Gun of Ashes

Chapter 36: Chapter 27 Normalcy

It’s like countless mosquitoes buzzing in your ears, that piercing and anxious sound consuming Eve’s calm, with negativity, panic, and horror attempting to devour her rationality.

Eve really wanted to scream aloud, but she was being dragged by Lorenzo, this mad scoundrel somehow felt inexplicably reliable at the moment, his hand holding Eve’s, maintaining the last shred of rationality.

The two were desperately running in this dark secret passage, yet it seemed endless, the journey never reaching its end, and behind them, though that deadly red tide had vanished, its whispers constantly echoing in the darkness warned them both, it was still relentlessly pursuing.

”Don’t be afraid, that thing can’t catch up with us!”

As if to comfort the girl, Lorenzo suddenly spoke.

”A concoction of human bodies, even though that thing defies logic, it still follows certain laws of reality, like being too fat and unable to run fast, or too big to squeeze in.”

As he spoke, he suddenly picked up Eve, and Eve at this moment was completely dumbfounded, like a doll, being easily manipulated by him.

It was a path taller than a normal person, extremely concealed in the darkness, but under crisis the senses became sharper, Lorenzo didn’t even think and threw Eve up, then quickly climbed in himself.

This is the secret passage of the Underground Palace, considering Sabo’s vigilance, it’s surely interconnected, maybe one of these paths leads to a hidden exit, if not for those bizarre demons Lorenzo would have time to try each one, but now he could only bet everything on luck.

Really hope the Goddess of Fortune still favors me.

Fear and death closely followed them, Eve was perplexed as to why in such a situation the detective could remain calm, why did he not feel fear?

Far surpassing normal people’s calmness and perseverance, thinking carefully, putting aside the man’s vile character, he’s simply an invincible genius, whether it be those cunning schemes or swordsmanship, they’re all overwhelming existences.

Eve just wanted to ask, but she felt it, Lorenzo’s hand tightly gripping hers was subtly trembling, despite being faint, Eve still clearly felt it.

He is also afraid, this damned detective is actually afraid, but Eve knew he was different from her, he was forcing himself to stay calm, only this way could they survive and get out.

As for death? Lorenzo didn’t care about that kind of thing, he’s the type who even when the Death God was knocking on the door, he’d dare pull out the Winchester and shoot at the door—a madman.

Lorenzo wanted to live, he must live, he had already arrived at Old Dunling, that wonderful new life was already in his hands, he could smoke on the square feeding pigeons, or ride the steam tram circling the entire mechanical city.

No one could take away his life, not even those demons excavated from the graves of his memories.

”Don’t worry, being afraid is normal, that kind of thing exerts mental pressure, forcing you to produce negative emotions, once you lose you’ll become a puppet of fear!”

Lorenzo explained to Eve as if he had faced such things before.

Forcibly savoring the taste of tobacco, in the darkness Eve could only see the glow of the cigarette butt, smell the smoke lingering at her nose.

Eve couldn’t see Lorenzo’s face, but she could feel another strange emotion surging.

”We must get out quickly, if possible, we need to notify Suyalan Hall for rescue, ordinary people facing such a thing are just sending themselves to death.”

The voice was calm, but beneath that calmness lay anger and self-reproach.

It was Lorenzo’s fault, upon seeing Wol’s mutated corpse, he should have realized the problem, Wol for unknown reasons had already started mutating towards the direction of demons at that time, fortunately he killed him timely, he hadn’t completely transformed.

Presumably Wol’s plea for Lorenzo to kill him was also for this reason right, he had already realized his abnormality, he didn’t want to become one of those monsters.

Lorenzo should have always been alert, it was the life in Old Dunling that made him lose vigilance, that eerie flesh transformation had already been so obvious, yet he hadn’t thought in that direction.

”What... on earth is that thing.”

Eve steadied her breath, she tried hard to calm down, then tightened her grip on the weapon and asked towards the shadow in the darkness.

The question seemed to stir his unpleasant memories, the voice answered with difficulty.

”Demon.”

...

”God said, let there be light, and there was light.”

This is the first line from the opening of the Gospel, believers usually use it to understand God’s might and holiness, but what isn’t recorded in the Gospel is, with the birth of light, there must be darkness.

Philosophers interpret it like this, just like the opposition of all things in the world, with coldness people can truly understand what warmth is, kindness becomes precious in front of evil, and only death can highlight the beauty of life.

God seems to be testing mankind, while bringing light, the darkest, deepest abyss rises in its shadow, where beings named demons are nurtured.

The term demon originally came from the Evangelical Church’s Book of Isaiah, used to describe those ”adversaries” opposed to God, unlike mortals bathed in God’s radiance, they crawled out from the shadow of God, tempting mortals to fall into the abyss of corruption, accompanied by sin and violence, thus abandoned by Heaven, surviving in Hell.