"The Widow" Bertha

When Mycroft came, he only said one word to Bertha: "Go, leave this to me."

Bertha: "..."

She didn't ask how the great god in front of her knew what was going on, Bertha just raised her eyebrows: "Are you not jealous now, Mike?"

The eldest son of the Holmes family couldn't help laughing.

He moved his cane, his body was straight and his smile was easygoing, as if he had put on his usual professional posture, but Bertha still found just the right amount of emotion and care in Mycroft's eyes.

This is revealed to oneself, but so what?Although Mycroft Holmes can do it without revealing anything, he still conveys some emotions carefully. To a certain extent, it has become a kind of thoughtfulness.

"Although I don't want to admit it, ma'am," Mycroft said, "in the eyes of Pastor White, you do have an extraordinary status, which is enough to make any man feel a sense of crisis."

"But he won't live long, will he? Why should I argue with a dying man."

"If you have a rift with Madam because of this, it will be a great disrespect to you. So Madam, go, my people are yours tonight, and everything that happens next is just a melee caused by gang conflicts Forget it, Mrs Thames is still the winner who sits behind the scenes and reaps the fruits."

Meeting Mycroft's smile, Bertha also raised the corners of her mouth: "Since you trust me, dear."

Just let her go see the pastor for a ride.

***

It was late at night when Bertha led them back to Whitechapel.

She kept everyone out of the church, including Thomas.

There is no light in the church in the dark, and even the room in the backyard where the pastor should live is equally dark.This made Bertha even think before stepping into the solemn building, could Pastor Brian White be unable to hold on anymore?

Fortunately, he survived.

Reverend White was waiting in the hall when Bertha entered the church.

He was still wearing the unchanging priest attire. He was dressed in simple and neat black, outlining his thin and lonely figure.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Pastor White turned his head and raised a faint smile: "Mrs. Thames."

"Pastor White," Bertha began, "you said you had something to say to me."

"Yes."

Pastor White nodded: "Forgive me for being mysterious, ma'am. It's just that I hope these words can be heard by Him, and I'm afraid I don't have the energy to repeat them again."

That "he" is of course God.

Even if Pastor White wiped the blood from his forehead, even if he put on clean clothes, the dying man still couldn't get rid of the shadow of death.Brian White was like a candle flickering in the wind. He was dying out, but he was holding on to the light with the last bits of air.

"Reverend White—"

"If you can, please call me Brian. It's been...a long time since no one called me by that name."

"Well, Brian," asked Bertha, "what do you want to say to me?"

"everything."

The youth's voice hovered in the empty church, almost ethereal.

"You have been investigating the affairs of the Truth Society, ma'am," he said. "Naturally you would like to know their original intention, purpose, and all the details."

"of course."

Bertha admitted without hesitation: "I also want to know where their base camp is and who the founder is."

Brian pursed his lips: "You don't need to look for the last one."

"you mean?"

"The founder of the Truth Society," he said with a smile, "is most likely me."

Bertha's breath came suddenly.

Brian White stood five or six meters away from Bertha. He had black hair, black eyes, and a black shirt tied below his Adam's apple. He was almost invisible in the dark environment of the church.Perhaps he himself realized this, so the young man struggled to open his legs and took a few steps forward.

Finally he stopped in the moonlight slanting down through the glass.

The cold light made him look clearer than ever before.

"you……"

Bertha turned her head to the side: "You remember?"

Brian nodded again, but then shook his head again: "Actually, ma'am, there is a part of my memory... Sometimes I even feel that it is a part of me that has stayed in South America for a long time, and they have not followed me back. Homeland. Thanks to Dr. Lear, we should have had a good relationship in the past, he showed unconditional trust in me, so he didn’t suspect that I actually don’t remember most of the things, which made me talk a lot.”

"You put it all together."

"Yes, part of what I remember, and part of what the doctor said, can just piece together a complete story."

Brian said.

"It turned out that I led my mentor and 'my' survey team to travel around the world. Dr. Lear missed everything in the past with emotion. We have been to Asia, America, and once planned to go to Australia. He It is said that I am the core of the whole team, the guide, and the soul who takes the lead.

