Embers of Embers

Chapter 642
The drizzle gradually became more intense, becoming thicker and thicker until it turned into a heavy rain, pounding the city intensively.
Arthur sat by the window. From this position, he could just see the Dunling Tower in the rain and fog. The tower stood tall and turned into a gray-blue silhouette.
"What a tough winter."
Arthur muttered, the rain that had lasted for several days was getting heavier and heavier, and after that came the harsh winter. He could imagine the whole city being frozen.
After living in Old Dunling for so long, Arthur has become accustomed to this. Steam pipes burst, the streets are full of water and fog, maintenance workers rush here and there, and the sound of banging metal is endless, even in the middle of the night. Never finished.
Just thinking about what will happen next, the severe cold at the moment undoubtedly adds more gloom to everything.
"The evacuation has begun, Arthur."
Zuo Zhen's voice sounded in the communicator, and Arthur was relieved to hear this. At least the death row was still proceeding in an orderly manner.
"I see. Waiting for the evacuation to end, we can concentrate on preparing for the war."
"So...there won't be any changes to the list?" Zuo Zhen asked.
"What's wrong?" Arthur was confused.
"Eve is not on the list, I remember she is your daughter."
Hearing this, Arthur's eyes were slightly distracted, but soon became fierce again.
"Well, so what?"
"I thought……"
"It's nothing to think about. She is also a member of the purification agency now. I think if I do this, she won't accept it. What do you think?"
Arthur said expressionlessly, "Isn't Zuo Tang also your nephew? What binds us now is responsibility, not family affection."
There was no sound on the other end, and after a while, Zuo Zhen spoke slowly.
"Okay, I know."
Arthur lowered his eyes. In fact, he had a conversation with Eve about this, but judging from the current situation, the outcome was obvious. Instead of escaping in a hurry, it would be better to go to the end together.
"So... goodbye? Arthur, you are a good leader."
Zuo Zhen suddenly talked about something else, and after a short electric current, his voice completely disappeared.
Arthur looked a little unnatural. He didn't know why, but he always felt that Zuo Zhen's final farewell seemed to have a different emotion.
He somewhat dislikes these strangers. They come from afar, bringing with them stories that have been forgotten in the dust, and full of blood. Lorenzo is like this, and so is Zuo Zhen.
Whenever he thought of Zuo Zhen's face, Arthur felt that it was the face of a dead person. The skin was as dry as a dead tree, superimposed on each other. The darkness of the eyes was hidden in the heavy shadows. In the deepest part of the darkness, there was no light. .
It's really unsettling.
Arthur stood up, picked up the communicator and pistol, and it was time for him to take action.
He and Zuo Zhen had made a decision before. In order to avoid being beheaded by Roger, he would not appear in the same place as Zuo Zhen. In fact, there was another rule. In order to preserve the vitality as much as possible, Zuo Zhen would be in the sun. Next, executing most of the orders, Arthur needs to temporarily act in the shadows to avoid being noticed by Roger.
It was also because of these decisions that Arthur appeared here instead of in the Broken Dome. I have to say that this decision was correct. Otherwise, according to Arthur's original plan, he might have died in the Broken Dome.
Opening the door, Arthur suddenly stopped and saw someone slowly walking towards the end of the corridor, with more people following behind him.
"who are you?"
The old eyes were full of vigilance, and Arthur immediately raised his pistol.
In an instant, Arthur realized a lot. He was not familiar with these people, and the soldiers here would not allow these people to come.
Now that they had passed through layers of protection, they were almost in front of Arthur.
[Goodbye, Arthur. 】
Zuo Zhen's words echoed in his mind, and panicked fireworks exploded in Arthur's mind. Without waiting for the other party's answer, and when he was about to fire, he only felt a burst of pain behind him. In just a few seconds, Arthur lost his mind. The feeling in the arm, the muscles are stiff, it is difficult to move, and it is impossible to do something as simple as pulling the trigger.
