Gun of Ashes

Making a joke, at this moment Eve actually felt a trace of emotion.

If everything were truly as she imagined, Eve should be lying on the beach, soaking up the warm sun, rather than struggling to survive in this crazed storm.

Thinking of this, Eve amused herself, her smile gradually turned bitter, then her expression returned to coldness.

It was merely an illusion, Eve knew very well that her life wouldn’t follow such a trajectory, even without Lorenzo, even without all that she had gone through, she still wouldn’t live that kind of life.

Her body flowed with forbidden blood, both a curse and a blessing.

Eve was a born Ranger, she would eventually return to the darkness, it was only a matter of time.

Leaning on her Folding Blade, sitting in the corner, she was regaining her strength, and with just a little more rest, she was ready to leave, heading towards Gawain’s stronghold, and it was at this moment that Eve heard footsteps emanating from the street.

Demon?

It didn’t sound like it, so was it civilians?

Eve immediately stood up, they were so directly exposed in the street, they were practically courting death, she needed to rescue them before the demons discovered them.

But someone noticed the civilians before Eve did, a deep panting sounded from the other end of the rainy fog, as if some giant beast was breathing.

"Run!"

Eve jumped out of the window, leaped down to the ground, she watched two dim shadows in the rain and fog, the latter swiftly approaching the former, like hunting beasts.

Picking up her handgun, Eve directly fired at the rapidly approaching shadow, she could already see the grotesque outlines of the demons, and worse, more than one demon was approaching.

She could only quicken her pace to approach, Eve got closer and closer to the surviving civilians until she could finally see their faces.

"Ah!"

A pained scream rang out, upon seeing Eve, one of them stumbled without stepping firmly, nearly falling, Eve’s expression grew complicated, she hadn’t expected to meet him here.

The person climbed up clumsily, contrary to Eve’s expectations, his expression had steadied quite a bit, probably because the bizarre things he encountered today had numbed him completely.

"Yo, we meet again, Buscalo, quite a bad timing huh."

Buscalo nodded, forcefully wiping the rain off his face, and then said.

"Indeed."

It wasn’t a good time to reminisce, not to mention there’s practically nothing to reminisce about between Eve and Buscalo, upon reflection, it’s all terrible events.

And the two also shared an interesting commonality, they both had relatively ordinary lives but ended up in this predicament because of the same person.

"Run, Buscalo!"

Eve urged, drawing her Folding Blade, ready to confront the enemy, but looking in the direction of the demon assault, those towering figures were already gone, the air filling with the stench of blood, three small shadows slowly approached until walking out of the rain and fog.

"Yo! Eve!"

Shao Liangxi greeted her cheerfully, after cutting down the demons, she had returned to her relaxed state, though her expression, coupled with the corpses scattered around, was indeed disturbing.

Rod followed beside her, not participating in the battle, but the long journey through water had made this office worker, already physically weaker, even more exhausted.

Eve looked towards the last person, as if being startled, she actually hesitated to recognize him.

Oscar stood there, covered in blood, pretending to be at ease, still holding a long sword stained with blood.

"Are you okay?"

"I’m fine, just haven’t exercised in a long time, feeling a bit breathless."

Oscar responded, thankful for the foundation left during his youth, even after years of alcohol abuse, Oscar remained resilient, refusing to crumble.

The old guy hacked and kicked all the way, viciously like a mountain bandit pirate, and Buscalo even planned to take a good look at The Life of Oscar Wilde after surviving this, the first time truly feeling he never truly knew this friend.

Buscalo had asked about related matters during their journey.

"You’ve never mentioned these things." Buscalo asked.

"I bragged at first, but they all thought I’d gone mad from writing books," Oscar answered, "so gradually, I stopped mentioning it to others."

Upon hearing this, and recalling Oscar’s terrible writing career, it seemed Buscalo gained some understanding.

Back to the present, the torrential rain and fierce battle made the familiar city become unrecognizable, Buscalo rushed among the ruins and debris, he remembered this location was where the hotel was supposed to be, but all that was left was a wasteland.

"Here...I remember there was a hotel here."

Buscalo looked around, but from the wreckage surrounding him, it was difficult to discern where his wife’s hotel had been, indeed it seemed only those left alive remained.

He dared not think about it, the water covered his ankles, such depth could swallow many things, constantly during his path, Buscalo could feel collisions beneath the water, some were hard, other soft...

Buscalo tried hard not to dwell on these matters, and the others were the same, although the street seemed calm now, everyone knew the multitude of corpses beneath the waters.

The heart filled with pressure, the brutal truth lay before him, forcing him to believe.

"What happened?"

Eve asked while beckoning the others to move towards the nearby buildings, it was too dangerous for them to be exposed on the street as they were.

"My wife, she should be here..."

Buscalo’s voice began to tremble.

"Don’t worry, they should still be alive."

Eve said, looking towards the corpses exposed from the water, in the wreckage of the Peacekeeper, the engine stubbornly kept working, emitting low hums, steam rising like smoke after flames.

"You know something?" Buscalo asked urgently.

"I was with these Peacekeepers evacuating civilians earlier, most people had already retreated beyond the defensive line, I believe your wife might be among them."

Actually, Eve didn’t know whether his wife survived, but given the situation, she needed to offer Buscalo hope, hope enough for him to continue moving forward.

Buscalo would survive, even if just to verify the truth of her words, he would forge ahead.

After several seconds of silence, Buscalo asked.

"Where is she?"

"A nearby defensive line, where Gawain is, but the situation is dire, several waves of demon attacks hit there, he is seeking aid."

Eve looked at the others and then said.

"I am preparing to head there, though it sounds like heading to death, it’s the nearest defensive line."

"I can go along," Shao Liangxi wiped the blood off her Folding Blade, "I am the Anonymous pursuing demons."

Rod’s expression appeared awkward, he was about to say something but Shao Liangxi interrupted him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

"I say, you’re coming too, right? Translator."

It was a blatant threat, Rod could only nod weakly, he had no other choices left, since he ran out from Heracles’ bar, this was the only path remaining.

"And you? Old guy."

Eve looked at Oscar, among them, Oscar was the most enigmatic to her.

Old yet powerful, like a train that passed its service period, still racing down the tracks with gray-black smoke billowing, no one could tell when he’d collapse.

"Me? Of course I’ll go along!"

Oscar showed no fear, as though treating all this as a picnic.

"After so long, The Life of Oscar Wilde should have a sequel!"

He forcefully swept his hair back, combing the untamed locks behind him, revealing his weary but piercing eyes, like those of a tiger.