Deep Sea Embers

At the same time, the firefighters in the square also cooperated like well-trained warriors. They used their water cannons to open up a path among the inferno. This not only gave the first team room to charge in but also time for the second team of clerics to bless the much-needed equipment to bring inside.

As for the police force who remained at the edge of the perimeter, they’ve already begun to clear out the bystanders and contacted the closest chapels on the dire situation.

Well-trained and closely coordinated, this wasn’t something that could be gained by a few sessions in the training barracks, but rather through actual repeated combat experience.

That’s what it means to survive in this world of paranormal activities. Unless both citizens and government react quickly and decisively, the consequences wouldn’t be only a few deaths like that on earth but the death of an entire city-state.

Duncan saw it all from the rear, but he didn’t have much time to applaud their bravado and sacrifices. He’s too busy looking for Nina among the crowd of victims in the square, and sadly, he can’t find his niece.

Then he froze, turning to stare at the museum still burning in the distance with a somewhat familiar aura.

He tried walking towards the building, but as soon as he took two steps forward, a policeman stopped him: “Sir, there is danger ahead. Please leave it to the professionals.”

Duncan glanced at the policeman, nodded and turned away.

Getting mixed up with the officials at the scene would only waste time and delay the rescue efforts. So, he simply abandoned the main entrance and resumed somewhere in the shadows near the square. In the next second that he’s out of sight, Ai flies down and shoots right into a window that’s still burning ferociously.

Some people in the square saw this abnormal scene but only took it as the poor bird losing its senses due to all the smoke. It took no time for the bystanders to ignore this incident.

Inside the museum, smoke, fire, and heat waves hit Duncan instantly the second he stepped out of the green vortex.

He’s not afraid of these things, but he could feel the functions of his flesh and blood being affected by the high temperature. The soul may be fine, but it won’t be long before this body becomes unusable.

But he wasn’t acting recklessly, and he knew what to do long before he rushed in.

There are flames everywhere here, and flames… was a very obedient thing.

Duncan held his breath, then a little green flame quietly flowed under his feet to spread along the floor to make contact, just like how he subdued the flames during the assembly of suntists in the warehouse basement.

Even the scorching air began to change, no longer affecting the breathing of this body.

“Stand down,” he orders, forcing the burning red to extinguish behind him to reveal a corridor full of smoke and char.

Duncan glanced back and looked at the markers on the nearby wall, judging he had “landed” in an office on the edge of the main exhibition area.

As he walked and snuffed out any flame that crossed his path, the guy also made sure to concentrate on locating the girl. But to be honest, he was completely unsure of whether it would work in finding the other person.

Although his perception was now beyond ordinary means, and the goathead has also said that “the captain’s intuition is the most accurate pointer”, this high-end operation of sensing someone’s energy from far away was still unfamiliar territory.

He’s trying like this all for the reason of that vague split second of familiarity he felt at the square, which was the source of this idea to begin with.

Duncan walked through the halls, through the flames, and still couldn’t find Nina anywhere. However, he did sense something else….

“Huh?”

Duncan muttered suspiciously, his gaze turning in the direction of where the perception was coming from – not far ahead, on the floor below the stairs, there’s a stronger reaction.

The owner of the imprint was definitely bouncing around and alive!

Duncan only hesitated for a moment, then quickly ran in the direction of perception. He bolted down the stairs, snuffed out any flame that crossed his paths, and finally came closed enough distance to hear a faint yippity yappity voice through the mark.

“…… Hand? Eeee~ these are all minor injuries on my hands, it will be fine once I rest for a few days….”

“No worries, my muscles have always been quite good…”

“Don’t worry, the door is closed, and the smoke can’t come in for the time being… You are so clever, you actually know there’s a water room here… Huh, you read the exhibition map in advance? The professor mentioned it in class? Safety education… Uh…. I probably didn’t listen and dozed off, ahaha….”

“You said you saw a dog just now? Must be your mistake. Where would a dog come out from this place, ahaha…”

“…… What are we going to do with this one that fainted? You don’t know either? All right…… At least she’s alive… It’s okay, we will definitely be rescued…”

Duncan didn’t hear it wrong, that’s definitely Shirley’s voice, the same gothic little girl that he met at the sixth block this morning.

The familiar aura he felt in the square before seemed to be brought about by this mark – he did not actively contact this connection but passively perceived its existence due to the close proximity.

This “mark” was Duncan’s first active release, so there were still many characteristics that he was unfamiliar with, but for now, it seemed that the connection between the ghost fire was even better than he thought.

While feeling a little emotion in his heart, he also had a hint of doubt: Shirley was talking to another person, and it sounded like her friend… Who is she with?

……

The closed water room became a temporary refuge as the narrow and claustrophobic space blocked the approaching disaster outside by allowing the running water to overflow. Aside from that, there’s no light source, so Nina could only take comfort by huddling next to the water pool with her heart beating wildly!

Meanwhile, her new friend, a girl named Shirley, was checking the closure of doors and windows. This resulted in her hands being slightly burned by the heat, yet the girl behaved like there was nothing wrong. She continued to be busy throughout the venture.

As for the lady who was unconscious next to Nina, neither girls knew who she was. The poor person was walking near them when a falling brick fell atop her head, knocking the lady out cold, hence the reason they dragged the unconscious patient along.

Judging by the dress though, this lady was clearly not a poor person in the lower city like themselves but a decent lady living in the upper city… Unfortunately, in the face of calamity, there was no difference between decent people and the poor.

Suddenly, the sound of water in the sink subsided and gradually stopped.

“…… The main pump is down,” Nina, who had been listening to the sounds around her nervously said, “The fire is very big.”

The “new friend”, who was a head shorter than her, came over and crouched down to ask in a low, comforting voice: “You’re scared?”

“I’m afraid of fire…” Nina hugged her legs harder, feeling the voice tremble a little, “I’m especially afraid of fire.”

“…… Actually, I’m quite afraid too.” Shirley went silent for two seconds, “Alright, I’m actually most afraid of fires…”

“I can’t tell at all,” Nina shook her head, “You just went on a rampage.”

“It’s because I’m afraid that I went on a rampage.” Shirley squatted down with a big grin, “If I had stopped, I likely wouldn’t have the courage to get up again…. But now, both of us are stuck in here without anywhere to run. We will need to XXXX wait and be rescued at this rate…”

Nina grasped Shirley’s arm in the dark, and sure enough, the other party was also shaking.

“You cursed,” Nina muttered, “I thought… you are a very cultured and good student.”

“We’ve already come to this, don’t XXXX pretend you don’t know I’m like this.” Shirley said with a big smile on her blackened face, “And… oh forget it.”

She seemed to want to say something to Nina but swallowed it back down in the end. Then glancing at the doorway, “Quickly use your good brain to analyze this. How long can we stay here?”

Nina glanced up: “I… I don’t know, but as long as it can block the smoke, it is safe for the time being. This room is very strong, and at the corner of the stairs, it should not collapse for a while.”

Shirley snorted nonchalantly, then she hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking again: “By the way, if… if, I said there’s a way out of here, but it’s very scary, will you want to try it?”

“A way out?” Nina looked at her friend in confusion, “What way?”

“It’s just…” Shirley stood up but suddenly sat back down again, “Ah, forget it, let’s wait for a now. We still have time, there’s still time…”

Nina: “…?”