Deep Sea Embers

The moment Duncan took out the sun amulet, there was silence for a few seconds - his words "one of my own" floated in the air calmly, and what he brought was a dozen pairs of eyes unexpectedly and cautiously interacting with each other. They looked at each other, and then the tall, thin man who looked like a small boss suddenly lowered his voice and said urgently: "Put it away quickly! Be careful that there are spies from the church nearby!"

Does this amulet really work? Is this thing so convincing among Sun cultists?

Duncan was happy in his heart, but on the surface he still maintained a mysterious posture with half of his face covered with an expressionless expression. He put away the amulet and said lightly: "If there is really an informant from the church around here, a large group of you gathered together will be better than me. The talisman is eye-catching.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a bearded man opposite him said subconsciously: "No, the best we can do if we get together is to attract the Sheriff and disturb the public order..."

"Shut up!" The tall and thin leader immediately stopped his men's nonsense, and then his eyes fell on Duncan, "This is a necessary caution - after all, this city is very unsafe now. You go Come here, don’t do anything unnecessary.”

Duncan walked calmly towards the opposite side, while the other party looked at him carefully up and down. After looking at him for a long time, the tall and thin man asked in a low voice: "Are you a believer living in this city?"

Duncan thought for a while and nodded: "Yes."

The original owner of the body did live in the city, and he lived in the city now, and he decided to tell the truth about the obvious.

His plan was very simple. He would find a way to fish in troubled waters and get in among these cultists, and then see if he could get any information. If he didn't want to be exposed, he would listen and ask more questions. If he was exposed, he would let Ai Yi transform and kill them all.

The tall and thin man did not notice any dangerous thoughts in the mind of the "fellow church member" in front of him, but then asked: "As far as I know, the Deep Sea Church attacked a few days ago..."

"At the gathering place in the sewers, a sun sacrifice was being held there. The ritual got out of control and we lost many people - but I escaped," Duncan said without any psychological burden, while paying attention to the reactions of the surrounding sun cultists. , he could feel that the tense atmosphere among these people had obviously relaxed, but only the tall and thin little leader in front of him still maintained caution, "There were three other people who escaped with me, but we got separated. , now I can’t contact the church at all - until I met you, the sun gave me guidance. "

The tall and thin man hummed noncommittally, and then his eyes fell on Duncan's shoulders: "What is this?"

"My pet," Duncan said casually, "can't you see? It's just an ordinary pigeon."

Ai shook his head in time and made a loud "coo" sound.

"This pigeon has such a loud voice..." The tall and thin man seemed to have finally relaxed his vigilance. Perhaps subconsciously, he felt that the guys in the church who abide by the rules and disciplines would not have the habit of running around in the city with a bird on their back. He nodded, " Come with me, it’s not safe to talk outside.”

Duncan felt relieved. He felt that the first step of fishing in troubled waters seemed to be successful.

He then followed the group of cultists and followed them deeper into the alley.

This alley was deeper than he imagined. It seemed to lead to the most forgotten and dark underbelly of this run-down city. A group of cultists led Duncan in many twists and turns, passing through an old pipeline system that continuously released steam. After passing the path with sewage flowing across it, we finally circled into a group of low and dilapidated buildings. The deeper we went, the darker and more dilapidated side of this prosperous steam city was revealed to Duncan. undoubtedly.

He originally thought that the place where he and Nina lived was already a lower-class community in the city, but now he suddenly realized that the original antique shop in a down-and-out place was actually a "respectable place" in the downtown area.

Most of the dilapidated houses on both sides of the road are lifeless and look like they have been abandoned for a while, but a numb or gloomy gaze can be felt in the shadows of a few houses, as if there are homeless people hiding in this area. In the forgotten city, the uninvited guests who broke into this place were watched indifferently.

But in the end, these sinister glances were quickly withdrawn - the dozen or so people brought by the tall and thin man were obviously enough to make the homeless people living here fearful.

"Have you seen it? This is the most prosperous city-state in the boundless sea, Purande," the man in black who first attracted Duncan's attention muttered, seemingly to himself or to Duncan, "Everywhere. The same is true for Lunsa, the same is true for Cold Harbor, and even the breeze port of the elves, which is known as the 'land of peace and justice'... They claim that the so-called 'sun' shines on the world fairly and brings light to all things. Order, but how much sunshine is there to talk about in these gutters?”