Then there was a heavy blow. Arthur was knocked to the ground and his vision became blurred. He saw someone coming from behind him and squatting next to him, seeming to be checking something.
"Is this considered public revenge? I have wanted to do this for a long time."
The man said, his voice was very vague, but Arthur could still hear a hint of familiarity, but his consciousness also became chaotic, and Arthur couldn't remember who he was.
Familiar and unfamiliar faces slowly approached, the man lowered his body to observe Arthur, and at this time Arthur was also observing him.
"It's you……"
At the end of his consciousness, Arthur remembered the person in front of him, and with it, the memory that had been deliberately concealed.
They engulfed Arthur like a torrent.
……
"Okay, the last person on the death row list has been successfully detained. The next step is to pack the truck."
The robin tied Arthur tightly to death, and then put a crown of holy silver on his head.
The old guy was so dizzy that the robin kicked him several times, but there was no reaction.
"Sleep really soundly."
The robin smiled. He looked forward again and asked, "Joy, do you want to help out? There are not many opportunities like this."
"No."
Joey was not as happy as the robin. He shook his head and looked out the window at the thick clouds.
"The weather is getting worse."
"Well, a heavy rain is coming, and I don't know if the Thames River will overflow the streets."
Robin picked up Arthur and recalled, "I don't remember that there were many times like this, but every time it would bring huge losses."
"This storm is unlike any other."
As Joey said this, he followed Robin out of the door. In the slightly cold breeze, Robin threw Arthur into the car and locked it from the outside.
The robin was not in a hurry to leave. He leaned against the car and lit a cigarette. However, the warm gas could not dispel the cold. He shivered from time to time.
"Is something going to happen?"
The robin looked at the sky. It was almost noon, but the sky could only see the faint blue on the clouds. Other than that, there were only leaden gray clouds. It seemed that these clouds would solidify soon. Swallow up all the sunlight.
"It's really bad weather."
murmured the robin.
"It can't be explained by 'bad'." Joey said.
After a brief silence, both of them realized the problem, and the same word rose in their hearts.
erosion.
Erosion, and only erosion, this weird power drives humans crazy and shapes evil. The invisible force spreads and affects the surrounding things.
There are examples of this in the records of the Purification Agency and the Demon Hunting Order. Excessive intensity of erosion will cause strange weather and anomalies, such as disrupted communications, or the engulfing thundercloud storm on the Silent Sea. For example, there was an almost endless rainstorm at Black Mountain Hospital.
Now they once again face such a battlefield, and this is not the end, just the beginning.
"It's time for you to go, Robin."
Joey's eyes were gloomy and his expression was solemn.
"Aren't you together?"
asked Mockingbird, expecting Joey to leave with him.
"No, I am different from you. You were recalled from retirement, and I was returned to the dead. We were different from the beginning."
The robin was slightly absent-minded. He understood the meaning of the deceased.
People like Joey and Galahad have already been corrupted by demons, but they just happen to maintain a delicate balance. They won't go crazy, but they won't get rid of the curse.
No one knows when they will completely collapse, but what is clear is that they will have nothing to fear.
They are "dead people", "dead people" who have nothing, and "dead people" have nothing to be afraid of.
"Well...it's nice to work with you, Joey."
Robin got into the carriage and picked up the reins. His voice seemed hesitant, but he still spoke.
"Me too, glad to remember you again, Robin."
Joey waved to him and said no more, watching the carriage drive into the rain and disappear, while he turned around and looked at a few scattered people walking out of the street.
The Cai Gongs were wearing black raincoats and their faces were hidden under their hoods, like ghosts wandering the wilderness one after another.
"It's about to start..."
Joey sighed softly.
……
"It's so tragic. It turned out to be like this. Does this count as defeating all the accumulation of your purification agency in one fell swoop?"
Watson and Galahad walked on the ruins of the Broken Dome. Everything they were once familiar with had turned into ruins and ashes. The rain enveloped them, turning into dark water and seeping into the depths below.
