Embers of Embers

Chapter 652 Assumptions
The armored firecracker detonated the oil tank, and what was released from it was flammable and explosive paint antimony. The dark liquid splashed everywhere against the backdrop of the firelight, clinging to the surface of the building. The demon's body melted into the stagnant water. middle.
Burn, burn.
The fire was so powerful that for a moment it left only pure whiteness in people's eyes, just like facing the blazing sun. Many people couldn't help but close their eyes and look away to avoid having their eyes burned by looking at it.
Shrike took a deep breath, and the firelight stretched the weapon master's shadow into an elongated shape.
The burning paint melted into the stagnant water, turning into a raging fire that spread crazily, sealing off the street in an instant, isolating everyone from the demons with a blazing wall of fire.
The high temperature evaporates the stagnant water and dispels the chill. There is a large amount of lacquer antimony stored in the oil tank, and they are still burning continuously. Judging from the Shrike's estimated reserves, this wall of fire will last longer.
Seeing this, Night Owl couldn't help but let out a long breath. The wall of fire hindered the demon's progress and gave them some breathing space.
In the boiling sea of ​​fire, one can still see dark figures trying to approach, but most of them were shot and killed on the way, and the fireworks burned their bodies and turned them into ashes.
The anonymous people waded through the water to move. As the heavy rain continued, the spreading water made their defenses useless, but at least they were not completely useless.
"how do you feel?"
Shrike asked with concern. High-ranking knights like Night Owl are already considered an elite force in the current situation and must not be easily damaged.
"Fortunately... It's probably the impact of the antimeme that made me a lot slower just now."
As time goes by, with the help of Florund's potion, Night Owl feels that his condition has improved a lot, but how long it will last is still unknown.
Just like this storm, no one knows when it will stop.
Shrike turned around and saw that the sea of ​​fire had indeed taken effect. It could hinder most of the demons, but there were still some that were not affected by it and continued to advance.
"Go back and resupply! Leave it to me here!"
Shrike said to Ye Xiao, there is no need to talk too much nonsense in this situation. The sword dancer quickened his pace and brought up waves of waves, while the weapon master turned around and took off the sharp long blade from the weapon rack on his back .
More black shadows were running through the sea of ​​fire, and more figures were standing behind the weapons master.
The rioters completed a new round of assembly. They held heavy firearms and formed a dense gun formation beside the weapons master.
Pull the trigger and fire.
Hundreds of kilograms of bullets were poured out in an instant, and all you could see was that the speeding light kept colliding back and forth, shattering buildings, breaking open the water, easily penetrating the demon's flesh and blood, and was finally bounced off by the strong iron armor, leaving deep Deep dents.
"Stop them!"
Shrike shouted, and the Ufutu at the rear was shelled again. A round of fire rose into the sky and fell soon after.
Demons are devouring this city, and the war started here is undoubtedly accelerating all this, death and blood, mourning and fear.
This is the most solid position for human beings, and it is also the most suitable breeding ground for demons to expand.
"Some citizens are starting to become alienated!"
Anxious shouts rang out on the channel, and soon another person gave an order, and then Shrike heard vague gunshots on the channel.
It's not easy.
The weapon master set up his sharp blade and waited for the demon to break through the sea of ​​fire. Several rioters came from behind, dragging heavy weapon boxes and reloading the weapons master's weapon rack before contacting the demon.
"Attention all units!"
The warning sounded again, and then Shrike heard the whistle sounding from the dome. It was so deep and melodious that it once drowned out the roaring artillery fire and thunderstorm.
The war airship passed by at low altitude, opened the magazine, and released it along the street.
A more dazzling explosion sounded, and it dropped the same paint antimony bomb as before.
The explosion splashed up flammable black water, which mixed with the majestic heavy rain and washed over the demons. At the same time, it was also ignited.
Viewed from a high altitude, the street where Shrike was guarding and the end of it could be seen as a dazzling fire burst out in an instant, connecting the starting point and the end point, and then the fire engulfed the entire street.
It was like a screening net. The roaring sea of ​​fire swallowed up most of the ordinary demons. The high temperature heated the air from cold to hundreds of degrees. Every breath accelerated the burning of the lungs.
