In the darkness of the night, a few raindrops fell, followed by a heavy rain, dragging the entire old Dunling into the hazy world again, and in this hazy night, the Iron Serpent made rapid progress, and slowly stopped after passing through countless buildings and guards.

"So what did Arthur do when he summoned us?"

The kestrel was the first to step down from the Iron Serpent, carrying an umbrella and following behind him robin and the shrike.

"Defense. The shrike replied briefly.

Although they are also high-ranking knights, the shrike has far more power than the kestrel and others.

The robin turned his head and looked at the thunderstormed clouds, with a flickering white, the war airship left black silhouettes in the night sky, like a giant whale swimming in the sky.

This kind of bad weather has a great impact on the war airships, and they may fall if they are not careful, so when the rainy season comes, the war airships should be moored in the airport for maintenance, but now they appear in batches, and they are all flying at low altitude in order to reduce the risk.

"Defense, defense what. Kestrel asked.

This was the old Dunling, and now they were in the Black Mountain Hospital, and although the kestrel hated this place a lot, it was safe enough for the scientific research institute of the purification agency, and he didn't know what to defend against.

"If something happens, you'll know how to defend and whatever, and now what you need is to assign work and stand guard. ”

As he spoke, he motioned for a few men to follow.

He wasn't going to say anything more, but the damp evening breeze brought that chill of killing, as if something was coming, breaking through the rain curtain.

The kestrel looked back at the night sky, and as the thunder swept by, one after another hideous armor was suspended in mid-air, and they landed from the war airship and disappeared into the darkness below.

For a moment, the kestrel couldn't help but feel a little suffocated, how many armors must be there, it seemed that all the armor of the purification mechanism had been transferred here, and he was a little afraid to imagine what they were going to face next.

Shrike continued without looking back, knowing more information than the kestrel and how quickly the three generations of armor could be produced with the help of industrial technology.

In the never-dormant furnace of the Mechanics, they have created an army of steel.

"Is everyone in place?"

Gawain walked out of the darkness, and beside him was followed by a smiling Percival, a woman who was like she had a nervous problem, never knowing what was called seriousness and fear.

"It's in place. ”

In this short period of time, the Black Mountain Hospital had been built into a formidable fortress, with steam engines running at low power in the shadows, and red-hot steam pouring out from the cracks in the armor, calm as sculptures, but dead sculptures ready to come to life at any moment, swinging their swords at the enemy.

"What are we guarding against? Lorenzo Holmes?"

Shrike asked suddenly, it wasn't that he didn't want to answer the kestrels, in fact, he didn't know anything about this, he was still dealing with the problem of fighting in the lower city a few hours ago, and in the blink of an eye, he was transferred here, along with the elite forces in the old Dunling.

"The Protestant Order. Gawain said.

Shrike's expression was a little surprised, he had thought that the new order and the purification agency were already a cooperative relationship, but the situation in front of him seemed to be about to go to war.

"The Protestant Order has lost the Book of Revelation, in which case they don't have the ability to recreate the Secret Blood, which means that their witchers are limited, and if I were the new Pope, no matter what the cost, we would need to regain the ability to recreate the Secret Blood, or, another power that can replace the Secret Blood. Gawain said.

"The False Holy Grail. Shrike could not help but feel a chill.

"Yes, that's it, the Protestant Order is doing weirdly at the moment, he's helped us contain Lorenzo Holmes, but he doesn't ask for anything in terms of research, do you think it's possible for them to give up this false chalice?

The best outcome is negotiation, and the worst outcome is for the Protestant Order to reclaim the false Holy Grail by force. ”

"But this is Old Dunling. "The Shrike couldn't believe that the Protestant Order was really going mad enough to go to war with the purifiers within the Old Dunling.

"But the other side is the Protestant Order, and they are all witchers, witchers similar to Lorenzo. Gawain's voice was a little cold.

"Before, our interests were the same, both for the purpose of containing Lorenzo, an unstable existence, and now that Lorenzo has been contained, we will never agree on the distribution of his interests, so only force can solve it. I really hope that Arthur's conjecture is wrong, and that starting a war in the old Dunling will only lead to bloody tragedy. ”

Gawain sighed, it was already late at night, and the knights of the Purifier had silently taken over the entire Black Mountain Hospital, and the sound of steel grinding could be faintly heard, and the large Geiger counters were transported by the Iron Serpent and placed in all corners to strengthen the surveillance.

"There are a lot of defenses in the Black Mountain Hospital, but most of them are used to defend against ordinary people...... In fact, you have also found out about it, you have a very strange impression of the place of the Black Mountain Hospital, you know that it exists, but you can't remember the specific location. Gawain said.

Shrike nodded, he was transported here by the Iron Serpent every time he came, as if there was an unknowable fog here, and only by following the rails under his feet could he not get lost.