The Truth Society should have been originally a society organized by us at a university. Most of its members were students related to biology, chemistry, and medicine. The purpose was to share knowledge and exchange academic knowledge in different fields.Later, due to the excellent academic performance of its members, the spontaneous society began to gradually become a more professional organization. "

Speaking of this, he showed a bit of emotion: "This was originally a good thing."

Bertha: "Until you found that ruin in South America?"

Bryan: "Everything has changed since then."

Bertha did not quite understand.

The discovery of a relic, even if the totem worshiped by the local aborigines is mysterious, and even if many people died due to accidents, it can subvert the understanding of many scientists and change everyone in an organization whose purpose is to pursue truth. Become terrorists and cultists?

"It doesn't make sense."

She frowned slightly: "What exactly is in the ruins?"

Bryan: "...Before answering this question, ma'am, I will first affirm Mr. Holmes' reasoning on behalf of Dr. Lear. He is right. I survived the ruins and died, and then the Truth Society did send more batches. The next survey team continued to explore, but I was still the only survivor."

"you mean?"

"If I didn't have a unique meaning, why would Dr. Lear do so many things to keep me? I won't live long."

"Don't they have life-extending drugs?"

Brian let out a laugh.

"Ma'am," he said after laughing, "The gangs in Whitechapel District are changing rapidly, but you are the first female leader who holds real power. Therefore, I assume that you are a bold person who doesn't care about the eyes of the world."

"You can think so."

"Okay, excuse me."

After speaking, Brian White raised his hand and unbuttoned his shirt.

He took off his clothes.

Of course, Bertha didn't think that the other party wanted to have something to do with her in the church, so she didn't flinch or be surprised, but just quietly watched the young man who was a few steps away from her drop the black shirt on the ground.

That which the moonlight illuminated could hardly be called a "body."

Bertha was now exceedingly glad that she had not been accompanied by the much-demanded Thomas Thames.

It turns out that Dr. Bartz's sentence "there is no complete piece of skin all over his body" can be regarded as a euphemism. If Bertha said that the skin and flesh under Brian White's clothes seemed to be about to melt, they were like It was semi-solid like wax that was undergoing high temperature, barely sticking to Brian's skeleton, crumbling.

"Well," Brian said in a clear voice, "do you think there is any medicine that can slow down the pace of death, ma'am?"

Bertha was speechless.

"My situation is different from Dr. Lear's," Brian said. "At least Dr. Lear has never lost his memory, and he has repeatedly invited me to return to the Truth Society, saying that I have 'Extraordinary significance'. I think just being the first one to survive from the ruins shouldn't make the Truth Society take it so seriously."

"then you……"

"I speculate, ma'am," Brian said calmly, "I may be the only one who survived after facing the smudge."

"..."

"I don't remember where I studied, who my advisor was, or where I had friends from. Their faces are like paper dolls, ma'am, and I don't even remember if my parents are still alive," Bryan said. As he spoke, he laughed helplessly, "Just now I was thinking that maybe the part of me that belongs to 'humanity' disappeared after witnessing the light in South America."

After speaking, he tried to bend down to pick up the clothes on the ground, but such a simple action made Bertha terrified.

She was really afraid that when Brian bent down like this, the broken flesh would completely crush his fragile spine.Without thinking about it, Bertha went straight forward to help him pick up the shirt.

Brian was taken aback.

He raised his eyes, and his clear eyes met Bertha's gaze. The pastor's gaze paused for a long time on her dark golden pupils, and then he asked in surprise, "Aren't you afraid?"

Bertha took a deep breath.

She picked up the shirt and returned it to Brian: "As long as you have human sanity in your eyes, Brian, I'm not afraid of you."

His movements stopped, and then a look of uncontrollable gratitude appeared on that still human face.

"Thank you, ma'am," the young man whispered, "for your kindness."

"You're talking to a gang leader."

"……Too."

Brian smiled again: "But people are complicated, aren't they?"

Bertha: "So the Truth Society is still studying that light."

Bryan: "It's more than just research, ma'am. The existence of that light is enough to subvert all human cognition of science. The Truth Society regards it as a higher existence than human beings. The deeper the research, the more in-depth the cognition The more they drift towards subjects other than science, let alone... look at what I look like now, they are a little better than me, they will not lose their memory, but they are still getting crazy day by day.

