Warm gray snow drifted in the wind. The epidemic doctor stretched out his hand and gently caught the fleeting ashes. It fell into the palm of his hand, and with gentle friction, it dispersed into dust and disappeared into the air.
This is the end of an era and the arrival of a new era.
The raging white flames were still clearly visible even from such a distance. The dark bones seemed to be struggling, swaying slightly in the white flames, and a faint wailing sound came from the ears.
"It looks like it's all over."
The doctor lowered his head and looked at the small boat swallowed by the waves. The sea was furious. If the steamship hadn't saved him, he would have been buried under the sea together with the iron coffin.
Under the dark blue sea, there are still faces of monsters. In essence, they are still living creatures, and these incompletely alienated monsters are completely bound by the waves, sinking little by little, and die on the seabed.
"This is not the end, just a new beginning."
A man wearing a dark yellow raincoat walked over. The ship was shaking violently in the rough waves, but he maintained a delicate balance as if walking on flat ground. He held the rope in his hand and dragged the heavy iron coffin on the deck.
"You look like you're at a loss. That must be your last demon. Creating such a large number is not an easy job."
The epidemic doctor turned to the man and said, these demons were released by men. If it were not for the demons' obstruction, the steamship would not be able to travel such a long distance to avoid the search of the Dawn Ship. That is the giant eye suspended in the sky.
With unobstructed views of the sea there was no chance of escape.
"Compared with what you gain, what you lose is just a little bit."
The man chuckled, and unimaginable strength erupted from his body. The iron coffin carried by the ascetic monks with all their strength was extremely light in his hands, and was dragged directly between him and the epidemic doctor. With the strong wind,
The rag that covered it went away with the wind, and the mottled ancient body was directly exposed in front of the two people.
"Phew...this feels really bad."
The epidemic doctor took a deep breath, his voice filled with fatigue and stress. He moved his gaze to the other side, trying to avoid looking directly at him as much as possible.
"You still don't seem to be able to adapt to it. In fact, it is very well-behaved. As long as there is a little bit of honey, it will obey."
The man gently stroked the uneven surface, the coldness of the metal poured into his body, and psychedelic things began to appear in front of his eyes.
Memories, hallucinations, and the weird whispers all swept through his brain, but he seemed not to be affected. He calmly raised his hand, pulled out a sharp blade, and cut a fatal wound on his wrist, drawing blood.
The blood moved along the gaps in the iron coffin, like a picture scroll, filling every texture, and finally creating a strange appearance on the ancient metal surface.
The epidemic doctor saw all this from the corner of his sight. The weird feeling that eroded his reason disappeared, but something even weirder happened. A teeth-piercing tapping sound sounded, as if snakes were entwining each other and rubbing against each other.
The scales and blood seemed to have been sucked up by the iron coffin, without even a drop flowing out.
It seemed like a living thing, and the meal it just ate finally made it feel a little calmer.
"So this is how to contain it? Blood."
The epidemic doctor found it a bit strange, as if he didn't expect such a strange thing to feed only on blood.
The man shook his head, covered the wound on his wrist, and looked at it with fascination.
"To be precise, it feeds on secret blood. Of course, this kind of thing can only satisfy it for a moment, and it will become more and more greedy until it needs a cruel sacrifice."
"But it's enough to make it quiet now. After all, the demon hunter is there, and I don't want to cause trouble."
The epidemic doctor nodded slightly. As he drank the blood, the corrosive properties of the iron coffin seemed to disappear briefly. It was just like an ordinary coffin, quietly stagnating here.
"So, may I know what this thing is?"
After a long time, the epidemic doctor asked.
The man laughed.
"It's not good to know too much."
"But it's part of my reward, isn't it? I'm a doctor, a scholar, and I have an infinite passion for knowledge."
"Even if you die for it?"
The epidemic doctor was silent for a moment and nodded firmly.
"certainly."
A heavy voice came from under the beak mask, and the epidemic doctor spoke slowly.
"very nice……"
The man stared at the darkness under the mask and said happily.
"I like people like you, people with ideals. We are all idealists, and we are not afraid of death even for our ideals. This feels great."
"So what exactly is it?"
The doctor asked again.
