Old Dunling, a beautiful city of miracles, steel and machinery, wealth and power, every word used to describe it can inspire people's most primitive passions, but too many people have been dazzled by passion.
I never thought about the cost of all this, or the people at the bottom of the pyramid.
Fortunately, the cold wind of winter has not left yet, and the cold air is not too smelly, but even so, Lorenzo could not help but frown.
Dead fish float on the surface of the river, all kinds of filth are dumped in it randomly, and germs and death are brewing in it.
Hundreds of years ago, the Black Death swept across the Western world. People died one after another. The high death rate drove everyone to the verge of madness, and even affected the rule of the Evangelical Church. Under the endless death, people had no hope for the illusory God.
Believe again, and your solid faith begins to waver.
It was a dark time, but there is always light at the end of the darkness.
The process of history is advancing slowly. Under the shadow of death, order collapses. People are no longer pious. It is far better to enjoy themselves in time than to practice asceticism. Therefore, among the dead bodies and bones, the brilliance of humanities and art rises in the rotting corpses.
, accumulated and exploded into the Renaissance of literature and art not too far away in the past few years.
With this tragic history in the past, at the beginning of the overall design of the old Dunling by the Mechanical Institute, they also added sanitary facilities to the furnace pillars. The water flow brought up the dirt, and after several purification processes and the combustion of the boiler
After that, it turned into mist and returned to the earth.
Of course, sometimes they also pour hundreds of tons of disinfectant into the furnace pillar. In the dead of night, the atomized gas purifies the entire city... Of course, they can also pour other things, such as alchemical potions that speed up the elimination of pollution.
It's like a self-circulating ecosystem, but this system is made of steel and flames. After so many years of operation, it looks pretty good.
"It stinks," Lorenzo said.
Although the Mechanical Institute has done its best, the quality of the water here is still worrying before it is purified by the Furnace Pillar. Fortunately, they will not stay for too long. They will flow all the way out to the sea outlet in the west, and then emerge again.
Integrate into the sea.
"Welcome to the lower class, Mr. Lorenzo Holmes," Price said seriously.
People are busy unloading goods at the dock. Even if they are so busy, they can't make much money in a day. This is also the end of most stowaways. Without formal status, they can only work illegally, earn low wages, and finally hide under the chaos.
In the urban area.
This is the living condition of most people in Old Dunling. There is no glory or wealth, everyone is just a small cog in the machine.
"Just get used to it, Lorenzo." Price said, thinking that this guy who had been hanging out in the downtown area for a long time had already gotten used to this.
The two men moved forward on the pier. After searching for the stowaways, the cargo ship was seized and remained docked at the pier, unable to leave.
"Let's see what clues there are on the ship first... Although no matter what the clues are, we may have to go to the Lower City in the end..."
Price did not say more.
Xiacheng District is a chaotic place, but it also has its own order in the chaos. Generally speaking, when the stowaways arrive there, Price has to worry about the personal safety of the stowaways. There is no need for the police to catch them.
When they can no longer stand it in the downtown area, they will leave obediently.
In fact, there was no need to investigate this case at all. The two of them were just using this case to have fun and fish.
But Lorenzo's heart was completely different from what Pres thought. He was extremely wary of anything related to Florence...or the Evangelical Church.
According to Arthur's information, the pope is trying to reach an alliance with Yin Erweg, and a new religious order has been established. But the problem is that the "Book of Revelation" has been taken away by Lawrence. Where will the Evangelical Church obtain new secret blood?
All of this is still shrouded in heavy fog. Although Lorenzo has dispelled a lot of it, he still cannot see the truth.
After Lawrence's death, the purification agency was fully mobilized. Under the seemingly calm situation, the entire Yin Erweg was on high alert, starting from the old Dunling as the core, conducting a comprehensive search for traces of demons, trying to find the "Apocalypse" that Lawrence had taken away
》.
But in the end, I still found nothing, as if the "Apocalypse" was just a lie.
Lorenzo knew that the crisis had not been resolved, it had only been postponed.
"Is this here?" Lorenzo stopped and looked at the cargo ship beside him and asked.
Price looked at the file, and based on the records above, he said, "This is it."
The two nodded, and after Pres showed his police badge, the guard let them in.
According to what the captain said, he had no idea anyone was on his ship. It was a cargo ship. Except for the place where the sailors lived, there were not many places for people to rest on the whole ship. He also couldn't figure out those stowaways.
How did you manage to reach Old Dunling in such a harsh environment?
"We should bring the captain," Lorenzo said. The iron boxes were stacked together like a maze.
"He is being detained." Press led the way holding the documents.
Arriving at the lower level of the cargo ship, the wooden boxes were filled with hay and seemed to contain fragile items.
"The artworks from Feileng Cui seem to belong to the Medici family. They have been supporting those artists, so these stones became expensive and cherished after they knocked them casually."
Price commented on those things. Although they are works of art, in recent years they have become luxuries under the encouragement of a group of people. Every rich person is trying to fill his living room with works of art.
Pretending to be well-educated.
"Lorenzo the Great."
Lorenzo glanced at those things and said casually.
Price was stunned, as if he didn't understand why Lorenzo started boasting again without any warning.
Seeing Price's expression, Lorenzo knew that this guy had misunderstood.
"It's not me, it's him, Lorenzo Medici, the head of the Medici family and the cardinal of the Evangelical Church. He is powerful, but he likes to support some poor artists. With the financial resources of the Medici family,
Next, he brought Feilengcui's humanity into the golden age, but everything changed again after he reached his old age."
Lorenzo recalled that he had the honor to meet the old man when he was in the Demon Hunting Order.
"Great Lorenzo, that's what those people call him, not me, but if you want to call me that, I don't mind."
Then the detective became shameless again.
