Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Public Visions

After lunch, Duncan watched Nina clear the table. He had wanted to help wash the dishes, but she firmly stopped him with the excuse: “Uncle, your health isn’t good. The doctor said you should stay away from cold water.” So he had no choice but to lean near the stairs, reading the morning paper while watching the girl bustle around in the kitchen.

This everyday scene, like something from an ordinary family’s home, made him feel a little strange inside.

Just then, Nina’s voice came from the kitchen: “Uncle Duncan, is there any news in the paper?”

Duncan lowered his head and glanced at the newspaper. First he saw the date: “New City-State Calendar, August 14, 1900.” Then his eyes fell on a story about a Church Inquisitor leading a team to arrest dozens of cultists. It was clearly the biggest front-page headline in the whole paper.

“It says here an Inquisitor led a team and caught dozens of Sun heretics,” he said casually. “It also says this is the largest heretic gathering the Church has broken up in the past four years. After that there are some reminders, telling citizens to stay safe at night and to watch for heretical beliefs around them.”

“Ah, I heard about that on my way here too!” Nina quickly put the clean dishes into the cupboard. “So scary. My teacher told us before that those cultists who worship the Sun even offer living people as sacrifices to the Sun god… Who would be so utterly insane as to believe in a cult like that?”

Duncan suddenly did not know what to say. Whatever he said, it felt too awkward. Should he mention that he had recently had an immersive experience with the full sacrificial-rite package on that altar? Or should he say, Your Uncle is exactly that kind of raving mad cultist?

But one thing was obvious. From Nina’s reaction, she clearly did not know that her “Uncle” was a Sun heretic. She even had normal values like an ordinary person. She thought those live sacrifices in the Sun faith were something terrifying.

In her eyes, her “Uncle” was only a man who had become irritable because of illness, drank too much, and had a few “strange friends”.

The body Duncan now occupied might indeed have belonged to a man with blood on his hands, but at least that man had raised Nina to this day. Until now, he had kept the girl outside the faith of the Sun god.

Maybe one day in the future, a cultist named “Ron” really would fall all the way, and drag his last living relative into that bottomless abyss. But at least before today, none of that had happened.

And it would not happen in the future either.

“Uncle? Why did you suddenly stop talking?” Nina turned curiously at the silence behind her, a look of concern in her eyes. “Are you feeling unwell again?”

“No, I just drifted off a little,” Duncan came back to himself and shook his head. “You’re right. That really is something only madmen would do… The paper also tells citizens to stay safe and report any heretical behavior in time. So for now, try not to wander anywhere except school and home.”

Nina nodded, then suddenly let out a small “ah”, looking a bit nervous and hesitant. “But… but I already made plans with a classmate. In a couple of days we’re going to visit the City Museum…”

“The City Museum?” Duncan asked offhandedly. “Which City Museum?”

“The one near the school, by the edge of the Upper City, the ocean City Museum,” Nina explained. “I heard they’re showing near-shore mineral specimens… Is it alright if I go?”

“If you want to go, then go,” Duncan thought for a moment, then nodded. “Right now the streets are full of Church guardians and city-state constable patrols. Those cultists probably won’t be bold enough to jump out in the next few days.”

Nina nodded happily. “Mm!”

“Do you still have to go to school this afternoon?” Duncan asked again.

“Mm. This afternoon is history class. I really don’t want to miss old Mr. Morris’s class,” Nina said, nodding. “He’s a very famous expert in the field of history… But it’s strange. Someone as famous as old Mr. Morris, why doesn’t he teach in an Upper City university? Why did he come to a public school in the Lower City instead? More than half of the classmates don’t even like history. They all sleep during his class…”

Duncan calmly shook his head. “How would I know?”

What a joke. Never mind that history teacher, old Mr. Morris. Duncan had only just met Nina herself. He would have to rummage through hours of memory just to remember where Nina’s public school was.

