Ember Gun

  Chapter 372 Farewell

It has been a month since that terrible storm. The huge machine in Old Dunling was shut down for a few days before it started running rumblingly again. The stove ignited again, and the machinery in the factory pushed the assembly line, hot water vapor. With the dust rising into the sky again, everything is as usual, nothing has changed.

After a month, people still talked about the storm from time to time, and some strange stories derived from it were broadcast on the radio, such as rainstorm monsters, but people smiled at each other. There are no monsters in this world. It's all people's fantasy.

  In the eyes of the citizens, it was just a rare storm. They knew nothing about the secret war that took place under that storm.

  The world is still like that, harmonious and beautiful. Everyone plays a fixed role, doing their own things. Some people are eager to live, and some are eager to die.

  People come and go in the old Dunling Central Railway Station, and the warm light falls through the dome, staining it with a layer of gold, like a splendid palace.

  No one knows how long this sunny day will last, but everyone’s face is smiling when bathed in this precious sunlight.

  Mrs. Van Lourdes slowly sat down on the bench next to the platform with her luggage. She checked her watch, and it was still some time before her train arrived.

  She didn't look very good, her face lacked blood, it was like going through a tired thing, and it took all her efforts.

As she said to Lorenzo at that time, she was optimistic about a small town far away from the old Dunling, ready to spend the rest of her life there with her savings, this will be a good time, there are sparsely populated, always sunny.

  Mrs. Van Lourdes thought about beautiful things, but she couldn't laugh at all, and she had no expectations.

   "Then, I will send you here."

  A voice rang from the other side, and Shrike walked to Madame Van Lourdes with the remaining luggage. He did not sit down, as if in a hurry, he hurried to leave.

   "Well, thank you, Shrike? I remember that name, right?" Madame Van Lourdes looked at Shrike, and then asked.

  Mrs. Van Lourde knows the shrike, but the relationship between the two is not close. He came for Lorenzo, and if it weren't for Lorenzo, the shrike would not appear here.

"Yes."

   "I remember that your appearance is very important in this line of business. I have written down your appearance. There will be no accidents, right?" Mrs. Van Lude joked.

  "How is it possible? After all, you, as the'landlord', helped me a lot, and we will never see each other again after today. Maybe you will die in a few years."

   Seven years ago, in order to deal with Lorenzo, a stranger, Shrike casually threw him to Madame Van Lourdes. He himself did not expect that so many things would happen later, which was completely beyond imagination.

   "Oh? Really? I thought there was no such thing as'retirement' in your business." Mrs. Van Lourde was surprised.

Mrs. Van Lourdes doesn’t know the inside story of all this. She doesn’t even know the existence of demons. In her opinion, Shrike is a gang boss in Xiacheng and manages some mobs. Although Lorenzo claims to be a detective, he is probably also a gangster. Serve the dark killer.

  The average person may not be afraid, but Madame Van Lourdes, who was an air cavalry, doesn't care about this, she finds it interesting instead.

   "I just didn't expect you to come to see me personally. After all, you are... the gang boss?"

   "Probably it is." Shrike replied.

"Is it Lorenzo's entrustment? It's a will or something. This guy has never been missing for more than half a month. Even if he has been missing for more than this long time, he will leave a note in advance... I'm just kidding. I didn't expect that guy. I really thought I would throw out his stuff."

Mrs. Van Lourdes said with a little nostalgia, it was only a joking threat, but Lorenzo actually took it seriously, and every time the "business trip" was longer, he would leave a note and a month's rent. .

"But this time this guy didn't keep notes or rent. After missing for a month, is he dead? It stands to reason. He has been in your business for so long and can live safely for so long. Already considered lucky, right?"

  Mrs. Van Lourdes looked through everything. In her opinion, Lorenzo, as a killer, failed in a certain action after all, was penetrated by a stray bullet and died on the side of the road like a wild dog.

  This conjecture is somewhat deviated from the real situation, but there is not much difference after thinking about it carefully.

   "I don't know. It may be dead or not. After all, we haven't found his body yet." Shrike replied.

   "Did it happen in that storm?"

"Um."

   "It's really bad, maybe his body was washed away by the river, and he was sinking on a certain seabed to feed fish. The rain was really heavy."

  Obviously it is a serious matter, but the two talked about it leisurely.

   "Where is Sieg?"

   asked Madame Van Lourdes again.

  Shrike fell silent. He remembered Lorenzo’s roommate and the arrest that took place in front of 121A Cork Street.

  According to the records of the Black Mountain Hospital, Sieg was eroded. In the follow-up corpse recovery, the scavengers confirmed the identity of the corpse, and Sieg was alienated into a demon.

  Looking at Madame Van Lourdes’s old cheeks, the indifferent shrike suddenly hesitated.

  How can he say it like this? Regardless of whether all this involves the intelligence of the demon.

