There was a faint sound of rain outside the window, the rain was much weaker, but it had not stopped, and in the cold night, the two looked at each other vigilantly.

"You...... Eroded?" the kestrel was a little uncertain.

In fact, among these high-ranking knights, Kestrel is the most unprofessional, originally just a gangster in the lower city, and was promoted by Shrike by chance, while Joey is the opposite of him, he comes from a demon hunting family, and there are so many people in each generation of the Joshua family who have joined the purification agency, and he has known about demons for a long time.

Joey knew himself, and he knew his enemies, to be able to judge these in such a short time.

Compared to demon humans, they are too vulnerable, and the only advantage is that they are not yet crazy in their minds.

"That Nightmare ......"

It was no coincidence that Joey thought back to the kids, the ghosts that appeared in a row, and Joey was sure that he was eroded.

"I had a nightmare...... Or maybe it's a hallucination. Joy said.

"The hallucinations are caused by erosion, right? That's why this thing screams. ”

The kestrel looked behind him, the huge Geiger counter, this thing is extremely sensitive, can accurately judge the residue of those pollution, but unfortunately the volume is too large to move.

Joey didn't say anything more, he didn't notice it, he slowly hugged himself, his eyes gloomy, as if he had experienced something terrible.

The kestrel also apparently noticed this, and he hesitated for a moment, but asked anyway.

"You saw them again, didn't you?"

Joey nodded with difficulty and said nothing.

"Joey, you need psychotherapy. Kestrel said.

"Do you mean going back to the Black Mountain Hospital? I'm not going back to that damn place. Joey simply refused.

"Actually, there's nothing to be afraid of that place, is it? You're just scared of yourself, those who have gone back to the Black Mountain Hospital, those who can't look back will come back to you. ”

The kestrel comforted him.

"Joey, although I joined halfway, I actually fought with demons, and it felt like I was in Downtown, and it was no different from those thugs beating up...... It's inevitable, we're just a cog in this huge machine, and I can't really decide what we can do.

You are also not to blame for the deaths of those children, and at the end of the day, it was Gawain who killed them, and it has nothing to do with you. ”

Joey shook his head stubbornly, he looked pained.

"It's not like Kestrels, you weren't there...... It was a sin to be a spectator. ”

Blood spilled across the placket of his shirt, and Joey suddenly realized that he had accidentally injured himself in the loss of control just now, and his elbow was broken, and a faint red stained his white sleeve.

He tore off the piece of fabric uncontrollably, then threw it away as if he were running away from some monster.

It was obvious that Joey was in a terrible state at the moment, he didn't pull out his folding knife and cut himself, he was already considered an excellent self-control, Kestrel looked at him a little sadly, he knew very well why Joey was like this.

Demons are forbidden monsters, and there is a price to pay for fighting against such monsters, the pain may be the mildest of them, and the most common price is mental torture.

No matter what kind of protection is carried out, or post-war recuperation, the erosion will eventually have an impact on the fragile will, and over time it will give rise to some mental illnesses, which is why the retirement of the knights of the Purification Mechanism is not judged by age, but by mental state.

Joey's obvious influence is cleanliness, but it is not so much cleanliness as it is that he hates blood splattered on himself, and after that incident, he became like this, and there are many people like him, such as the shrike, who carries a weapon with him at all times, and his favorite is the revolver called the death knell, and there are many more such examples.

Sometimes the kestrel even thinks that Lorenzo's paranoia about demons is also a corrosive effect, and they find the weak point of their will and magnify that flaw infinitely.

Kestrel sighed helplessly and sat down beside Joey.

After all, the purification agency is a large psychiatric gang, and the Black Mountain Hospital is a large psychiatric hospital, and the patients always don't want to go back to the hospital.

"Joey, you need help...... At least you need to stabilize first. Kestrel said.

But Joey ignored him, he just stared at him, but there was nothing in front of him, and there seemed to be a faint voice, it was Gawain's voice.

Joey was originally a subordinate of Gawain, but after that incident, he asked to be transferred back to Old Dunling, where he remains to this day.

"I just killed their parents and the weapon was right next to them...... They may also be hiding those demons. ”

Gawain said this to him at that time, holding a flaming thermite rifle in his hand, and the unsolidified thermite bullets pierced through the heads of one child after another, and the molten iron covered the faces of the young ones, casting them into masks of steel.

Their bodies were piled up together with those of their parents, piled up in a small hill in the dark, smelly room, and the faint cries of children seemed to reverberate.

"You're not fit for this, Xuanfeng. ”

Gawain looked at Joey, who was vomiting constantly, and said.

"We are fighting demons, and fighting demons does not require pity, no sympathy, no discord of feelings, we don't even need humanity. ”

"That bastard ......"

Joey roared, his trembling hand picked up the Florent potion on the side, and injected it into his body again, and as all the potions were injected, his trembling body finally gradually stabilized, breathing violently, as if he had just experienced a big battle.

"No...... Not these ......"

Joey struggled not to think about the past, the long past, and he began to retrieve what had happened to him, and as a good superior knight, he tried his best to determine when he was being eroded.

Countless images overlapped and scattered, and finally, in the pouring rain, the pale Order was revealed.

"James...... James Moriarty. ”

Joey uttered the name, the unfamiliar name.

"Kestrels, there's something wrong with that doctor. ”

Joey grabbed Kestrel by the collar, her eyes bloodshot.

"The doctor!"

"Who?"

Joey's reaction was a little too violent, Kestrel was pulled by his collar, he wanted to calm down this colleague, but for a while he couldn't control Joey, it seemed that the nightmare had returned, Joey kept growling.

