In a world filled with extraordinary sights, where land is surrounded by endless oceans and the guardians of the city are locked in endless battles with the unusual, how do ordinary people survive?
Duncan still didn't know much about this city, but at least from what he had seen, ordinary people here lived in a stable and orderly environment. They worked, learned, and rested. They ran shops and shared resources. On their days off, they went to the cinema and restaurants, visited parks and ports, explored museums, and chatted with neighbors after dinner. Their lives might not be exciting, but they were generally safe and steady.
The steam-powered buses stopped and started, sometimes at stations and sometimes on the roadside, with passengers getting on and off at any moment. The quiet driver occasionally exchanged a few words with the ticket seller, but mostly focused on driving. The young ticket seller would sometimes glance up at the bus roof, seemingly still worried about a pigeon.
Duncan sat in his seat, curiously observing everything around him and the lives of these ordinary people. It seemed that aside from needing to understand the extraordinary and strange things in the world and treating that knowledge as a kind of "safety rule," their lives weren’t too different from what he had seen back on Earth.
As the bus approached the intersection, it stopped again, this time at a station where many passengers boarded. Duncan curiously looked at the scenery at the station, taking in the distant chimneys and the tangled steam pipes above the buildings. Suddenly, he felt an unusual warmth rising near his chest.
That warmth came from the sun badge he had hidden close to him!
Duncan, who was admiring the view, paused for a moment and instinctively touched the spot where he kept the badge. In the next second, he felt not only that the badge was heating up but also vibrating slightly. He didn’t know what was happening, but it was clear that the badge was resonating with something nearby. Through the connection he had established with the badge, he sensed the source of this resonance, and his eyes locked onto a figure moving quickly through the crowd outside the bus window.
The figure was wearing a black coat and looked like an ordinary passerby, but the feeling from the sun badge unmistakably pointed towards that person!
Duncan immediately stood up from his seat and quickly walked toward the bus door. At the same moment, the pigeon, Ai Yi, received the signal and flapped its wings, flying down from the roof to land on his shoulder.
The ticket seller, standing near the door, looked at this scene in surprise and only muttered quietly after Duncan got off, “How is that pigeon trained…”
But soon, this little moment of daily life faded from the ticket seller's attention as she turned to the newly boarded passengers, saying, “Come here to buy tickets… The kid needs a ticket too; he looks over a meter tall… Four years old? No way, he looks older than that, over the line means full price!”
At this moment, Duncan had already stepped into the crowd, quickly making his way through the busy station and intersection, tracking the figure in the black coat.
The person in black was walking fast, and the dense afternoon crowd made it easy for him to avoid being seen. In just a few minutes, that figure had disappeared from Duncan's view.
However, the resonance from the sun badge remained, and the clear and strong sense from the badge continued to guide Duncan in the right direction.
Following the badge’s guidance, he kept tracking while thinking quickly. There was no doubt that the person in black was suspicious; the badge must have sensed something to react so suddenly… Perhaps it sensed a similar power coming from the “True Sun God.”
From the goat-headed figure, he had learned that this badge had the ability to identify fellow followers and guide them to the “blessings of the sun,” but normally only the followers of the Sun God could use these functions or perceive the badge's guidance.
Duncan had taken control of the badge using spirit fire, but at that time, he thought he had destroyed most of its abilities. Now it seemed… the badge’s identification ability was still intact!
Only now, that ability was being used for himself…
Guided by the badge, he gradually left the busy main road and, after some twists and turns, entered a quieter path.
He spotted the suspicious figure again—the person was quickly crossing the intersection ahead, seemingly unaware of the follower behind him.
Duncan felt the badge on his chest growing even warmer, and the resonance it sent out became clearer and stronger.
Silently, he activated the spirit fire, reading the information from the sun badge, and a flood of clear “perceptions” filled his mind.
The feeling was subtle—though the sun badge didn’t have the ability to think, Duncan felt as if it was excitedly conveying messages to him, telling him where other followers were, even though he didn’t believe in the Sun God.
He even wanted to remind the badge to tone it down a bit—after all, not long ago it was a sacred object of the Sun God, and now it was acting like a warm treasure guiding him around.
At the same time, he became more certain that he was getting closer to a secret meeting place where many followers of the Sun God gathered.
Just as he had predicted, more “Sun Heretics” were gathering in the dark corners of this city. The group that had been wiped out in the sewer was just a small part of these cultists, like cockroaches.
He didn’t know what these cultists were planning, but he knew they understood more about ancient history, the Sun faith, and the Era of Order than Nina’s teachers did.
To uncover deeper secrets of this world, he needed to connect with the forces of the extraordinary. It was difficult to approach the church or city authorities through normal means, but cultists were much easier to deal with—just blend in with them.
Or take them down.
As Duncan was thinking this, he suddenly stopped.
He had reached the end of a small path, and the sneaky figure in black had just slipped into a nearby intersection. The signal from the sun badge was clear and strong, and there were no passersby in sight.
Through the sun badge, he sensed more “fellow signals” approaching his location.
Duncan quietly pulled up the collar of his coat, covering half his face—almost as soon as he completed this action, he heard many footsteps appearing in the shadows of nearby buildings.
One after another, figures emerged.
There were about a dozen people, dressed like ordinary citizens—after all, no cultist would walk around in robes during the day in the city, just like a normal assassin wouldn’t wear a conspicuous white hooded cloak in a busy street.
Only the continuous warmth and clear signals from the sun badge assured him that these people emerging from the surroundings were all true followers of the Sun God.
Duncan raised his head and looked toward the end of the path, spotting the black-clad man he had been following among them. The man was watching him warily, and beside him, a tall, thin young man whispered something to his companions before looking up in Duncan's direction.
“This is private property; why are you sneaking in?” the tall, thin man said, trying to create an atmosphere of “we're just ordinary citizens, and you're the one acting suspiciously.” Since he didn’t know Duncan’s background, he didn’t act recklessly but also didn’t let his guard down.
Duncan thought to himself that he really wasn’t cut out for this tracking business, and he was curious about how these cultists would deal with him if he played dumb—would they pretend to be a group of dedicated criminals to scare him off, or would they earnestly continue their cult activities and tie him up for a feast for their Sun God?
“Didn’t you hear me?” The tall, thin man frowned and said impatiently. As he spoke, the figures around him subtly stepped forward, forming a vague encirclement. “I’m asking you a question…”
Duncan shrugged, casually pulling out the sun badge from his pocket, and said sincerely, “One of us.”
Let’s blend in first; maybe I can get some information.
If they don’t believe me, then we can fight.
(End of Chapter)