Chapter 121

Chapter 121: Miss Psychiatrist

At an emergency exit on the west side of the City Museum, Duncan led Nina and Shirley out. When fresh air and bright daylight hit them together, Shirley could not help being the first to cheer: “Yes! We got out!”

Duncan glanced at the girl, but before he could say anything, he suddenly felt the young lady on his back move a little. The fresh air and the jolting along the way had finally woken her up.

Duncan quickly found a spot nearby and let her down from his back.

Heidi slowly came to.

Pain. Her forehead hurt as if someone had hit it with a brick, and then came the discomfort in her lungs from breathing in some smoke. Those were Heidi’s first sensations as her consciousness returned. Then she suddenly opened her eyes and began to cough violently.

Only after the confusion and the harsh coughing did she suddenly realize she had been saved. She was somewhere outside the City Museum. Bright sunlight and fresh air surrounded her, and several figures stood in front of her.

Nina crouched down beside the young lady, looked at Heidi with concern as she opened her eyes and tried to get used to the light, and said: “You’re awake. How do you feel? Does anything hurt?”

Heidi’s eyes finally focused and adapted to the bright light outside. She quickly judged the situation and recognized the two young girls in front of her and said: “My head hurts… Did you save me? Ah, it’s you two…”

Shirley froze for a moment and blurted out: “You know us?”

Heidi shook her head as she sat up and looked around, coughing twice, and said: “I don’t. But I remember seeing you in the City Museum.”

Nina spoke quickly: “You were knocked out. Shirley and I dragged you to a safer place for the moment. Then my uncle rushed into the fire to save people and carried you out too. You’re safe now.”

Heidi’s gaze quickly fell on Duncan. She spoke while trying to stand up, as if wanting to bow in thanks: “Your uncle… ah, is it this mister? Thank you…” But before she could finish the motion, she almost fell again.

Duncan caught her and steadied her and said: “No need to be so polite.”

Heidi stood there weakly, bowing her head in gratitude and lingering fear, and said: “Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I would have burned to death in there for sure… This fire was terrifying… I’m so grateful. I really don’t know how I should…”

Duncan smiled at the lady and said: “You don’t need to be so formal. We actually have a bit of a connection… Do you know Mr. Morris M?”

Heidi froze for a moment and looked at Duncan in confusion and said: “That’s my father… You know him?”

Duncan pointed at the purple ‘crystal’ pendant on Heidi’s chest and said: “This pendant of yours is something you took from my shop.”

Heidi glanced down at the pendant on her chest, her expression going blank: “…Huh?!”

Duncan laughed and held out his hand and said: “Small world, isn’t it? Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Duncan Strayne. I run an antique shop in the Lower City. This is my niece, Nina, and this here is…”

Shirley jumped in at once, as if afraid that if she was a step late, her name would come out of some very terrifying being’s mouth and pick up the curse or something like that, and said: “I’m Shirley! You… you can just call me Shirley!”

Heidi took Duncan’s hand. Her head still felt a bit dizzy, but she did her best to pull herself together and said: “Heidi Underwood. I’m a psychiatrist.”

Duncan raised his eyebrows without thinking and asked: “A psychiatrist? You’re a psychiatrist?”

Heidi said with some pride: “Ah, yes. I may look a bit young… but I’m a psychiatrist with an Advanced License.” She then started patting herself down and finally dug out a wrinkled business card. She held the card out to Duncan with both hands and said: “This is my business card. If it can be of use, I’m always willing to provide free consultations for you…”

A psychiatrist from the Upper City with an Advanced License really might be a useful connection.

Duncan took the business card and glanced at it. It listed the address of a clinic in the Upper City, Heidi’s name, her license number, and a line of code made up of five numbers and letters.

Before that line of code, there was a note: “express dispatch code”.

Duncan’s gaze lingered on the “express dispatch code” for a moment. He remembered that it seemed to be part of Pland’s postal system, but not the same as ordinary letters. He vaguely recalled seeing special facilities for sending and receiving “express dispatches” somewhere in the Lower City, but the original Master of this body had never actually used them.

They were expensive. The postage cost almost ten times that of normal letters, and the original Master of this body had no relatives or friends worth spending that kind of money to contact in a hurry.