"Fortunately, only the top-level command system was destroyed in the battle, and the communication system in the middle is still working normally."
Galahad looked down. Dense cables were entangled around the Dunling Tower, like dense spider webs. It was these woven nests that connected everyone in the old Dunling without cutting off communication. .
"How long do you think this can last? Once a battle breaks out, communications will be interfered with and interrupted under high-intensity erosion." Watson asked.
"Who knows?"
Galahad stretched out his hand, feeling the cool rain.
"It depends on how long we can control the battle. We put a lot of antimemes into the Pillars of the Furnace, and they turned into rising rain, which has been permeating the city since the beginning of the plan."
Contrary to what Joey and the others thought, the abnormal weather in Old Dunling this time was not only the result of erosion, but also the secret drive of the scavengers.
The Pillars of the Forge boil day and night, spreading endless antimemes evenly across the city, and as time goes by, the intensity of the antimemes gradually increases.
"We create a battlefield full of antimemes, and the expansion of erosion will be suppressed, which may help us resist interference," Galahad said, "and suppress any demons that appear in the old Dunling."
"Is that so... Actually, I also have an idea, which can unite all of us."
Watson looked at the city below. This was the highest point of Old Dunling. Standing here, Watson felt like a god, looking down on all living beings.
"[Gap]?"
Galahad asked slightly uneasily as he walked up to her.
After spending so many days together, Galahad knew exactly what kind of monster he was traveling with.
Watson, like Roger and Edron, is equally terrifying and evil, but the biggest difference between her and other monsters is that Watson firmly stands on the human side.
"Use erosion to spread throughout the city, connect everyone together, and use [gaps] to communicate?"
Galahad said that this is very possible. From Lorenzo's actions in the Silent Sea, we can see the feasibility of this power.
But this is extremely risky.
Once something happens to Watson, these united consciousnesses will become a tunnel for the spread of disaster, and no one will be spared.
Looking at the cold mask, Watson did not respond, only silent. She seemed to be integrated with the wind and rain, with a chilling chill.
Watson did not answer Galahad's question, but said something else.
"Erosion... is running high."
"What did you say?"
Watson stared at the city hazy in the rain and fog, and she spoke calmly.
"Old Dunling is surrounded by erosion, an extremely powerful erosion, they are eating away at the city bit by bit..."
Watson closed her eyes, and as the erosion spread, her figure appeared in every corner of the old Dunling.
Pairs of blazing white eyes appeared on different people. The pedestrian stopped and looked into the dark alley next to the street. The homeless man next to the trash can opened his sleepy eyes, his pupils glowing With his eyes turning slightly white, he looked at the open manhole cover, where bursts of hot air were rising and the sound of hammers could be heard.
The maintenance worker worked hard to plug the damaged pipe. Without waiting for a moment to take a breath and rest, he stood up unexpectedly and walked towards the depths of darkness under the puzzled gazes of other workers.
He stood at the edge of the huge shaft, his gaze lowered into deeper darkness.
At the end of the darkness, subtle noises could be heard, as if something was crawling in the depths of the darkness. It seemed like a group of rats or possibly poisonous insects.
They ferment slowly, giving birth to the most evil power.
Seemingly noticing someone snooping, blurry eyes opened in the darkness, but the moment before they noticed the comer, the blazing whiteness in the maintenance man's eyes dissipated, and he stood there with a confused look on his face, not knowing what to do. He looked around nervously.
He didn't understand why he was here. He thought about it and was about to leave, but the moment he turned around, a strange dark hand grabbed his ankle.
Someone was laughing hoarsely in the darkness.
At the top of the Dunling Tower, Watson opened his eyes again, and his gentle voice finally had a slight tremor. It was unclear whether it was fear or joy.
"Here we go, Galahad."
Watson looked at the city that was calm under the rain, and soon, fiery fireworks would burst into every street.
"Erosion will reach critical mass and heavy rains will no longer be able to stop it from spiraling out of control."
She whispered.
"The monsters are coming."
(End of this chapter)