Gun of Ashes

Chapter 333: Chapter 18: City of Miracles_2

Of course, some people can crawl out of it, but what awaits them is also a mechanical existence... this city isn’t beautiful, at least that beauty only belongs to a few people.”

Lorenzo heard this and said fiercely, ”Damn class disparity!”

Pres gave Lorenzo a sidelong glance, somewhat puzzled about what the detective was getting upset about.

”On the contrary, Lorenzo, I actually envy your life.”

Lorenzo felt a bit bewildered, he stopped walking and looked at Pres.

”You envy me?”

Unbelievable, someone actually envies such a life of running from danger.

Yet Pres nodded seriously.

”So wonderful!”

Lorenzo felt somewhat at a loss, what virtue or ability does he have that someone would envy him... this feeling is quite strange.

He just heard the detective continue to speak, and his voice surprisingly had a touch of loneliness.

”Look, you’re a freelance detective, you work when you want to, rest when you want to. You never seem to worry about money... I’m really envious of you, Lorenzo. You live so happily every day, you belong to that kind of person who finds joy even without any, as if without worries.”

Lorenzo was left speechless and paused for a long time before pulling out a cigarette from his chest, still the one Red Falcon bought for him, but Joey paid for it.

The hand lighting the cigarette trembled slightly, just like some heart-saving medicine, Lorenzo took a deep drag.

But in the end, he said nothing, nor did he refute. He wouldn’t boast to Pres about how colorful his life is, after all, the happiness that Lorenzo experiences is unimaginable to him.

Driving bizarre armored machines, blasting wherever he goes, flirting with the Duke... if that situation in the train could be called flirting.

Being associated with Old Dunling’s mysterious department while being an absolute badass, this is simply the perfect urban warrior!

Just too cool to handle!

But Lorenzo wouldn’t say that almost everyone he knew was dead, fighting demons every day, and the reason he lives happily is because if he didn’t find some joy in this hellish situation, he’d truly go insane with depression.

Likewise, he wouldn’t worry about marrying and having children, buying a house, because as a Demon Hunter, Lorenzo doesn’t think he could ever have that kind of life.

Demon Hunters don’t enjoy a peaceful old age, they only die on the battlefield, this damn thing feels like a curse.

Soon, Lorenzo finished a cigarette, this brief silence made Pres somewhat uneasy, but soon it came.

The Iron Serpent approached from the end of the street, spewing steam like a breathing beast.

Finally, it halted slowly before them, at this point Pres noticed a bus stop standing there, he was entirely focused on speaking with Lorenzo and had overlooked all this.

Although steam technology continuously ascended, with the study of the Perpetual Motion Pump, electricity too gradually got integrated into this steel city, they seem to want to use Old Dunling as a test ground to see the extent of brilliance electricity could bring.

The steam trolley was one of its creations, traveling on ground tracks connecting the entire city.

”Let’s go, without carriage this is our only option, you can even take a nap on the way,” said Lorenzo.

Pres glanced inside the car, there were still a few vacant seats.

The two boarded the Iron Serpent, afterward, it slowly started moving, taking them to their desired destination.

The Thames River runs through the entire Ingwig Island, the mouth of it is Reindona port, where numerous foreign ships dock, it is the trade center, yet many ships won’t stay there, they proceed along the Thames River after passing customs, reaching Old Dunling.

The cargo ship from Florence was inspected for anomalies at Old Dunling’s dock, now the two must head there first to inspect the scene.

Pres truly seems exhausted, leaning against the seat back and immediately fell asleep. Lorenzo sat beside him, picking up the newspaper from the seat pocket.

The time on the Iron Serpent is usually quite dull, to help passengers kill time, they thoughtfully provide newspapers.

Lorenzo read the newspaper, not really wanting his mind to be idle.

The Viking countries have ended the civil war, those pirates now obey a fellow named Ragnar, the paper writes joy over the war’s end, but honestly, nobody wants these fires to quiet down, Viking land and resources are barren, and now the western world’s lands have long been carved up, in the Vikings’ eyes, to develop either money trades or plundering is necessary.

Leiber is also on a steady rise, during the Radiant War, they maintained neutrality and secretly developed, now they have built a trade network along the Rhine River, currently gradually catching up industrially with Ingwig, some are anxious about it.

As for Gaulunaro, the hatred between the two countries continues, dark currents stir beneath the peace surface, even though there’s no conflict on native land, continuous small feuds exist in colonies outside Ingwig.

What remains is news of smaller nations, although they stand independently as countries, they are covertly controlled by major nations, with protests today from this one, tomorrow that one attacking another, basically this cycle, small frictions abound but major wars have yet to ignite.

Now, it turns out that the once mighty Holy Evangelical Pope Kingdom is the most harmless, the Holy Hall Knight Order has fallen behind times. People have picked up guns and cannons, yet they still don heavy armor, resembling an obsolete glory mourning ritual.

Everyone longs for that age of beliefs, but nobody wants them back, back then Pope held immense power, now he is merely a mascot of faith.

The world is roughly like this, teetering on the edge of rot and absolute decay.

Turning to the next page, there’s news from within Old Dunling, such as a gas explosion in the northern district, consecutive detonations destroyed an entire street, luckily minimal injuries, though building damage was substantial, currently cordoned off.

Hold on!

Just as he was about to turn the page, Lorenzo’s hand stopped abruptly, attentively observing the gas explosion headlines, could it be Purification Mechanism’s doing again?

Continuing down, there are mission visits’ news, towards the end one news caught Lorenzo’s focus.

The Holy Evangelical Pope Kingdom’s mission is to visit in days.

Though departed from there for seven years, glimpsing news of it always stirs Lorenzo’s memories and alertness.

The newspaper writes arrogantly, according to the writer, the Evangelical Church finally concedes its pride and embraces steam technology, but isn’t it too late now?

Nations have developed certain industrial prowess, in this grand world-game, they’ve fallen far behind.

No... not necessarily, if the Evangelical Church can reclaim the ”Revelation,” completing the militarization of Demon Hunters project, they could regain dominance, though the cost would be an exceedingly horrific war.

Lorenzo had a serious expression, he knows clearly the difference between normal people and Demon Hunters.

”Wake up, Pres.”

After a period, nearing the dock, Lorenzo nudged Pres, awakening him.

The detective looked extremely uncomfortable, but much better than before, indeed humans still need sleep, but he couldn’t be at ease leaving Lorenzo to handle the case alone, not fearing this detective dying, but terrified of him causing greater trouble.

Vigorously rubbing his eyes, he tried to make himself a bit more alert, then glanced toward Lorenzo.

”Are we there?”

”We are now.”

The Iron Serpent suddenly halted, it was at its terminus station, passengers started disembarking.

Pres spoke somewhat regretfully, ”Wish I could go home and sleep.”

”Quickly move!”

Lorenzo urged.

As they stepped off the Iron Serpent, a thick stench swept over, countless people bustling on the docks, steamships traversed the Thames River bringing rolling smoke along, like paths of mist.