Embers of Embers

Chapter 641 Death Row
"Nicholas, the evacuation of death row has begun, and someone will pick you up soon."
Merlin's words sounded in the communicator, and the noise of the electricity was sandwiched in between, making the sound very vague.
Nicholas didn't respond. He sat behind his desk, lowered his head, smoking a cigarette, and didn't know what he was thinking about.
He had looked like this for a long time. The ashtray on the table was filled with cigarette butts, and there was still a faint afterglow on it. The ash fell everywhere, and he had no intention of cleaning it up.
Raising his head slightly, Nicholas's face turned pale. He looked like a sleeping corpse after having been underground for a long time.
"Where are you? Merlin."
Nicholas asked, and after a long time, a hoarse voice came back from the other end.
"Surface, Mechanical Institute, I just handed over the Flame Bearer to Lorenzo."
"The Flame Bearer? So he decided to take this name?"
"Ah."
Nicholas took a deep breath of cigarette, and he, who was already thin, became even more aged when surrounded by smoke.
"What's wrong? Nicholas." Merlin asked.
"I'm thinking and sighing. After all, I will be hiding in death row in the near future. When I come out, the old Dun Ling, the purification mechanism... and even you, may all become part of the ruins."
Nicholas threw away the cigarette butt, his eyes melancholy.
"Merlin, do you think this is correct?"
"What do you want to say?"
"Death row, do you think such a refuge is really meaningful?" Nicholas said, "I would rather be with you than survive by chance."
"But there is always someone who needs to keep the knowledge, Nicholas."
"Then why not you?" Nikolai asked rhetorically.
"You know, such entanglement is fruitless, Nikolai, each of us needs to make a choice."
"Of course I know."
Nicholas stood up slowly. On his desk were a strange-looking key and a pistol.
He picked up the gun, stuck it in his waist, picked up the key, and put it away.
"I have also made a choice, Merlin. I still doubt the death row."
"What do you suspect?"
"I don't know, but just like a gut feeling, something felt wrong."
Nicholas said as he glanced at his feet. Behind the layers of steel and soil was the furnace pillar, and further down was the death row.
"Don't be stupid."
After a slight pause, Merlin said this.
Nicholas smiled and he responded.
"No, I will live well, teacher, after all, mine carries your knowledge."
"I'm sorry, I always feel that I should say goodbye to you in person." Merlin said.
"It's okay, don't think too bad, maybe we can meet again."
Nicholas said as he picked up the communicator, and before pushing the door open, he asked Merlin one last question.
"By the way...Teacher, has your greed been satisfied?"
The alchemists' madness and greed for truth constantly drive these crazy people forward and obtain it by any means necessary.
"probably."
Merlin replied.
Nicholas looked very relaxed after hearing this, he said softly.
"That's good."
The communication was interrupted. Nicholas opened the door and walked out. He stretched his body vigorously, as if he was going to do some intense exercise next.
"Teacher, you taught me that if you have doubts, you must practice it."
Nicholas whispered.
"Has anyone really seen the death row?" He smiled, "Anyway, I am also on the list. I don't need them to pick me up. I will go there myself."
Nicholas said as he walked towards the depths of the Eternal Pump.
The structure of Old Dunling is like a towering tree. The furnace pillars as rhizomes are deeply rooted in the ground. They use complex pipes and steel to hold up the buildings above the ground stably. Deep underground, The starting point of the entire city's energy, like a furnace created by gods, boils day and night, swallowing water from the Thames River, releasing a steady stream of power, like a submersing whale, emitting steam.
Nicholas stood in front of the heavy mechanical valve. He took a deep breath, as if he was about to make a serious decision. After a long pause, he raised his head again and said to the technician beside him, "I'm ready."
The technicians didn't know what to say when they saw this. They picked up the safety equipment and put it on for Nicholas.
This is a protective suit made to fight Roger. After antimemetics and a little holy silver processing, Nicholas felt like he was wearing a heavy armor, and then put on a heavy oxygen tube on his back, and put on the connection The breathing mask completely seals oneself from the outside world and penetrates the outside world only through transparent lenses.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" the technician couldn't help but ask.