He couldn't help feeling tangled in his heart. If it weren't for Lorenzo, Shrike really didn't want to appear here, but he couldn't help it. Maybe this old man knew some information about Lorenzo's disappearance, but she seems to be a complete one. The outsider knows nothing.

"I am not sure."

   "Is this..."

   "Then I should go, goodbye."

Shrike nodded to Mrs. Van Lourdes. He didn't want to ask anything else. He just wanted to leave here as soon as possible. He didn't know what happened between the landlord and the tenant. He just felt that the atmosphere made him feel extremely. Suffering.

Mrs. Van Lourdes did not say anything. In fact, she had a premonition as early as the heavy rain. The abnormal Sig, the serious Lorenzo, she wanted to ask what happened, but they left the house. Never came back.

  Although she is very old, she is not stupid. She waited for a month and no one came back. As if she had accepted all this, Madame Van Lourdes just wanted to leave the city as soon as possible.

  I have thought about the time of separation, but she did not expect it to be in this way, so abrupt, and it was only a month later that she realized that they had already separated.

  The melodious whistle sounded from the end of the horizon. At the same time, there were footsteps. The man came over and sat on the bench, leaning against Mrs. Van Lourde.

  She turned her head and looked at the somewhat nasty face.

   "You are not dead."

   "Almost died. Fortunately, I am strong, you say yes."

  Lorenzo smiled at her and showed off his muscles as he spoke, but his arms were wrapped in clothes and he couldn't see anything.

   "So what happened this month."

Mrs. Van Lourdes was not surprised by Lorenzo’s appearance. On the contrary, she was a little bit disappointed. In her opinion, Lorenzo might appear in a very cool way. After all, this is in line with his somewhat narcissistic appearance. Character, but this time his appearance was too mediocre, it was a negative point.

   "Quite a lot, killed some **** guys, then went out for a walk, relax, and think about life."

  Lorenzo said, suddenly remembering something, and asked.

   "So are you going to retire?"

   "You are a detective, don't ask such stupid questions, can you?" Madame Van Lourdes said rudely.

   Lorenzo was a little embarrassed, indeed, he just didn't know what to say, so he pulled something useless.

  He returned to 121A Cork Street early in the morning, but the door was locked there, the furniture in the room was covered with a layer of dust-proof white cloth, and Mrs. Van Lourde’s clothes disappeared.

  Lorenzo naturally chased here, and then found her who was about to leave. Mrs. Van Lourde had mentioned her plan afterwards, and Lorenzo was very clear.

   "Then how was the month you were missing?"

   asked Madame Van Lourdes again.

  Lorenzo fell silent, hesitated, but finally laughed awkwardly, and said helplessly.

   "It sucks."

  Mrs. Van Lourdes doesn’t say anything anymore. Usually the conversation between the two of them is full of nonsense and funny elements, just like comedians on stage, they talk about some boring things together.

  But this time, none of them can laugh. Everyone knows something bad, but no one wants to say it. It seems like a terrible wish. If it is said, this terrible wish will become a reality.

   "So, where's Sieg?"

  Finally, Mrs. Van Lourdes asked.

  The train appeared at the end of the horizon braving the raging steam, it started to slow down and leaned towards the platform of the station.

   "Back to the place he always wanted, that seaside town, because he was so happy, he didn't have time to say hello to you, so he bought a ticket and left."

  Lorenzo lit a cigarette for himself, talking nonsense.

   "Is he happy?"

"I am not sure."

   "Is home far away?"

   "It looks a bit far away, so far away you may never see him again."

   "How did he die."

   "I don't want to recall these anymore."

  The atmosphere fell into silence, and under the warm sun, it was like an ice cellar.

  After that storm, Lorenzo retrieved his true self and the true authority. During this long month, he did a lot of things, including the use of the power Gabriel.

This is a wonderful power. Generally speaking, power needs to be directed and triggered by the alchemy matrix on the body of the demon hunter. Unlike the power Gabriel, Lorenzo clearly carries the power to Medanzo. Alchemy matrix, but he can still use this mysterious power.

This is a different power, a power that has been deliberately forgotten. Lorenzo needs to slowly dig into the knowledge of it. With the help of this power, Lorenzo can easily invade with the help of the [interval] shuttle. In order to eliminate the inside of the agency, I also obtained a series of information about the future.

   "Sorry, I took the trouble home."

  After a while, Lorenzo whispered.

Although he has not said it, Lorenzo cherishes the part of this life that he can be an "ordinary person" and live like an ordinary person. There is a weird landlord and a strange roommate who will eat supper together from time to time. , For a festival.

  Lorenzo cherishes these things, so he never takes any trouble home. This is his first mistake and the last time.

   "What are you talking about, Mrs. Van Lourdes, whether it's cursing or reprimanding, say something."

