Chapter 112

Chapter 112: Run-Down District

Shirley followed carefully at Duncan’s side. The temporary quiet didn’t relax her; it only made her feel more of a suffocating fear frozen inside the silence. She knew the fear wasn’t entirely her own. Most of it came from “Dog”.

Dog was feeling afraid, and its emotions spread over to her through the shackles of the symbiotic pact.

To ease the pressure in that silence, she muttered under her breath: “I never used to get caught when I skipped fares… Dog always helped cover for me…”

“You mean that ‘disguise’ the Abyssal Hound gave you?” Duncan raised an eyebrow. He remembered that Shirley had slipped into a Cult den before by relying on some kind of disguise power from Dog, a sort of cognitive interference. But he soon shook his head: “It doesn’t feel reliable at all. Last time they saw through it, and this time even a ticket seller caught you.”

As soon as Shirley heard that, she swallowed a bellyful of complaints. Dog’s disguise hadn’t failed at all! They had only been exposed because some terrifying being’s gaze wiped it out. Was it really proper for a big shot like that to play this kind of joke on her…

But she didn’t dare say any of that out loud. After holding it in for a long time, it turned into a dry laugh: “Ah-haha… you’re right, you’re right…”

Duncan shook his head. He didn’t care what was going on in Shirley’s mind. He was only a bit curious about what this girl was investigating: “Why are you so focused on that ‘accident’ from eleven years ago?”

Shirley fell silent at once. She seemed to instinctively not want to answer that kind of question. But then she pressed her lips together, as if realizing that hiding something like this in front of a being almost like a Subspace Shadow was meaningless. She spoke in a low voice: “It’s nothing much. I just want to figure out… what really happened to my parents…”

After she said it, she hurried to add: “Someone like you must think this kind of thing is boring. I know, our mortal obsession with family must look…”

“No, I understand,” Duncan cut her off before the young lady could start rambling. He could guess well enough what he looked like in Shirley’s eyes, and anything she said next would be full of flattery and nonsense. “That really is a very important reason.”

As he spoke, he looked at Shirley. His gaze became more serious: “Were your parents caught up in that ‘leak’ eleven years ago? Or were they attacked by cultists?”

Shirley looked at Duncan in some surprise. She didn’t quite understand why this big shot, who clearly did not live or work like normal people, cared so much about such things. But she still nodded honestly: “They… disappeared eleven years ago. Fine, calling it ‘disappeared’ is a bit dramatic. They died. But they died without any clear cause… and after that, it was just me and Dog relying on each other…”

The girl’s voice grew a little low. These memories were not pleasant for her. Duncan did not let her go on: “How did you meet Dog? Those Suntists said you were a believer of the Cult of Annihilation, and that only Annihilation believers can summon Abyssal demons. But you don’t seem to accept that.”

“I don’t believe in any ‘cult’! The only damned one I believe in is myself!” Shirley blurted out. Then she quickly lowered her voice and tried to look well-mannered and polite. “Dog and I… met eleven years ago.”

Duncan suddenly stopped walking and fixed his eyes on Shirley: “Eleven years ago? So…”

“Right after that so-called ‘factory leak’,” Shirley also stopped and lowered her head as she explained. “I don’t remember the details. Dog says it doesn’t remember either… It was probably summoned by some Annihilation believer, but whoever summoned it must have been killed by a guardian of the Deep Sea Church. Then, for some reason, it just ended up ‘bound’ to me…”

Shirley hid a lot. In that vague and brief account, far too many details were skipped.

Duncan could feel the girl’s evasions and omissions, but he did not mind too much.

It was a very normal kind of self?protection. Even when facing an overwhelming being she could not resist, she still instinctively tried to avoid laying her entire past bare.

He could probably threaten Shirley into telling him more, but that might not bring out the whole truth. Besides, there was still not even basic trust between him and the girl, so this topic could end here for now.

