Ember Gun

  Chapter 358 Homeland

  The hazy drizzle pouring quietly, as if endless, they hit the moss-covered stone bricks, and as the breeze passed, they brought a cool chill.

This is a beautiful coastal town, as if it has been forgotten by the whole world. The long glorious war and the steam engine that revolutionized the world have not changed this town. It still retains the appearance of a hundred years ago, as if time is in it. It froze down.

  Sigg leaned on the stone steps beside the door, and his eyes fell on the end of the bluestone steps.

  As the drizzle fell, it seemed that the whole town fell into a deep sleep, there were no pedestrians on the street, all the doors were closed, and no lights were on.

  The whole town is shrouded in silence, except for the sound of rain falling, nothing is left.

  Sigg would have felt an unspeakable sense of loneliness, but at the moment he didn't care about it. Although he was alone, he couldn't help but smile when he looked at this familiar town.

  Ah... the small town hidden deep in memory, this small town completely forgotten by him.

  Sigg never thought that one day he would really return to this homeland that he could not return to, like a beautiful dream, he did not want to wake up.

   Lifting his head, the sky is gray, but compared to the apocalyptic rainy season in Old Dunling, the rain curtain here is too gentle, like cold hands, gently touching him.

   Slowly stood up and looked towards the end of the space between heaven and earth. The condensed black sea churned and roared. The strong wind set off waves several meters high, which broke into thousands of foam on the black reef.

  Sig continued to move on listening to the sound of the rain. Everything in the town was as in the memory, but now they are all closed and there is no light behind the windows.

  It seems that everyone is dead, and it is possible that they all fell asleep, but Sieg can't think about that anymore.

  Vague noises came from the wind and rain, the roar of men, the wailing of monsters, and the sound of explosions.

   Sieg scanned back and forth, trying to find the source of the sound, but there was only the familiar town around him, but as he blinked, a figure suddenly appeared in the rain screen before him.

   "Ah...Joy!"

  At the other end of the rain curtain, Sieg saw Joey standing still in the rain. After a brief moment, he ran over excitedly.

It was a really happy day. Sieg chased for so long and finally returned to his homeland. He wanted to share this joy with Joey, but for a time Sigg couldn’t see Joey’s face. A gloomy and dark one, no light can illuminate it.

A completely different view was reflected in the stagnant water beneath his feet. Joey swung his jackknife, and one after another was beheaded by him, but in this violent fight, another monster approached him staggeringly. .

   "Joy?"

  Sig continued to shout, Joey said nothing, just followed Sigg to sit down on the bench next to him, and the two fell into the patter of rain.

   "I don't want to go back, Joey."

  After a long silence, Sieg broke the calm, his expression was a bit complicated, and he didn't seem to know how to say it.

   "Don't want to... go back?"

  Joy’s voice is a little fuzzy, he tilts his head, his face is still pitch black.

   "Yes, 121A Cork Street. Although I am a little reluctant, I am not going to go back... After all, this is my place."

  Sig said and looked at this small town sleeping under the rain, with a gentle smile on his face.

  "In fact, I left here because of a wild thought in my mind. I want to go to the outside world and see what the world looks like only in the mouths of adults.

Some people say that it’s extremely beautiful, and some people say it’s filthy. They have different opinions, but they have one thing in common. It is a place that must be visited, and that is the real appearance of the world... I'm really curious, until one day I Really left, really arrived at Old Dunling. "

  Sig sighed, her voice a little helpless.

   "It was great at the beginning. I have never seen such a high building, such a wide street, not to mention those airships flying in the air, iron snakes densely scattered throughout the city."

"But I'm not suitable there, Joey, I'm not suitable, I'm just a little kid from a small seaside town, Old Dunling is too big for me, so big that I can hardly see what it looks like. , I just want to find a corner to hide."

  Joy didn't speak, he just kept his head down, listening to Sig's self-talk.

   "But... if I don't go back, will anyone be sad for me?"

   Sieg asked, and then he thought about it, his roommate, Lorenzo Holmes, came to mind.

   "Will he be sad for me?"

  Sigg laughed immediately, feeling incredible for this idea.

"How could it be? That guy won't be sad for me. Even if that guy is really sad, he won't show it. But... But what about Mrs. Van Lud? She is so old, she should need someone to take care of her. For the rest of her life, that guy Lorenzo is obviously unreliable...though I'm not very good either."

   "This kind of thing is really distressing, isn't it, Joey." Sieg asked.

  Joy nodded, then continued.

   "Yes, there is a lot of helplessness in life, and there are many wrong paths. Once you make a mistake, you will continue to make the mistake."

   "Like hallucinogens?"

  Sig patted Joey on the shoulder, and then said.

"At the time in the factory, some people said that this thing allows people to see what they want to see, some people use it to see their dead relatives, and some people use it to see the wealth of the mountains. I was lured by this and used it to see my hometown. Although it's just an illusion, it feels really good."

   "But I was a little surprised, Joey, a serious person like you actually uses hallucinogens."

   "What about seriousness? I am still a human being. As long as I am a human, I have human weaknesses and human inferiorities." Joey said.

   "Then what are you doing?"

  Sig looked at Joey, his dark face seemed a little clearer, and he could see a pair of confused eyes in the dimness.

   "Nightmare, in order to get rid of a nightmare."

  Joy said, as if he was explaining to Sieg, and as if he was enlightening himself.

"I am a soldier, and the soldier must obey the order. Whether it is to kill or set fire, we will always do it. After all, it is an order. Although it is not our fault to be held accountable, it is... but I killed them after all. After all, I witnessed the cruelty with my own eyes.