  Lorenzo no longer had any emotional ups and downs. He squeezed his palms tightly, tightening the cigarette **** that had not been extinguished, and a faint pain flashed past.

   "I'm sorry, sorry..."

"In the final analysis, I am still a human being. No matter what kind of power I have, I still cannot change the nature of my heart. I am a fragile human being. I can isolate emotions as much as possible, because it makes me vulnerable. , But as you said, after living together for so long, even a dog will have more or less feelings."

  Lorenzo muttered sparsely, like an old woman with a mother-in-law.

  This feeling is really bad. He can endure the scorching heat of the fire and the slashing of the sword, but the pain from the heart makes him extremely unbearable.

   "Then did you kill him?"

"Who?"

   "The culprit."

  Lorenzo's mind recalled Moriarty's appearance, in that [interval], the guy who was still crazy until death came.

   "Well, I killed him," Lorenzo replied. "But unfortunately, I couldn't make that guy feel more pain...but for that kind of person, torturing him would be boring."

   "So are you hiding from me this month?"

   "Is that... one of various reasons."

  Mrs. Van Lourdes did not look at Lorenzo, her gaze kept staring ahead, but there was nothing there.

   "I am going to take care of the old age. Actually, I wanted to leave the house to you and Sieg."

"Um."

  It seemed that they really didn't know what to say, and the two said nothing.

  Lorenzo really couldn't bear the depression, he took a deep breath, took out a document bag from his arms and handed it to Mrs. Van Lourdes.

"what is this."

   "It's... some of my farewell gifts."

  Lorenzo thought about what to say. He has always been a glib guy, but now what he says is dry.

   "Actually, I was preparing for this when you and I mentioned the pension, but I didn't expect it to be given to you in this way. I thought it would be happier, such as pulling a banner or something."

   "You also know that I'm working in a high-risk industry, but the industry returns quite a lot, plus the money I saved in some weird ways when I worked before... The orphanage I had been sponsoring closed down."

  Lorenzo said as happy as possible.

"Oh, house prices in this ghost place in Old Dunling are really expensive. Those nuns can't keep running. It won't be long before the churches there will be stripped off and factories will be built... For people like me, money is something like that. It didn't make much practical sense, so I took out all the savings and funded them to move the orphanage to a small town.

  So nominally, I am still a dean, with a few nuns and a dozen children under my hand. "

  Lorenzo said that he felt inexplicable, this kind of thing didn't go with him at all.

"People always need to rely on something to survive. I won’t talk about what I live on. Anyway, they are all bad things, but you are different, Mrs. Van Lourdes, you are so old. Children, no husbands...you need relatives."

  Lorenzo stopped in the middle of speaking. This kind of thing is really difficult. He wanted to say a few more apologies, but he put it back in his mouth.

  "With your personality, you shouldn’t like the monotonous retirement life, right, for you, it’s just waiting to die, so I thought you could become the dean for me or something.

  Many children need care...it’s just full of descendants. "

  Lorenzo was talking bad things, but this time he couldn't laugh like Madame Van Lourdes.

  The train stopped in front of the platform, and heavy steam gushed out. In the mist, people leaned towards the train, carrying their luggage to different distances.

  Mrs. Van Lourdes sighed, she took the bag of papers Lorenzo handed her.

   "Thank you." Lorenzo said.

  She picked up her luggage and stood up, but did not rush to leave, looking at the endless sky behind the glass dome.

   "It's a pity that I still couldn't get on the airship. I really want to touch the sky again."

   "Do you mean the Reichenbach?"

"Um."

   "Actually, that thing was blown up by me, and it fell to pieces on the ridge."

  I don’t know if Lorenzo is serious or joking, but it seems that there are many jokes.

  She knows this guy very well. Whenever there is something sad, this guy likes to joke and tell bad things, trying to dispel the sadness a bit, but this time they are like a torrent, Lorenzo's bad words are meaningless.

  Mrs. Van Lourdes never looked at Lorenzo from beginning to end. She picked up her luggage and walked towards the train, leaving silently.

   "Will you hate me? Madame Van Lourdes."

  Lorenzo looked at her back and asked suddenly.

  Mrs. Van Lourdes stopped, and after a long time she turned around slowly and looked at Lorenzo for the last time.

   "Just like you said, everyone is human and all have emotions. After living together for so long, I can't hate you even if I want to hate you."

   "I don't hate you, Lorenzo Holmos, I just... I just don't want to see you again."

  Lorenzo lowered his head, like a child under training.

  "The key is in the mailbox."

  The last words came from the wind, Lorenzo suddenly raised his head, but he could only see a pale mist and the closed car door.

  The train slowly drove away from the old Dunling and disappeared under the horizon. Only Lorenzo was left on the platform. The wind blew the discarded newspapers, and under the brilliant sunlight, it looked desolate.

  (End of this chapter)