It was already noon when Shi Dong woke up.
Although the sky is still dark.
In this lightless city, there seems to be no difference between day and night. Time has frozen here, and the city has fallen into an eternal sleep, with only shadows walking through the streets.
Westminster Abbey was also empty.
In the past, this place used to be bustling with people, with countless horse-drawn carriages and people coming and going.
Now even the sparrows don't want to come.
Only dead leaves fell from the dry branches and scattered on the ground, with no one picking them up.
"Don't you even have a handyman here?"
"Everyone has been evacuated."
Mephistopheles said: "The Royal Academy, the Royal Conservatory of Music, Amber Heavy Industry...the reserve personnel in important institutions were all on the first batch of secret evacuation lists. They were secretly transferred to Birmingham before the war began. Those I sent all the young priests away, leaving only some old men like me."
At this point, he sighed, "There must be someone who stays and leads those who don't want to leave or can't leave to perform evening prayers, right? I inherited this church from the previous bishops and vowed to keep it alive for the rest of my life. Protect it, but now it seems that it may be difficult to fulfill this promise.”
"This is normal."
Stone yawned: "When the opponent is a natural disaster, the war always loses more than it wins. It doesn't matter if the church is destroyed. If you can't fight it, let future generations build a new one. My father is a stonemason. When he was very young, , he taught me one thing - if an old house is going to collapse, you can’t just think about repairing it.”
Mephisto was silent for a long time and said bluntly:
"There is something wrong with your father's education."
"Who says it isn't?"
Shi Dong shrugged, trembled, lifted up his pants, and looked back at him: "Have you finished peeing?"
"It'll take a while."
Mephistopheles said, "Don't look at me, I get nervous easily."
"Aren't you blind? How do you know I'm looking at you?"
"I know someone is looking at me. It has nothing to do with whether I am blind or not!"
"It would be great to have an artificial prostate just like me."
"Aging is also one of the joys of life." Mephistopheles curled his lips: "People like you who like to replace parts won't understand."
"... Let's stop talking about the old man's boring words."
Stone sighed and leaned against the wall of the toilet: "Don't act like you are old in front of me, little Mephisto, I was the one who took care of you back then."
Mephistopheles scratched his hair, a careless air suddenly appeared in his old look, and took out a pack of cigarettes from the inner pocket of his robe:
"Do you smoke?"
"Don't dare, it will damage the artificial lung."
Shi Dong shook his head: "But you actually smoke? This doesn't look like the saint you always carry."
"Come on, Teacher Stone, only the dead are saints."
Mephisto lit the cigarette, took a deep breath, exhaled, relaxed, and squeezed out two more drops: "I am so old, I will not molest little boys, embezzle public funds, keep lovers, abide by religious laws, and do whatever I want. I have been a virgin all my life... My life is so pure and sound that it is abnormal. For people like me, if I indulge occasionally, God will forgive me."
"…Who did you learn the teachings from back then?"
"Mr. Kattar."
"No wonder." Shi Dong shook his head: "He died the year before last."
"It's over a hundred years old. It's normal. How did you die?"
"He was whipped to death by his queen, in **."
“…”
"So, don't talk about following the teachings of a pervert."
Shi Dong glanced at him, "We don't have many common topics anymore. Let's talk about something we are both interested in, such as natural disasters, such as war..."
"What do you want to know?"
"Leviathan."
Shi Dong said: "How many of the three seals were erected at the beginning?"
Mephisto smoked a cigarette and remained silent.
In order to seal Leviathan, the three seals set by the emperors of Angolan were aimed at its three stages. The breaking of each seal means that Leviathan has entered a stronger level.
Leviathan's awakening of consciousness represents the breaking of the first seal.
Leviathan's body begins to resurrect, which means that the second seal has been opened.
And when the third seal is broken, Leviathan, one of the "Four Living Creatures", one of the "Four Living Creatures" at the top of the alien species, possessing both physical and mental natural disasters, will completely descend.
After a long time, Mephistopheles muttered:
"As far as I know, the second seal has been broken."
Shi Dong was silent for a long time, "I thought you were holding back your energy by not speaking for a long time. Just now I wanted to cheer you up."
"Shut up and don't interrupt."
Mephistopheles paused and his voice became lower: "I'm still brewing, it's almost over."
"It's better to say goodbye. It's so embarrassing to pee when you mention a natural disaster."
“…”
Mephisto fell silent.
For a long time, the pattering sound sounded faintly for a while, and then disappeared again.
Mephisto breathed a sigh of relief and buckled his belt, finally getting rid of the fatal embarrassment.
Aging is really terrible.
…
In the empty courtyard, two people were sitting on a bench, exchanging what had happened in the past few days.
Shi Dong pondered for a long time and scratched his bald head.
"How long are you going to keep this secret?"
He said: "We must let those people die and understand, right?"