"I have been pursuing the essence of life all my life, and I have even dissected a lot of demons... In fact, demons are essentially a type of living thing, but they are beyond ordinary people's understanding of the concept of living things.
I have been trying to figure out the nature of demons for so many years, but I have found nothing. You said this thing would help me make breakthroughs in research, and I hope you won't break your promise."
The body in the windbreaker squirmed strangely, raising bumps one after another on the surface of the cloth. For a moment, the epidemic doctor seemed to have lost his human shape, or perhaps he was some kind of monster himself, hiding himself under the thick layer.
In the clothes, he barely maintains his human shape,
The man nodded and replied.
"I never break my promise, but before that, do you want to hear its story? There are not many people in the world who know about its existence."
He let out a hoarse laugh. This was a temptation, an invitation from the devil. The plague doctor knew some of the rules of these madmen very well. For example, if you know something, you will be connected with the weird darkness.
He nodded firmly, and then the dusty story resurfaced.
"That was a long time ago. After the Eastern Crusade hundreds of years ago, we destroyed most of the heretics. On the surface, the Knights Templar started a war, and secretly the Demon Hunting Order carried out beheading operations. Neither the kingdom nor the army
Our opponents, it was the Church in its glorious hour, and the whole Western world was trembling at our feet."
Recalling that glorious moment, the man's eyes shimmered.
"After that, the so-called demons were extinct in the world for a time, and the hunting continued in the following hundreds of years, until a few years ago, we killed the last demon."
"The last demon?"
The epidemic doctor asked incredulously.
"This kind of thing can really kill everyone?"
"Of course, it's like ripples on a calm surface of water. Those ripples are demons. But as long as the source of the earthquake is not destroyed, endless demons will be born."
"We captured the 'seismic source', that thing with the 'concept' of a demon."
The man thought about it carefully and found that even after so long, it was difficult for him to use the existing human vocabulary to describe that strange existence.
"The church calls it the Holy Grail, but I don't care, it's more comfortable to call it a demon."
He said somewhat casually, and the steamship released a large amount of white mist, riding the wind and waves toward the end of the sea level.
“That was an epoch-making scene, and I’m glad I experienced it myself.
His execution took place in the Cathedral of Saint-Naro, within the grounds of the Seven Hills, where every pope was crowned and their orphans were buried.
The missionaries first bathed the demon with blessed holy water, drove sharp iron nails through its limbs, the sacred orchestra sang loudly, and the organ was magnificent.
This execution almost used up the church's reserve of holy silver, which is essentially a metal that is extremely poisonous to demons, but because the output is too small, it is only used for plating.
But this time we gave it a bath with holy silver, and its body was melted into the boiling holy silver. Feileng Cui's most skilled blacksmiths beat around the silver ingot that had not yet solidified, and amidst its wails
It was made into the shape of an iron coffin, and then one word after another of the Holy Words was engraved on it as the Pope prayed."
Gently brushing against the carvings that look like words, I wonder what this iron coffin has experienced over the years, and those sacred words have become blurry.
"This is the essence of the sacred coffin. It is the tomb of the 'concept' of the demon."
It was a shocking secret. For a moment, the world lost all sound. The epidemic doctor could only detect that something was approaching, and it strangled his throat in the strange silence. His flesh and blood became cold and solidified.
The frost spreads from the body to the heart and brain.
In this life-and-death situation, the twisted and blood-stained severed limbs collapsed. The epidemic doctor covered his severed arm and gasped for air.
"This is the admission fee. If you know that there is a distinguished person, you always have to give a gift, right?"
The man slowly put away the nailed sword, and the shiny sword was stained with blood.
The epidemic doctor's arm fell on the iron coffin, and then it was as if time was accelerating. The blood was drying, leaving a gray and black mark. The flesh and bones were shrinking, and the remaining cloth completely dissipated in the next time.
It became a small pile of dust.
"But I hope you can inform me in advance."
The epidemic doctor endured the severe pain and said, but as he spoke, the broken wound began to squirm strangely. First, a white bone protruded from it, and then fine muscles connected it, covering it heavily, and the new arm
Appears in an instant.
"In other words, the last demon is being placed in the iron coffin now?"
