Gun of Ashes

Flags and paintings emerged from the stone wall, and tables, chairs, and candlesticks rose from the ground, forming around the position of the three.

Lorenzo opened his eyes, and the blazing white candle flames gradually lit up, illuminating the dim palace.

”It’s been a long time.”

Lorenzo whispered, without any pause, he immediately stepped onto the long stairs, breaking into the Memory Palace.

Running through the endless corridors, just as Lorenzo had tried to save himself, searching for memories related to all this, looking for that forgotten unfortunate soul.

A clear cold wind rushed in from the other end of the corridor, Lorenzo could hear the sound of the waves.

”Who are you?”

”Where are you?”

Lorenzo muttered to himself, he pushed open door after door, but still couldn’t find that guy.

The sound of collapse echoed.

Lorenzo turned around and saw the memory palace gradually crumbling, bricks and stones shattered into dust, revealing the pitch-black Abyss.

The Anti-Meme’s counterattack was faster than Lorenzo imagined, it was re-affecting Lorenzo, making it difficult for him to concentrate on recalling all this.

”Calm down, Lorenzo, think carefully... you can’t remember what has been forgotten.”

Lorenzo clutched his head, calming his agitated heart, and then he remembered something.

”You can’t remember what has been forgotten.”

Turning his head, Lorenzo looked at the wall beside him, according to the arrangement of the doors, there should have been a door here, but now it was replaced by bricks and stones.

”You’re here...”

Lorenzo looked at the blank wall, clenched his fist, and struck it directly.

The wall trembled, dust fell.

This vibration entered the darkness, in near-eternal silence, this was the only sound, the only ripple felt by the corpse.

It was dazed for a long time, maybe a few minutes, maybe decades, before it slowly realized the occurrence of the ripple.

But this still couldn’t change anything, it was just a small episode in the long silence, yet in the following hundreds of years, such vibrations became more frequent, until one day, in absolute darkness, a beam of light fell.

The light fell on its eyes, neither bright nor dim, but it was the only light in endless ages.

It seemed to remember something, the voice that had been stubbornly silent for an unknown length of time, almost extinguished, sounded again.

”I am...”

The corpse dryly opened its mouth, trying to make a sound, but the words were incredibly vague.

It tried to move, but it forgot how to control its body, so it used a long time to learn again, until it could stand shakily and walk towards the light.

It didn’t know who it was or why it was here, it didn’t even have the ability to ”think”.

But just as instinct drove it, even after such a long time, time still couldn’t kill that unyielding soul, amidst the long despair it found a chance to breathe, and thus it burned fiercely.

The corpse blankly raised its withered arm, striking against the darkness that hindered it.

This was Lorenzo’s last strike, his fist was already flesh and blood blurred, leaving one glaring bloodstain after another on the wall.

He still failed, the collapse of the palace extended to here, until the end Lorenzo still couldn’t save that unfortunate soul.

The surrounding buildings collapsed into dust flying in the air, disappearing completely under the gentle breeze.

Lorenzo stared blankly at all this, the flames entwining the Black Angel flickered, Watson was struck by the Anti-Meme’s backlash, his condition somewhat unstable, while the Plague Doctor was completely dazed in place, presumably he too felt the impact of the Anti-Meme, troubled by the power.

Fortunately, Lorenzo could still see the Plague Doctor and the Black Angel, and could remember stories about these two guys, which proved that these two hadn’t been completely erased by the Anti-Meme.

”I seem to have... failed.”

Lorenzo tried hard to recall, but still couldn’t remember who the fourth person was.

He felt a bit sad, for forgetting someone.

But the Plague Doctor slowly raised his hand, pointing behind Lorenzo, who turned back in confusion and saw a figure lying beside him.

It was a completely unfamiliar face, Lorenzo had never seen this person, perhaps Lorenzo knew him, only everything related to him had been erased by the Anti-Meme.

Lorenzo stood dumbfounded for a few seconds, then shouted loudly.

”I told you there’s a fourth unfortunate soul!”