Embers Ad Infinitum

The two people who came out of the cave were both wearing olive green uniforms, and each carried a submachine gun. They seemed to be the guards of the "underground ark".

They glanced left and right to make sure there was no one else around, then carried the heavy sack and walked deeper into the valley.

Not long after, they found a place with softer soil and pulled out two shovels from the sack.

Jiang Baimian winked at the team members, led them quietly down from the high point, and sneaked to a place not far from the two "Underground Ark" guards.

"Go." She immediately lowered her voice and said to Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao did his duty, rushed out of the hiding place with the "Berserker" assault rifle, and shouted to the two "Underground Ark" guards who were digging a hole:

"You are surrounded!"

The two guards were startled, dropped their shovels at the same time, and rushed to different places, trying to find cover and escape the first round of shooting.

However, as soon as they completed the first step, they saw the dark "muzzle" of the "Reaper" rocket launcher and the grenade gun that was ready to go.

As their thoughts raced, they stopped, raised their hands, put them behind their heads, and slowly squatted down.

Shang Jianyao, wearing a monkey mask, walked over and said with a smile:

"Don't be afraid, we are just here to make friends."

The two "Underground Ark" guards raised their heads at the same time, glanced at the assault rifle in Shang Jianyao's hand, and then lowered their heads silently.

The two of them are typical Red River people, one has brown hair, one has yellow hair, one has blue eyes, and the other has brown eyes. They both have beards. There is nothing special about their appearance - if I had to pick out a feature, it might be that one has a bigger nose. , one eyebrow is quite thick.

Shang Jianyao immediately smiled and said:

"Look:

“I did not shoot at you, but spoke to you calmly;

“I didn’t ask you to put down your weapons and let me slaughter you;

"so……"

Hearing what he said, the two guards suddenly felt that this guy was quite kind, and it seemed that he was really just here to make friends.

"You told me earlier, you scared us." The guard with a larger nose, brown hair and blue eyes was relatively bolder and stood up quickly.

"What's your name?" Shang Jianyao showed his friendliness.

The guard said casually:

"Just call me Joseph, he's Paul.

"And you?"

"Zhang Qubing." Shang Jianyao said his pseudonym in Honghe dialect.

"Are you Grayspeakers?" Joseph asked with some understanding after hearing the translated name.

"Human beings are human beings, and there is no need to divide them into various groups." Shang Jianyao emphasized his opinion.

At this time, Jiang Baimian had walked to the sack and squatted down.

She carefully moved the bag's mouth downwards, revealing the contents.

This is a corpse.

He was wearing a black dress, his hair was slightly gray, and there was blood on his chest.

"Steward Karl!" Jiang Baimian recognized the body.

This is Karl, one of Dimarco's three butlers, who is responsible for arms business.

He had just interviewed Warner Song He in the morning and stated that they had not betrayed any information to fishmen or mountain monsters. But now, his neatly combed hair had become extremely messy.

Only a few hours passed before he was reduced to a corpse.

"Steward Carl?" Long Yuehong repeated in shock, not expecting that the sack contained such a corpse.

He thought it was one of DiMarco's servants who had offended him.

Of course, strictly speaking, a butler is also a servant.

"Why did Butler Karl die?" Shang Jianyao asked the two "Underground Ark" guards who had established a friendly relationship.

This time, he did not "make friends" directly, but used the "reasoning clown" to simulate the friendly effect of the alerter Song He.

At this time, Jiang Baimian conducted a simple examination and initially confirmed that Karl died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Joseph, who had a larger nose, looked a little gloomier:

"Killed by Mr. DiMarco."

"Why?" Long Yuehong blurted out.

He remembered that Butler Carl was a loyal person and was obviously a believer in the Vigilant Sect. He chose not to hide in order to help Dimarco manage the arms business.

Paul and Joseph, who had thick eyebrows, looked at each other and said hesitantly:

"Steward Carl has been wanting to see Mr. Di Marco since he met the warning man from the Vigilant Sect in the morning.

“At that time, Mr. DiMarco was resting in the room and it was not until the afternoon that he was allowed in.

"We don't know exactly what they talked about. We only know that an argument broke out and Mr. Dimarco was so angry that he pulled out his gun and killed Butler Carl."

While Jiang Baimian stood up, Shang Jianyao acted as a "famous detective" and asked tacitly:

"Did you witness the quarrel that followed?"

Joseph shook his head:

“We only heard the movement inside suddenly became louder, and when we opened the door and went in to protect Mr. DiMarco, he had already shot Butler Carl.

"The quarrel was something he said casually."

