Before leaving the cave where he had been hiding, Duncan pulled some tattered cloth from a nearby corpse and wrapped it around himself. This wasn’t because he couldn’t stand the coldness of the cave, but rather to cover his open heart. Even though the gaping hole in his chest didn’t affect his “survival,” it felt strange for a normal person to walk around in such a chilling situation. At least covering himself with something brought a bit of comfort and reduced the eerie sensation of the cold air.
Duncan also thought about the possibility of running into other people while moving through this underground space. Logically, having a big hole in his chest wouldn’t be good for talking to strangers...
After hastily tending to his “wound,” Duncan carefully left the dark, damp cave and entered a passageway connected to it, slowly moving deeper inside.
This temporary body was not “convenient.” The serious injury in his chest made it hard to move quickly, and Duncan could feel how weak this body was. Its thin arms and legs couldn’t walk fast at all, especially compared to the strong body of the “ghost captain,” which was clearly beyond ordinary.
Duncan couldn’t see the full shape of his current body, but from what he could see, he guessed it belonged to a young boy, one who was weak from long-term malnutrition. Even though a powerful ghost captain’s soul was controlling this body, it seemed that the strength of the soul couldn’t overcome the physical limits of this frail body.
Unfortunately, he had no choice now. Duncan could only control this barely usable body and explore the dark passage ahead. He knew that in the state of this temporary body, he would be helpless in any crisis, so he could only pray that this shell would last a bit longer.
The passage was deep, damp, and dark, but there seemed to be hidden air vents, as a slight breeze flowed through. Every so often, he could see torches or oil lamps hanging on the walls, indicating that people had been active here.
After walking a long distance down the passage, Duncan suddenly found that the path ahead opened up. Signs of human construction began to appear in his view—he saw a fork in the passage, with smooth walls and a high, arched ceiling. The brick floor was dark and damp, and two drainage channels ran along the sides, filled with disgusting sewage.
On the walls, he could also see openings that looked like drainage pipes, with sewage flowing out of some of them and into the channels below, heading into the darkness.
“...The sewers?”
Duncan quickly realized that he was looking at a large sewer system, and the place where many corpses were hidden before seemed to be a natural cave connected to the sewers.
A massive sewer, a natural cave linked to it, and hidden bodies.
Duncan’s mind flooded with countless guesses, and while he was thinking, he carefully observed the details of the “sewer” in front of him.
It was large, well-built, with main support parts made of reinforced concrete. In necessary situations, it could even serve as some kind of underground shelter.
To build something of this scale, the city above the sewer must be quite large, and the technology involved must have reached a certain level.
Technology cannot exist in isolation; every engineering project is supported by countless related industries and technologies. Even a sewer can reveal valuable information about construction, planning, materials, maintenance, and the lifestyle of the residents.
This was enough for Duncan, who was severely lacking information, to gain some precious insights from the civilized world.
As he walked forward in the sewer, he suddenly stopped after a short distance, his gaze falling on a nearby wall.
There was a lamp embedded in the wall—a glass-covered light fixture, surrounded by what looked like a sturdy metal cage.
Compared to the torches and oil lamps in the cave, this lamp was obviously brighter. Inside the frosted glass was a steady, bright flame, casting light that illuminated a considerable distance in the sewer.
Duncan leaned in to observe closely. For him, anything from outside the Lost Ship, especially creations of modern civilization, was incredibly appealing.
After studying it for a while, Duncan finally figured out what this light source was—a gas lamp.
But this gas lamp seemed different from what he had seen in the materials before. Besides the difference in style, the most obvious feature was the delicate symbols he saw on the glass cover.
These symbols seemed to have been added when the lamp was made, twisting and turning in a way that resembled pictographs. Duncan didn’t recognize these symbols, but they reminded him of the mysterious runes he had seen on the mechanical ship and Alice’s “coffin.”
Though the content was different, they shared a similar... “aura.”
It felt like something sacred and ritualistic.
Duncan stepped back a bit and looked deeper into the sewer, noticing that every so often there was another brightly burning gas lamp on the wall.
As an underground facility that hardly anyone visited except for necessary maintenance, the lighting in the sewer seemed a bit excessive. Each gas lamp likely had similar mysterious “runes” on its cover.
This gave Duncan the feeling that these densely placed gas lamps were actually fighting against something in the dark underground that no one visited—they represented the “civilized world” of humanity, standing against something.
Duncan continued walking along the path lit by the gas lamps, keeping an eye out for any valuable clues on the walls, floor, and arch above. Suddenly, he caught something unusual out of the corner of his eye.
He stopped between two gas lamps, in a dimmer section of the sewer. Looking up at an angle, he saw something painted in dark red high on the wall, near the arch of the sewer.
Duncan squinted, trying to make out the rough lines that formed a picture—he saw pairs of hands reaching toward the sky, as if worshipping something. Above those hands, there was a glowing sphere radiating bright light.
Beneath this scene of worship, there was a line of crooked text, its strokes shaky, filled with intense fervor and anticipation. The letters weren’t any language from Earth, but Duncan understood them naturally—
“The false sun will eventually fall, the true sun god will rise again from blood and fire! All life returns to the sun, all order belongs to the sun!”
Duncan quietly stood in the sewer, gazing up at the dimmest area where the gas lamp’s light faded, staring at the dark red graffiti, and at the sun that seemed soaked in blood, shining brightly and being fervently worshipped.
It felt like he was staring into another world for a long time.
He kept watching until a sudden noise came from deep within the sewer, and he heard several footsteps approaching.
He quickly looked toward the source of the sound and saw several hooded figures walking toward him. Their faces were hidden in the shadows of their hoods, appearing like eerie ghosts in the filthy depths of the sewer.
Duncan didn’t hide—there was hardly anywhere to hide in this straight passage. His temporary body couldn’t pull off any fancy moves, so after thinking briefly, he simply stood boldly in the center of the sewer, calmly watching the suspicious hooded figures approaching from ahead.
Since this body couldn’t run away and was clearly a one-time use, he might as well gather some information before it was gone.
The next moment, the hooded figures coming from the depths of the sewer noticed Duncan’s presence.
(End of Chapter)