The Empire's level of technology is far from the level of producing equipment such as [Radar].

Therefore, anti-aircraft weapons are still at the level of 'using the naked eye to be responsible for aiming', which leads to the fact that as long as the airship reaches a certain altitude, there is no way to effectively strike at it.

Baskerville stood in front of the hound, frowning as he watched the airship rapidly climb to a height he could not reach, and then continued to rise until it disappeared above the clouds.

He didn't see the airship's logo, he couldn't figure out its route, and he couldn't contact every air station in the entire empire to wait for it to land in advance.

It seems that Sherlock managed to survive the first encirclement of the empire.

But what can this be, the territory of the empire has no borders, where can he hide, he always has to eat, he always has to live, does he want to hide in the mountains, from this kind of land to cultivate the fields, to live a life cut off from society?

If that's the case, I guess he won't be able to stand it before anyone else.

So Baskerville didn't get angry, didn't complain or blame himself, just looked silently at the clouds overhead.

He knew that nothing would change, but he did his best to delay death a little.

Morning mist, the first snow of the night, and the first winter in the holy city of Jerusalem.

Since two years ago, the Holy See's archpope decreed that the sunflower should no longer be cultivated, and the whole of Jerusalem has become a different appearance, the dazzling golden light that once covered the holy city for centuries has gradually thinned out, and there is a difference between day and night, the sky is also cloudy and sunny, and the style of the four seasons has gradually taken on a distinct outline. Just like those ordinary metropolises.

As the morning fog cleared, the nuns were sweeping the snow, a work that most people would do was so foreign to the devout of the Holy City. Fortunately, there are not as many worshippers as there are in front of the floor, so the snow will not be trampled into mud.

Sherlock opened his eyes, not knowing how many days he had been unconscious, but in the last moment of his memory, he saw crimson descend from the sky and envelop himself tightly.

Fortunately, this guy has his own consciousness, otherwise according to the average contractor, he would have fallen unconscious, and the contract demon would have turned into a sculpture.

He sat up with difficulty, the broken bones and wounds of his limbs felt a sharp pain, and he lifted the white robe he was wearing, and he saw the dense wounds on his body that had been plumped together.

The effect of that bullet is really terrifying, not only can it interfere with people's consciousness, but the consciousness can block the contractor's physical self-healing ability, no wonder Ulysses is very sure that no matter who it is, as long as it is hit, there is no possibility of resisting.

Looking around again, the room was lit with an elaborate fireplace, the air was filled with the scent of pine wood, some books on religion and history were neatly arranged in the standing cabinet by the wall, and the cover of a copy of "A Study on the Failure of Religious Integration in the Pre-Sacred Era" was slightly wrinkled, which seemed to be caused by the friction of the bookshelves, which one person had read a lot these days.

At that moment, there was a click, the door of the room opened, and a nun came in with a hot tub, and saw Sherlock sitting on the edge of the bed, turning her head to look at herself, and she was so frightened that her mouth opened wide, but fortunately the basin did not fall to the ground in panic.

"You're awake?! I'll call someone right away! ”

With that, the nun hurried out of the room, the sound of messy footsteps echoing in the hallway outside the door.

The second person who walked in was an old acquaintance ———— Moran.

As a maid, even if she is dressed in the most modest servant attire, it is always difficult for people to associate with other service personnel, especially in the period before the Great Expedition began, Moran became the papal spokesman, running around the empire, going back and forth between the dioceses, so that when she was not yet 30 years old, she already had experience beyond ordinary people and a touch of majesty that appeared from time to time.

"Long story short, this is Jerusalem." Moran looked at Sherlock, who had already woken up, and was faintly surprised in his heart, because according to the doctor's words, it would take at least half a month for this guy to be able to decompose the medicinal effects in his body and regain consciousness.

But when I thought that this guy couldn't be regarded as a normal human, I was relieved.

"Erin. Ms. Adler and John. Watson brought you here, and now the entire empire can take you in, and the above two can't stay here for a long time, after all, if their whereabouts are revealed, it will cause more trouble. ”

Sherlock listened calmly, and then nodded, in fact, after waking up, he had already guessed the general situation of the matter, they were the only ones who could drive the airship to transport Crimson over during this period, and then think of Crimson's previous situation, it seems that Catherine and Nightingale were also in this incident, but the two of them could not show up, otherwise the former would drag the Life Science Institute in, and the latter would cause immeasurable social impact.

Although they all want to help themselves, they can't push the entire empire in the direction of chaos like they do.

Add between the turbulent empire and himself, the wanted criminal, compared to each of them, it is very distressing.

Smiling helplessly, Sherlock tried to stand up, "How long can I hide here?" ”

"As long as you don't leave this building, you can hide forever." Moran Road.

Sherlock didn't answer, but Moran knew that he wasn't a self-imprisoned person, and that it would be better for him to stay in one place forever than to drag him back to his fugitive days with his injuries.

So, Moran said directly: "The master is still in the study, you can go and see him at any time." ”

"Go now." When Sherlock said this, he finally managed to stand on his feet, and then followed Moran out of the room.

The trails were not very wide, and they were closed compared to the churches in the city of London, and every step of the way involved countless pains between the bones and internal organs, so Sherlock walked slowly, and it was a full five minutes before he came to a small door.

Moran knocked on the door, heard a 'come in,' and pushed the door open.

It was a small hut that was also not very spacious, with a bed, a table, and other than that, stacked with books more than a man high, and a bunch of paper documents stacked on the wall, which seemed to have been sorted by date or initials, and looked a little complicated, but it was extraordinarily regular.