"Wait, is this strange effect also a defense?"

"That's right, this technology was brought by Jiuxia along with the armor technology, but our research on it is very slow, so slow that it can only be used to limit ordinary people. ”

Gawain and Shrike said as they went, while Percival still had the same demented smile on his face, as if none of this had anything to do with her.

"This kind of thing is called antimemetic, it was brought by the people of Jiuxia, they believe that the erosion of demons is a kind of memetic pollution, which can be passed between any medium, and antimemetics are the power to reverse memetic pollution, unfortunately Jiuxia is too far away from Invig, and it is said that it takes years to sail here every time, and it is difficult for us to communicate effectively in this regard. ”

"The Black Mountain Hospital is an antimeme?" asked Beroe.

"Experiments on antimemes, to be exact, but this technology is currently in the hands of the scavengers, and the information related to the Black Mountain Hospital is the information about this specific antimemetic, and it will cut out the human perception of the Black Mountain Hospital, just like you, you probably know that there is such a thing, but more deeply, it is not clear. Gawain said.

"How did you do that...... Heavy rain. The shrike wanted to ask how the scavengers applied the power of this antimemetic to everyone, but remembering the way those people dealt with demons, the shrike seemed to have guessed.

"After alchemy, the antimemetic potion was poured into the pillars of the furnace, and as the steam spread above the clouds and then down, baptizing everyone. ”

Gawain couldn't help but feel shocked when he thought of this, after so many years of hard work, the old Dunling was a fortress in the literal sense, keeping madness out of the walls of reason.

"I don't think I'm authorized to know that, especially with regard to antimemes. "Shrike is alert.

"It's okay, our research on antimemes is nowhere near as deep as the Original Sin Armor, and it can't be weaponized so far, but why are you talking to ...... about this?"

Gawain stopped abruptly and stood there looking at the shrike.

"The situation is critical, we and the Protestant Order are aware of each other's thoughts, we both want to hold the False Holy Grail firmly in our hands, and the dispute over it is destined to erupt, but it is not clear in what way.

The short-lived cooperation between the Purifier and the Protestant Order has ended, and the next step may be the start of the Great War...... Every one of us can die, after all, we are only mortals, and we are too fragile compared to witchers. ”

"What do you want to do?" said Beroe, feeling a little stressed.

"The Witcher has a very strong ability to fight alone, and based on our discussions, it is very likely that the Protestant Order will fully use this ability to carry out decapitation operations, and if Arthur dies, I will be in charge of commanding the battle, and if I die, the command will be handed over to you, Shrike. ”

Gawain's gaze was cold and emotionless, and in a trance, Shrike suddenly remembered what Joey had said about him at that time.

Gawain was a pure soldier, carrying out the orders of steel, for all this he turned himself into a machine, under orders, he showed no mercy to anyone, just like the children he killed in front of Joey at that time, even in front of himself, Gawain was still so ruthless.

"Go and prepare, Shrike, Merlin has arrived at the Black Mountain Hospital, and the formal study of the False Grail will begin tomorrow, and if I were a Protestant, it would be the best time to attack. ”

Gawain said goodbye to the shrike, and he and Percival continued to move forward, tonight's actions could not hide from the sight of the Protestant Order, and of course, they did not think to hide the movements of the original sin armor, which was more like a threat.

However, although the number of three generations of armor is enough, it is still inferior to the first generation of armor in combat, and Gawain and Percival, who can drive a generation of armor, are currently the highest combat power here.

"Gee, I thought you'd hand over the command to me. Percival said.

"I'll do it if you can be serious, but you're not reliable, Percival. ”

Gawain hadn't thought about his partner at all, after getting along for so long, he knew very well what kind of guy his partner was.

Percival smiled, the air smelling of rust, as if a blood-stained blade was leaning against a corner, but the woman didn't care, as if she didn't have fear.

The war airship flew low above the Black Mountain Hospital, and from the darkness hung down one cable after another, and the pitch-black thing fell to the ground, causing a slight tremor.

Arthur stood by the window and watched the original sin armor that had arrived, the heavy steam spilling out of the darkness with the rotation of the engine, and the rising steam connected to the rain curtain, engulfing the entire Black Mountain Hospital.

"It doesn't feel good, like war is near. ”

Merlin sat on the side and looked through the materials, he didn't look out the window, but the faint vibrations that kept coming from the ground made it clear to him what had arrived.

"Yes, it's really embarrassing for adults to intrigue, we know that the Protestant Order is there at the embassy, what is it planning, but we can't blow it up directly, after all, we are still cooperating with the Protestant Order on the surface, and once there is a conflict, this will rise to the national level. Arthur said.

"So that's politics?"

Merlin read the contents of the Ranger Project and spoke to Arthur.