I always have nightmares, dreaming that the earth and the sky have disappeared. All that is left is countless palms waving like seaweeds. They grabbed me and were tightly entwined like vines, and finally I shred it completely. "

   "It sounds like a terrible nightmare." Sieg seemed to understand Joey, and nodded as he spoke.

  "Will you still use hallucinogens then?" he asked again.

   "No," Joey replied.

"so good."

  Then there was a long silence. The two people were like sculptures, sitting quietly on the benches, even if the drizzle wetted them completely. It took a long time until Joey broke the peace again.

   "I should go now, Sieg."

   "Yeah, you don't belong here. This is my hometown, not yours, and our missions are different. There will always be a time when we separate." Sieg said.

   "But it’s nice to see you now, Joey."

   "So are you, Sig."

The two comforted each other, and then laughed. Without warning, Sieg suddenly punched Joey, and then ran like a child, toward the direction of the lane, Joey was slightly stunned and tight. Then he caught up.

  The two are like children, running and playing.

  This kind of behavior seemed so naive and ridiculous on them at this moment, but they didn't seem to feel it themselves, so they ran like this, running on a road that seemed to have no end.

  The water on the ground reflected their figure, but it was another world, the white folding knife cut through the rain curtain, chasing the galloping monster.

  The stagnant water forms a mirror surface, separating the two worlds.

For Sieg, this feeling is really good. I remember that long ago he was running along the beach with other children, riding in the waves. It was a yellowing memory, but now it is constantly clear in his mind. , He found his past a little bit.

The wind and rain were left behind by him until a slight touch came from behind, and then the hand firmly grasped Sig's skirt, then Joey threw Sig over, and the two rolled along the steps. He went down, and finally fell into the stagnant water.

  Joy pressed on Sigg and got up with great effort, but Sigg did not move, just lay in the stagnant water, staring at the sky blankly.

   "Is this a dream? Joey."

   he asked.

"I am not sure."

  Joy also couldn't understand.

   "In fact, I think this is a dream, a beautiful and delicate dream, a dream like a cage... In fact, I know very well that I can't go back, and sometimes I can't confirm whether that small town really exists..."

   "So what about this? You are truly here now." Joey retorted, everything around is so real, this is Sieg's homeland, his hometown.

   "No, this is my dream, because I only remember these."

  Sig turned his head and looked at the buildings on the side.

   "I only remember their vague appearance, so they will not open the door, nor will there be pedestrians, and this heavy rain will not have an end, because those are all forgotten by me."

   "But in fact, these are also good. People have to cheat themselves to survive, right."

  Higg's eyes gradually became indifferent, he looked at Joey who was pressing on him again, and then said to him.

   "...Actually, you don't exist either. I guessed it, right? But I would deceive myself into believing all of this, and that’s not bad."

  But at this moment, Joey shook his head, looking sad.

   "No... sorry, Sig."

  The folding knife pierced the dream and also pierced the heavy rain.

  Dreamland and reality overlapped here, and the messy voices became clear for an instant, and the burning fireworks swallowed the entire town.

  The patter of light rain began to violently.

  Under another rain curtain, Joey finally caught up with the demon and nailed it to the spot in front of him, and the broken corpses were piled around him.

  Joy had a squalid face, but his eyes were full of sadness. He looked at the monster under him, and the familiar face made him feel extremely angry.

   "Joy..."

  The demon made a vague sound, and his scarlet eyes gradually calmed down as the folding knife penetrated his heart. No one knew whether it woke up at this moment or fell asleep like that.

  Those words are like children’s dreams, without logic, broken into words.

   "I'm here, Sig, I'm so sorry."

  Joy just looked at it sadly, the heavy rain scouring his cheeks.

   "If...if there are no demons, if there are no demons...we might be good friends."

As he said this, he twisted the jackknife vigorously, completely crushing the heart of the demon, and in the vision of the demon, the quiet town under the rain curtain gradually solidified together, and the picture was fixed in its eyes forever. .

  At the end of life, Sieg finally returned to the unreachable homeland. Although illusory, it was his last comfort to himself.

  As the blood of the demon grows in the body, he can feel the gradually burning power in the body, and he is also clearly aware that his consciousness is sliding into the abyss uncontrollably.

Think about it carefully, this feeling is really bad, it's terrible. The monsters that Joey killed were all patients at Black Mountain Hospital. Before they became patients, most of them were Joey's colleagues, in order to fight against the monsters. And gave a lifetime.

  Like some kind of curse, it tortured the world.

   "Nightmare is like heavy rain..."

  Suddenly, a distorted voice sounded from under the folding knife.

   "The rainy season will always pass...Joey."

  I don't know if it was the broken will or the strange dream. The trembling eyes solidified, like a cold glacier, but this solidity did not last long, and it melted afterwards.

   "Yeah, goodbye."

Joey said softly, and under his jackknife, the demon could no longer distinguish his words. As early as when Moriarty eroded him, Sieg had already begun to alienate. As the battle broke out, He was eroded and completely alienated.

  The jackknife pulled up and cut off his head again. With the blood swaying, the monsters in the entire lifting area were beheaded clean. The survivors were paralyzed in the corner, seemingly unable to believe that they could survive the catastrophe.

  Joy's gaze scanned the surroundings, past the survivors, and past the countless corpses.

  If there were no demons, none of this would happen today, so many people would not die, and so much grief would not happen.

  The nameless anger burned in Joey's heart, and for a moment he also understood Lorenzo's rage, the unstoppable rage.

  But then there was endless sadness. Joey looked down at the dark red stagnant water, which reflected his slightly hideous face.

  He tried to pull out the folding knife, but lost all his strength, he could only kneel weakly in the stagnant water, piled up with the corpses of the monsters.

  (End of this chapter)