And in front of that long table, there was a slightly familiar back, but this back was not wearing the black outfit of the former Holy Son, let alone the papal robe that symbolized the supreme authority of the Holy See, but a comfortable white cloth shirt similar to Sherlock, plus that not too tall figure, it looked extremely ordinary.

The door was shut, leaving only the rustling of writing in the room.

I don't know why, the two people who haven't seen each other for two years are not in a hurry to talk, they are very silent in tacit, or busy with the work at hand, or curiously looking at the mountains of papers in the room, and it takes about half an hour.

Finally, the rustling stopped, and Moriarty picked up the papal seal on the table and pressed his own inscription on a document, then rubbed his brow tiredly and turned around.

"Long time no see."

"yes, long time no see."

The two of them met again after more than two years, it seemed so ordinary, but the things they had experienced each other in the past two years were very clear at this glance, on one side they were scarred, and on the other hand, they had white hair on their sideburns, looking at each other's appearance, the two pursed their lips, and they didn't know whether they were holding back and laughing at each other, or recalling themselves with a wry smile.

"I remember hearing that spring in Jerusalem is eternal and night never falls, and now it seems that it is not as magical as the legend says." Sherlock looked out the window at the snow trail.

"A few years ago, it was exactly what you said, so you know why I have had insomnia since I was a child." Moriarty smiled: "Fortunately, I became the pope after all, so I dug up all the flowers, and the light mirrors used for the prayers of the believers were also removed."

Perhaps, that's why I became pope. ”

Sherlock looked at the pile of papers on the other party's desk and shrugged his shoulders: "But you can also see that even if you dismantle all of these, you still don't have much time to sleep. So, would you like to tell us what you really think? ”

"I already announced last year that the Holy Light Temple was independent, you should have heard of it."

"Of course." Sherlock pulled out a chair and sat down across from Moriarty.

"At that time, the bargaining chip was to let the Holy Light Temple join the expeditionary force and be responsible for the laying of the Holy Light, which would be very helpful for humans to enter the gates of hell."

Sherlock didn't even think about it: "Okay, it's just the two of us in this room, so we won't hide it." ”

“.” Moriarty was silent for a moment, and then seemed to be a rare smile in the past two years, although it was a wry smile: "Haha, I'm sorry, I usually say a lot of this kind of thing, and I believe it a little." ”

He just said something that would have made his jaw drop in the eyes of others:

"As you may have seen, there are fewer and fewer pilgrims coming to Jerusalem now, and there are many high-ranking people in the Holy See who are questioning my actions, but I am not prepared to convince them.

Again, I say that faith and government must become one. ”

Hearing this, Sherlock frowned, he knew that the little man in front of him was not a fool, but he also questioned the other party's thoughts:

"Well, I'm sorry, I have to interrupt you, I understand that you have always wanted to engage in your system of the kingdom of God, and integrate faith into the minutiae of human society, of course, I am too lazy to care about what the future of mankind will be.

I just want to ask, if you want to pinch politics and faith together, why do you have to separate the Light from the Holy See now? ”

"Haha. I'm sorry. Moriarty smiled apologetically: "Maybe when I first talked about this topic, there was a small detail that was not made clear.

I said at the time that the Pope and the Emperor need to be the same person, and that politics and faith need to be perfectly integrated.

But I didn't say what I said I believed. It's that bullshit Holy Light."

“.”

“.”

Sherlock's eyes had never narrowed so tightly, and he stared at Moriarty with an expression that he didn't quite know what to do, and he couldn't help but want to get closer.

Let's just say that Sherlock has never been so confused about a person's thoughts in his life.

"You didn't make it clear? You're a fucking apostate! ”

Sherlock was about to laugh at the kid in front of him, Pope! The Pope, who is revered by countless believers, and the dignified Pope, who stands at the highest level of power in the entire Holy See, actually uttered the word "bullshit holy light".

I really don't know if Crimson is also depressed when she hears this title.

But now Sherlock didn't care what the Light thought, he was just surprised to find out that the current Pope was actually a non-believer!

"Haha!" Sherlock finally laughed, "So you don't believe in the Light?" ”

"Yes, when did I say I believed in the Light?"

"But. . . But you are the Pope, and you were the Son before you, I. I know you once said you hated sunflowers, but I thought you hated them that always glow in the middle of the night, haha! You don't believe in the Light?! ”

"Surely you have heard me praise the Light? Even one sentence. ”

"I thought you were tsundere. for thou hast not praised me either. ”

"Bullshit logic!"

"Whew!" Sherlock exhaled and leaned back in his chair, feeling that the wounds all over his body were much more comfortable: "What the fuck, haha, the Pope is a non-believer, if I were engaged in journalism, I guess I can be elected as the god of journalism." ”

Moriarty looked at Sherlock's distorted expression of pain and excitement, and looked disgusted: "Okay, I'll take you in now, I didn't let you laugh here."

Do me a favor. ”

"Oh, I haven't seen each other in more than two years, so I finally sat down together, so let me help?" Sherlock spread out in his chair: "Tell me about it." ”

"Heal your wounds, I'll arrange for you to be a Holy See airship, and you will cross the Redek Strait with the next group of Holy Cult troops returning to the battlefield, and I can guarantee that you won't be discovered by anyone until the airship lands.

But after that, you're going to have to work on your own. ”

"So what the hell do you want me to do?" Sherlock's expression finally became a little serious.

"I want you to go through the gates of hell again."

For the second time in his life, Moriarty was pleading to Sherlock.

(End of chapter)