It's winter, the yellowing autumn leaves fall weakly, the dry branches twist and stretch, like a dense forest of thorns, the warm sun shines, and the sharp branches are cut into broken shapes and fall on the white quilt.

Shrike lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling above his head, the gorgeous paintings covered the whole field of vision, and he was a little tired after looking at it for a long time.

"Ah...... What a rare rest. ”

A familiar exclamation came from the adjacent hospital bed, and Shrike tilted his head slightly, and the kestrel rolled over, found a comfortable position to continue resting, and muttered casually like a dream.

The sound of the quilt sounded again on the other side, and the shrike turned his head again, only to see the robin holding a theological book, reading quietly.

His chest was covered with bandages, and from his relaxed face, it was clear that the guy was recovering well.

"yes, that's a rarity. ”

Shrike looked at the ceiling above him and sighed again.

He couldn't remember how he had come back from that damn place, his huge body had fallen with a raging white flame, the demon was so big that it crashed into the lighthouse when it finally fell, and although it couldn't break it, it knocked the kestrel off top.

In the process of falling, the unlucky guy grabbed the bulge on the wall and was not killed, but still broke a few ribs, miserable.

Shrike himself was in a coma due to the erosion of the original sin armor, and when he first woke up, he was lying in the laboratory of the perpetual motion pump, and the degree of nerve erosion was quite optimistic, Nikolai did not throw the shrike directly into the furnace and incinerated it, and when he woke up again, he was here, with two acquaintances as patients.

"How's the Blue Emerald?"

After thinking about it, the shrike asked, and the robin on the other side answered him.

"It's okay, but I have multiple burns on my body and am recuperating. ”

Mockingbird closed the book and said to him.

As the first patient to come here, he recovered the best, so he was allowed by the doctor to go to the ground and go out for a walk, the blue jade's ward was at the other end of the corridor, but the erosion of the shrike at the moment had not yet recovered to a stable value, and he was firmly locked on the bed and could not move.

"Whew...... That's good. ”

"Well, what, are you interested?"

On the other side, the kestrel who had been pretending to be asleep turned over and looked at him with a wicked smile, he was the least injured among these people, but for the sake of the so-called peaceful vacation, the dead face stayed here.

"Nothing, I just owe her my life, and I would have died there without her. ”

When he returned, he would always dream, but he dreamed of everything on the battlefield, and countless demons swarmed and tore at the iron armor on his body, no matter how strong he was, until the fire came, and a white hand dragged him out of the darkness.

"Sounds pretty good. ”

Kestrel nodded as he spoke, as if he understood something, and on the other side the robin laughed too, but he laughed a few times in pain after laughing, and Galahad's out-of-control sword pierced his chest, leaving a lot of after-effects.

"I'm so happy to see you all jumping around. ”

In the moment of pleasure, the ward was pushed open, and two people walked in one after the other, it was a perfect contrast, one with a smile on his face, and the other with a cold face.

The night owl carried the fruit basket in his hand, and Xuanfeng took out a large bottle of liquor from under his clothes under the eyes of the three of them, squeezed his eyebrows at them, and made a quiet gesture.

......

"So is it still anonymous this time?"

The nun in the lonely church asked the man sitting on the pew, the deer hunting hat lowering his face, and he could only see some blood loss on his lips, and the cold texture.

"Yes, as usual. ”

The man replied, then motioned for the nun to leave, looking at the statue in the forefront, the sun shining through the stained glass, the multicolored light on it, and the blurred face was divine.

The nun nodded, put away the expensive grant with respect, and left the church, as the man did every time he came, giving donations, and then sitting until sunset and leaving.

She had thought that he was looking for some spiritual pure land, or God's salvation, but he never prayed, and he didn't need the blessings of the monks, he just sat here and enjoyed the rare peace.

So the nun drove away the children who were playing around, and the only thing she could do was to give the mysterious guest a sense of peace.

"So the mysterious Mr. Lorenzo Holmes is still a philanthropist?"

The man sat down next to Lorenzo, keeping a safe distance, and then spoke slowly.

"What's the matter, can't you?"