Duncan shook his head and looked at the slightly run?down streets on both sides, and at the passersby who moved more slowly and lazily than people in other districts. He sighed softly: “…I hardly see any children. Everyone on the street is either old or middle?aged. There aren’t many young people either.”

“Old districts are all like this,” Shirley said, as if it was only natural. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about. “Anyone who can manage it moves to the Crossroad District. The ones who can’t move are either the elderly or people just muddling along. And a place like this could never have a neighborhood school, so of course children won’t stay. They all go off with the adults…”

Listening to Shirley’s serious-sounding analysis, Duncan only gave a noncommittal grunt.

He could imagine how old neighborhoods like this tended to age, but even so, the lifeless mood on these streets still felt a bit too strange.

While he was thinking, Duncan noticed an old man with graying hair sitting in front of a shop by the street. The man seemed to be basking in the sun, but when he noticed the unfamiliar faces on the road, he turned a somewhat dazed and puzzled gaze toward them.

Duncan led Shirley straight over.

“Good morning,” Duncan greeted the old man sitting in the doorway in the sun. “We’re from the Fourth District and wanted to ask… how do we get to the cathedral?”

He didn’t actually care where the cathedral was. He had just picked a random excuse to strike up a conversation with a local.

“The cathedral? The cathedral isn’t open these days. Who knows where that nun went off to,” the old man in the sun roused himself a little from his laziness and sat up, looking curiously at the strangers before him. “How strange. We hardly ever get outsiders who want to come here… What are you here for?”

“Visiting a friend,” Duncan said casually. “People usually don’t like coming here? Why?”

“All because of that damned factory,” the old man complained angrily. He clearly wasn’t happy with how desolate the district had become. “How many years has it been? The area around the factory is still a ruined wasteland where nothing grows. Everyone says the chemicals from that leak back then were never really cleaned up. People from the nearby districts even go the long way around when they pass by. Who would dare come close to this place…”

Duncan and Shirley exchanged a look. Then he asked: “I saw an old newspaper that said the area around the factory had already been cleaned up…”

“The newspapers… the newspapers talk about good news all the time! The paper also said the new governor would revive the western industrial zone!” The old man spat to the side. “And what happened? The West Side gets worse every day, and our old factory is still a pile of ruins. Let me tell you, when that factory was still running this place was great. Back then, the Sixth District was one of the richest neighborhoods in the whole Lower City. Now look at this mess…”

Once the old man started complaining, he went on and on. It was rare to have strangers around to listen, and the laziness he’d had while sunbathing vanished without a trace. Seeing this, Duncan quickly cut in: “By the way, I noticed there aren’t many children around here… and not many young people either. Did they all move away?”

“Move? Nobody moves from here. However shabby this place is, at least everyone still has their old houses. Do you think they can just afford the rent in other districts?” The old man shook his head. “There aren’t many young people because the young ones have grown old. As for children… tch…”

The old man suddenly let out a sigh.

“There hasn’t been a single child born here in eleven years!”

“No newborns in eleven years?!” Duncan finally widened his eyes a little. “Really?”

“Would I lie? I’ve lived here most of my life,” the old man said, rolling his eyes. “If you ask me, it’s all the factory’s fault… The land around it is tainted with corruption…”

Duncan said nothing. He slowly straightened up and looked toward the end of the district, toward the spot on the map where he had seen the ruined factory marked.

Beside him, Shirley was still chatting curiously with the old man. She asked about the factory, about the residents who had stayed in the Sixth District, and about how many people had moved away over the past eleven years.

However, the old man seemed to have lost his patience. He waved his hand irritably and muttered more complaints, brushing off most of Shirley’s questions.

“Let’s go,” Duncan suddenly said to Shirley, diverting her attention before the hot?tempered girl could flare up. Then he glanced at the old man, who had gone back to basking in the sun, and gave a slight nod. “Thank you.”

“Oh, you’re welcome,” the old man waved a hand. “Take care.”