Embers of Embers

57 The Long Night
The Glorious steam train once again sped through the dark night, golden lights were released at the front, and endless steam puffed out, like a beast coming out of the white mist.
The carriage shook slightly, and the girl looked at the dark world, wondering what she was thinking.
As the commander of this operation, after inspecting the weapons from Bohans, Shrike and Blue Jade were at the forefront to control the weapons.
The soldiers sat down in the remaining carriages, holding weapons and preparing for the next battle. Lorenzo, because of his own special characteristics, stayed with Eve and sat in an empty carriage. Open the car door and let the wind rush in.
Opposite the two is Kestrel. Although he is responsible for guarding Lorenzo, if the detective wants to do something, no one in this car can stop him.
"Originally, we decided to protect you, but then I thought, you are the safest if you are with us. The weapons carried on this train can even easily destroy a small city."
When faced with Eve's question, Kestrel answered like this.
Lorenzo didn't feel any nervousness at all. He was paralyzed on one side, with a cigarette in his mouth, and he was puffing hard. The white smoke was blown away by the strong wind before it spread. The car door slowly closed.
"It feels... so heavy."
After a long pause, Eve suddenly said this, lowering her head and unable to see her expression clearly.
Kestrel was a little unclear as to what was going on. He looked at the two of them with no clue.
"You have to get used to it. When the casualties reach a certain level, it's just a line of numbers."
Lorenzo knew very well what this girl was worried about. Lorenzo had just burned hundreds of people to death a few ten minutes ago... although they turned into monsters.
"Yeah, but we can't survive without killing them."
Sitting next to Lorenzo, Eve only then realized the true sense of cruelty, helpless and cold, making one decision after another.
"Don't you feel any guilt?"
No matter how you describe it, it is an act of taking a life. Eve didn't take it seriously at first, but from this moment on, she felt heavier than ever before.
“Why should we feel guilty for doing good things?”
Lorenzo answered as if he didn't understand what Eve was saying.
"what?"
Eve couldn't accept it for a moment. Doing good deeds, what on earth was going on in this detective's mind.
The Kestrel on the other side suddenly felt a sense of drama. He didn't know whether he admired Lorenzo's clear thinking or something else. The atmosphere of a young man's psychological sadness instantly turned into a crusade against Lorenzo's anti-social personality.
"Aren't we doing good things? If we don't deal with these monsters here, then if they spread, more people will be contaminated."
Faced with Lorenzo's theory, Eve didn't know what to say for a moment.
"You...don't you have any sense of good and evil?"
"Good and evil? What do you think the so-called good and evil are? I know why you are sad. So many people died in such obscurity, but this is just like nature. When disaster strikes, what we can do is not pray or It’s repentance, and all I can do is minimize the harm.”
Lorenzo said casually, good and evil cannot restrain him, the only thing that restrains him is absolute will, and he has carried out his only purpose so far.
"Countless cattle and sheep are served to the table every day. In comparison, the relationship between demons and us is the same. The real world is not bound by good and evil. It is not the so-called black and white. Even describing it is just It may be the gray of illusion, black and white are fused together and cannot be separated.”
Lorenzo looked at Eve, with a sad emotion on his face full of loss.
"Am I...so-called a little...weak?"
"On the contrary, you have a deep sense of empathy. You feel sad for the death of your kind. This is a very good quality. It shows that you have not become a cruel adult like me."
Lorenzo laughed as he spoke. The kestrel opposite him had the same expression as him, looking like a beautiful younger generation.
Eve is very good. She has not been polluted by the world and is a child who still has kindness. Unlike these two people, they have been made extremely cruel by the world and have killed so many demons who were once humans. These two guys I can't even think of it, it's cruel and cold.
"But Eve, you said you wanted to be like your father, right."
Eve couldn't help but cheer up after hearing the words about her father. She looked at Lorenzo, not sure what the detective would say next.
Lorenzo said to the girl as if it was an exhortation or a life warning.
"The road to your destination is fragile, just like ice floes on the sea of ​​ice. Those steps that can carry you can only bear a small weight. You will always leave something behind on the way to your destination before you can step on it. That fragile ice floe."
Eve asked as if she understood something.
"What did you throw away?"
"Um……"
Lorenzo thought for a moment and then answered.
"Everything, or nothing. Anyway, think about it carefully. There will be more and more choices waiting for you."
Lorenzo stood up as he spoke, and Kestrel also stood up as Lorenzo stood up. He was responsible for monitoring Lorenzo.
"Do you still have that communicator? Give me one."
Lorenzo said and raised his hand to ask for something.
Kestrel didn't hide it. According to Shrike, this thing was originally intended to be given to Lorenzo. Regardless of position, Lorenzo also had the best chance of winning among them.
"Is this a device that can communicate regardless of distance?"
Taking over the compact communicator, Lorenzo couldn't help but sigh at the power of technology. This thing is only used on a small scale in the military field. Civilians don't even know that communication technology has reached this level.
"There is a certain range limitation, but it is sufficient. The only disadvantage is that it is susceptible to signal interference."
"for example?"
"For example, demons have a certain amount of trace radiation themselves. We rely on this to determine their location using a Geiger counter. However, sometimes the radiation intensity is too high, which can affect communications."
Lorenzo nodded and then asked.
"Did you develop this yourself? I didn't have such technology when I was in the cult. Judging whether a demon exists or not depends on my profound intuition."
"There is always a way to survive, isn't there? You can't give up fighting monsters just because you don't have secret blood technology."
"So you found a replacement, right?"
Lorenzo smiled slightly, but did not continue to ask any questions. He pushed open the iron door between the carriages and stepped over.
"Where are you going?"
Kestrel said as he couldn't help but tighten the pistol on his waist. He began to regret spying on Lorenzo alone. This was a madman who could set the entire train on fire with his wave of his hand.
"Go see the Shrike."
Lorenzo said and turned back to look at Kestrel, his eyes became solemn. At some point he had drawn out his sword, and the hilt of the sword was slightly sticking out of the suitcase, with a fierce look as if he was ready to draw the sword at any time.
"What... what's the matter!"
Kestrel thought of a lot in just a moment, not that he was worried about Lorenzo being violent and hurting anyone. Although the contact time was not long, only a demon could make the detective show such a serious look.
"Something's not right."
"What's wrong?"
Lorenzo didn't answer him for a while, he stood between the two carriages, the strong wind was blowing him, and suddenly the wind increased and rolled his deerstalker hat into the dark night, his pale golden hair danced wildly in the wind.
Looking towards the end of the field of vision, the sky and the earth are connected together and merge into pure darkness. The stars have dimmed without knowing when. Dawn is clearly approaching, but there are still thick shadows under the horizon, as if there will never be tomorrow. arrival.
"Don't you think...this night is too long?"
Tonight is far from the finish line.
(End of this chapter)