Deep Sea Embers

Frost is a very cold place. For 80% of the year, this city-state is bathed in the endless cold winds of the Frozen Sea - cold air blows continuously from the Frozen Sea further north. , whizzing past the towering city walls and steep coastal cliffs of frost, this chill kept many people away.

However, Frost is also the largest city-state in the entire Cold Sea. Despite the cold, the center of this huge island has the richest boiling gold mine in the north. It is the most important component raw material in the steam core, and can even be regarded as As the industrial foundation of the current era, the industrial system built around the Boiling Gold Mine supports the operation of this northern city-state and brings it endless wealth and prosperity.

and death.

Frost, on the edge of the mining area, at the entrance to the city-state cemetery, a black steam car has not yet turned off. Under the bright gas streetlights, several corpse bearers wearing thick black robes are working together to lift a coffin from the car. When he was lifted out, there was another tall and thin figure wearing a black robe standing next to the car. The entire face of this figure was hidden in the shadow of a wide-brimmed hat, and where the shadows intersected, one could see one after another. bandage.

A few steps away, a wizened old man with a slightly stooped body, his whole body seemed to be shrouded in deep shadows, stood by the entrance of the cemetery, watching indifferently the people who were delivering the corpses.

The corpse bearers from the Church of Death were extremely silent. They made no sound during the process of carrying the coffin. Only slight bumps occasionally sounded, making the already gloomy cemetery look even more eerie and lifeless.

After an unknown amount of time, the sinister old man guarding the cemetery finally broke the silence: "Cause of death?"

"He lost his footing and fell into the shaft," the tall and thin figure wrapped in bandages said. It was a slightly hoarse female voice that sounded very young. "He died on the spot and had not been baptized. The details are in the handover document. Yes, you can see for yourself.”

"How long?" The old man Yin Ao's expression and tone remained unchanged, as if he was discussing a stone that was about to be moved into his room.

The tall and thin figure covered with bandages looked at the sinister old man quietly.

"I wish it were as simple as you say, Agatha," muttered the caretaker. "I can't guarantee that no body will get out of that garden, but the cemetery that I and my colleagues have to guard, It’s much bigger than your big garden.”

"I don't mind—because you don't understand."

"The living people are finally gone. I'm really used to being so quiet in the cemetery."

"It's really long." The caretaker snorted from his nose and looked up at the cemetery gate next to him. The dark carved iron fence gate stood like a cold and sharp thorn under the light and night. Opposite the gate that symbolizes the separation between life and death, you can vaguely see many mortuary tables with the same front, wide paths between the morgues, and shadowy tombstones and huts deeper in the area.

The caretaker and the white-dressed priestess known as "Agatha" also walked into the cemetery and came to the morgue.

Agatha's low and hoarse prayers echoed in the noisy cemetery and gradually merged into the deep night.

She muttered, grabbed her reliable double-barreled shotgun, and walked slowly towards her caretaker's hut at the edge of the morgue.

“The dead cannot take the place of the living,” the bandaged man shook his head. “For the deceased whose death process was ‘clean and innocent’, four days is enough time for the soul to regain its peace. "

The five bearers took out Bartok's talisman, which was an octagonal metal emblem with a door-shaped relief in the center symbolizing the door of life and death. They placed the talisman on the four corners of the coffin and shouted in unison. He recited a brief prayer and then took a half step back.

The old man shook his head, bent down and grabbed the double-barreled shotgun, turned around and left slowly.

The light from the gas street lamp illuminated his appearance.

"We are sailing to the north, and our destination is Frost." On the deck of the Lost Home, Duncan found Vanna who was looking at the sea in the distance in a daze, and came forward to greet her, "I see that you have been looking at the distance in a daze. , I guess you are curious about the course of this ship."

"Of course, Hanshuang is most famous for half a century.

This rebellion before—Wangshuang doesn’t mind someone discussing this, right? "

"Go to sleep, have a good sleep. It is difficult to sleep so soundly when you are alive," the old guard muttered. "Your family will come to greet you tomorrow morning. According to the rules, say goodbye to them and then relax." Leave, the world of living people is actually not that good..."

After a while, the old man walked out of the hut again, and this time, he had something in his hand.

After a while, the ceremony ended, and Agatha turned her head to look at the cemetery guard: "It's done."

"May the grace of Bartok, the God of Death, shine upon your soul and restore peace to you in your last three days on earth. All your karmic debts to the world will be canceled today. You who are lost, you can travel lightly..."

