Deep Sea Embers

Walking on the road, Shirley looked a little resentful: "Why didn't that old man answer my question! He acted like he didn't hear me when I was talking to him... Is it so short that people don't take it seriously?!"

"I think the main reason is not that you are short, but that you have been chasing people to ask about the factory." Duncan slightly turned his head and glanced at the girl, "and instead of wasting time on a local who is unwilling to cooperate, go and see Wouldn't it be better to see that factory?"

Shirley pursed her lips and said nothing more, but in front of her and Duncan, at the end of the street, the factory that was abandoned eleven years ago was already faintly visible.

In the lower urban area, many factories are located near the residential areas, or even separated from the residential areas by a wall - the limited land of the city-state and the blockade of the boundless sea doomed the city planners to not have enough land to accommodate industrial facilities. Almost everywhere on the ground is crowded with people, so the concepts of "relocation from industrial areas" and "relocation to suburbs" naturally do not exist.

Most people in this world have no time to think about the health risks brought by industrial pollution. For the public, compared with the risks brought by factories, the improvement of city-state safety brought about by the development of modern technology is obviously more important——Gas Lamp , heavy firepower, steam network channels, potions and mechanical ships, these things have increased the population of the new city-state era by nearly three times compared with the old era. Anyone who understands the operation mechanism of modern city-states can clearly understand the fact that factories are The skeleton and flesh and blood of modern civilization have long been unable to be separated from the city-state.

In fact, according to Nina's textbook, these factories and facilities are not even gathered in the lower city - although the city planners are doing their best to move those facilities that are too dangerous to the edge of the city-state, some things still have to be set up in the city. The hinterland of the city is even set next to the cathedral, such as the sacred bell tower, and the "central steam core" used to deliver "sacred gas" to the whole city.

These things are essentially huge machines, containing terrifying energy and great risk, but they still have to be placed next to the heart of the city.

In Nina's engineering and mechanical textbooks, the author of the textbook has a special explanation for this:

People want to "give sanctity to the sacred steam" and "rely on the power of the cathedral to ensure the timing of the clock tower" - the machine is not just a machine, the machine is the holy and pure heart that supports the operation of modern civilization, people want Place these pure steels where the gods gaze, lest the shadows of the Warp contaminate their oil and bolts.

Duncan recalled what he saw in Nina's textbook, and then looked up at the still deserted factory standing in the urban area, with a strange sigh in his heart.

This weird and outrageous world... really provokes his three views at any time.

He and Shirley came to the factory. A thin wall with many collapses was the only boundary between the factory and the surrounding residential area. Between the factory area and the nearby residential area, there was another narrow circle Wasteland, there is no grass growing on the barren land, only scattered fragments of bricks and stones, and scrap metal fragments that have been rusted for an unknown period of time can be seen.

No matter how important factories are to cities, no matter how much people adapt to their day-to-day life with factories, factories are still factories, and when these behemoths get out of control, they will still leave huge scars in the city.

But in this city-state where every inch of land is expensive, a scar can be left for eleven years without being "repaired", which still makes Duncan a little strange.

"...the land in the city-state should be very precious," he said thoughtfully while standing on the edge of the wasteland, looking at the abandoned factory building in front of him, "it's not reasonable for this place to be so deserted."

"Didn't the old man just say that? The pollution can't be cleaned up..." Shirley didn't seem to think so much, "Some pollution can only wait for time for them to fade away."

"Maybe..." Duncan shook his head. His eyes moved between a series of pipelines and storage tanks on the edge of the factory area, trying to restore the "original appearance" of the accident that broke out here. He saw several sections of broken pipelines. It was also seen that the base of a storage tank had collapsed, and the entire tank fell down and was crushed in the ruins of nearby buildings, looking like the corpse of a huge giant beast.

Judging from these sights alone, it seems quite likely that there was a leak here.

But Duncan still frowned slightly.