Scientists of yesteryear become fanatics, and the consequences can be dire.I don't know how far the Truth Society has come today, ma'am, but I'm sure there's politics involved, because it's too easy to use that name for something else. "

"Very smart, Brian." Bertha hooked her lips. "Before that, I just helped deal with a few government officials involved."

"Sure enough."

Brian sighed, "Was it worth it?"

Bertha: "Then you'll have to ask them."

"Doctor Lear even said that I am the person closest to 'God'," he said with a wry smile, "and told a clergyman that I may be the agent chosen by that Maguang himself to walk in the world, and my life is the most Good proof."

"...You didn't drive him out." Bertha said in disbelief.

"I thought about it, but I held back because of what he knew," Bryan said. "God will forgive me."

"You think God saved you?"

"Isn't it, ma'am?"

He fastened the last button, and said peacefully: "I am still alive after becoming like this. If it is not God's will, I can't think of any other possibility."

"I don't remember exactly what happened in South America, but I do remember my near-death experience vividly. Every minute, every second I was lying in bed, I felt like I was one step closer to death. The body was there My ears collapsed, and my consciousness gradually melted away. All these feelings are still fresh in my memory today.

Till I hold up the Bible, Mrs. Thames.It sounds so corny, but that's how miracles happen.My sanity returned to the human world again. Even though I was still muddled for a long time, it was indeed getting better gradually.After so many years, I have been supporting it until now, and those people from the Truth Society have not done this by using drugs to extend their lives. "

"Are you serious?"

Bertha didn't know whether it was helplessness or pity, she sighed: "You can't be called better now, Brian."

Brian shook his head: "Human life is limited. Maybe God's will is to let me meet you alive."

Bertha: "..."

He was really bad, Bertha knew that very well.

After the last sentence fell to the ground, Brian swayed, and finally chose to raise his hand to support the pew in the church, relying on the strength of the object to continue to hold on.

"The day you admitted that you were investigating the Institute of Truth, I was thinking, ah, the reason why I am alive has finally appeared," Brian said, "At least I should last until I have all the clues I have. Tell you."

"The base camp of the Society for Truth should still be in South America. Ma'am, although I heard that you are from Jamaican, it is beyond your reach. It is not a good choice to go straight to the old nest. My suggestion is to start from the mainland. The leader of the Society for Truth is now It doesn’t matter who they are because they’re no longer a purely academic organization, it’s who is funding them.”

"who is it?"

"An anonymous funder in Liverpool," Bryan replied. "My former mentor, Victor Duke, is the only person who knows his identity. Cutting this funding chain, ma'am, is tantamount to cutting off the head of the Truth Society." , It couldn’t be easier to extinguish the fire started by a group of lunatics.”

Having said that, Bertha already has all the clues she wants.

Well, it's Liverpool again.

Dr. Long's laboratory received aid from Liverpool, and the "Journal of Medicine and Science" that Brian's mentor participated in, which seems likely to be the medium used by the Truth Society to post notices, also received anonymous investment from Liverpool.

If the Truth Society is likened to poisonous insects, although they are highly poisonous, they are really threatening people who actually raise poisonous insects.

And the breeder is probably the anonymous investor who is currently staying in Liverpool.

only……

Bertha's eyes returned to Brian.

There was always a sense of pity on the young man's baby face, obviously he was the one who couldn't keep going, but seeing Brian's clear eyes, Bertha felt as if she was the poor person still walking in the ordinary world .

"Brian," she whispered unconsciously, "that Mo Guang, do you think it's real?"

"Really what?"

"It's really like the legend says, it's both a creature and a light."

"I do not know."

Bryan answered Bertha's words honestly: "We live in a very good time, madam, but this time is still extremely stupid. Maybe I will be born a hundred years later to answer your question - like this touch and die Myths and legends, in South America and in the East, almost every civilization has similar stories. Maybe what I encountered is just another situation that science cannot explain at the moment.”

Bertha understood what he meant.

Even if he had forgotten almost everything, Brian's thinking was still clearer than those lunatics of the Truth Society: they had already regarded the smearing light as a religious totem worship, but Brian said that maybe it was just the limitation of the current science and technology.

