As in every spring in Old Dunling, the city of steel was washed by cold rain, and although it was often maintained, in the hazy vapour, the whole city was still rusty, and countless lights were blurred by it, turning into magnificent neon.

The inhabitants of Old Dunling have long been accustomed to this climate, and the dark umbrellas are spread out one by one, and countless blooming flowers gather in the streets, and these black flowers swell between the crevices of the buildings with the flow of stagnant water.

Joey held a black umbrella and stepped through shallow puddles.

The rainy season in Old Dunling has arrived, and the city will be like this for the next few weeks, with a drizzling rain that keeps falling and gloomy, as if it will never stop. Joey felt like his soul was going to be soaked through.

This mysterious conversation ended with Lorenzo's departure, and Joey was just doing what he was told, standing outside the gate, he didn't know exactly what was going on inside, he just saw Lorenzo's departing hateful appearance.

Arthur didn't reveal much information, but told Joey to observe Lorenzo's mental state after this, and it was not clear what had happened to them.

Finally Joey came back to the building, where the house number for 121A Cork Street was hanging.

Gathering his emotions, Joey knocked on the door, then pushed it open and stepped inside.

"Is Lorenzo back?"

Joey stood in the doorway, shouting into the room, and after a while, Mrs. Van Loude came out of it, looking at Joey with a puzzled expression.

"Didn't you take him away in the morning?"

Lorenzo is often taken away by some strange people, of course, every time Lorenzo comes back with a different appearance, sometimes like a tired social animal, tired, sometimes radiant, as happy as robbing a bank, of course, more often he is covered in blood, but often it is someone else's blood.

"Hasn't he come back yet?"

It seems that Lorenzo did not return to 121A Cork Street after leaving there, much to Joey's confusion.

As Arthur said, everyone has a place to go back, but Lorenzo didn't, and Joey couldn't even think of where Lorenzo would be at the moment, and here he realized that this guy was so unrestrained.

"That's ......"

It looks like he's in a hurry, but there's no need to worry about Lorenzo, maybe he's venting his anger on a bunch of unlucky people in an alley in the lower town.

"Joey?"

Suddenly, another voice rang out.

Higg walked slowly down the stairs, he only heard the voice upstairs somewhat familiar, but he didn't expect it to be Joey.

Joey looked up and saw Higg looking at him with some surprise.

Apparently Joey is one of Higg's few friends, though it's a strange way to make friends.

"Are you going out?"

Joey saw Higg dressed up and holding an umbrella in his hand.

"There was a mutual aid meeting today, and the doctor wanted to talk to us about our mental problems. ”

Higg is very interested in the Mutual Aid Society, and it can be said that he was able to quit hallucinogens, thanks to a certain extent, those patients.

"Mental problems?"

Joey couldn't help but care about this word, Arthur always mentioned it intentionally or unintentionally after the end, it seemed to be the main content of that secret conversation, not to mention that he had come here to understand Lorenzo's mental condition.

"After all, the doctor is from the Black Mountain Hospital, and to be honest, I always hear some strange things about the Black Mountain Hospital, but I have never seen it with my own eyes. ”

Higg said, confused.

There is no shortage of mysterious urban legends in the old city of Dunling, such as the all-knowing rat, the flesh-eating butcher bird, the mechanical city built deep underground, and so on...... The Black Mountain Hospital is also one of them, as a psychiatric hospital, it is also accompanied by a nursing home with an extremely large area.

Some say that there are many madmen hiding there, who mutter crazy prayers all day long, and those who hear them will be polluted by them and join in the crazy murmuring.

Others say that brutal human experimentation is taking place there, and that Invig is trying to create terrifying monsters to dominate the world.

Of course, these are just some strange rumors, and under the control of the news of the scavengers, these surprising things have also become a small anecdotal news for the citizens.

However, there is a certain peculiarity about the Black Mountain Hospital, such as its size, but in the crowded old Dunling, you can hardly see its existence.

Yes, that's it, everyone knows that there is such a hospital, but when asked where it is, no one knows where it is.

"Black Mountain Hospital ......"

Thinking lightly about the name, Joey tried not to think about his experience in that hospital as much as possible.

"Are you going to be together? Joey, it seems like it's been a long time since you've been to the mutual aid club. ”

Higg asked tentatively, he wished Joey could go with him, it was better to have company than to go alone.

Just as Joey hesitated, Higg continued.

"If you're looking for Lorenzo...... He usually comes back at night, and you never know where he'll be until he comes back? Waiting, waiting, isn't it?"

Joey was silent for a moment, and looked out the window at the gloomy curtain of rain, which fell with a clatter, and the hazy mist seemed to be some unknown monster, engulfing passers-by one by one.

"Okay. ”

He replied.

......

In fact, Joey's mental state is not very good, although he is normal on the surface, sometimes he feels that he and Lorenzo are a little similar, but to be precise, they are both somewhat negative people.

Lorenzo has a serious tendency to self-destruct, although it is negative to say, but on the way to death, this guy is always full of enthusiasm, and Joey is a little unclear, he just sometimes feels that there is no point in doing anything, and he can't lift up the strength.

It may have something to do with fighting demons, being enemies of that kind of evil creature, and more or less traumatizing.

As if remembering the bad past, Joey forced himself not to think about it, as if the past didn't exist.

"How are you doing lately?"

As he marched through the rain, Higg asked suddenly.

He was slightly shorter than Joey, and Higg lifted the edge of the umbrella and looked at him with a smile.

"It's okay. ”

Joey said briefly.

