Embers of Embers

Chapter 735 Retirement
"what……"
The monotonous and long voice echoed in the silent ward. The tone became lower and lower as time went by, as if the last breath was being exhaled. The voice was continuously squeezed out of the shriveled lungs, turning into some kind of weird sadness. The tone dissipates.
After a brief pause, the weird sigh sounded again.
The shrike opened his eyes in pain. The disturbing noise made it seem like a hanged man was sleeping next door to him.
"I said, can you stop screaming?"
Shrike sat up, grabbed a pillow and threw it at the unlucky clinical man. The pillow hit his face and his voice was suddenly cut off.
Kestrel grabbed the pillow and slowly sat up. His eyes were confused and dull, and there was drool at the corner of his mouth. He looked like a fool.
"What's wrong with you? If you feel unwell, please call the doctor, please?"
Shrike complained. From the perspective of his roommate, Kestrel was really an unpleasant guy. No matter where he was, he would always want to make some damn noise to prove his existence.
"No, I just feel a little bored and in a daze..."
Kestrel said quietly, looking at Shrike with confusion, he asked tentatively.
"Is this... the end? Is everything over?"
After hearing this, Shrike also fell silent. He paused for a long time and spoke with some uncertainty.
"probably."
After rubbing his head, the shrike looked out the window at the cold and desolate scenery. All the leaves were withered, leaving only the dry and ferocious trees. He couldn't help but sigh, with the same confusion as the kestrel in his voice.
"It should be over," Shrike said, trying to be cheerful. He smiled, "It seems like you and I can retire."
retirement.
This was an extremely unfamiliar word to Shrike. When he thought of this, he felt inexplicably lucky, as if he was blessed by luck.
"To be honest, ever since I entered this industry, I didn't think I would have a happy ending, let alone retirement... but it actually allowed me to live to this day."
The shrike stretched, his body slid down weakly, and he lay flat on the hospital bed again, sighing again.
He was still alive, and the bad nightmare was over. What was waiting for him was an unknown but beautiful future.
"Unemployment to be precise, right?"
Kestrel's voice was a bit melancholy, and his eyes fell out of the window, looking at the peaceful and peaceful world. The winter light fell through the window and shone on his body, giving him a burning feeling.
Shrike noticed something strange about Kestrel. This guy who was so lively that people suspected he had ADHD suddenly became quiet. This feeling was no different than a pig suddenly stopped eating and started thinking about life.
In any case, he found it outrageous, even a little disturbing.
"Isn't it bad to be unemployed? Haven't you always wanted to leave here before?"
Shrike asked, not understanding Kestrel's melancholy.
"Um... how do you say it?"
The kestrel crossed its legs, lowered its head, and put its chin on its hand, looking thoughtful.
He was indeed thinking seriously, and his expression looked like he was constipated. Unfortunately, Kestrel's brain was never very good. Even if he used all his computing power, he could only stammer out words that the shrike couldn't understand.
"I just think it's too fast."
"too fast?"
"Well, for me, this is just something that exists in my beautiful imagination. In fact, like you, I never think that I can live safely until retirement. This kind of thing is far away for me. Out of reach.
But something that was still out of reach a few days ago suddenly came to us today. "
Kestrel looked at the door of the ward and pointed with his finger.
"It feels like...someone knocks on your door and says, 'You've retired, pack your bags, go and start a new life.'"
The kestrel looked at the shrike with complicated eyes, and he could see the same sadness in the shrike's eyes.
"Speaking of which, where can we go after we leave here? Shrike, saying goodbye to everything familiar will inevitably make people reluctant to leave, and heading towards an unknown future will also make people feel even more frightened."
"But you have to keep moving forward, Kestrel."
Shrike comforted him, but in fact he himself was a little confused and empty. He seemed to have lost all motivation for a while, but Shrike didn't hate this. He felt that the same was true for kestrels. The more boring and empty they were, the more the world became. It's peaceful, it's great, it's wonderful.
After listening to Shrike's words, Kestrel nodded to himself, then reached to the bedside table and picked up a business card from it with a few lines of words scrawled on it.
"Is that what Eve gave you? What did you write?"
Shrike remembered that business card. Eve came over mysteriously a few days ago, handed Kestrel such a business card, and then left quietly.
Kestrel was in a very excited mood at that time, so excited that the guy even became numb in the end. No matter how much the shrike shouted, he ignored him and seemed to have fainted.
"An address, the address of a new life."
Kestrel smiled mysteriously at Shrike and put the business card away carefully.
Seeing Kestrel like this, Shrike didn't bother to ask anything. He got up, walked out of bed, and packed his things.
"It's almost noon, why don't you tidy up?" Shrike asked, "If we are discharged from the hospital early, we can still make it in time for God's birthday party."
"I don't have any luggage, just get dressed and go!"
Kestrel raised an eyebrow at Shrike, this guy was very casual.
"What about those things?"
Shrike pointed at the things piled aside. They were all Kestrel's debris.
"Hey, new life, I am enough. Why bring all these burdens with you?" Kestrel's mood became happy again, making people confused whether this guy was sad or happy.
"You are causing trouble to others!"
