This silence came so suddenly, the staff who were making the report didn't realize what was going on at the first time, but fortunately, he was not too stupid to work in the emperor's office after all, so he vaguely realized that this silence came from all the names.

Shylock. Sherlock holmes.

He hadn't heard the name. He is not to blame, because the name, and what the owner of this name does, is basically all forbidden by the Empire.

The staff member's qualifications were not enough, so of course he hadn't heard of it.

But the high-ranking government officials standing on the side had heard the name, and they knew what this self-proclaimed detective had done, and even the first time they heard this name, they all subconsciously shuddered, because since one night a year ago, this name has become the reason why many people wake up in their nights.

The staff member who was making the report did not dare to say anything more, so he could only follow the atmosphere of the whole office with anxiety, and fell into this silence together, after working in this building for many years, he had of course learned the basic reading of words and feelings.

Therefore, he could clearly see a trace of surprise flashing in the eyes of the big men in front of him who were at the top of the imperial power, and there was also a trace of fear in them, and finally, a little hope began to gradually enlarge because of this name.

It was as if because of the appearance of this person, Miss Nightingale's chances of survival had skyrocketed by a few points.

Deep in the Antarctic continent, somewhere more than 3,000 kilometers from the Reddeck Strait.

The natural environment here is destined to have no grass and trees here, nothing but a violent storm and snow, there is no sun and moon in the sky, only the dazzling aurora that can never be seen anywhere else, pulling a fantasy colorful ribbon under the night.

And it is incredible that in such a place, a military base has been established.

Something resembling a balloon was lifted into the sky in a sturdy chain, searching for the continent's faintest signal source.

In one barracks, General Patton was still wearing that uniform, like an old stubborn who never knew how to be flexible, trying in vain to use his body against nature's deadliest cold. There is no point in this confrontation, because it is impossible for humans to overcome nature, and the cold on this continent cannot be cowered by someone's tough attitude, so that the temperature will become warmer.

But this general, who has been the most prestigious in the empire for nearly a hundred years, but which almost no one has seen, has maintained this habit for more than 30 years.

Holding the microphone of the communicator in his hand too thin, the low temperature makes the metal on the surface of the microphone show some terrible adhesion ability, and after being close to the skin, it seems to weld the human skin firmly, and if you want to separate, you have to tear out a layer of flesh and blood.

But the emaciated general never cared about this, he just calmly gave instructions into the microphone:

"The rear line deployed 175 war airships, starting today, along the trajectory I just demarcated, sailing at full speed towards the central area of the Antarctic continent, and at the same time conducting high-altitude patrols until Nightingale's whereabouts are discovered. Or a corpse.

Don't worry about the lack of quota for airships in the rear.

Those bastard bankers and merchants of the empire have enjoyed half of their lives, and now is the most critical period for mankind, let them build me two hundred airships in three months, and if anyone dares to say a word, I will personally order an independent regiment to be sent to take all their property. ”

General Patton's tone was still very flat, but if the capitalists in the hinterland of the empire heard this phone call, it is estimated that they would be paralyzed on the ground in fright one by one.

"Okay, let's do these things now, and call him over."

[Call him over]

It was a very ordinary order, and there was no need to emphasize who 'he' was, but in the depths of General Patton's incomparably calm tone under any circumstances, there seemed to be a hint of ripple, a sense of guilt that no one could understand, but it was buried so deep that even he himself could hardly perceive it, let alone the operator on the other side of the microphone.

Soon, Baskerville's voice came out of the microphone:

"General. Got a task? ”

He asked very directly.

Over the years, all the conversations between Baskerville and General Patton revolved around the mission, and there would be no communication between the two of them when there was no mission.

The relationship was rife with coldness between military superiors and subordinates, and Baskerville was accustomed to it, as had been the case between them since General Patton dug himself out of the belly of a dead woman 30 years earlier.

The woman who died was Baskerville's mother, who was not frozen to death because of her belly fat, and as for her father, she should have died by her side, and to this day, the front-line officer still does not know the names of his parents.

Parents, family, these words are something that a child must need when he grows up, just like those kittens curled up in his arms, or ducks that will only follow his mother and walk forward.

If there is no this, then a child will inevitably yearn, seek, and even conjecture, the former Baskerville tried to call General Patton his father, but was severely reprimanded by the other party, and after that, all the relationship between them was on the battlefield, and between the lines, most of the conversations were also gunsmoke, blood, and death.

But people always have to have a home, and this can be a strange insistence on self-belonging.

Therefore, this officer on the front line, who was called bloodthirsty, ruthless, and cruel, actually regarded General Patton as his father in his own cognition.

Although the other party has never accepted this title.

At the age of nineteen, General Patton took Baskerville to a military exercise of the front-line military, where he saw the old man named Dante, who he longed to be the most in his life.

On that day, for the first time, he saw his usually meticulous 'father' smiling at the old man.

And after the old man saw him and praised him for his strong talent for contracting, when his father looked at him, he finally revealed the only smile he had ever seen in his life.

After that, Baskerville regarded Dante as the man he had pursued all his life.

Among them, it must contain the front-line officer's yearning for strength, he began to worship the other party, read all the glorious deeds about Lord Dante, learn his words and deeds, the other party mentioned in the interview, some of the understanding of demons, he studied and trained as an absolutely irrefutable truth, and even the experience of the other party eating demon flesh and blood, he wanted to emulate, because this may make himself more similar to the other party.

Everyone knows that Baskerville is an absolute supporter of Dante.