And even the original master of this body probably had not known much more about his niece’s situation. When Duncan took over his life, that man had already sunk too deep and for too long into the Sun heresy.

Nina still had class in the afternoon, so she did not stay long in the antique shop after lunch. She quickly tidied up, grabbed the textbook she had left at home, and then the girl jogged out of the house. From the antique shop to that public school in the Lower City, the trip took nearly an hour. If she did not waste even a minute, she might just avoid being late for old Mr. Morris’s class.

Of course, the city had public transport. Even in the relatively backward Lower City, steam-engine trams and trackless buses rumbled through the streets. But those needed tickets costing four to six peso.

Nina had smiled and told Duncan that running more was good for one’s health.

If she had a bicycle, her way to school would become much easier. Duncan had seen people riding such vehicles on the streets of the Lower City.

In a society that had already developed steam machinery, bicycles were not so expensive that ordinary people could never afford them. But for residents of the Lower City, they were still far from cheap. Even the most ordinary bicycle could cost a family of three half a month to a month of living expenses. It was a real burden.

Duncan did not know where the identity he now held would go in the future. But as he watched Nina jog away and disappear around the corner of the street, he still felt that, if he had the ability, he really should treat this young lady better.

If only for the vegetable soup and salty pancakes she had made before.

All the more so because she was a hardworking, eager student.

Maybe he should seriously think about ways to make money in these “Civilized City-States”.

With all kinds of thoughts turning in his mind, he put down the newspaper, slowly walked to the end of the second-floor corridor, opened the narrow window there, and stared blankly for a moment at the city street bathed in sunlight.

In this world, “Anomalies” and “Visions” had long gone hand in hand with the progress of civilization. Neither the authority nor the Church hid matters of the extraordinary from the public. Even a young lady like Nina, still in school, could learn about Anomalies and Visions directly from her textbooks.

She even knew the classification standards for Anomalies and Visions that the ancient kingdom of Critt had left behind, standards that were still in use. She also knew the public numbers and names of some Anomalies and Visions whose rules had already been partly understood.

Yes, this part of the knowledge was openly shared with the whole society, though not all of it.

The authority and the Church of every city-state recognized a common list. On that list, the most famous or most dangerous Anomalies and Visions each had their own special number. These numbers were not eternal. In special cases, some Anomalies and Visions might be destroyed or transformed for various reasons, and their numbers might be reassigned or left empty. But no matter how that changed, one thing was always certain:

Any Anomaly or Vision that had its own independent number and name was sure to have some special danger or power.

The authority had made part of the register of Anomalies and Visions public. On one hand, this was to make sure every citizen could know about these particular dangers and have basic self-protection. On the other hand, it was because some Anomalies and Visions were simply too close to everyone’s daily life.

These things had already seeped into every corner of ordinary life and into every part of society’s operations. People could see them at any time. There was no way to hide them, and no need to hide them.

Duncan lifted his head and silently turned his gaze to the sky.

Vision 001, the Sun.

The huge glowing orb that ran across the sky, the great Vision that had ruled the heavens in the Deep Sea Era, had been born on the morning of the second day after the ancient kingdom of Critt collapsed.

Range of influence: the whole world. Scope of influence: limitless. It moved and operated on its own, and no human power could interfere with it. It fit the definition of a Vision.

History records said that on the day the ancient kingdom collapsed, the sea raged and the city-states shattered. The entire first royal dynasty went bravely to their deaths in the darkness, their blood soaking the sea. Then Vision 001 rose from the ocean. From that moment on, the Boundless Sea finally had peaceful daylight.

The ancient kingdom of Critt was the first city-state civilization built by survivors after the Deep Sea Era began. It lasted only one short century, yet left countless legacies that still blessed the world today.

The word “Critt” in the ancient tongue meant “Eternal Night”.

That had been a veil of night lasting a full century.

All of this was written in Nina’s history textbook.