Shrike scolded and kicked Kestrel out of bed.
The two were noisy, but soon stopped. They looked out the window at the same time, and saw bursts of falling snow, which swept the whole world in the blink of an eye, bringing chill and whiteness.
"It's snowing."
Kestrel murmured.
"A year is ending again," whispered the Shrike, "but it's also a new beginning."
……
"It's snowing!"
Sa Liang Xi cheered and danced in the falling snow. Behind her were Shao Liangye and Rhodes. They were like silent bodyguards, following Sa Liang Xi all the way.
They are not worried about Sa Liangxi, only worried about the potential victims. A few days ago, they just witnessed Sa Liangxi beating up street gangsters, looking like a messenger of justice, but Shao Liangye knew that this was just pure boredom. .
After all, in this dark forest, the prey has disappeared, the hunter has become completely idle, and the hunting knife and shotgun have lost their meaning.
The narrow streets have been filled with snow, fire escapes are hung with snow, bursts of hot water vapor escape from the ground, melting the snow, but it is quickly covered again, and so on, the cold water solidifies in the The edge of the metal becomes a sculpture of ice crystals.
Shao Liangye raised his head, feeling the coldness of the old Dunling, his eyes blurred for a while, and he couldn't help but sigh.
"This should be the longest memory I've ever had."
There is no influence of antimemes, no ghost monsters, nothing. Life is so peaceful that it is scary and unacceptable.
"Without those damn monsters, I don't have to use antimemes, and I can have more memories of my own, instead of dying in a hurry."
Listening to his words, Rhodes was a little puzzled, but considering the mysterious identities of these people, he didn't bother to ask anything.
Noticing Rhodes' reaction, Shao Liangye was also a little helpless. This kind of joy was shared by no one, which seemed a bit sad, but when he saw the bouncing figure in front of him, he felt pretty good.
Even he himself didn't expect that he would actually be able to witness this great achievement. Thinking of this, that blurry face couldn't help but appear in his mind.
Sometimes Shao Liangye almost couldn't remember his appearance, but fortunately, he didn't completely forget it.
"Teacher, we did it."
he murmured.
"Hey! Hurry up!"
Shouting came from the front, and Sa Liangxi waved to the two of them, then turned around and plunged into the tavern.
"Yo! Boss!"
Kicking open the door, Sarangxi was so powerful that Hercule trembled in fright. He almost lost his grip on the wine glass he was wiping and fell to the ground.
"Why are you here again!"
As soon as Hercule saw the Sera River, he looked helpless and complained loudly.
"That's what you said, boss, if you come back alive, the drinks will be free!"
Sa Liangxi sat at the bar with a smile and gave Hercule a thumbs up. Hercule's expression trembled slightly, regretting the bold words he let go.
It's not that the money is short, it's just that these people are annoying. They come to the store every day and throw all their energy here, which makes Hercule's quiet life a mess.
Sighing, Hercule stood behind the bar and asked Sagaraki.
"So, customer, what do you need?"
"A glass of casualness, a Poirot."
Hearing this, Hercule nodded, and Rounding was already a regular customer. Such demand was not surprising.
Turning his head, Hercule cursed at the kitchen.
"Come here and die, rat. I'll provide you with food and shelter. It's time to work and pay off your debts."
There was only a jingling sound, and soon after, a slightly sluggish chinchilla appeared in Xi Liangxi's arms. It was hard to imagine that one could see the tiredness on the face of a chinchilla, and he didn't know that it was so tired. After going through something, it seems like there is still a bald patch of hair on the top of my head.
Sa Liangxi started kneading happily. At this time, Shao Liangye and Luo Luo arrived late.
Seeing Sa Liangxi like this, Shao Liangye couldn't help but feel relaxed. This is the life a girl should live, instead of fighting and killing. Of course, he also felt deeply sorry for the unlucky Hercule.
"But... what about Lorenzo? Didn't he come back alive? Why didn't he see anyone else?"
Hercule expressed the question that was deep in his heart, and Shao Liangye thought for a while before answering.
"I don't know, but it seems that due to [exile], his connection with the darkness is weakening, and the secret blood in his body is also weakening. It seems to have caused a series of illnesses, and he was sent to Black Mountain Hospital."
"Is that so? It sounds pretty miserable."
"Yes, the power of the secret blood is decreasing day by day. He is turning back into a mortal little by little, and the injuries left in the battle have also exploded. It is already a miracle that he can regain his life."
Shao Liangye still remembered that at the end of the battle, Lorenzo passed out as soon as he boarded the Sail to Dawn. His powerful self-healing power no longer existed, and his wounds healed and then burst again, like a puppet riddled with holes.
"But who did I hear this from? He seemed to have been discharged from the hospital a few days ago, right?"
At this time, Sa Liangxi suddenly raised his head and said.
"Huh? Discharged?"
"Well, it's called Yuyan, right? When I went to Montenegro Hospital for a review a few days ago, she told me that Lorenzo has been discharged and left."
Hearing these people, they were stunned and looked at each other, feeling very surprised at this mysterious guy.
"So...what is Lorenzo Holmes doing now?"
(End of this chapter)