Lorenzo opened his somewhat tired eyes and looked at the man on the other side, barely smiling a friendly smile.

"It's just a bit of an accident, I checked your financial conditions, every once in a while you will come here to donate, those funds have accumulated, you can already live a good life in Old Dunling, but you didn't keep it...... Is this some kind of iron-blooded tenderness?"

The man looked at him curiously.

"It's just sympathy for the past. ”

Lorenzo turned his gaze to the idol and shook his head.

"The witcher is a dangerous weapon, so the evangelical church needs to keep him firmly under control, then it is the best choice to train him from childhood, ignorant children will be the most fanatical believers in the church, and the church is their everything. ”

I remembered Ed again, for that guy the church is such a thing, he has taken up all of his life, but one day he was ruthlessly abandoned.

"So, you were born like that...... Place?"

The man thought for a moment and asked tentatively.

Lorenzo nodded, and continued.

"The nuns in the suburb of Filene, a monastery along the Tiber River, were kind enough to adopt us, but then we were transferred to the church headquarters in order to keep the monastery afloat, and we thought it would be a good life, after all, it was a philemerald, not the same as the hellish suburb. ”

He laughed self-deprecatingly.

"So what are you doing, atonement or repentance?"

The man asked, he had seen such a person, a cold-blooded murderer on the surface, but behind the scenes he was the most loyal believer, trying to explain his atrocities with his so-called faith, and Lorenzo was also such a person in his eyes, with blood on his hands, but trying to wash it away with so-called good deeds.

"Sympathy. ”

Again, he answered the question, for the same reason.

"The beauty of childhood is important, and when you are sad, those memories are the only consolation that deserves to be committed. ”

There was a faint sound of laughter in their ears, and those imps still disobeyed the nun's orders and secretly ran back to play.

"That's all?"

"That's it. ”

Lorenzo said, gesturing to his head, then to the man.

"Human memory is very unreliable, we always forget something, even the most precious memories will be yellowed by the washing of time, if there is any reason, then it is here that I can barely recall a little of the past, it is the only good time. ”

For a moment the man seemed to understand Lorenzo's words, and he stared at the multicolored idol, thoughtfully.

"I ......"

"Invite me to join the purification agency, or arrest me, after all, I'm a demon hunter, and if I get out of control, I'm an extremely dangerous demon. ”

"In that case, don't say it, Mr. Arthur, I like my life so far. ”

Directly interrupted Arthur's words, Lorenzo directly rejected him.

Like a dumb loss, Arthur didn't expect this witcher to be a little difficult.

"Why are you so confident?"

"Because you need me, I think I've shown my worth in the Endtown operation, and that value is my bargaining chips, is that okay?"

"Well, to put it another way, Mr. Holmes, I think we can be partners to a certain extent. ”

Arthur picked up the papers he had with him and handed them to Lorenzo.

"The exchange between values, this is our sincerity. ”

"Oh...... That still looks like a real problem. ”

Lorenzo didn't take the document, and he was a little sad.

As far as he knew, Arthur should be the person in charge of the purification agency, but he directly rejected him on someone's home field, plus his own danger level, if Lorenzo guessed correctly, that damn course Dawn should be hidden in the clouds above his head, as long as Arthur waved his hand, he would bomb this place to the ground.

But now that Arthur is still so friendly, and even willing to show sincerity, then there must be something troublesome, so troublesome that Arthur is willing to bargain with Lorenzo.

"Can I hear the whole story?"

Arthur put away the papers, showing a bit of joy, he likes to negotiate terms with smart people, and clearly mark the price.

"You should know that the Demon Hunters have been disbanded, right? ”

Lorenzo nodded, silent.

Arthur looked at his flawless expression and continued.

"So do you know that they're starting to rebuild the Demon Hunting Order?"

"Rebuild the Demon Hunting Order?"

Lorenzo couldn't contain the surprise in his heart, and for the first time he met Arthur's eyes, like two beasts of prey, baring their fierce teeth.

"A few days ago, during Operation Ender, we received a telegram from the Place of the Seven Hills, a new pope, whose name was Senilotaire. ”

Arthur said slowly.

