Deep Sea Embers

If Duncan hadn’t seen with his own eyes on how she smashed a room of cultists with a dog in hand, he would surely have bought that inoocent and harmless act.

He slowly squeezed over to Shirley’s side and used his own adult figure to loosen a corner for them both to talk. Sadly, this didn’t get repaid with a look of thanks, only further shaking and fear in that face.

“What are you so afraid of?” He asks while glancing down, “I’m not going to eat you alive.”

Shirley cried: “You… actually want to cook me first?”

Duncan: “…”

He could probably guess why the girl was so afraid; after all, Dog had seen through some of the “real him” under his human disguise. No doubt the other party had passed on the terrifying discovery to the girl and left a deep impression on the latter.

Duncan had no idea what sort of demon lord type of image he had in Shirley’s mind, likely the same type a boat captain would have when meeting the Vanished out at sea. Usually it’s about writing a will in haste to leave some last words for the family, but even that was a wishful desire because such a will would normally sink to the bottom of the sea.

“Is that dog with you now?” Duncan asks after recalling about the dark hound that should be somewhere.

“Ah… Dog usually hides in a place where others can’t see…” Shirley gulped and replied uncooperatively, then lowered her voice again, “But he does know about what’s happening here with me…”

“Oh, I’ll say hello then,” Duncan nodded, “I still had a lot of questions when you departed last time.”

As soon as these words came out, he felt Shirley shudder some more like a frightened rabbit…

“Relax,” Duncan sighed helplessly. He seemed to have vaguely sensed a stressed gaze coming his way from the girl’s shadow, “There’s no need to be so tense around me when talking. I have no ill will towards you and Dog.”

“That… That’s good to know…” Shirley nodded stiffly. Then as if to deliberately appear more relaxed, she tries to find a topic until her gaze falls on Duncan’s shoulder, “You… You didn’t bring your dove with you this time?”

“Pets are not allowed in the car,” Duncan said casually, “and I let him go hunting.”

“Let the dove out to… hunt?” Shirley looked at Duncan dumbfounded. Broken for words, the girl nodded vehemently, “Ah right, you’re absolutely right. The dove is quite suitable for hunting since her eyes can see so much while flying…”

Shirley’s train of thought had started to wander off in weird ways to the point where she didn’t even know what she was spouting anymore. Eventually, it was the conductor’s voice from the front of the carriage that interrupted the rambling: “Sixth block! Who is getting off the bus?”

When the conductor’s shout came, Shirley was obviously relieved as she jumped to her feet at the rescue. She shouted back to answer the conductor and squeezed forward while making sure to bid farewell to Duncan. “I’m getting off here. It was great seeing you again today…”

Then before she could finish speaking, the poor child saw Duncan also squeezing over with a face that was like a demon toying with a soul.

“I’m stopping here too,” Duncan said expressionlessly.

Shirley instantly took on a twitching expression on her face. Knowing that it would be inappropriate to say that she didn’t want to get out of the car now would be impossible. The big guy might be playing a prank on her, but she really didn’t want to test the theory.

The girl filled in the missing parts on her own and grew more fearful than ever. When the conductor started to urge them to get off after the delay, she actually shrunk her neck in and began to march towards the exit with a look of demise.

“Wait a minute, kid, did you buy a ticket?” The conductor suddenly asks out of the blue.

Shirley was stunned for a moment, looking at the conductor in the dark blue uniform with some disbelief. Clearly, the lass never expected someone to ask her for a fare, which didn’t go unnoticed by the conductor. “You didn’t buy a ticket, I remember now….”

“I know this child. She may have just lost the ticket,” Duncan’s voice suddenly came from the side, “I’ll buy one for her.”

The conductor turned her head to look at Duncan suspiciously, then back at Shirley with a skeptical face. In the end, she just nodded and accepted this arrangement since its none of her business to pry. “Okay then.”

Duncan took out a few coins to make up for Shirley before following the other party out of the carriage to an empty old station.

The entire bus was packed with passengers, yet only the two of them got off in the sixth block.

Duncan first scanned the surroundings, but what he saw was only the most ordinary scene of the downtown neighborhood. Although the surrounding buildings were older, and there were not many pedestrians on the pavement near the station, it was nevertheless not as completely dilapidated as he had imagined. The old frontage shops were also opening as one would expect normally, and the sparse pedestrians were also walking the streets with an infrequent vibe.

Overall, it’s a secluded, underdeveloped neighborhood, but nothing strange or out of the norm.

The factory leak accident that happened here eleven years ago seems to have left some residual effects. Still, the extent of the impact is not as serious as I thought…

After taking a general look around the surroundings, Duncan withdrew his gaze and shifted it to Shirley again. The girl didn’t try anything after leaving the car, only motionlessly standing there like a small trapped animal in a cage. Truly a person that’s given up on resisting and leaving it up to fate.

Duncan couldn’t help but want to chuckle when he saw the other party’s well-behaved and harmless appearance. If he hadn’t been baptized by the fighting heroism of this violent girl, he might really have been blinded by her harmless appearance.

He shook his head to dismiss the humorous thoughts: “So why are you visiting the sixth block?”

Shirley immediately straightened up: “I… I heard it has a great view!”

Duncan eyed the girl up and down: “I’ve wanted to ask since earlier. You’re… pretending to be well-behaved, right?”

“I… I’m not pretending!” Shirley stood even straighter than she had just now, “I’ve always been very well-behaved!”

Duncan shook his head, not wanting to point out how poorly the child’s acting was. Turning to look over at the distant street, he spoke in a seemingly casual tone: “Eleven years ago…. There was a factory leak here. They say that cultists were behind the accident.”

Shirley blinked with confusion: “Why did you suddenly mention this?”

“Enough. Why play the fool? You were inquiring about the event from eleven years ago during the gathering with those suntists.” Duncan shot a sideway glance to check her reaction before starting forward, “This is the place where the leak occurred, according to the official records anyways.”

Shirley was stunned for a moment, then quickly kept up with the man’s pace from the rear with those short little legs, “Are you also investigating the matter from eleven years ago?!”

It seems that after confirming the big guy really doesn’t eat people (at least not for the time being), and the two sides have the same purpose, she had also grown a little more bold.

“That’s right, I’m a little interested.” Duncan nods noncommittally to only stop a few steps later. Turning to look at Shirley with a curious light, “Do you often evade bus fairs?”

Shirley literally dropped her jaws: “I…”

Duncan knew what was going on as soon as he saw the girl’s expression. Shaking his head: “It’s not good to avoid paying your fares.”

Shirley almost cried when she heard this. She’s been lectured by Dog in the past, by the neighbor’s uncle and aunties, and even by the police of the city, yet she never would’ve imagined one day she would be lectured by an evil god-like entity about a bus fare! When did bigwigs of the shadows become so high and mighty this year?