Duncan couldn’t dig up any more memories from his mind. Although the original owner of this body had cared about Nina, and things related to her were some of his deepest memories, years of illness, heavy drinking, and drug abuse had severely damaged those memories. By the time the cultist named Ron took his last breath, there was hardly any warmth left in his numb mind regarding family.
One thing was certain: eleven years ago, there had indeed been a big fire in the lower district. That fire took the lives of Nina’s biological parents and permanently changed the child's life path.
This might be a coincidence, but there was also a possibility that this incident was truly related to the “sun fragments” that these sun cultists were searching for.
The unexpected appearance of the sun fragments caused a fire in the city, innocent citizens lost their lives, and a child became an orphan in that fire. Years later, that child’s only remaining relative had fallen into becoming one of the cultists chasing after the sun fragments...
It felt like there was a twisted fate at play, revolving around the sun, as if caught in a gravitational pull.
At that moment, someone among the cultists suddenly spoke up, interrupting Duncan’s thoughts: “I’ve been asking around the local residents these days, and I haven’t heard of any famous fire in the lower district eleven years ago... But someone did mention that there was a factory leak back then, and the toxic gas spread for several blocks, causing many people to hallucinate and even go mad. This incident was reported in the newspapers.”
Duncan looked up in surprise and saw that the speaker was an ordinary-looking female cultist.
Before he could think deeply about what she said, he noticed the cult leader’s gaze turning toward him: “Comrade, you are a local here. Do you know anything about this?”
Duncan was taken aback, suddenly realizing he had become the center of attention— for these out-of-town cultists, he was a great source of information as a “local living in the lower district of Prand.”
Noticing several gazes on him, he thought for a moment and came up with a reply: “I didn’t live here eleven years ago, so I’m not clear on the specifics, but I have indeed heard about the factory leak…”
While saying this, he looked at the female cultist who had spoken earlier: “Wasn’t there a big fire in the lower district eleven years ago?”
“At least from what I’ve gathered, that’s not the case,” the cultist nodded, “According to what I’ve heard, there hasn’t been a significant fire in the lower district of Prand for at least twenty years... There have been small fires, like kitchen fires, but those obviously don’t count.”
Duncan blinked, saying nothing.
He clearly remembered that Nina’s parents died in the big fire eleven years ago! He even had fragments of memories of “himself” running out of the fire with Nina!
Where did things go wrong? Did the memories get mixed up when this body inherited them? Or was the big fire not in the lower district? Or… was it simply because this cultist hadn’t been able to find the real situation…
A hint of doubt arose in his heart. Since this matter involved Nina and “himself,” he instinctively paid attention to it. Just then, he heard another voice from across the way, belonging to a girl named Shirley: “Was the factory leak incident eleven years ago the one that happened in the sixth district?”
“The sixth district? Hmm… that seems right,” the female cultist nodded, “I heard it had a big impact because the chemicals left many people with aftereffects. Many residents in the lower district still remember it today.”
Several cultists nearby nodded in agreement, indicating they had heard similar things.
“The factory leak…” The leader in the center of the gathering suddenly broke the silence, his deep and commanding voice cutting through the chatter among the cultists, “The publicized production accident is very likely a supernatural event disguised by the authorities, and it just so happens to be around this eleven-year mark… This is a very important clue. Next, we will investigate this direction to see if this so-called factory leak points to the sacred sun fragments.”
The cultists immediately nodded in response. Then, the masked leader continued, “Moreover, we must not only pay attention to the extraordinary events that happened in the lower district eleven years ago but also to any unusual happenings in the Prand city-state recently.
“Although the sun fragments are still asleep, the day of their awakening is approaching, and their activity is increasing every day. Four years ago, our church tried to awaken the fragment ahead of time. Although that attempt failed, and the deep-sea church brutally attacked us because of the failed ritual, that attempt was not entirely without effect—the awakening ritual’s stimulation deepened the connection between the sun fragments and the real world, enough for it to possess the power to interfere with reality for a short while before fully awakening. This may help us find it.
“Keep an eye on the newspapers and rumors in the city-state. Any unusual events could point to the sun fragments. Don’t miss any clues, understand?”
The cultists lowered their heads, respectfully accepting the orders. Duncan then noticed another key point mentioned by the leader:
Four years ago!
Four years ago, the deep-sea church had indeed destroyed the largest sun heretic stronghold in the city. It was said that the event was quite grand, and it was also the battle that established the current city-state judge, Vanna. After that, the sun cultists in the city fell into a slump, lasting until today.
All Duncan had known were these surface-level details, but now it seemed the truth of the matter was that the sun cultists at that time wanted to awaken the sun fragments sleeping somewhere ahead of time?!
Unknowingly, a series of hidden truths from the past revealed themselves to Duncan. He quickly pieced together the known fragments of information in his mind while thinking about how to get more information from these cultists. But just then, a strange smell suddenly reached his nose.
It smelled like sulfur burning, mixed with some kind of chemical agent that was sour and pungent.
In the next second, the ordinary cultists around him also caught the strong and obvious smell. Some looked at each other, seemingly searching for the source of the odor. The leader standing in the center of the gathering quickly reacted. He pulled out a sun-shaped talisman from his pocket—this talisman looked exactly like the sun talisman Duncan carried, and its surface was burning with a translucent flame!
The pungent smell was coming from that flame.
“Dirty impurities… the flame has been deceived!” The leader glanced at the burning sun talisman, his voice filled with anger and shock, “There’s a heretic among us!”
The scene erupted in chaos. Duncan’s first reaction was that he had been exposed. Although he didn’t know how he had been discovered, it seemed that the sun talisman the leader carried had finally recognized him as a “heretic” who didn’t believe in the sun at all.
Realizing this, he sighed slightly and prepared to release a pigeon. But before he could act, he heard another sigh from across the way—
The sigh came from the girl in the black dress, named Shirley. She shook her head regretfully: “I knew that Dog wasn’t reliable; the disguise wouldn’t last three hours.”
Before she finished speaking, a ball of black flames suddenly erupted beside her!
The flames appeared out of nowhere, taking the shape of fire but as black as a shadow. They ignited on the girl’s arm and spread to nearly a third of her body in just one second. The next moment, Shirley’s right side seemed to turn into fuel for the black fire. As it crackled, the flames flowed down, and the part suspended in the air transformed into a black chain, while the part that fell to the ground quickly condensed into a skeletal, burning monster!
It was a black demonic dog, towering over half a person’s height. Its body seemed to be made of countless twisted and stacked bones, where flesh should have been filled with burning black fire and writhing shadows. Its head was jagged and fierce, and where its eyes should have been was a hollow void filled with a blood-red mist, radiating endless hunger and malice!
A black chain extended from the neck of this giant dog, reaching all the way to Shirley’s arm, almost merging with her body.
“Deep Hound… Summoner of the Annihilation Sect?!” The leader in the center of the gathering was both shocked and furious at this sight, “What does this mean?! Are you worshipers of the deep planning to go to war with the followers of the sun?!”
(End of Chapter)