"Don't worry, it's just a routine inspection," Nicholas said, his voice becoming richer, "It's just that this time I will conduct the inspection myself."
Seeing this, the technician couldn't persuade him. After all, according to the regulations, Nicholas did nothing wrong, and the order to check the operation of the furnace pillar was within his authority.
They could only get out of the way and wait a few seconds before the heavy mechanical valve slowly opened.
Nicholas looked at the crimson world behind the door. Even through the protective clothing, he could still feel the heat of the air, as if a giant dragon was breathing its breath.
Picking up the safety rope, Nicholas walked into the crimson world.
The Pillar of the Furnace is the core of power surrounding the old Dunling system. Here is the largest furnace in the world. The fireworks in it have never been extinguished since they were ignited. In order to control such powerful fireworks, the Perpetual Pump has made many safety measures. Designed so that the Pillars of the Forge are usually isolated and sealed by several blockades.
It has undergone a certain degree of automation transformation, and personnel will only enter during safety inspections. However, every safety inspection is an extremely risky adventure for the staff.
Now Nikolai joins the adventure.
He had always found the existence of the death row to be very strange. In his impression, he had no memory of what was underneath the Furnace Pillar. There seemed to be no direct access to the depths.
After reviewing the information, Nikolai only knew that deep there was a garbage dump, which was specially used to discharge the accumulated ash in the furnace. Nikolai could not figure out why a shelter should be built here.
Nicholas asked similar questions to Merlin and Arthur, but they were all rejected in the end. Now he couldn't help it and decided to go there in person to investigate.
It can be clearly felt that as Nikolai left the package of the perpetual pump, the temperature in the dark passage was astonishing. The sound of fans came from the darkness, as if there were thousands of fans operating, pumping out the hot gas. Leave.
After years of transformation, this underground space is like a maze. Except for the area with the eternal pump, the maps of other areas have not been updated for many years. Most of them are abandoned and desolate.
Nicholas walked along the road in his memory, holding on to the safety rope in his hand, ready to hang himself on the handle at any time.
Continue down.
He had been here only a few times, when he was just an ordinary technician who was selected to maintain the pipes of the Forge Pillar, and Nikolai rarely went this deep at that time.
As he advanced deeper underground, he could clearly feel the temperature rising. This was normal. The temperature of the furnace pillar was extremely high. In order to cool it down, the Mechanical Institute drew in the Thames River and set up a large number of The spiderweb-like ventilation ducts rotated and roared together, as if they were about to set off a storm in this underground world.
The Purification Agency has never been worried about the Furnace Pillar being invaded. The harsh environment here means that even if it is invaded, it will become the tomb of the invader.
Even through the protective suit, Nikolai could feel the unbearable heat. He breathed heavily. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen. Without the oxygen supply, Nikolai felt that he might not be able to walk if he directly breathed the hot and stale air underground. How far will it fall.
The surrounding environment gradually became more open, covered with rust and dust, as if no one had ever been here.
Nicholas climbed up the hanging ladder, which had not been maintained for an unknown period of time. Every time he moved it, it would make a squeaking sound, as if it was about to collapse.
Apart from these messy noises, it was very quiet here. It seemed that only Nicholas existed, and he seemed extremely lonely.
He walked through a suspended corridor, and there was endless darkness below. Nicholas kicked some debris away, and they disappeared into the darkness, leaving nothing behind.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
A sound like a heartbeat sounded, but this heartbeat was far louder than an ordinary person's heartbeat, as if it came from the chest of a giant.
A flash of red light shrouded Nikolai's body. He looked to the other side and saw a firelight that was difficult to see directly between the gaps in the steel, as if the scorching sun was wrapping behind these metals.
The furnace began to stir.
This place not only supplies energy for the city, but is also responsible for smelting metals. For some special alloys, only the pillars of the furnace can reach the extreme temperature. The molten metal is intertwined with fireworks and pours into the flow channel, shaping handful after handful. A murderous weapon.
While thinking, Nicholas felt the corridor beneath his feet tremble, and then he felt a sense of failure.
Oops.
No one has visited here for too long. Under the repeated baptism between moisture and dryness, the metal has long been covered with rust and damaged. During the time Nicholas stayed, it completely collapsed.