Probably not wanting to make the topic too silent, he looked at the hazy rain curtain and continued.

"I kind of like the rain. ”

Joey raised his head as he spoke, the gloomy sky was covered by torrential rain, as if the sea and the sky had been replaced, and the steel giant whale slowly passed through the rain curtain, making melodious whale chirpings from time to time.

"They say the rain angels are depressed. Higg said.

"No daylight to be exact. ”

Joy said that human beings, like plants, need the sun's care, but Old Dunling is not a human-friendly city, and there are few clear skies here.

"Is that so?"

"Almost, I remember what the doctors at the Black Mountain Hospital said, the rain just aggravated it. ”

The two chatted casually, and soon the Whitechapel gradually took on its original appearance in the hazy rain and fog, and it seemed that the place had indeed been repurposed, the piles of debris and weeds had been cleared, and there was a faint singing voice in the historic church, as if a group of people were holding hands and praising the sacred.

"Sometimes rainy days always remind me of my hometown. ”

Higg said suddenly.

"I haven't been back since the day I left home, it's been so long that I can't remember it clearly, and only on a rainy day might the blurry outline be clearer. ”

Halfway through Higg's words, he smiled kindly at Joey, who didn't understand why he suddenly brought it up, maybe this was what the conversation was about.

"It's a small coastal town...... I don't remember exactly, the only connection to the outside world was a railroad track through the wilderness, and at the time I thought the town was a cage, and that railroad track was the only way to escape.

Because along the coast, there are always some storms that hit there, and the night rains pour, lightning and thunder. ”

"You don't look like someone who would actively talk about this. Joey asked, Higg was a bit of an introvert, and introverts weren't.

"Yes, but people always have to change, and change is a good thing, just like the steam engine changed the world, sometimes our lives need to change. ”

As he approached Whitechapel, Higg's expression was filled with unconcealed joy.

"Is it because of the Mutual Aid Society?"

For some reason, Joey suddenly became vigilant, and he didn't know why this was happening.

"Pretty much everybody has different flaws, but here we encourage each other to overcome those flaws and become a better version of ourselves, a more authentic version of ourselves. ”

Higg looked at Joey as he spoke, his voice tinged with eerie magic.

"Joey, aren't you too? You can tell that you and I have a similar confusion. ”

Joey was stunned, and it was a long time.

"Perhaps. ”

Every member of the purification agency has to do psychological evaluations regularly, and Joey has always been normal, but he knows very well that the data on paper is just that, as long as the psychological quality is good enough, these can be disguised, and he also knows his loss, but he has been resisting and consulting a doctor.

It's a process of opening your heart, but not everyone wants it, and behind every door there is a secret hidden behind it.

"Hello everyone. ”

Higg's overly hearty voice brought Joey's thoughts back to reality, the cold vapor being cut off as the door closed, and the warmth slowly approached.

You can see a group of people sitting together in the candle flames, just as Joey saw at that time, they are different ages, different genders, different social statuses, but they are such a different group of people sitting together in harmony, like a close family.

At the front of the crowd, the man looked at you with a smile.

Joey could tell the difference between the man at a glance, his position was on the top of the stairs, and although it seemed to be close to everyone, it was high up.

He wears glasses and gives people a peaceful temperament, unlike the fierce doctors in the Black Mountain Hospital, he gives people a peaceful temperament, as if the warm sun under the rain curtain.

It is very convenient for a doctor to have such a temperament, and without your words, your patients will see you as a confidant, open their hearts, and reveal their hidden sins.

It seems that only the doctor noticed the arrival of the two, and the others are still noisy and talking.

Outside the window is the world poured by the torrential rain, cold and lonely, and under this white brick fortress, different people gather together warmly, pouring out their hearts, all this contrast is so great, how warm it is in the cold world

For a moment, Joey couldn't help but want to fall into the warmth, but soon he realized the strangeness of this feeling, Joey instinctively felt the strange danger, but he didn't know where the danger came from.

But soon he realized the difference.

Joey still remembers the last time he came, these people looked like they were, everyone looked remorseful, but now that the confession is over, everyone has a positive attitude towards life, this positivity is so tough, it's like performing too hard, and under the warmth is an unspeakable sense of disobedience.

Higg was part of it, and they were laughing and laughing, but it felt like some kind of assembly.

Joey endured the strange feeling in his heart, and then slowly raised his gaze to the man.

He's sober, and so is Joey.

A strange atmosphere permeated the church, and everyone except the two of them sank into the inexplicable beauty.

Joey made a sober judgment, he couldn't say where this strange feeling was coming from, and now he could only try his best to disguise that he didn't know anything, and just treat it as an ordinary mutual aid society.

Then the man came over, wiping his glasses as he went, and put them on.

"Joey Joshua, I remember you. ”

The man didn't wait for Joey to speak, he took the lead.

"I wanted to say hello to you last time, but you left before I could speak. ”

Joey didn't respond, he stared at the man in front of him, trying to get enough information from the face to find a way to tear off the strange disguise.

But he soon gave up, the disguise was so perfect, so perfect that its only doubt was that it was too perfect, and Joy could only see an unknown blank on his face.

Suddenly, the man stretched out his hand, as if to see that Joey had been silent, and he took the initiative to introduce himself.

"I am currently a consultant physician for this mutual aid association. ”

There was thunder outside the window, and the white thunder was reflected on the man's lens, and it seemed that a blazing white firework also rose briefly at this moment, overlapping with the thunder, and then dissipated.

"James Moriarty. ”

It was the man's name, like a strange spell, echoing in Joey's mind.