Price didn't say anything in reply. He didn't know much about that distant city. From what the detective said, it turned out that the detective did have some knowledge.
"You actually have the same name as that kind of person." Preiss was a little surprised.
"Actually, if you are shameless enough, you can change your last name to Victoria." Lorenzo said unceremoniously.
Price shook his head. It would be better to think about this kind of thing. He is not as shameless as Lorenzo.
"Hmm... what are these?" Price looked at the carefully stored paintings beside him, but they were painted with alluring things.
"Is this also a work of art?"
"Do you have any opinions? This human body can be painted very perfectly." Lorenzo said, "This thing is quite normal, and the rich people in Florence often hire painters to paint these. After all, they are surrounded by faith.
Down here, people are a little depressed and crazy.”
The voice paused, Lorenzo suddenly approached Pres and whispered.
"Did you know? There are rumors that a secret room in the Cathedral of Saint-Naro is also filled with these arts, but only the Pope can enter that room."
Lorenzo winked and then cursed.
"Turns out this bitch is the most ungrateful, damn it."
As they talked, the two arrived at the stowaway's hiding place. The baffle on the ground had been lifted, and underneath was a complex pipe. There was a narrow space in it, just enough to fit a few people in.
"They are hiding here?" Lorenzo was a little surprised when he saw this.
"Based on our inference, they usually stay outside and hide in when someone comes."
Price replied that no one could hide in this place for that long.
"Is that so?"
Lorenzo thought for a moment, then stuck his head in. In the darkness, the witcher's vision was adequate, and there was only dust and debris in the narrow space.
There don't seem to be any useful clues.
No... Lorenzo suddenly thought of something, and then he looked a little wary.
"Is this how it was when you came?" he asked.
Press shook his head, "I was on duty at the time, and I wasn't the police detective who arrived here first, but the useful information is basically here. Because the delegation is visiting, they won't miss anything."
After listening to his words, Lorenzo took the document and then read it carefully.
"No one has cleaned up here, right?"
"There is no one here. The goods here have been temporarily detained. These are valuable things. The guards will not let anyone in."
After reading it, Lorenzo fell into deep thought.
Price was waiting quietly on the side. This detective is like this. Sometimes he will suddenly go crazy and make you sing and dance, but he will also suddenly fall into deep thought, as if he is thinking about the truth of a terrible secret.
"Pryce, what you said is that those people were so agile that even your mounted police couldn't catch them and let them escape, right?"
Price nodded. That was what the document said. The Mounties failed to catch them.
Lorenzo said slowly.
"That's the point of doubt, Price. A group of people who have been floating on the sea for so long are so active when they get off the boat. They can't even catch you on horseback... Isn't this a point of doubt?"
"Can……"
Price was about to say something to answer him, but then he realized the irrationality of the whole incident.
The stowaways really wanted to run when they saw the mounted police, but these stowaways ran too fast.
They were not aware of this, or they were aware of it but did not pay attention to it.
"And what do they eat and drink?"
The captain said that he didn't know the existence of these people, so the stowaways must have been here during this period, but there was nothing here except cargo.
"One more thing, why do those stowaways come here?"
Lorenzo asked.
"If we talk about wealth, isn't it everywhere here?"
Looking around, there is a piece of art in each wooden box, which can be sold at a good price at low prices, but the stowaways gave up on these and ran away in a hurry.
Hearing this, Preiss' sleepiness disappeared and he suddenly became energetic.
"So...what do these 'stowaways' want to do?"
Lorenzo spoke softly, as if he was afraid of waking someone who was sleeping.
"I'm going to apply for the police force." After hearing this, Pres had already realized the complexity of the incident. It was far more complicated than it appeared on the surface, but... according to the procedures of Su Yalan Hall, they would not ignore this.
.
Or was it because the police force was insufficient and something happened to go wrong here? He couldn't figure it out.
"No, don't make any noise, leave these to me."
"Leave it to you?" Pres looked at Lorenzo distrustfully.
Lorenzo's cold face suddenly burst into laughter again. He approached Pres and patted him on the shoulder.
"Have you forgotten? I am 'in an important position'!" He deliberately emphasized his words.
Thinking of that mysterious department, Price suddenly understood what was going on. Perhaps he had been involved in an incident related to that mysterious department.
"Wait, is it true?" Price tried his best not to mention that mysterious department, but he also doubted Lorenzo's words. Could this lunatic be lying to himself?
"I still won't joke about this, Price." Lorenzo said seriously.
"Pres, you envy my life, but do you know that the more people know, the sooner they die?" Lorenzo said, "So it's better to have some fun before you die... just like in the Renaissance.
In that way, under the shadow of death, instead of working hard, it is better to enjoy yourself while you are still alive."
There was a bit of chill in the voice, and the demon hunter's posture returned. The invisible pressure made Preiss shaken, and then he said.
"Lorenzo, trust is a very precious thing."
"Believe me."
Lorenzo said again.
Pres was silent for a while, perhaps because sleepiness finally conquered him. He handed the document to Lorenzo, thought for a while and then asked.
"Do you need my police badge?"
"If you take this into the lower city, you will easily be beaten to death."
"Fine."
Watching Pres leave, Lorenzo's eyes hardened.
He already had a preliminary guess in his mind, but this guess was full of holes and he was not sure.
The Book of Revelation has been lost for too long. If Lorenzo were the Pope, then the first thing to do after reestablishing the Order would probably be to retrieve the Book of Revelation.
Pres was different from what he was wary of. What he was wary of was that it all seemed too coincidental. The visit of the mission, insufficient police force, and negligence in the process, but Lorenzo would not explain these to him. Sometimes this was not a coincidence.
, but something destined.
They are all people connected to darkness, placed in the vortex of chaos, and will eventually meet in the center of death.