This is really a terrible fact. Thinking of staying with such a dangerous thing for so long, the epidemic doctor felt a chill.
"Almost, but don't worry, what's inside now is just its remains."
"remains?"
"You can understand it as a corpse, but it is not completely dead. This kind of thing is usually difficult to die. After all, it represents the 'concept' of a demon to a certain extent.
We don't know how many things have such a 'concept', but they should all be extremely difficult to kill. Just like light, if you want to destroy the concept of 'light', you must not only destroy everything that can shine in the world, but even
There are also literary songs, anything that reminds people of light.”
The man said to the epidemic doctor.
"In order to get this knowledge, we have to hook up with a pope... maybe more than one."
Taking a deep breath, the epidemic doctor wanted to keep a certain distance from this damn thing, but with the sea behind him, there was nowhere to hide.
"Don't worry, it's still controllable now. After all, it's just a corpse. It can only rely on instinct. The most difficult part has escaped. It is very docile now."
"Escaped, you mean this damn thing has escaped the control of the church?"
The epidemic doctor realized his mistake halfway through his words. Even the remains were placed in front of him. It was inevitable that this thing would escape the control of the church.
"Yes, human beings still overestimate their abilities. We are simply not qualified to control this miraculous power."
The flicking hand touched a gap on the metal surface. The gap was so small that it almost blended into the complex lines. If the man hadn't seen how it left with his own eyes, he might not have been able to find this gap.
Location.
"I have lost track of that thing since the Night of Holy Advent, and the church has also been severely damaged by the Night of Holy Advent. Even the recovery of the secret blood has not been completed after so many years, but I am also grateful to it, otherwise I would have been there long ago.
He was caught and executed by the church.”
"No one knows where that ghost has escaped to now... maybe it is in your and my consciousness now."
The man chuckled, but this really made the doctor unhappy.
"Here, this is your reward."
It was five milliliters of blood, sealed in exquisite quartz, like a slender red thread. Through the dim light, the blood reflected it like a ruby.
"Five milliliters of the Holy Grail's blood."
The plague doctor took the blood of the Holy Grail with doubts in his voice.
"That means this thing is its blood?"
With the same name as the Holy Grail, epidemic doctors have to pay attention to it.
"Yes, or perhaps wrong. After all, that thing is very weird. It is an indescribable thing. The so-called blood or body is just a manifestation of that incomprehensible thing, but what is certain is that
, this is the most purified secret blood in the history of the church and is infinitely close to purity."
It was a liquid miracle. The epidemic doctor suppressed the excitement in his heart, but the man's voice sounded again.
"So what are you going to do next? Now one of the most precious things in the world is in your hands."
After putting away the blood of the Holy Grail, the plague doctor's voice returned to calmness and he said.
"Of course I will continue my research. My book is almost finished, of course, thanks to your help."
"Oh, what are you going to call it?"
The man looked towards the end of the sea level, and there was a faint light rising, driving away the darkness and bringing warm hope.
At dawn, this desperate night is finally coming to an end.
"I haven't thought about it yet. My research is on humans and demons. Demons have too many weird characteristics, just like the stomach grass and the illusion of nightmare. It is not just a weird power, it has its own
'species'.
And one of the characteristics is extremely attractive. If you are afraid of sea water, you will evolve gills. If you are unable to fly, you will grow membrane wings between your limbs. Even if your limbs are broken, you can quickly recover. No matter how harsh the environment is, as long as the pollution from monsters is high enough,
It can all adapt and evolve."
The beak mask looked at the man and he said.
"Would you like to give me a name? It's because of your generous remuneration."
The man thought for a while.
"Hmm...how about calling it "The Theory of Evolution"?"
The epidemic doctor was silent for a long time, and then said.
"not bad."
A loud whistle sounded from afar, and the boat that greeted the man appeared at the end of the sea. He picked up the iron coffin, and the heavy metal shone in the morning light.
"Then it's time to say goodbye. I hope we will have opportunities to cooperate in the future."
The epidemic doctor nodded and said.
"Goodbye then, Teacher Lawrence."
Lawrence nodded and walked into the morning light with a kind smile.
"You are also Mr. Charles Darwin. May we meet in sinners' hell."