Duncan didn't respond, but just looked up. He saw steam and fuel pipelines extending from the uptown and industrial areas criss-crossing the buildings above him. The huge valves and rectifying structures were like many bizarre behemoths. Perched above the surrounding low and dilapidated buildings, sunlight shines through the gaps in these pipes, causing the sewage between the buildings to emit an unpleasant stench.

Most of the sewage is condensed from steam leaking from nearby pipes. As the city operates, this sewage is mixed with chemicals from factories and accumulates in the downtown area day after day.

Without having to live in this city for long, Duncan could roughly guess how this "urban abscess" appeared at a glance.

Duncan silently glanced at the aggrieved man in black, his expression still calm.

Whether they were bewitched by the children of the sun or forced by a bad life, these cultists did have their reasons for being born - but so what?

These cultists who thought they were forced by the city-state to live in the sewers eventually came to the lower city to capture the helpless poor people and sacrifice them as human beings - there were countless ragged people in the cave. People, but none of them are decent people from uptown.

As a "foreigner" who didn't know enough about the world, Duncan felt that he didn't need to comment too much on this city-state, but at least as a former sacrifice, he felt that these cultists were nothing.

In silence, he finally reached the stronghold of these cultists.

The base is located underground in an abandoned factory.

These cultists who crawl around in the sewers always seem to find a way to find suitable sewers and transform them into their gathering places. Or maybe this prosperous steam city already has countless sewers, which are suitable for breeding. Dark and blasphemous stuff.

A group of people crossed the half-collapsed wall outside the factory and opened the iron door leading to the underground structure. Duncan originally planned to observe the situation in the factory and satisfy his curiosity about the "Steam Age", but the result was that Not finding any chance, he was taken directly to a stairway that sloped underground and to the "secret base" of the cultists.

This may have once been a factory warehouse or a facility such as a machine room, but it has obviously been emptied out now. Only the remaining piping system on the roof and the gas on the walls that can no longer be lit are left in the huge space. Lamps - Dark spaces are dangerous. Even the cultists knew this, so they lit oil lamps fueled by whale oil everywhere underground. Under the light brought by a large number of oil lamps, Duncan saw that there were still A dozen cultists gathered here.

After the church severely damaged a sacrificial site, so many Sun believers still gathered together? Where did these cultists come from? Could it be that like mushroom moss, it grows on its own wherever there is a gutter?

Duncan looked at the people gathered in the spacious basement with some surprise, and the cultists also looked at him, a stranger who suddenly appeared, curiously and warily. Then the tall, thin man came over again, and a few times Two believers who looked quite strong and tall followed closely behind, standing around Duncan.

Duncan frowned: "Why, do you have to search again after you come in? I didn't know there was such a rule."

"If you are really the church's spy, a body search is of no use," the tall and thin man said, taking out a piece of cloth from his arms and handing it to Duncan, "Relax, it's just a more rigorous verification, it's just necessary. Caution - we have lost many compatriots over the years for various reasons. Take it and read it after me."

Duncan glanced at what the other person handed over and saw that it was a dirty strip of cloth, even like something torn from old clothes. There were dark brown stains on the surface, like dried blood.

Is this another prop for Sun believers to verify their compatriots?

Duncan was a little surprised, and sighed that these were indeed a group of professionals who were being hunted all day long. Although they didn't show much combat power, their skills in preventing external penetration and internal evil were really full.

Then he took what the other person handed him, and heard the tall and thin man begin to murmur some sentences in a low voice: "In the name of the sun, may the glory of the Lord shine..."

When Duncan heard it, he immediately felt that it sounded very familiar - he had just heard a cultist talk to him about this not long ago!

The cultist also gave him an amulet.

Duncan raised his finger calmly, and a cluster of green flames that no one noticed immediately seeped into the seemingly ordinary piece of cloth in his hand. Then he followed the example of the tall man in front of him with a straight face. The thin man recited the prayers.

The piece of cloth that seemed to be soaked in blood stayed in his hand, seemingly unresponsive.

The tall and thin man's eyes fell on the cloth. After a long time, he finally nodded slightly, stretched out his hand to take the cloth back from Duncan's hand and said with a smile: "Welcome back to the glory of the Lord, compatriots."