One figure after another fell down, and what remained in the end was the extremely difficult existence to deal with, which was also the difficulty that Shrike was going to face.
"What a timely support."
The Night Owl's voice sounded again, and the Sword Dancer moved quickly. With the extra time gained, it completed the second preparation. Behind it, a group of technicians in raincoats were stepping up preparations for the remaining riot suppressors who had withdrawn. .
These technicians from the Perpetual Pump were in a bad mood. Normally, they would hardly touch the frontline battles, but in the current situation, he had to appear to support the battlefield.
Bad, but not that bad.
These technicians know very well that the heavy rain has paralyzed the drainage system, the furnace pillars are overloaded, and the treacherous erosion is spreading across the city like a disease...
In their words, the city is hopeless.
Even hiding underground and huddled in the secret perpetual motion pump is not safe, so rather than die in the dark underground, these technicians choose to die under the sky.
"Go! Go! Go to the next one!"
There are technicians greeting them. After all, they are not as numerous as soldiers. They are few in number and can only wander on the battlefield in a guerrilla manner to provide assistance to those in need.
The armed iron snake stirred up waves and stopped not far away. The carriage opened, and there were soldiers inside. In the open-air cargo compartment, there were also riot suppressors moving with it.
Stagnant water would hinder the movement of the armed iron snake, but with the experience of previous battles, this time the purification mechanism also included weather disturbances.
The defense line of the purification agency gradually formed a circle with Dunling Tower as the starting point, and the area they guarded was a higher position in the old Dunling. The water here was not as scary as it is now, and it was still under control. , they can use armed iron snakes for quick support.
But the area outside this defense line is an uncontrollable area, or an abandoned area.
No one knows whether the armed iron snake can move forward in such deep water, and even if it moves forward, how long can it move forward?No one knows, and no one will try.
Any behavior that leaves the position at the moment is risking death.
"You guys hold on!"
A technician shouted, and then the armed iron snake started to move quickly on the railway track that could still travel, heading to the next location.
Watching these technicians leave, Shrike turned his attention back to his eyes. The armored demons had already walked out of the sea of ​​fire. The flames burned them, but compared with the strong vitality, this injury was not enough to drag them down.
"One, two...three..."
Shrike calculated in a low voice. There were not only armored demons walking out of the sea of ​​​​fire, but also burned demons covered in pitch black. They had extremely strong self-healing abilities and were struggling between life and death.
You can see the charred skin fading away one by one, and then new flesh and blood is exposed to the air. The bullets hit their bodies, but they were wrapped in tough muscles and soon faded away together with the dead flesh and blood.
The weapon master tightened his grip on the blade, and Shrike began to be glad that the technicians had left, because at this moment, he didn't know whether he could hold on to this place.
"Where is Anonymous? Where is their so-called 'Forgotten River'?"
Shrike yelled into the communicator. This was the key to them winning this war, but now this trump card was still hidden in the darkness. It was even said that Shrike didn't even know what this trump card looked like.
"It's not time to reveal your cards yet, Shrike."
Zuo Zhen's voice sounded on the channel.
"This is a death race, as long as we kill Roger before the old Dunling completely collapses."
"What about Roger? Just the monsters he spawned have already made us exhausted!"
Shrike asked back. Not only Shrike was under fierce attack right now, but also other areas. Not long ago, he also received a request for help from Gawain.
The silent Gawain couldn't help but ask for help. It was hard to imagine how tragic the battle situation on his side had become.
"Soon, I guess he will be here soon," Zuo Zhen said. "We can't expose Wangchuan yet. We paid such a high price just to paralyze him. We can't fail here."
Shrike was silent, and then he asked with suppressed anger.
"Then where are you? Zuo Zhen."
"I'm where I should be," Zuo Zhen's calm voice sounded on the channel, "If you start to doubt, then recall the regulations you adhere to, Shrike."
His voice was like a heavy stone, pressing down on the shrike.
"Absolutely stubborn and blindly trusting."
The sound was interrupted, Zuo Zhen put down the communicator and turned around, raising his head and looking at the fire gushing out between the gaps in the steel.