"After all, it is a shameful thing." Mephistopheles also frowned. Halfway through, he lowered his voice and said, "Can you help me see if there is anyone around?"
"no one."
Shi Dong's face was expressionless: "Don't worry about smoking."
"I'm sorry, I finally got rid of this pot before Avalon was destroyed. I became a little lax after leaving office." Mephistopheles lit another one: "I'm under a lot of pressure. I'm old and my heart can't bear it. , let’s leave it to the young people.”
"Is that why you handed Westminster over to our Grand Inquisitor?"
"Yes, otherwise." Mephistopheles asked, "This is called accepting orders in times of crisis, a type of political wisdom... By the way, where did we just talk?"
Stone looked at him and said, "Shame on you."
"Yes, it's embarrassing."
Mephistopheles didn't seem to hear Stone's curse, and looked indifferent: "After all, it is a shame for the royal family."
"Anglo and Leviathan are old enemies, but hasn't the royal family ever explained it? There are so many countries on the sea, but why has Leviathan focused on only one country, Anglo, to cause trouble for so many years..."
"Explain? How to explain?"
Mephistopheles: "You can't say that this is all the sins of the ancestors, right? You see, in order to explain how wise and powerful King Arthur is, they even made up a fictional lake fairy."
"Who's paying attention to this? It's so stinky... Look at the script written by that third-rate writer."
Stone couldn't help but want to spit, "The wise and powerful King Arthur was loved by the fairy in the lake. The fairy gave him a sword, a kiss and a blessing, and he became the destined king. He conquered the seven seas and made Avalon his capital. , build a kingdom of heaven on earth, use it as a job, marry the Fairy of the Lake, become his queen, and let her give birth to his descendant of dragon blood. God knows where the dragon blood came from, before Arthur met the Fairy of the Lake , just a fisherman... From the beginning to the end, you have refused to admit that the so-called royal family is the real evil son of the sea. The so-called fairy in the lake, the so-called queen-is the Leviathan killed by King Arthur!"
"I can't admit it."
Mephisto shook his head: "How could you admit it?"
In silence, Stone leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and hummed the hallucinatory song:
"The king and his accomplices kidnapped the queen and imprisoned her in a dream... Now that we have power, where should we wander? Hoo, thousands of hands, hoist the sail high! Pull, thieves and beggars, we will gain eternal life …”
"Stop singing, I'm so scared."
Mephisto dropped the cigarette on the ground and crushed it.
"It's ridiculous, Mephistopheles, that a natural disaster would fall in love with a human."
Stone said lightly: "She loves Arthur so much, she loves a human being, and she doesn't hesitate to give him her own power, and she doesn't hesitate to fulfill any of his wishes... She uses the power of natural disasters to pay for Arthur's ambitions."
Mephistopheles shook his head regretfully, "Unfortunately, this interest is too high for Arthur's descendants."
"People have to pay their debts after all, Mephisto, Angelou should have gone bankrupt a long time ago."
Stone said coldly, "It's like what I said - the old house is going to collapse, so you can't just think about repairing it. Now I understand a little bit why Maxwell rebelled. Such a kingdom was built on mistakes from the beginning. on the basis of.”
"In fact, he was always the guy fixing the house."
Mephistopheles smiled bitterly: "Without him, I am afraid that the weakened royal family would not be able to survive now, even though it is still suffering from internal and external troubles."
"I've been wondering, is he the incarnation of some old ghost?"
"Probably not. With such ability, why would you hide behind the scenes? Besides, choosing such a person to be your chess piece is not that it is difficult to control, but it is too dangerous."
"Do you know what's going on?"
"You can almost say, you know nothing."
Mephistopheles shrugged, "He is a person who suddenly appeared in this city. He has no roots, no father and no mother, just like he jumped out of the stone split by the sword in the stone. At first, he When he first appeared, he was the personal secretary of the previous emperor. Later, he succeeded him as the dean of the Royal Academy of Music. Immediately afterwards, his power began to expand rapidly and out of control. In many cases, his acting style was also inconsistent. He was scrupulous and so presumptuous that no emperor would tolerate it, but he was still deeply trusted. He even appointed him to be in charge of the Sword in the Stone, put many powers in the country into his hands, and even allowed him to form a deformed spy like the Fifth Department. Institution. His ability can only be said to be vast. As long as he knows everything that happens in this city, for decades, the entire Avalon has been a toy spinning in his hands... "
"Royal blood?" Shi Dong asked.
"Impossible, there is no record, and no one can match him in these years. If he has royal blood, how can someone else take the chair?"
Mephistopheles sighed, "It's a pity that he is not the emperor."
"yes."
Shi Dong smiled and gloated, "Fortunately, he is not the emperor."
Mephistopheles was silent for a long time, and his expression became alert:
"What are you planning again?"