Embers of Embers

Chapter 54
Lorenzo was sitting on a chair with his hands handcuffed behind his back. Eve was sitting with his back facing him, and all around were soldiers holding thermite rifles. On fire.
Although Lorenzo was sitting in the dark platform, with tall walls blocking his view, the sound of the roaring machine came from the dark night. It was so heavy and distant that Lorenzo could detect it just from the sound. To the size of the machine.
Something is really going to happen tonight.
"So, this is your true identity, right?"
Looking at the shrike in front of him, Lorenzo recognized his voice the moment he spoke. This detective was really keen in some aspects.
"Don't talk yet, let me guess."
Lorenzo was talking as if he was showing off his skills. He was thinking, and everything about Shrike's past was spliced ​​together in his mind, and finally his original appearance was revealed.
"To a member of the demon organization, the owner of the lower city, and the secretary of the nobles..."
Thoughts were racing through his mind, and he was only one step away from the truth.
Lan Jade on the side felt something was wrong. She pulled out the iron rod from her waist, and with a swing, the blade popped out of the gap in the steel. It turned out to be a slightly longer folding knife.
"It's not necessary. He will guess it sooner or later. What we have to do now is just a secret exchange. You must know that this detective is really valuable."
The moment Lorenzo saw him, Shrike knew very well that many secrets would become clear before Lorenzo's eyes, like everything under the sun without a shadow.
"So what did the queen name you?"
Suddenly Lorenzo raised his head, his eyes seemed to see through everything, and he already understood everything.
"These arms and weapons cannot be made by some gangster boss. Whether it is raw materials, production technology, or even research and development, it requires a very strong foundation to be conceived... Only the machine called the state can do it."
As if he had thought of something, Lorenzo was enlightened.
"In other words, is this your true identity, Shrike? You are not the secretary of some noble, you are the queen's secretary. All the evidence of the crimes of those nobles in the Lower City is in your hands. As long as the queen needs it, she will strangle them. The iron hand."
"Lorenzos are too smart and will die quickly."
Lorenzo was able to guess this because Shrike expected it, or it seemed wrong that Lorenzo couldn't guess this.
"So I have enough money to earn trust."
"Our trust? You are an uncontrollable stranger. What you say is really unreliable."
"At least we have the same goal now."
"what?"
"The Sacred Coffin."
It was the nightmare deep in the nightmare, the center that created this chaos and illusion, the source of everything.
Shrike's eyes narrowed. He didn't know how Lorenzo knew about its existence. He obviously didn't tell him. After all, at that time, Lorenzo was just a detective who could fight, not a demon hunter. People who have connections with each other.
"Don't be stunned, you entrusted me to investigate the case, right? So it's normal to find some key information, isn't it?"
"So this is the price for you?"
"Yes, so why don't we exchange the existing information and work together?"
Lorenzo had no consciousness of being held at gunpoint. The firing of so many thermite rifles could melt him in an instant, but he seemed not to see it and shook his chair vigorously as he spoke.
"Besides, Shrike, you need me. Those people don't want you to get the Sacred Coffin, as you can see from the demons on the train."
The demon hunter has killed many demons in his short career, and his professional experience is far richer than everyone here.
"We still don't know where monsters come from, but we know very well how humans mutate into monsters."
Lorenzo began his analysis.
"When I first got on the train, I thought it was a group of demons disguised as humans and sneaked into the carriage. But when I calmed down, I realized that was not the case. It was simply unrealistic for so many demons to gather in one car. The only result would be a mutation. The process of becoming a monster happens in the car."
These words seemed to touch something. Shrike stared at the detective in front of him. He had known him for almost six years, but Shrike suddenly found that he had never really understood this mysterious detective.
"You were there that night in the underground palace, right?"
Lorenzo looked at Shrike. You can read a lot from a person's expression. Although Shrike didn't speak, Lorenzo already knew the result.
"They have the technology to raise monsters, and they even say they have highly polluting things that can mutate people into monsters in a short period of time."
Lorenzo is like a salesman who finally reveals his true intentions.
"So Shrike you need me, a professional."
"...Compared to this, I still think it would be better to kill you directly or lock you up."
Lorenzo also understood what Lorenzo was talking about. At the same time as Yin Erweg was rising rapidly, the Purge Agency was also expanding rapidly. It was no longer the organization hiding in the shadows. After the Demon Hunting Order was disbanded, it was The only torch.
"Wait...you are...Eve?"
During the conversation, Lan Jade, who had been surrounding her, turned his attention to the girl behind Lorenzo. Her little face was dirty, but she felt somewhat familiar. When Lan Jade came closer, she realized that it was actually the girl behind Lorenzo. Eve.
"you know me?"
Eve raised her head. The woman in front of her was wearing a dome-shaped iron helmet and was heavily armed. She could not recall this person in her memory.
At this time, Shrike also came over. To be honest, this name was much more troublesome than Lorenzo. Looking at the girl, Shrike felt that his head was going to explode.
"Why are you here?"
"She's possessed by a demon."
Lorenzo spoke first before Eve could speak.
"Her connection with darkness is deepening... I think you should also understand this concept, right? Fighting monsters is like fighting in a swamp. The harder you exert yourself, the more you will fall into the swamp called darkness."
"She was discovered by a demon and entrusted me to protect her."
"By protection you mean taking her on this damn train?"
The shrike looked back angrily.
"She came to find me."
The two of them looked at each other with unexplainable meanings in their eyes, like roaring lions meeting each other on a narrow road.
Eve sat behind Lorenzo. She had no idea what was going on, but even though there were so many people with weapons, she was not afraid at all. Compared to the monsters, these humans were much kinder.
"I need to ask my superiors for instructions."
"Then I recommend you hurry up. After all, you seem to be in a hurry."
Shrike took a deep look at Lorenzo, and then the figure disappeared into the darkness. Lan Jade clenched the folding knife tightly, and the blade was placed under Lorenzo's throat. No matter how vigilant he was to this detective, he could not be too wary.
After about 5 minutes, the shrike from the end of the darkness came back, looking unhappy and even a little serious.
"Looks like we're going to have a brief collaboration."
"Oh, let's get acquainted again."
Lorenzo stood up as he spoke. The chains that bound him had fallen off at some point. He stretched out his hand with a kind look on his face.
"Former Demon Hunter of the Demon Hunter Order, Lorenzo Holmes."
Shrike's body and mind were slightly shaken. This detective had already broken free, so what was his conversation just now? Was it an expression of goodwill?
"Cleaning agency, high-ranking knight, Shrike."
The two hands were held together. The last time they did this was when Lorenzo arrived in Old Dunling for the first time. It was also after this handshake that Lorenzo started his new life.
Suddenly Lorenzo pulled Shrike over with force. In Lan Jade's view, the two of them were just trusting and close, but during the close process, Lorenzo whispered in Shrike's ear.
"You...your superior changed her mind because of Eve, right? But she doesn't know you...you should know what happened in her body, right?"
The secret blood that has been lurking in Eve's body for an unknown period of time can only be connected with the purging mechanism that fights demons in the shadow of Inlveg, but why did this girl get in touch with it.
Shrike wasn't going to answer the question, so he asked instead.
"A new life means leaving behind the old past, so what does that mean to you? Lorenzo."
A hearty smile appeared on Lorenzo's face.
"Everything has a premise, just like principles and so on. The monsters must be driven out and killed."
The witcher said so.
(End of this chapter)