"Is this the Pillar of the Forge? It's so magnificent."
Zuo Zhen admired, this was a miraculous existence, and now it appeared in front of him without any reservation, breathing fire.
"What are you going to do? Zuo Zhen."
Merlin stood behind him and asked loudly.
As someone who stayed behind at the Ever-Moving Pump, Merlin was ready for a fight to the death, but instead of facing the demon, he met Zuo Zhen.
"Protect this place."
Zuo Zhen answered calmly, and beside him was Cai Gong, whom Merlin had met. Cai Gong also smiled and nodded towards Merlin.
"Protect...here?"
Merlin was a little confused. As a commander, Zuo Zhen did not lead the battle, but instead talked about protection here.
"This is the only way to reach the 'Death Row'. The demons will conquer the line of defense first, and then the Mechanical Academy. They will climb down the vertical well wall in groups, just like the insects revealed after removing the mud and rocks. group.
They will bring about the fall of the Ever-Moving Pump, and eventually follow the Pillars of the Forge to the Death Row. "
Zuo Zhen muttered to himself.
"The death row can't hide Roger. He will definitely come here and destroy our last hope. But at the same time, we also know the information that he will definitely appear here. We can hold him back until he is finally here." He was slaughtered here.”
After listening to Zuo Zhen's words, Merlin's expression changed slightly.
"Are you using death row as bait?"
"Of course, haven't you realized it yet?" Zuo Zhen looked at the darkness below, "How stupid can someone be to set up a shelter here?"
Set up at the core of this battlefield.
"But..." Merlin was about to retort, but his words suddenly stopped.
It was as if he suddenly woke up, and vulnerabilities that he had never thought of were exposed before his eyes.
He was completely unaware of the loopholes in death row, and he executed them stupidly...
"What... do you know?" Merlin asked.
"I don't know anything. It's all speculation at the moment." Zuo Zhen said.
"Anyway, this is just my misunderstanding of the death row plan. If it is correct, then sooner or later Roger will dig out our brains and know this information to overcome it.
Assuming Death Row was a sham, a decoy, it would still attract Roger.
So it's just a difference in 'interpretation', and the results they achieve are the same. "
Zuo Zhen's eyes narrowed slightly, like a cunning fox.
"You still say you don't know anything!" Merlin asked loudly.
Zuo Zhen answered slowly.
"I really don't know anything, it's just a 'guess'.
Assuming that the death row is really just a bait, then what is the net set up on the bait?do you know?Merlin. "
Merlin was stunned, shook his head, and whispered, "I don't know."
At such a critical moment, Merlin felt like his brain was turning into a ball of paste when he encountered something like this again.
"It's okay if we don't know, and if we know, then Roger must know.
So in order for the plan to be seamless, no one will know the truth. " Zuo Zhen said.
"Then who knows all this?"
“People who are independent of the story.”
Zuo Zhen withdrew his gaze and strode towards Merlin. Merlin still had confusion in his eyes and asked again.
"Why are you the only one who 'guessed' these things?"
Merlin didn't understand, he didn't expect this at all.
"Because I am Anonymous, I am Zuo Zhen."
Zuo Zhen said calmly, and another scene appeared in his mind, on the ruins of the broken dome, in Percival's retelling, the anonymous person who died.
He remembered that he had never sent Anonymous to infiltrate the Broken Dome, and with the defense of the Broken Dome, Anonymous could not easily enter unless...
Unless an extremely strong antimeme protects him, people around him cannot notice his existence unless they pay attention deliberately.
The connection between that person and this world is extremely thin, and it will be completely severed with just a little force.
In Zuo Zhen's memory, there is only one kind of person who can do such a thing.
Zuo Zhen looked at Cai Gong beside him. Cai Gong squinted his eyes and smiled, as if he was wearing a mask.
Cai Gong is not a name, it is a title. It does not refer to a person, it refers to a group of people.
Zuo Zhen felt a sense of relief in his heart. A group of Cai Gong was not within his knowledge. They were hiding in the shadows and staying outside the story.
So besides Cai Gong, who else are these people outside the story?
(End of this chapter)