Agatha then stepped forward, took off her narrow-brimmed hat, and stared at the coffin on the morgue in the cold wind.

"There is no evidence to prove that the dead in the city-state are really being resurrected, and there are some contradictions in the current reports. However, even if the phenomenon of 'restless people' is only briefly resurrected, it is worthy of vigilance," the bandaged woman shook her head. He shook his head and said, "So take care of your cemetery. As for matters in the city-state, the church and the city hall will take care of it." "

The cold night wind blew through the cemetery, blowing past the rows of morgues and the carved iron fences at the edge of the cemetery. The bright old guard stood at the door, looking at the direction in which the hearse was leaving. After a long time, he looked away. I tightened my clothes in the cold wind.

"Three days," he answered briefly, "Three days of pure spirit, and then sent to the melting pot."

"…All right."

I don’t know much about Hanshuang. I only know that the main belief here is Bartok, the god of death, but there are also some believers in the Storm Goddess. Hanshuang’s local industry seems to be very developed, and the largest economic pillar of the entire city-state is boiling water. Gold mine…”

"Frost?" Fanna was a little surprised. I was really guessing the next itinerary of the Lost Home, but I didn't expect Captain Duncan to take the initiative to mention this matter to me. "Why Frost? What happened over there? ?”

Layers of bandages were wrapped all over her body, even covering most of her face. Only in the areas not covered by the bandages, you could still see some delicate and unique female front lines, and her long dark brown slightly curly hair was scattered around. Behind her head, the same dark brown eyes only contained calmness and compassion.

Only one small headstone will be reserved for them in the cemetery - very small, and it will soon be piled deep among more headstones.

"Isn't it just because of this?" The sinister guard raised his eyes, his yellow-fronted eyeballs silently stared at the "bandage man" wearing a thick white coat in front of him, "You are worried about the corpse getting up - just Like the recent rumors."

"As the gatekeeper, the appeasement ceremony I personally performed should have some effect," Agatha said lightly, then put on the dark narrow-brimmed hat again. She nodded to the cemetery guard and led the way. The bearers walked towards the exit of the cemetery, "It's time for us to leave."

"The reason was that Maurice received a letter, a letter from his late friend." Duncan came to the edge of the deck, holding the railings on the ship's side with both hands, looking at the boundless sea under the night in the distance, "but more The reason is because I became interested there.”

"In a sense, Hanshuang is my 'hometown,'" Duncan said with a smile, "although I don't have this concept at all."

Bartok's leaders left,

The dark steam car drifted further and further into the night, until its taillights gradually merged into the urban night.

The bearers carried the coffin into the cemetery. These silent figures in black were walking along the paths of the cemetery like corpses. They found the vacant morgue prepared in front and placed the coffin on the platform. , and then stood at the four corners of the coffin, preparing to perform the comfort ceremony of Bartok, the God of Death.

The guard with a sinister temperament stood aside and watched the ceremony indifferently. At some point, a heavy-looking double-barreled shotgun appeared in his hand. On the handguard of the shotgun, there was a faint symbol of death visible on the front. Octagonal emblem of the god Bartok.

A large pink-white flower picked from nowhere.

they die

He was temporarily sent to the cemetery, and gradually returned to peace under the gaze of Bartok, the god of death. It could take as short as a few days, or as long as ten days and a half months, and then he was sent to the melting pot adjacent to the cemetery, and his life was transformed into sin. As smoke and dust in the sky, the good deeds in his life were blended into the roar of steam pipes, and a little bit of residue was sprinkled into the land of the city-state, leaving no residue in the world.

"Are you interested?"

Fanna paused for a moment before speaking, and then glanced subconsciously in the direction of the cabin.

He came to the latest coffin, picked up a stone from the side, and pressed the small flower on the corner of the morgue.

"I hope your prayer will be effective," the caretaker raised the double-barreled shotgun in his hand, "although I trust my 'old partner' more."

The night wind blew through the path, causing the soft petals to tremble in the wind. On the rows of morgues in the distance, you could see the same little flower pressed in an inconspicuous corner.

This is a cemetery, but for most of the corpses sent to the cemetery, this is not their long-term resting place - except for a few long-term graves with ordinary meanings, the deceased only stay here temporarily. From city-state officials to traffickers and pawns, no one can circumvent the rules here.