Perhaps it is nothing more than the existence of radioactive substances in the remains of the tribe. These radioactive substances fell from the sky, so they were regarded as gods by the tribe.When Brian White led his survey team to open the dusty underground monument, it just happened to encounter a silent chemical reaction.

After all, putting aside this mysterious legend, in fact, Bertha felt that his current appearance was more like he had encountered some kind of strong radiation.

The intense radiation did not disappear after one pass, but remained in the ruins, just like Chernobyl, slowly dissipating over time.As a result, except for the first expedition team led by Brian, although the other people who went to the ruins also suffered from physical diseases, they were not so serious.

"Of course, maybe the Truth Society is right in the end," Brian smiled, "but does that matter?"

unimportant.

Bertha didn't care what they believed, but if they were always making trouble here, don't blame anyone for trouble.

Seeing that Bertha was silent, Brian let out a breath of foul air slowly.

"I've said all I need to say, ma'am," he seemed determined, "I have one thing to ask you."

"please say."

He didn't speak, but moved his left hand behind his back with great effort.

Brian White took out the gun again.

The young man moved his body with difficulty, moving forward inch by inch, and finally stopped at a position one step away from Bertha, and then put the gun in Bertha's hand.

Which means, goes without saying.

"you--"

Bertha's eyes widened slightly.

The gun in his hand was heavy, and the pitch-black killing weapon gleamed coldly under the moonlight.This cold light and the clearness in Brian's eyes showed completely opposite emotions.

"Yes."

He spat out the next words as if he was doing something familiar: "I beg you to kill me, ma'am."

Bertha pursed her lips.

She was silent for a long time, and finally asked: "Why?"

"why?"

But Brian seemed surprised: "I killed Martha Garrison, but you can't send me to the police station. Once my name is published in the newspaper, the Truth Society will immediately know that their hole cards have been known by others, and they can't startle the snake. .

But murder pays for death, madam.It's just that I'm a priest, and I can't kill myself, or no one else would have to do it. "

In truth, Bertha had never been so miserable in her two lives combined.

She quietly looked at Brian's face, the more peaceful his smile was, the more Bertha felt that a huge stone was pressing on her heart.

"You can atone for it," Bertha said with difficulty in a hoarse voice, "Since the Truth Society wants you to go back, you go back. They are best at infiltrating spies. You and I can follow suit. Are they right? You will think that the person you need most is actually a spy."

"lady--"

"As soon as you go back, we can get the identity of the anonymous investor," Bertha said more and more, she felt that this made sense, "In this way, the Truth Society can be settled in less than three months. Besides, they have the ability to prolong their lifespan." Drugs, you might live a little longer."

"But I don't want to live anymore."

Brian said.

"Madame, thank you for thinking about me and being sorry for me. But I can't control myself, how can you trust me to be an undercover agent? The one who died today is a prostitute from Whitechapel, who will it be tomorrow?"

Yes, I go back to the Truth Society, maybe I can do something.They would treat me like a saint, the way Christians treat Christ.If you let me sit on the altar, you may even sing praises for my statue, and you can live in another way after death. "

Halfway through the conversation, he himself laughed first.

But it's not funny at all.

"But I don't want to, ma'am," he said, "rather than be a monster to be worshipped."

With his back to the cross in the center of the church, Brian White knelt down toward Bertha.

"I choose to die as a human being."

The young man kneeling on the ground stretched out his hand towards the standing girl. He held Bertha's palm carefully, but it had nothing to do with lust or love. Bertha could only see an incomparably holy soul, and she still insisted on being a human being at the last moment. dignity.

He told Bertha to hold the handle of the gun, he told her to pull the gun, and then Brian White wrapped Bertha's gun hand with both hands reverently and moved it to his eyebrows.

"I beg you, ma'am," he said, "please kill me."

"..."

Bertha closed her eyes, she didn't say a word, but Brian seemed to understand while waiting.

It dawned on him.

"You haven't killed anyone," Brian said in surprise, "As a gang leader, you haven't killed anyone."

"……Yes."

"That's great."

The smile on Brian's face remained innocent.

"This is really a windfall. I will be the first person you kill. Does this mean...after death, you will always remember me?"

Remember Brian White as a human being, not any symbol tainted by religion, cults, and tragic experiences.

A shot rang out in the church hall.