"No way, we represent an institution, a country, not an individual, if it were an individual, I would have come to the door with a knife right now, of course I might not be able to defeat those witchers. Arthur told a joke that wasn't funny.

"Before the official attack of the new order, we didn't have a formal reason to attack them, not to mention, they were all witchers, and it was not clear who killed the deer. ”

"What a trouble...... Actually, I think that's what the Protestant Order has always wanted to do, and it's all part of their conspiracy. Merlin said.

"Let's just hope that all of our guesses are wrong, the Protestant Order really wants to work with us, not to return to its former glory. Arthur asked, "How are you going to study the False Grail?"

"I have a general idea, judging from the information given to me by Dean Abigail, Lorenzo may be in a psychological defense mechanism and has forgotten to have information about the pseudo-chalice, and the existence of the pseudo-chalice is most likely not a material form, but some kind of nihilistic ...... Spirits. ”

Merlin looked up at Arthur, who as an alchemist had a lot of new guesses from this information.

"Spirit, will, spirit, in fact these things can all be grouped together, the things that are called souls. ”

"Looks like that's beyond your realization?" said Arthur.

Merlin nodded, and continued.

"The most popular manifestation of alchemy is on metal, and the soul of metal is the 'color' and 'ze', so kill the lowly metal, and then resurrect it into the expensive sacred, from 'death' to 'resurrection', perfect everything in the soul, and thus sublimate and reach the door of truth.

Understand and refactor.

The same goes for replacing it with a human soul, but you also know that alchemy has declined, and the so-called alchemical soul only exists in fragments of records, and no one has really seen it in the past hundred years. ”

Merlin took a sip of water, his hollow pupils staring at his pale skin.

"I once tried to 'sublimate' myself, and as you can see, I have become this person. ”

He sighed as he spoke, Merlin pursued the truth, and for all this he didn't mind throwing himself into the crucible.

"If the False Grail is really some kind of spirit, I suspect Lorenzo himself is. ”

"What did you say?" asked Arthur.

"Remember what Lorenzo said? The experiment on the pseudo-Holy Grail was in the Well of Ascension in the Sanctuary of Stasis, and from the information he gave us at the time, it was also through the thing called the Well of Ascension, and on the night of Adventism, it is very likely that the Old Order carried out a sublimation of the human body, freed from the shackles of matter, condensed the spirit, and built a spirit body that could get rid of the material body.

But the void spirit was no longer controllable, so they recreated a shell that could control the spirit...... Or rather, the cage. ”

"You think that's how the False Holy Grail was born?"

Arthur's eyes sharpened, as if he were one step away from the truth of the mystery, but Merlin's next words extinguished his fledgling enthusiasm.

"It's just speculation, after all, the official experiment doesn't start until tomorrow. ”

Merlin's young face didn't show any change in emotion, which was the price of his failed experiment, but fortunately he was still alive and had the opportunity to witness it.

"This is scientific research, Arthur, proposing hypotheses, verifying hypotheses, and then overturning previous accumulations and establishing new understandings on the ruins. ”

"However, I do have some objections to Abigail's assumptions. Merlin continued.

"She said that because the impact of Advent Night on Lorenzo was too great, even if he had such an iron will, he couldn't help but choose to forget those things, but is it possible that it was not his fault?"

"What do you want to say?"

"Suppose, it's just a hypothesis, and even now we don't know the nature of the False Grail, do we? All the information depends on the Protestant Order, and we can't be sure if he's deceiving us...... What if Lorenzo's oblivion of those things was caused by the pseudo-chalice?"

Merlin looked directly at Arthur, his abyssal eyes as if they were about to swallow Arthur into it.

"Don't you think it's strange? The fire on Advent destroyed all the information, do you think fireworks can really destroy everything? Or is it that someone is secretly destroying information about Advent Night, and if the Protestant Order is not lying about this, there may be another more bizarre possibility.

Antimemes, for example. ”

Arthur's heart instantly cooled, and under Merlin's guidance, he suddenly thought of a lot.

"Interesting hypothetical ......"

"A frightening hypothesis, to be exact," Merlin said with a grim face, "if this hypothesis is correct, then everything has a plausible explanation, and contrary to the Holy Grail, the Pseudo-Holy Grail has a strong antimemetic nature, and all information about it has been erased by the antimemetic......

Do you think Lorenzo Holmes, that monstrous guy would really be brought down by the tragedy? No, it's likely that his memories were deliberately forgotten due to the nature of antimemes. ”

The muscles of Merlin's face tugged hard, and his expression was hideously excited under the calm words.

"But that's okay, we'll have an answer tomorrow. ”

He tapped his finger on his head.

"All here, all the secrets are in Lorenzo Holmes's head, in the deepest part of his soul. ”