of his existence.”
"I have never thought about such a far-fetched thing, but I heard that the purification agency does have such a plan."
Shrike heard Lan Jade's distress and was a little unclear as to why she would ask such a question.
"Don't be too surprised. The purge agency has all kinds of weird plans. They even have a plan for a 'literary killer'."
"what is that?"
This name makes Lan Jade feel a little baffled.
"Maybe some retired guys turned their experiences in the purification agency into novels and published them. In fact, the harm of this situation is not great, but the purification agency still took appropriate countermeasures," Shrike's voice said After a pause, he pretended to be in suspense, "Our elite team will come to burn his manuscripts, and then drag him to Black Mountain Hospital until he forgets those things."
"As for the future you are talking about, its plan is called 'Return to Ordinary'."
"Return to ordinary?"
"That's right, all the demons have been killed. Our mission has finally been completed. It's time to disperse," Shrike said with a smile. "It sounds pretty good to put down the endless fighting and killing and experience a normal life." Yes, I just don’t know if we can catch up.”
"Sounds pretty tough."
Lan Jade thought of her biological father and his blood was flowing in her body, and she had the same trouble for a while.
Return to the ordinary.
This is something that many people desire, but for Blue Jade, it is so unfamiliar. She is different from Kestrel. Kestrel will always adapt to the environment and survive, but sometimes Blue Jade cannot adapt to this. She couldn't imagine a life without the shotgun.
Unknowingly, Lan Jade has been integrated into this huge machine called the purification mechanism, and ordinary life is too far away for her.
"Sometimes I'm afraid..."
Lan Jade's voice lowered as she spoke, and the sound of the waves easily covered it up.
Shrike didn't hear her words. He was attracted by the fish-man jumping from the sea.
I saw Lorenzo jumping up in the sea with a big fish on his shoulders. He looked very funny. The fish tail twitched hard and slapped him in the face. His feet that landed on the ground also slipped and he was miserable. As he screamed, Lorenzo rolled around the deck several times with the big fish in his arms, knocking over a few unlucky people passing by, and finally stopped next to the dismantled bracket.
"We have arrived!"
At this moment Notal also came out and shouted loudly on the deck.
He pointed at the sea in front of the Morning Glory Advance. Floating ice could be seen everywhere, accompanied by a cold breeze.
"We have arrived in the waters of the Viking Kingdoms!"
(End of this chapter)