Nicholas fell towards the darkness below. He cursed in his heart that it was not good. He, who was always cautious, would actually make a mistake in this kind of thing.
Fortunately, he had installed the safety rope in advance. Nicholas, who had fallen halfway, was tightened by the rope and hit the wall on the other side hard. Before he could protect himself, the oxygen mask shattered and cracked, and the glass shattered. Punctured the skin.
Before Nikolai could do anything to save him, the other end of the safety rope above also broke, the fragile metal was twisted, and Nikolai fell again.
For a moment, Nicholas's mind went blank, but he didn't feel any regret.
Nicholas has always felt that death row is a treacherous conspiracy. Without answers, this slightly obsessive guy will not feel at ease.
He suddenly raised his hand and grabbed the bulge on the wall. Nicholas stabilized his body. He lowered his head and could hear the echo in the darkness. It was very close. It seemed that it was not as high as expected.
The safety rope above also fell down and extended into the darkness. Nicholas' heart skipped a beat and he jumped down.
After a few short seconds, the impact hit.
Nicholas fell to the ground hard, and he grimaced in pain. Fortunately, he was not dead, but his mask was completely broken. The hot air poured into his nose, choking Nicholas and kept him in a daze.
After struggling to get up, he tried to repair it, but the air leak was serious and he had to throw it away.
Nikolai let out an angry growl, unloaded the heavy oxygen tank, and threw it aside.
His eyes were a little confused. The hot temperature sometimes caused people to have hallucinations. He knew this very well, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly.
It seemed that a woman was singing softly, and the heat was no longer there, but a comfortable coolness. They surrounded Nicholas, urging him to sleep.
"To shut up."
Nicholas cursed angrily. He dragged the oxygen tank awkwardly, rushed the pipe towards himself, and greedily sucked in the oxygen to wake himself up slightly.
Various accidents often occur during the maintenance of the Furnace Pillar, so they usually work in small teams, but now Nicholas is alone. Fortunately, the communicator is still with him, and he may still be able to call for help...
Nikolai's thoughts stopped as he saw what he had been looking for.
A dusty door stood not far in front of him, as if he had been waiting for Nikolai. He took a few deep breaths of oxygen, took off the heavy protective clothing with force, and could feel the heat on his skin for a moment. The stinging pain was like being burned.
But this made Nicholas feel a lot lighter. He ran quickly and inserted the weird-shaped key in his hand into the keyhole. A dry feeling came from it. Nicholas prayed that the lock cylinder was not rusted to death. He pressed gently , the door opens.
Nicholas fell directly in. He stretched out his hand according to the position in his memory and pulled the valve.
Soon the dim lights came on, and after a burst of noise, the narrow elevator began to descend.
"I remember correctly..."
Nicholas said to himself.
The Pillar of the Furnace is constantly being updated and iterated, and many things are difficult to record in detail on the map. In a certain version of the map, Nikolai once saw this place. It was a maintenance elevator, and it was rare that it could go directly to the "garbage" below. Field" elevator.
After that, the icon seemed to have been deliberately erased, and no one knew about it. And this key was found by Nicholas from the depths of the archives. It was mixed with a bunch of keys that he didn't know were used to open something. , it took him a long time to dig it out.
Continuously descending in the darkness, Nicholas struggled to keep himself awake. After an unknown amount of time, the door opened.
He got up staggeringly, the air was no longer hot and hot, but a slight coolness, which made Nicholas wake up a lot, he walked to the edge of the platform, looked down at the numerous buildings below, and could see people flashing It was moving, and there was a huge armor slowly moving forward.
Nikolai's expression completely stiffened. Logically speaking, this place should be a refuge, but what was here was just a group of troops in the dark.
He muttered under his breath.
"Here... where is it?"
"The Bottom of Sorrow, the location of the Scavenger Department."
Someone answered, and Nicholas turned back in horror, but he felt that he was hit by something, his vision blurred for a while, and he fell down. At the end of his consciousness, he heard someone saying to him.
"Don't be afraid, we will take you to death row."
Galahad walked to Nicholas and lifted him up vigorously.
(End of this chapter)