Could it be that after Butler Carl finished talking with Warning Song and returned to the "Underground Ark", he remembered something due to a certain opportunity and began to suspect that Di Marco really betrayed the information about Bishop Renato to the mountain monster? He tried to find an explanation, only to anger the brutal DiMarco and was shot dead? However, this is not in line with the loyal image of Butler Karl... A series of guesses flashed through Jiang Baimian's mind.

Suddenly, she keenly discovered a detail, so she asked:

"No one was watching Mr. DiMarco when he was talking to Butler Carl?"

It actually required the guards outside the door to go in and rescue him.

Joseph replied:

"Yes, Mr. DiMarco doesn't let people stay in his room unless he has something to communicate. He doesn't like it."

Shang Jianyao immediately said:

"He is truly an unqualified vigilante."

After hearing this sentence, Long Yuehong discovered a contradiction in the descriptions just now:

As a believer in the Vigilant Sect, Di Marco was not afraid of being attacked when he was alone with others, and chose to let all the guards stay outside the door. This was so unwary!

"Maybe he really just believed in 'Yougu' casually." Bai Chen felt that this was the most likely and reasonable explanation.

Paul, the guard with thick eyebrows, quickly denied:

“No, Mr. DiMarco has always been religious.

"He often wears a mask, and has worn it every day for the past year. He will not take it off except when sleeping."

Shang Jianyao immediately retorted:

"How do you know he took it off while he was sleeping?"

Paul hesitated and said:

"I, that's what I think."

Shang Jianyao rubbed his chin and asked:

"Does he sleep with women, uh, men?"

"Yes, he has many women." Although Joseph thought this topic was strange, he still answered honestly.

Shang Jianyao, who was wearing a monkey mask, laughed:

"Then when he does something like that, will he take off his mask?"

Joseph and Paul looked at each other and each began to reminisce.

After a while, Paul said:

"I heard from several of the maids who slept with Mr. Di Marco that sometimes they wore them and sometimes they didn't."

"Yes." Joseph remembered some rumors, "In the early years, Mr. Dimarco did not wear a mask more often. Recently, he seems to wear it all the time."

"When is the specific dividing line?" Jiang Baimian asked.

"I don't know." Joseph and Paul shook their heads at the same time.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and then asked:

"Did he wear it when he recently had a conversation with Bishop Renato?"

"Yes, he has worn it every day for the past year." Joseph responded affirmatively.

In the past year... Jiang Baimian suddenly thought of something:

It seems like it’s been almost a year since Lehman’s friend Lars disappeared!

This matter is becoming more and more confusing... Jiang Baimian sighed secretly, and Shang Jianyao changed the topic:

"How are DiMarco and his ancestors doing?"

What performance? Joseph and Paul were confused.

Jiang Baimian turned his eyes upward, exhaled, and forcefully "explained":

"How did Di Marco and his ancestors rule the 'Underground Ark'?"

Joseph and Paul looked at each other, but neither said a word.

Shang Jianyao looked at them and said with a smile:

"There's no one else around."

Joseph seemed to have found support, took a deep breath and said:

"DiMarco and his ancestors have cruelty in their blood.

"My parents are also from the 'Underground Ark'. One is a guard and the other is a maid. They told me that every year a large number of servants are killed for various reasons and buried in this valley. Only a few lucky ones survive. .”

"Are you and your parents the lucky ones?" Jiang Baimian asked very cooperatively.

Joseph shook his head slowly:

"No. Di Marco and his ancestors rarely killed guards and their families. Only in the past few years, when Mr. Di Marco lost his son, several guards were executed for offending him. Under normal circumstances, the guards We will give them two or three chances if they make a mistake.”

"It's not that crazy." Jiang Baimian commented without praise or blame, "What's the matter with Dimarco losing his son?"

Joseph recalled:

"Mr. Di Marco and his ancestors, although cruel, loved new life.

“Starting from his grandfather, every generation of owners of the ‘Underground Ark’ has had a large number of partners at the same time, had many children, and selected the most outstanding one to inherit the ‘Underground Ark’.

"Moreover, they also encourage guards and maids to marry and have children."

"Both..." Shang Jianyao repeated one of the words.

Joseph nodded:

"That's true, at least that's what my parents told me."

He paused and continued:

“Dissatisfaction with the brutality had been building, and when Mr. Di Marco’s father fell seriously ill, the servants could no longer endure it and started a riot.

"This resulted in the death of many of Mr. Di Marco's relatives, and ultimately only a few survived.

"After quelling the riot, Mr. Di Marco became the owner of the 'Underground Ark' and found many partners inside. Who knows, after many years, he only gave birth to three children. Among them, the one he loved most was The youngest one, unfortunately, died of illness more than three years ago.

"During that time, Mr. DiMarco was acting like crazy."