However, no one knows the reason for this, but thinks that it is some kind of crazy worship psychology of the strong man.

In fact, even Baskerville himself seems to have come to think so.

He had long forgotten that he had only wanted to become Dante in the first place because of his father's concern and smile at the old man.

He also wants to have this smile on himself.

Oh. I'm sorry, General Patton is not his father, and from beginning to end, it is still just the imagination of a lonely child with no childhood and normal family cognition.

"There is a task, and you do it alone."

General Patton said flatly, and the other end of the phone was silent, and the general knew that the other party was waiting for his order to be given.

"I ask you to look for Florence Nightingale, Sherlock Holmes is already on his way to find his target, but no one knows his whereabouts now, and no one can contact him, you can take the military airship to the mission location.

But the rest is up to you.

The army cannot assist you because there is no rear supply, the mission area is almost a thousand kilometers, there is no place to stop, and the airship cannot be dropped.

Most of the time, you have to go deep on your own, look for it yourself, there is no support, there is no rescue. ”

"Roger."

This is the conversation between these two men who have known each other for thirty years, giving orders, carrying out orders.

In fact, General Patton did not need to ask the other party whether he accepted this order, because the other party would certainly accept it.

Baskerville didn't need to say anything like 'promise to complete the order', because he would definitely complete any task, and if he didn't, he would work even harder until the task was completed, or he would die on the way to completing it.

"Click~" With a soft sound, the cold microphone hung up on the communicator, and the supreme commander of the front line lit a blues and sucked the spicy deep into his lungs.

At that time, Barton was the chief of staff of Dante's unit, and now he is the supreme commander of the front, and in addition to his own military talent that ordinary people cannot match, the old man behind him who is even older than him also plays a role.

And the habit of smoking blues was developed by him at that time.

"Give an order to the five major theaters on the rear line, all the troops are ready to step into the expeditionary route, and all the regiments entrenched along the Redk Strait will join the expeditionary force, and inform the emperor's office that I need to double the strategic materials on the existing basis, and strive to reach the gates of hell within a year."

Not far behind him, the chief of military staff under Patton stood in a straight military posture, listening to the commander's bland words, his face did not change, but the traces of swallowing saliva were clearly seen in his throat.

"I can understand that we need to speed up the expedition, but to reach the gates of hell in a year is not a bit too aggressive, even if the army in the rear can keep up, but how many people will die.

The most important thing is that without the protection of the Holy Light along the road, as long as the troops in the rear encounter the demon tide, then the soldiers in front will directly become lonely. ”

This does not need to be explained, and in this environment, being alone means death.

General Patton smoked unhurriedly, and there were some things that should theoretically be considered top secret.

But he walked out of the barracks and threw his thin body into the cold wind, and the eerily brilliant aurora in the sky made his pale face reveal a hint of pride.

Yes, there are some things that are confidential, but when you say them, you will feel proud.

"A year ago, our young pope promised me one thing at the enthronement ceremony of the new emperor of the empire.

If one day, I need the help of the Light.

Then he will personally go and invite those in the Temple of Light."

The chief of staff behind him followed him out of the barracks, and the cold burrowed into the bone marrow, so that he couldn't help but tighten his collar.

"Those people in the Holy Light Temple don't pay attention to the front line at all, they only have the Holy Light in their eyes, this expedition started, and only seven divine servants were sent down, if you hadn't seen through that Sherlock's character, maybe until now, those divine servants are still on a leisurely vacation in the back line."

"Hehe, I believe in the Pope, what he promised, will definitely be done."

"But. . . If the people in the temple are unwilling to come down, what can we do with them, could it be that they can still drive a war airship and blow up the temple in the past, and rob all those black boxes loaded with holy light? ”

The chief of staff shook his head helplessly and told a joke like a self-deprecating one.

But General Patton did not respond, just smoked lightly.

At this moment, the chief of staff behind him suddenly realized something, his body trembled suddenly, raised his eyes in disbelief and stared at the emaciated back in front of him, and it took a lot of effort to finally stabilize his trembling legs, and he fell to the ground without a pop.

General Patton seemed to be in a good mood, and the smell of tobacco filled his chest, which seemed warm, spicy, and powerful!

"Some of our new popes are too young, and I heard at first that the old pope voluntarily abdicated, and some were not very optimistic about him.

But now, I admit that I've lost my eyes.

[The foundation of the empire is the people at the bottom, not the nobility, not the Holy See, not the government officials, and certainly not the Temple of Light]

He told me this personally.

At the time, I just thought that at such a young age, it was a bit too arrogant to say such a thing.

But now in retrospect

It's so fucking comfortable. ”

"It's so fucking comfortable!"

A week later, the same words were spoken again by a man wrapped in rough fur at the foot of a snow-capped mountain more than a thousand kilometers away.

Sherlock stepped out of the shelter of the mountain rock, and took a few leaps to reach the crimson shoulder, whose huge body instantly accelerated, and rushed in a barren direction against the wind and snow.

"I'm not sure if you realize it, but you seem to be more and more accepting of demonic flesh."

In my head, a crimson voice sounded.

Sherlock just shrugged his shoulders indifferently:

"It's also possible that we've been eating small demons of the first stage lately, and to be honest, Ichisuke's meat is really more tender."

As he spoke, his eyes showing a gap in the broken rock that he had just seen in the rock face of the snowy mountain.

About five days ago, a huge team of demons rushed past here

It seems that the group of kidnappers from hell is getting closer and closer.

(End of chapter)