The old man basking in the sun said that there is pollution around the factory. The pollution has even caused no newborns to be born in the entire Sixth Street District in the past eleven years. However, there are no warning signs around the factory. There are no patrolling or guarding personnel.

Things are unreasonable. Although it is not a big abnormality, these unreasonable situations still make people feel puzzled.

"Are we... really going in?" Shirley's voice sounded from the side, her face seemed a little nervous, "There may really be pollution here..."

"Can't your dog give you some advice?" Duncan glanced at Shirley, "This place is deserted, and you can let that deep hound come out to breathe, and I don't believe that you are really afraid of the so-called 'pollution here. ’—the tension in your eyes is a little too fake.”

Shirley dodged Duncan's sight, and agreed while raising her hand: "Okay, okay...The main reason is that Agou's condition is not very good..."

As soon as the girl finished speaking, the crackling of flames suddenly sounded out of nowhere beside her, and then, a black flame spread along her arms and half of her body——the flames condensed into chains, and the thick flames at the end of the chains In the smoke and black flames, the shadow of the deep hound emerged.

Duncan watched the process curiously, and smiled and nodded to the deep hound after Agou showed up: "Long time no see, Agou—you ran very fast last time."

"Go in a hurry, go in a hurry, don't be surprised," Agou clenched his tail as soon as he showed up. At this time, he heard Duncan's voice, and his whole body became half an inch shorter as he tried to shrink himself. He lowered his head cautiously on one side of his limbs, "What are your orders? I am good at a lot of things. I can do anything with a plate in my hand, sweeping the floor and coaxing a child..."

Before the deep hound finished speaking, Shirley next to her had already covered half of her face, as if "I've been cowardly enough this way, you can still make new heights", Duncan couldn't help laughing , raised his hand and pointed to the factory in front of him: "I don't have any orders, just borrow your eyes—can't you see things that ordinary people can't see? Take a look at that factory and tell me, what's wrong."

"Look at what you said, you can still see my eyes..." A Gou immediately flattered me modestly, but he turned his head to look in the direction of the factory while flattering, still muttering, " I was looking at this factory just now, and I didn't see anything... It's the same now, it's just abandoned..."

Agou's voice suddenly stopped, and then he suddenly lowered his body, and let out a threatening growl in his throat - but the next second, it suddenly shook his head again, and made a suspicious voice: "...huh ?”

Shirley was a little nervous when she saw this situation: "Agou, what did you see?!"

"I... I don't know, for a moment just now, I seemed to see... fire? It seemed to be a huge fire, rushing out of the factory like a huge wave, but... it disappeared in the blink of an eye... "

Agou's voice was full of doubts, but Shirley suddenly became excited: "Are you sure you saw the fire?! It's really a big fire!?"

A Gou shook his huge skeletal head: "It's just a flashing picture, maybe it's a hallucination, I'm a ghost demon, it's normal to have some hallucinations occasionally and get mentally disturbed..."

"But the big fire is different!" Shirley said urgently, "We have been searching for so long, and finally found the trace of the 'big fire', that's right, Agou, it must be here..."

In the middle of Xueli's excited words, she suddenly felt a big hand on her shoulder, and her words stopped abruptly. In the belated tension, she turned her head stiffly, but saw the terrible " Mr. Duncan" was watching himself quietly.

"Why did you react so strongly to the 'big fire'?" Duncan looked into Shirley's eyes and asked slowly.

"I..." Shirley opened her mouth, "It's nothing..."

"You're also looking for the 'a big fire' from eleven years ago, aren't you?" Duncan didn't care about the girl's attempt to change the subject. He had already suddenly thought of something from Shirley's abnormal reaction just now, "A big fire" Fires that exist in any official records, but you have experienced first-hand, right?"

Shirley's body was a little stiff, and she swallowed slowly: "You...how could you..."

"I was looking for it too," Duncan smiled, "It seems that I found the right place."