Duncan only roughly knew that this special kind of “mail” used High-Pressure Steam Conduits and Standard Capsule Pods for fast delivery. It could carry not only letters but also small parcels. Even counting the manual handling at the ends and any possible delivery delays, it took at most a few hours to send something to any corner of the city-state.

What could he say… He could only sigh that she really was a high-end psychiatrist from the Upper City, even using such expensive things just to take appointment requests…

After quietly sighing to himself, Duncan put the business card away carefully. Then he heard Heidi suddenly speak: “By the way, do you need… post-disaster mental evaluations?”

Duncan gave her a puzzled look, and the young Miss Psychiatrist quickly explained: “Of course it’s free—I don’t mean anything else by it. It’s just that after an accident, people’s minds are very easy to hurt. Especially in a place like the City Museum, where there are many exhibits with historical attributes. Heavy mental stress plus the influence of certain items… it’s easy to leave shadows on the mind.”

Heidi seemed to be choosing her words carefully. She wanted to share some very professional, high-level “knowledge” that was even a bit removed from ordinary life with the people in front of her, but she also worried that this kind of “popular science” might be insulting. So she tried her best to sound sincere and gentle. Duncan could see her effort, but what he was thinking about was something else—

He himself certainly did not need any mental evaluation. After being a “captain” for so long, he was well aware of how special he was. Forget some mental pressure from a fire like this—even if something crawled out of the Abyssal Deep Sea, to say hello to him, the one who would need a sanity check afterward would be the other side.

As for Shirley… a tough girl who could swing Abyssal demons around and fight cultists for three hundred rounds hardly needed a mental evaluation. The mental shock she got from this whole fire was probably smaller than the shadow left in her heart when she saw him kick the door open…

But Nina… Nina might really need a psychiatrist’s help.

It was not just because of today’s fire. It was more because of her poor mental state these days and those dreams that felt a lot like prophetic visions.

This needed a professional to handle. His own power was useless in this field. Before, he and Nina had discussed going to the Cathedral when they had a chance, but now that a high-level psychiatrist was willing to help… it would be a waste not to use it.

Duncan glanced at his “niece”, reached out to ruffle the girl’s hair, and said: “Nina might need help. But not just because of today’s fire—she’s been having strange dreams lately, and her mental state is very poor.”

Nina muttered at once: “I’m actually fine…”

Heidi smiled, pointed at herself, and said: “It’s free. My usual consultation fee is…” She accidentally poked the place where the brick had hit her and cried out: “Ow, ow, ow!”

A big lump had swollen up where the brick had hit her forehead, and it hurt whenever she touched it.

Shirley, who had been quiet for a long time, joined in the fun and said: “Exactly, it’s free. Don’t waste it. She still owes us a favor anyway…”

Nina hesitated for a moment and finally nodded slightly and said: “Then… alright.” But then she looked at Heidi in confusion. “What do you need for a mental evaluation? Can we do it here? Do I have to answer some questions? Or fill out forms?”

Heidi explained with a smile: “We at least need a quiet environment, and I need to be in better shape—at least until this big bump on my head goes down a bit. I’m a professional, not like those lousy doctors who write you a diagnosis report after asking a few random questions. How about this: tomorrow is a school rest day. If Miss Nina has time, I’ll visit you in the afternoon. I’ll ask my father for your address.”

She paused as she spoke and gently touched the wound on her forehead.

She said: “As for now, I need to find a place to treat this wound first… hiss…”

Duncan thought for a moment and said: “There are constables keeping order at the square, and there are medical staff there too. Do you need us to go with you? In your current state…”

Heidi waved her hand and said: “No need. I’m completely awake now.” She then looked back at the City Museum, which was still sending up faint smoke. A trace of lingering fear and undisguised regret came to her face. “Sigh… my rare day off… completely ruined.”

Duncan said casually: “Having a ruined day off really is a terrible thing. But the good thing is we just survived a disaster, right?”

Heidi spoke, then sighed again and muttered: “Alright… that’s true when you put it that way. Sigh, I just hope certain heretic elements and moving Calamities can behave themselves a bit. Then at least my next day off might come a little sooner… Ah, sorry, I shouldn’t complain about this in front of strangers. Please don’t mind me.”

Duncan said: “…?”