Gun of Ashes

Chapter 53: Chapter 39: The Dark Door

Eve revealed her pale wrist, several wounds were slowly healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, eerily like Lorenzo’s recovery. Her expression was filled with horror; although she wasn’t sure how Lorenzo had done it, she knew it was an ominous sign.

”Am I... am I contaminated?”

The girl seemed scared. She shouldn’t have told Lorenzo, for if she was truly contaminated by a demon, Lorenzo’s character would surely lead him to kill her directly. But Eve also understood the hazards of demons, and between the two, she still chose to be honest.

”Not really...”

Lorenzo gazed at her, and after a long time, he slowly spoke.

”Demon contamination requires many conditions, and those contaminated will directly mutate and distort like Sabo, but you haven’t... Your condition is quite stable... just like mine.”

”Like you?” Eve cautiously asked.

Lorenzo said nothing; he stood up and approached Eve, his eyes gradually igniting flames, the power named Secret Blood awakening inside him.

After a long time, the flames extinguished, and Lorenzo sat down again, but this time his eyes were full of confusion.

”There are only a few possible outcomes from contact with demons, so your condition is actually quite easy to determine, but...”

Upon hearing the ’but,’ Eve panicked, sitting upright like a student.

”Eve, you know there are some things that, once you come into contact with them, you can never leave, like demons.

In my knowledge, there is such a judgment standard called Spirit Medium. Most people do not possess the abilities of a Spirit Medium, so even if dark things approach them, they mostly remain unharmed. Using two worlds to illustrate this is quite apt; you can understand that we live in the same world and city as the demons, but usually, demons can’t see us. In their eyes, we are just a vague mist, and similarly, I can’t see them.”

Lorenzo’s voice took on a magical quality, filling the room with something unknown, pervading everywhere, yet indistinguishable.

”But if you acquire too much dark knowledge, this will deepen your connection with it. You will become increasingly clear in the eyes of those monsters, and similarly, you will see them.”

At this point, Lorenzo smiled.

”Like myself, I am a human-shaped Spirit Medium. With just a bit of herbal aid, I will activate Spiritual Vision to see things that living people cannot.”

”Eve, if you want to understand your own condition, you will inevitably learn that knowledge, you will gradually fall into the darkness, and the demons in the mist will become clear to you, you will gradually become a Spirit Medium, pursued by darkness day and night.”

Lorenzo looked at her seriously.

”Therefore, the decision is yours. If you want to understand all of this, you will inevitably deepen your connection with the darkness. Perhaps many years later your connection will be severed, but no one can guarantee what will happen next. I need your decision; the dark door is right in front of you, whether to step through it is up to you.”

Listening to Lorenzo, Eve fell silent. She understood Lorenzo’s meaning very well, it was forbidden knowledge, once understood, she was destined to fall into that abyss.

”I have a few questions, will I become that kind of thing?”

Eve asked.

”Without contact with demons, the likelihood is very small, after all, your condition is very stable.”

”Did this anomaly occur tonight?”

”No, the cause of tonight should be a low purity Secret Blood, it’s what caused all the chaos, but your body’s anomaly should date back a long time ago.”

A long time ago? That means she had already intersected with what’s called a demon a long time ago?

Eve unconsciously clenched her hand, her knuckles turning pale.

The girl stared at Lorenzo, this detective who had unknowingly returned to his previous state; the feeling of being a cold-blooded bastard was gone, he was coiled in the comfortable sofa like a societal scum.

The decision was right in front of her, a so-called crossroads in life. The girl thought a lot for a moment, finally answering seriously.

”Tell me!”

The girl’s gaze was determined, with a seriousness she had never shown before.

Lorenzo paused. This kind of expression he hadn’t seen in a long time; he remembered the last time he’d seen it when he was a priest in Florence. When those children spoke of what career they would pursue in the future, it was just like this: filled with persistence, stubbornness, and innocence.

”Can I hear the reason? If it weren’t for the undetermined birth origins, I wouldn’t want to deal with these monsters.”

Saying this, Lorenzo unconsciously thought of Sabo, who had died by his hand not long ago. No one can determine their own origins.

Eve’s expression darkened slightly, but after thinking for a moment, she still spoke; she seemed calm, or rather, terrifyingly calm.

”I had recurring nightmares from a very young age. Actually, I wasn’t sure what they really were; I would just always dream of a scene, repeatedly dream of it.

A woman lying asleep on a bed, I couldn’t see her face, but always felt very close, then suddenly something crawled out of her belly, like the demon I encountered, it crawled out of that woman’s belly... I couldn’t see that thing clearly, every time I was about to see clearly I would wake up scared.”

”Actually, I haven’t had those dreams for a long time, but until the day before my mother passed away I dreamed again, and then she died the next day. I was still young at the time, I didn’t know if it was curiosity or something else. My mother lay in a flower-filled coffin, I took the chance when no one noticed to lift her clothes.”

Eve curled herself up on the sofa, murmuring to herself.

”It was like driven by ghosts and gods, I lifted a corner of her clothes, on my mother’s belly was a hideous scar, as if some monster had climbed out.”

”Actually, I’ve almost forgotten these things, but like you said about the connection, as the connection deepens, what I forgot also comes back. I think if I delve deeper, I might know something.”

That’s the Nightmare that has always surrounded Eve, she thought she had forgotten it, but sometimes it suddenly came to mind, with age growing clearer, like a Death God crawling from that scar, taking her mother’s soul.

Eve always thought it might be her imagination, but after tonight, all these eerie things seemed to have a shadow of the demon.

Lorenzo looked deeply at Eve for a moment. Everyone is like this; Eve thought she had the choice, but in actuality, the strange darkness is like a swamp, it won’t easily let go of anyone who steps into it. She thought she had the chance to refuse, but like fate, there is always a reason urging her to step forward.

”I hope you won’t regret it.”

Lorenzo said, starting to recall those things he had sealed deep in his memory.