"He proposed to exchange information and share technology with us, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the high church bowed its head, which has to be alarming, and more than that. ”

"After this telegram, we activated a chess piece in the Seven Hills Place, which we planted more than ten years ago, the most valuable one of our intelligence services, and from the information he reported, those new popes have restarted many old departments and projects.

The whole Knights Templar moved as if war was coming, and the old forces of the entire Seven Hills were liquidated overnight, and the Pope, in the name of God, cleared the opposition in a matter of days, and the whole Church was firmly in his hands. ”

Even the narration can smell the blood in the air, and the entire old force has been completely eradicated, which is an almost impossible act, but it has been done overnight, so how long has the new Pope been preparing in secret?

"Those who submit will call him the Emperor of all emperors, sing him, and the name of God will once again flutter in the Western world. ”

There was a dangerous light in his eyes, but Lorenzo still didn't care.

"How can such a high-ranking man have a relationship with me?"

"I know, but that's only part of the intelligence, and the other part is really about you, or the witcher. ”

This is just an appetizer, no matter how powerful the Emperor is, Invig also has the Queen of the Platinum Palace and thousands of fire-gun steam engines to fight against him.

"Six years ago, an event called Advent broke out within the Evangelical Church. ”

Arthur deliberately slowed down his speech as he said this, and he observed Lorenzo, but there was nothing.

"We don't know the details of the details, but after this the Demon Hunter Order was mysteriously disbanded, and the previous Pope signed something called Secret Order No. 13, which, according to our speculation, was a slaughter order against the Demon Hunters. ”

As if knowing what he was going to ask, Lorenzo shook his head.

"I don't know, but by that time I had already arrived in Old Dunling. ”

"So what if Secret Order No. 13 hasn't ended until now?"

Arthur said again, somewhat threatening.

The hunt never stopped, chasing every surviving witcher like a shadow.

At the end of this telegram was a wanted warrant, and the new pope did not hide anything. The Church is hunting a witcher who left the Seven Hills six years ago, but recently the Evangelical Church has found him again, in ...... Invig. ”

Lorenzo's eyes were cold, and secret blood was surging in his veins, as if he had expected his murderous aura, and a faint metallic sound came from all directions.

The nuns outside the church watched in horror, and the red-clad air cavalry descended from the sky on iron cables, surrounding every corner of the church, and at the end of the road, the knights, wearing the abomination armor, waited for Arthur's orders.

"Is this also one of sincerity?"

"The premise of equal conversation is that we all have the sword to kill each other, don't we?"

Arthur didn't care too much.

"Are you trying to tie me to your chariot?"

Lorenzo nodded, he somewhat understood what Arthur meant, the church had been hunting down the surviving witchers, but the purification mechanism could protect him, and as long as he was still valuable, he would never abandon him.

"Whether the church wants you or not, but you have secret blood in you, and no one will not be tempted by such great power. ”

"You're trying to get your hands on the Secret Blood too?"

Lorenzo was amused as if he had heard some joke.

Arthur continued as if he knew what Lorenzo was laughing at.

"Mr. Holmes, times have changed, we were once chased by demons, but now with the rise of industrial technology, we can easily defeat them, more and more weapons, more and more lethality. ”

The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and it seemed as if a fire had been ignited.

"The world is changing. You should be aware of what the Church does, and according to our intelligence they have been trying to militarize the demonic technology.

And in the Viking countries of the northern seas, there have been very few pirates in recent years, and this is only because they are in a civil war, and there is a Viking trying to unify the conflicting kingdoms, and he is about to succeed, and even Gaulnalo, who is only across a strait from us, has begun to catch up with steam technology, not to mention the nine summers in the east, which have been silent. ”

Arthur used to be a warrior who just had to see everything on the battlefield, but now he is a chess player on the chessboard and he needs to look down on the big picture.

"What do you think the world is going to end up in?"

He asked suddenly.

Lorenzo was silent for a moment, then he replied.

"I don't know. ”

Arthur's voice had a faint sound of fighting, and he replied.