"He! the doctor!"

That weird Whitechapel, that weird Mutual Aid Society, everything there is so weird and absurd in retrospect.

"He's ...... He is from the Black Mountain Hospital...... He has a problem......"

Joey muttered over and over again, the intense pain tormenting his mind, and at last it was like a constant dream, and Joey muttered about it, and fell unconscious.

......

"Lorenzo Holmes is missing. ”

In the warmth of the room, Samur reported to the man behind his desk.

The witchers who arrived in Old Dunling this time were not only led by Anthony on the surface, but secretly there were also a group of witchers who arrived in Old Dunling before them and were operating in secret.

"The dark chess we planted earlier searched for his residence and where he might appear, but we couldn't find any trace of him. Samuel said.

"Protected by the purifier?"

Anthony, behind his desk, looked at the documents in front of him and said without raising his head.

"It's not clear, we don't have the ability to infiltrate the purification mechanism at the moment...... However, it is also possible that he absconded, and the transportation of Old Dunling was well developed, and the railway covered the entire territory of Ingwig. ”

"You mean run away?" Anthony shook his head, "I don't think that Mr. Lorenzo Holmes is going to run away. ”

He said and recalled Lorenzo's fury in the conference room, when Lorenzo's fury really shocked him, even everyone, even if he suddenly broke out at that time, Anthony was not surprised to start a war with everyone, but after Lorenzo left, he realized the disguise of all this.

It was Lorenzo's disguise, his bravado, this was a witcher with a raging rage, and even if he was wounded by then, he had to pretend to be powerful.

"As for the purge, we have already done a job, and that conversation must have made Mr. Holmes realize that an organization as large as the purifier cannot be trusted, at least not by the will of one man.

I think he must have been hiding, just hiding in some corner of Old Dunling, watching us quietly, ready to leap out and bite our throats. ”

Samuel was a little worried, "Do you need to send those dark chess pieces to hunt him down?"

"No, they need to stay until the end, and now the attack is just a surprise. ”

Anthony vetoed these outright.

"We need Lorenzo Holmes alive...... His value is far more expensive than it seems. ”

Samuel didn't understand this, and in fact he couldn't figure out what Anthony wanted to do...... Or what the new pope wants to do, Anthony is the sword that the new pope trusts the most, and it can be said that everything Anthony is doing now is the will of the new pope.

"Aren't we looking for the Book of Revelation?" asked Samuel.

"But we don't have any clues, do we? An exchange of information with the Purifier revealed that Lawrence was dead, killed by Mr. Holmes, who had single-handedly triggered the Night of Arrival, and no one knows how long he had been plotting, let alone occupying the Book of Revelation.

There is so much forbidden knowledge in that book that even the evangelical church chooses to forget...... But such a terrible man died, and was killed by Mr. Holmes. ”

Anthony looked up as he spoke, a vague worry in his eyes.

"The Purifier does not tell us what the battlefield was like, but it is clear that for the time being, there is no way that Mr. Holmes can defeat Lawrence, but the fact is that Lawrence is dead, and he is alive unscathed.

Maybe...... This is the power of the false grail. ”

Samuel was stunned, he hadn't thought about this, no one knew the ability of the pseudo-chalice, and even said that the appearance of the pseudo-chalice was not clear.

Lawrence was the only clue to the Apocalypse, and now he's dead, but the inferior secret blood is still emerging...... It seems that another person has joined the game in place of Lawrence. ”

Anthony paused as he spoke.

"Let's not talk about that, Samuel, the situation is very complicated now, and even I don't know what to do...... At least until the Pope's directives are given, we would do well to maintain the status quo. ”

"But...... What about those dark chess?"

Samour heard Anthony's question and hurriedly said.

"At the moment they have successfully integrated into the old Dunling, and he is the best of them, even infiltrating the Black Mountain Hospital. ”

Anthony apparently knew who Samuel was referring to, and he wasn't surprised by that.

"His power is well suited to infiltration. ”

As if remembering something, Anthony couldn't help but laugh.

That power Anthony was all too familiar with, and the new pope had washed the entire Seven Hills with this blood, and the man did not understand why this was the case until he died.

But he ...... Not very controllable. ”

Samuel voiced his concerns.

"What he did before ......"

"As long as the value outweighs the risk, as the net removal agency did to Mr. Holmes. ”

Anthony seemed to be prepared and said confidently.

Lowering his head, there was the long-read document on the table, and Anthony was silent for a long time, but after a while he smiled again.

"Samur, take those witchers around. ”

"Shopping?"

Samuel didn't understand a little, he was ready to die in battle when he came to Old Dunling, but after he came, there was no sword and sword, only verbal battles, it seemed that this was a game between two huge groups, and no one wanted to see blood if they could.

"This is the old Dunling, the lair of our enemies, the frontier of the world, and it never hurts to see more. ”

"Yes...... The feeling is like entertainment before death. Samur couldn't help but say.

"Perhaps, after all, we might all die next...... This Lorenzo Holmes is so mysterious, that even he doesn't realize it. ”

Anthony said as he picked up the document, which was not covered with a lot of handwriting, just a few scribbled lines and a few black-and-white photographs sandwiched onto it.

The document, which had been secretly delivered to Anthony a few days after his arrival in Old Dunling, contained several half-burned documents, the details of which were not clear from the black-and-white photographs, but the rough outline of which was a list.

The handwriting in the other photograph was slightly clearer, and Anthony could see the multiple seals on it, as well as the blurred text.

"Project: "Scabbard Treaty", executed by Lorenzo Medici......"

Anthony's brow furrowed, and a problem arose that was far beyond the current control.