Chapter 108: Chapter 112: The Ruined District
Sherry cautiously trailed alongside Duncan. The temporary quiet atmosphere not only failed to relax her, but rather intensified her sense of oppression and fear lingering in the silence—she knew that these fearful emotions were not entirely her own, they largely stemmed from “Adog.”
Adog was feeling scared, and its emotions spread to her through a symbiotic shackle.
To mitigate this oppressive feeling in the silence, she muttered softly, “Actually, I used to skip fares without getting caught… Adog helped me cover it up…”
“Are you referring to the ‘Disguise’ the Abyssal Hound did for you?” Duncan arched an eyebrow. He remembered that Sherry, using some sort of ‘disguise’ power from Adog, had infiltrated a cult’s den. That disguise seemed to be some type of cognitive confusion ability, but he quickly shook his head, “It feels utterly unreliable. It was seen through last time, and this time you were even caught by the ticket seller.”
Upon hearing that, Sherry instantly felt full of grudges—where was there ever a problem with Adog’s disguise! Wasn’t it because it was nullified by the gaze of some terrifying being that it was exposed? Was it appropriate for such an important figure to joke with her like this…
But she dared not voice these grievances, and after stifling them for a long while, they turned into a dry laugh, “Ah haha… You’re right, you’re right…”
Duncan shook his head, not caring what Sherry was thinking about, but rather curious about the girl’s investigation, “Why are you interested in that ‘accident’ from eleven years ago?”
Sherry suddenly fell silent. She instinctively didn’t want to respond to this question, but then she pressed her lips together, realizing that concealing this matter seemed pointless in front of an entity almost like a Subspace Shadow, and she spoke in a low voice, “It’s nothing much, just trying to figure out… my parents’ matter…”
After saying this, she quickly added, “Such matters must seem boring to an existence like you, I’m aware. Our human familial obsessions must look so trivial to you…”
“No, I understand,” Duncan interrupted her before she could continue rambling, as he could almost guess how Sherry viewed him. Her words, if spoken, would probably contain a lot of bluff, “That’s indeed a very important reason.”
He looked at Sherry with a more serious gaze, “Were your parents involved in that ‘leak’ incident eleven years ago? Or were they attacked by heretics?”
Sherry looked at Duncan with some surprise; she didn’t quite understand why such a significant figure would care so much about this matter. Still, she nodded honestly, “They… disappeared eleven years ago… Well, disappear sounds too dramatic, they died, but their deaths were sudden and unclear… and then Adog and I had to rely on each other…”
The girl’s voice grew lower, these memories clearly not pleasant for her. Duncan did not let her continue, “How did you meet Adog? Those Sun Cultists claim you are a believer of the Obliteration Sect and say only its believers can summon Profound Demons, but you seem to deny this claim.”
“I don’t believe in any ‘Sects’! I only fucking believe in myself!” Sherry exclaimed impulsively but then quickly quieted down, attempting to maintain a well-mannered and polite demeanor, “I met Adog… just eleven years ago.”
Duncan suddenly stopped walking, looking into Sherry’s eyes, “Eleven years ago? So…”
“Just after that so-called ‘factory leak’,” Sherry also stopped, bowing her head as she explained, “I don’t remember the details, and Adog says it doesn’t remember either… It might have been summoned by some Obliteration believer, but whoever summoned it must have been taken out by the guardians of the Deep Sea Church, and then it just inexplicably ended up bound to me…”
Sherry was concealing a lot, and many details were skipped over in her vague and brief account.
Duncan could sense the girl’s concealment and evasion but didn’t take it too seriously.
It was a very normal form of self-protection. Even in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful being, she was instinctively avoiding exposing all her secrets.
He could possibly use threats to force Sherry to reveal more, but that might not yield the whole truth. Moreover, there was a lack of fundamental trust between him and the girl at this moment, so it was appropriate to leave the topic there for now.
