Chapter 113: Chapter 117: Museum
Getting off the car, Heidi stepped onto the stone square in front of the museum and couldn’t help but take a deep breath. The cool, slightly salty sea breeze blew, as if it also swept away the tiredness and anxiety accumulated after her continuous work, bringing her a sense of relief.
The young psychiatrist had not taken a vacation in almost a month, and recently she had been dealing with frenzied heretics almost daily. She even felt that the madness in the minds of these heretics was gradually infecting her own spirit, making her struggle with insomnia and vivid dreams every day.
Fortunately, today she did not have to think about those crazy cultists and their deformed minds.
Another gust of sea breeze came from the end of the street, lifting Heidi’s skirt. She raised her hand to hold down her long dress and the wide-brimmed hat on her head, and looked up at the large white building in front of her with streamlined domes and beautiful side buildings.
This Ocean Museum located in the Cross District was one of the largest—and most legendary—museums in the Plunder City-State.
Heidi stepped towards the museum while not far away, a guide was introducing the background of the museum to the tourists. The guide’s penetrating voice reached Heidi’s ears:
“…This large building, constructed in 1802, was originally the property of the Parl Brothers Overseas Shipping Company. In its heyday, it served as the largest storage center in Plunder, swallowing enormous wealth and was seen as a symbol of the zenith of Plunder’s commercial prosperity. But an upheaval in 1822 completely changed the fate of this building…”
Someone timely asked, “What happened then?”
“It is said—just said—that, at the time, one of the Parl Brothers’ ocean-going vessels encountered a strange dense fog on its return voyage. In the fog, the unfortunate ship came upon a blazing Ghost Ship and passed it by…
“The cargo ship eventually escaped the dense fog and even safely returned to the port, but the shadow of madness remained deeply in the hearts of all the crew members at the time, and quickly spread throughout the entire Parl Brothers’ fleet. In the following months, all the ships under the Parl Brothers began to encounter terrible disasters, with crew members rebelling, disappearing, or even conducting bloody sacrifices to please unknown deities…
“Sailing ships encountered storms on what should have been calm seas, or collided with icebergs in warm waters, rebellious sailors detonated explosives, damaged boilers, or even hunted their colleagues… Such bizarre disasters repeated one after another, ultimately completely ruining the Parl Brothers’ business, forcing their shipping company to file for bankruptcy reorganization at the end of that same year…
“After that, the Parl Brothers divided their remaining property and donated a part of it to the City-State authorities, including this building right here… It underwent numerous renovations and changed functions several times until 1855 when it was finally turned into an Ocean Museum and has continued to this day.
“It is said that even today, the shadows of nearly a century ago still linger in this Ocean Museum… The shadows of the Parl Brothers occasionally return to the museum, temporarily staying in their former offices, or employees wearing the shipping company’s uniforms appear in the exhibition area, confusedly asking visitors for the location of the offices…
“Of course, of course! These are all just rumors, and the museum has been inspected and blessed by church clergy, and there is a team of guards stationed here permanently, ensuring no transcendent disasters occur. Everyone can rest assured and visit—but if you are really interested in these thrilling and bizarre legends, you might also try the ‘Adventure Escape Room’ on the side of the museum, however, you’ll need to go to the square’s chapel for a temporary baptism and a willpower test before experiencing the room…”
The voices of the guides and tourists gradually faded away as Heidi walked past the crowd, yet suddenly felt her steps become heavy.
A century-old maritime trade warehouse, disastrous sea fog, cursed fleet, shadows lingering in the museum…
Having dealt daily with heretics and hearing various “rumors” through official channels recently, Heidi suddenly felt that choosing the museum as a vacation sightseeing spot might not be a good idea… She might even be better off visiting the Lower City District, or following her father’s coaxing to check out that quirky antique shop.
But after hesitating for less than two seconds, the young psychiatrist suddenly made up her mind and strode toward the main entrance of the museum.
Telling some perfectly thrilling stories when introducing attractions is a common tactic for guides, and over half the thrillers in the world involve elements like sea fog, ghost ships, and mutinous sailors. The museum has ghost stories, and the antique shop might have even scarier things than ghost stories—could she, a psychiatrist who deals with mental illnesses daily, be scared of this?
Nobody could stop her from enjoying the hard-earned vacation! Not even the Evil Gods of Subspace!
With a resolute determination and swift steps, Miss Psychiatrist, like a warrior ready to march into battle, marched past the ticket checkpoint, through the museum’s main gate, and into the nearly century-old historic building.
The visitors in the museum were fewer than expected, perhaps because it wasn’t a public holiday. The first floor’s hall even seemed a bit deserted.
A few museum guides were assisting some visitors who were having trouble finding their way to the main exhibition area. At the end of the first-floor hall, a giant whale skeleton and various exquisite ship models were mounted on the towering wall, and a person dressed as a captain was introducing knowledge about early sailing warships to a group of children.
Two girls, who looked about sixteen or seventeen and were probably still in school, were walking together towards the main exhibition area’s entrance, chatting and laughing along the way, seemingly in good relationship.
The lighting inside the venue was bright, creating a comfortable atmosphere.
Heidi breathed a sigh of relief and followed the two young girls towards the hall of the main exhibition area, ready to enjoy the quiet time.
Then, she smelled something strange.
It smelled… as if something was burning…
Near the Cross District, Duncan stepped out of a steam bus. He bought a leisure magazine from a nearby newsstand, planning to kill some time with it.
The investigation near the factory ruins hadn’t made much progress. After Sherry and A Dog had left, he’d wandered around the Sixth District for a long time and asked the locals for information. It was clear that as ordinary citizens, they could not peer behind the “curtain” to the truth. The residents of the Sixth District only remembered the snippets of official information disclosed, and everyone believed the decline of the district was due to chemical pollution left by the factories and the negligence of the City-State authorities—this matched exactly with what the sunbathing old man had revealed.
The truth was covered by a “curtain,” and the records in reality were manipulated. The intelligence disclosed by the City-State authorities was just the manipulated version, but Duncan couldn’t conclude just from this that the “curtain” was set by the Plunder City-State’s town hall or the church—because in this world where Transcendent phenomena existed, a powerful anomaly or abnormality could blind everyone’s eyes.
In the face of strong anomalies and abnormalities, even so-called “reality” was a canvas that could be smeared and altered.
Now, it seemed that the source of the “curtain” wasn’t in the factory, and might not even be in the Sixth District. If the so-called “source” was the Sun Shard, then it must be hidden even deeper.
Without more clues, the investigation could not proceed.
Duncan sat down on a bench by the road, casually reading the contents of his leisure magazine while pondering his next steps.
The Sun Cultists were searching for the Sun Shard, stirring unrest in the City-State; Nina’s memories and Dreamscape subtly pointed towards the Sun Shards—there was likely some connection between her and the shards; he himself had glimpsed the True Sun through the Sun Mask, that indescribably sinister entity had seen him and had even spoken to him, asking for help…
Unknowingly, he seemed to have entangled himself in a messy skein of threads.
Plunder City-State, his first touchpoint in this world’s civilized society, he thought it would be a peaceful, prosperous, and tranquil place, but the “first stop” turned out to be quite tumultuous.
Duncan sighed and shook his head slightly. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed an abnormal plume of smoke rising over a nearby district.
There were glimpses of flames amidst the smoke.
Duncan hesitated for a moment, then stood up from the bench. He noticed that many other people on the street also saw the smoke and flames; many pedestrians were stopping in their tracks, followed by a scene of people panicking and running across the street, and cries were heard shouting,
“The museum is on fire! The museum is on fire!!”