"War. ”

"The Industrial Revolution brought tremendous progress, but this progress was followed by the sacrifice of countless people, the replacement of manpower by machinery, the class gap became more and more huge and solidified, and every country was crumbling under this rapidly advancing technology, and only war could transfer this contradiction. ”

Like a dragon breathing in his ears, Arthur deduces the direction of the world for Lorenzo.

"The barren Vikings are in a state of economic decline, and steam technology is not widely available, and once they are unified, they need a way to catch up with us, and plunder is the quickest way to do it...... Just like in history, hordes of Vikings crossed the ocean, only this time with advanced firearms in their hands. ”

"The same is true of Gaulnalo, he is close to Invig, under our oppression, they will fall sooner or later, the way to change is to start a glorious war, this time they must win, and the Pope of the Evangelical Church is also, if you want the Holy Spirit Evangelical Papal States to regain control of the Western world, sweeping all wars at once is the best way. ”

Arthur slowly recounts that the seemingly peaceful world has long since been turbulent, and everyone is maintaining a fragile balance.

"Mr. Holmes, this is the tide of the times, no one can stay out of it, even if you have secret blood, how long can you hold up under the torrent of steel"

"A war is brewing that will engulf the whole world, and its emergence is inevitable. ”

"But secret blood is not a taboo for mortals, and you will only repeat the mistakes of the Church. ”

Lorenzo replied calmly.

"It is the hand that holds the sword that determines whether the sword kills or not. ”

The two of them were silent until Arthur stood up after a long time, his eyes slightly cold.

"If you change your mind, you can go to the shrike, and as for the old Dunling, as long as you promise not to get out of hand, you are still welcome to stay here. ”

With that, Arthur took out his gun and fired directly at Lorenzo's head, the bullet grazing Lorenzo's cheek, bringing up a little blood.

"Are you still struggling with whether to kill me?"

It took a long time for the pain to arrive, and Lorenzo suddenly thought that Arthur was quite interesting, and he could blow off his own head if he was just a little off, but he didn't do that.

"Of course, Arthur's identity tells me that you are still valuable, but the identity of a father makes me want to kill you. ”

Duke Phoenix looked at Lorenzo fiercely and said.

"Goodbye then, Mr. Holmes. ”

......

He left, along with the thousands of troops surrounding the church.

Lorenzo touched the blood on his face, and laughed out loud after a long time, in fact, this is also Arthur's sincerity, they can capture themselves, or kill themselves, anyway, they are a specimen of secret blood, walking wealth, but he left himself here and let himself make a choice.

But does Lorenzo really have a choice, the peaceful life is gone, or it has never come?

The world in my eyes began to fluctuate, red and blue mixed together, and after the chaos, like a video glitch, there were many fluctuations and a stinging in the deep nerves.

As the voice in his head calmed down, the stinging pain finally subsided, and Lorenzo clutched his head tiredly.

"Why not?"

The woman's voice rang in her ears, and she rubbed Lorenzo's face, clinging to him, and then put her hands over Lorenzo's head, rubbing the source of pain for him.

"The Demon Hunting Order has indeed been rebuilt, as evidenced by the reappearance of the Stasis Temple, but Lorenzo, forcibly disconnecting the connection is not free. ”

Wrapping around Lorenzo's neck, the two were intimate like lovers.

"Why don't you speak, aren't you happy to see me again?"

She whispered in her ear.

"I'm not interested in false devils. ”

Finally, Lorenzo spoke slowly, and then a ferocious punch slammed down, leaving several cracks in the wooden chair, and the woman disappeared in that instant.

Lorenzo sat alone in the church, and after a long time he picked up Winchester in his suitcase, a weapon he never left his hand, and picked up a heavy deer bullet, the projectiles in which were all made of holy silver, and filled it in.

Facing the multicolored idol, Lorenzo put the muzzle of the gun to his jaw, closed his eyes and gently pulled the trigger, and with the murmuring of prayers, the singing of children's choirs could be heard not far away.

It was quiet for a long time until the sound of gunshots, shattered silver bullets shattered the painted glass, and the exclamations of the people were heard in the midst of the shattering, and the man leaned against Winchester, and at the last moment he dodged the muzzle of the gun, and his ears were filled with violent buzzes, among which there was a faint female voice, as if mocking his cowardice.