Deep Sea Embers

Walking on the road, Shirley seemed a little indignant: "Why didn't the old man answer my questions! He didn't seem to hear me when I talked to him. Is he so unappreciated just because he's short?!

"I think the main reason is not that he's short, but that you keep asking him about the factory," Duncan turned his head slightly to look at the girl, "and instead of wasting time on a local who doesn't want to cooperate, wouldn't it be better to go and see the factory with your own eyes?

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

In the lower city, many factories are located near residential areas, and even separated from residential areas by only a wall-the limited city-state land and the blockade of the endless sea have destined city planners to not be able to spare enough land to accommodate industrial facilities. The stable ground is almost crowded with people everywhere, so naturally there is no such concept as "industrial zone relocation" and "suburban resettlement".

Most people in this world have no time to consider the health risks brought by industrial pollution. For the public, compared with the risks brought by factories, the improvement of city-state safety brought by the development of modern technology is obviously more important-gas lamps, heavy firepower, steam networks, 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 recognize the fact that factories are the skeleton and flesh of modern civilization and can no longer be separated from the city-state.

In fact, according to the description in Nina's textbook, these factory facilities are not even concentrated in the lower city-although the city planners are trying 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 hinterland of the city, even next to the cathedral, such as the sacred bell tower, and the "central steam core" used to transport "sacred gas" to the whole city.

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

In Nina's engineering and mechanics textbooks, the compilers of the textbooks have a special explanation for this: People have to "endow the sacred steam with sanctity" and "rely on the power of the cathedral to ensure the timing of the bell tower" - machines are not just machines, they are also the sacred and pure heart that supports the operation of modern civilization. People have to place these pure steels where the gods are watching to prevent the shadows of the subspace from contaminating their oil and bolts. Duncan recalled what he saw in Nina's textbooks, and looked up at the factory that stood in the city and was still abandoned, 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 front of the factory. A thin and collapsed wall was the only boundary between the factory and the surrounding residential area. Between the factory area and the nearby residential area, there was a narrow circle of wasteland. There was no grass on the barren land. Only many scattered brick and stone fragments and scrap metal fragments that had been rusted for an unknown period of time could be seen. No matter how important the factory is to the city, no matter how people have adapted to the days of living with the factory day and night, the factory is still a factory. 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 valuable, 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 valuable," he stood at the edge of the wasteland, looking at the abandoned factory building in front of him, and said thoughtfully, "It's not reasonable to leave it abandoned here.

"Didn't the old man just say that? If the pollution is not cleaned up, Shirley didn't seem to think so much, "Some pollution can only wait for time to slowly subside. "

"Maybe Duncan shook his head, his eyes moved between a series of pipes and storage tanks at the edge of the factory area, trying to restore the "original appearance" of the accident that had broken out here. He saw several broken pipes and saw that the base of a storage tank had collapsed, and the entire tank body fell down and pressed on the nearby building ruins, looking like a huge behemoth corpse.

Judging from these scenes alone, it seems that there was a leakage accident here.

But Duncan still frowned slightly.

The old man basking in the sun said that there was pollution around the factory, and the pollution even caused no newborns in the entire Sixth Block in the past eleven years. However, there were no warning signs around the factory, nor were there any patrols or guards.

Things were not reasonable. Although there was nothing unusual, these unreasonable situations still made people wonder.

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

"Can't your dog give you some advice?" Duncan glanced at Shirley, "This place is deserted, and you can also let the Deep Hound come out to breathe, and I don't believe you are really afraid of the so-called "pollution" here.

The tension in your eyes is a bit too fake. '

Shirley dodged Duncan's gaze, and raised her hand while agreeing:

Okay, if the dog is not in a good condition

As soon as the girl finished speaking, the crackling sound of flames suddenly sounded out of thin air beside her. Immediately afterwards, a dark flame spread along her arms and half of her body - the flames condensed into a chain, and the end of the chain The figure of the Ghost Chaser Hound emerged from the thick smoke and black flames.

Duncan watched this process curiously. After Agou showed up, he smiled and nodded to the mysterious hound: "Long time no see, Agou - you ran very fast last time."

"I'm walking in a hurry, I'm walking in a hurry, don't be surprised," Agou clamped his tail as soon as he appeared. At this time, when he heard Duncan's voice, his whole body was visible to the naked eye, half an inch shorter. He - he was trying hard to shrink. He held his own limbs while carefully lowering his head.

"What are your orders? I'm good at a lot of things. I can pick up a plate, sweep the floor, coax a child, etc.

Before the deep hound finished speaking, Shirley next to him had already covered half of his face, as if "I'm already timid enough and yet you can reach new highs", while Duncan couldn't help laughing. He stood up and pointed to the factory in front of him: "I don't have any instructions.

Just borrow your eyes - can't you see some things that ordinary people can't see? Take a look at that factory and tell me, there is something wrong.

"Looking at what you said, you can still appreciate the look in my eyes! Agou immediately flattered me humbly, but while flattering, he still turned his head to look in the direction of the factory, still muttering," "I I was observing this factory just now and didn't see anything.

What? It looks the same now, 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, he suddenly shook his head and made a confused sound: Huh?"

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

"I don't know, for a moment just now, I seemed to see what seemed like a huge fire, rushing out of the factory like a huge wave, and it was gone in the blink of an eye.

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

Agou shook his huge skeletal head: "It's just a fleeting scene, maybe it's a hallucination. I'm a deep demon after all. It's normal to have hallucinations and mental disorders occasionally."

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

Halfway through Shirley's excited words, she suddenly felt a big hand pressing on her shoulder. Her words came to a halt. In the belated tension, she turned her head with a stiff neck, only to see the terrifying " Mr. Duncan" was looking at him quietly.

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

Shirley opened her mouth, "No."

"You're also looking for a fire eleven years ago, right?" Duncan didn't pay attention to the girl's attempt to change the subject. He had suddenly thought of something in Shirley's abnormal reaction just now, "A fire that didn't exist" In any official record, you

But you have experienced the fire yourself, right?"

Shirley's body was a little stiff and she swallowed slowly: "How could you

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