Duncan shook his head, looking at the somewhat dilapidated streets and the passersby who were noticeably more idle and slow-paced compared to other districts, he remarked with a hint of lamentation, “… You hardly see any kids around here. Everyone on the streets is either old or middle-aged, even young people are scarce.”
“That’s typical of old districts,” Sherry responded as if it were to be expected, seeming quite informed, “Those who can afford it have moved to the Cross District. Those who can’t move are either old or just idling through life. Plus, it’s not like you can find community schools in these kinds of districts, so naturally, children wouldn’t stay—they must have all followed the adults and left…”
Listening to Sherry’s serious analysis, Duncan just hummed noncommittally.
He could imagine the aging population trend of the old city district, but even so, the gloomy atmosphere on the street was a bit too concerning.
Lost in thought, Duncan’s gaze landed on an elderly man with white hair sitting in front of a street shop, seemingly basking in the sun but now giving the strangers a somewhat confused look.
Duncan, accompanied by Sherry, walked straight over.
“Good morning,” Duncan greeted the sun-basking senior, “We’re from the Fourth District and were wondering… how to get to the church?”
He didn’t actually care where the church was; he was just making small talk with the locals.
“The church? The church hasn’t been open for a while, heaven knows where that nun went,” the sunbather awakened a bit from his lethargy and curiously sized up the newcomers, “It’s really rare, we normally don’t have outsiders willing to come here… What are you here for?”
“Just visiting a friend,” Duncan replied casually, “Not many people willing to come? Why is that?”
“It’s that damn factory,” the old man complained bitterly, clearly dissatisfied with the state of abandonment in the district, “For so many years! The area around the factory is still a complete mess with not a blade of grass growing. Everyone says the chemicals leaked back then were never properly cleaned up. Even people from nearby districts detour around this place, who would dare come close…”
Duncan exchanged looks with Sherry, then spoke again, “I saw an old newspaper saying that the area around the factory had been cleaned up though…”
“What the newspapers say… Newspapers say lots of good things! They also said the new Governor would revitalize the West City Industrial Zone!” the old man spat to the side, “And what happened? West City is worse by the day, and our old factory here is still a ruin… Let me tell you, when that factory was still here, this was a good place, Cross District was among the richest stre…
The old man, once he started complaining, wouldn’t stop, grateful for the rare stranger listening to his grievances. This erased the earlier lethargy from sunbathing in an instant, and seeing this, Duncan quickly interrupted, “Right, I noticed there aren’t many children around… Not many young people either, did they all move away?”
“Move? No one’s moved from here; at least we have our old houses. Can’t easily afford the rent in other districts, can you?” the old man shook his head, “Not many young people because the young people have all aged, children… pff.”
The old man suddenly sighed.
“This place, hasn’t seen a child born in eleven years!”
“Eleven years with no newborns?!” Duncan finally widened his eyes slightly, “Really?”
“How could that be fake? I have lived here most of my life,” the old man rolled his eyes, “If you ask me, it’s all because of that factory… The land around the factory got contaminated…”
Duncan didn’t say a word, just slowly stood up straight, his gaze shifting towards the end of the street, looking at the location of the derelict factory he had found on the map earlier.
Sherry, by his side, was still curiously conversing with the old man, asking about the factory, asking about the residents who remained in the Cross District, asking how many people had moved from here over the past eleven years.
However, the old man seemed to have lost patience, waving his hands irritably, muttering some complaints, and mostly giving perfunctory responses to Sherry’s questions.
“Let’s go,” Duncan suddenly said to Sherry, shifting her attention before the irritable girl could erupt, then he looked back at the old man, who had resumed sunbathing, and nodded slightly, “Thank you.”
“Oh, you’re welcome,” the old man waved a hand, “Safe travels.”
(And it’s book recommendation time again, from Mr. Fox’s “The Abyss Express,” a lively underground (netherworld) adventure story—yes, I’ve recommended it before, and now I’m recommending it again!)