Chapter 77: Chapter 81: Memory Bias
A scholar who for some unknown reason ended up teaching history at a “public school,” a teacher who was well-versed in ancient history and seemed to have a good relationship with Nina, his arrival was an unexpected situation for Duncan—but also an opportunity.
Mr. Morris’s expertise in his professional field would inevitably help Duncan solve many problems, and establishing a good relationship with such a professional might bring unexpected conveniences in the future— a reputable old scholar inevitably had certain connections in the City-State.
Nina didn’t know why her Uncle Duncan had suddenly agreed to a home visit, nor did she think much about it, feeling unusually happy.
This illusion even made her feel as if her life was really changing for the better, gradually… returning to the past.
Outside, the night grew deeper as the pale, cold light of the Creation of the World illuminated the windowsill of the second floor of the antique shop, and the quiet night gradually fell over the entire city.
In this world filled with bizarre things, most people had little to speak of in terms of nightlife.
“It’s time to eat,” Duncan called to his “niece,” who was lost in thought by the window. He brought the stewed fish soup to the table, along with the bread Nina had bought in the afternoon and the onion rings he had just casually fried. In his view, this dinner was not sumptuous, but considering the “fish’s” uniqueness, this meal could be considered a feast in the Lower City District, “We have to get up early for school tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay, Uncle Duncan.”
Nina agreed obediently and came to the table, the aroma of the fish soup already wafting through the air. She sniffed in surprise and looked at Duncan somewhat incredulously. “It smells delicious… Uncle, when did your cooking skills get so good?”
“Is this considered good cooking?” Duncan couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that his cooking skills were only slightly better than Alice’s, and yet there were times when he was complimented for being good at it. “Was my cooking really that bad before?”
“It was worse than ‘bad’ before. You used to cook by the standard of ‘edible but not enjoyable,’ and despite your terrible skills, you always ambitiously experimented with new dishes, dragging me along to ‘test for poison’ with you…” Nina babbled nonstop, reminiscing about the past with an almost animated joy, “There was one time what you made was so inedible that even you couldn’t eat it. You had to throw it in the trash and then dragged me to the family restaurant across the street for lunch. When we came back, we saw the neighbor’s dog vomiting in front of the trash bin by our door, and ever since then, dogs have avoided you…”
While talking, Nina’s voice suddenly dropped again.
“Forget it, those incidents were years ago, and you’ve never liked me bringing them up…”
Duncan remained silent.
In the memories retained by this body, there was no trace of what Nina was recalling—these were almost the only fond memories she had of her time with her uncle, yet they had vanished completely with the last breath of a man gone astray.
Nina silently broke the hard bread, soaking it bit by bit in the flavorful soup.
Duncan suddenly reached out and tousled the child’s hair.
Nina looked up in surprise, “Uncle?”
“Uncle’s new dish research is a success,” Duncan said seriously.
Nina stared blankly at Duncan, her expression changing several times, numerous thoughts swirling in her mind. Finally, all her expressions turned into an irrepressible smile, “Uncle, your serious look is so funny!”
“Don’t make fun of adults,” Duncan glanced at her, then seemed to suddenly remember something and casually mentioned, “By the way, I’m planning to clean up the shop a bit lately. If you see any weird and unfamiliar things on the first floor, don’t mess with them.”
He was preparing for the upcoming inter-location commuting and the turnover of “materials”.
As Ai Yi’s abilities were developed, he would inevitably have to frequently transport goods between Homeloss and the antique shop—a situation difficult to completely hide from Nina’s eyes—so it was better to give her a heads-up.
Nina didn’t suspect a thing and quickly nodded. Duncan then continued, “Also, I’m thinking about adding a person to help in the shop, so if I’m out during the day, someone can stay behind to watch over things—of course, this is just a preliminary plan, it might not happen, just letting you know in advance in case you suddenly see a stranger in the shop and find it strange.”
This time, he was setting the stage for Alice’s arrival—though it was just a precursor.
To have Miss Doll enter the City-State required much consideration, and transporting her was merely the least noticeable part of it; he had to figure out how to prevent Alice’s “doll” truth from being discovered—Alice’s appearance was almost indistinguishable from a real person’s; covering her joints with long gloves would solve most issues, at most wearing a veil to hide her face, which was even more refined than that of a real person’s. These were minor issues. The real problem… was her head.
He was bringing Alice over to help him, and it wouldn’t do for her to always be performing acts of scurrying about in cowardice in public.
Nina looked at Duncan in surprise, “Uncle, are you actually hiring for the shop too? This is a big deal… Do you have someone in mind? What kind of person is it?”
Duncan thought for a while, trying to filter out a string of not-so-positive adjectives from his mind, before sternly saying, “There’s an initial target, a… hardworking young lady.”
He thought carefully, it seemed that “hardworking” was the only complimentary term left to describe Alice.
Then he saw a subtle change in Nina’s expression.
The girl looked her uncle up and down several times, finally unable to resist, “A young lady? Uncle, are you…”
Duncan was experienced, and seeing Nina’s demeanor, he immediately knew what she was thinking, promptly tapping his finger on the table, “Eat your food! Stop letting your mind wander!”
Nina tried to stifle her laughter, emitting a “huffing” sound as she continued to eat. After trying a piece of fish, her eyes widened in surprise, “This is delicious!”
Duncan laughed, casually tearing some bread to throw to the pigeons pacing around nearby as he spoke, “Then eat more; there’s still some in the kitchen.”
On the quaint second floor of the antique shop, Nina and her uncle Duncan concluded their simple yet long-overdue dinner.
After everything was cleared up post-dinner, Duncan stopped Nina as she was about to head back to her room to rest.
He had something he wanted to confirm.
“Nina,” he looked at the girl who had just finished tidying the dishes and came out of the kitchen, “I have something I want to ask you.”
“Ah?” Nina was curious, “What is it?”
“Do you still remember… what happened when you were little?” Duncan considered his approach while recalling the information he had heard at that Heretics’ gathering, “It was when you were six years old.”
Nina frowned, not knowing why her uncle would suddenly bring up something from eleven years ago, but she still pondered along.
It had been eleven years since that event, and she was only six years old then, so her recollections weren’t particularly emotive.
“I was very young then and don’t remember much, but I remember that day was chaotic… with adults everywhere in disarray. Some said there was a factory leak near Cross District, others said there was a mass frenzy on Lower Third Street, and even incidents occurred in the Upper City District… Many things I had no memory of at that time; it was only later when hearing adults talk that I began to piece things together…”
Duncan thought for a moment, looking into Nina’s eyes, “Do you remember there being a big fire? I led you away from the fire scene, and your parents… it was in that fire that they…”
He was merely testing the waters with his mention, but unexpectedly, Nina’s eyes suddenly widened, “A big fire? Uncle, so you also remember there was a fire that day?!”
“… Of course, I remember,” noticing Nina’s reaction, Duncan realized there was definitely something amiss about the incident, “Is there something wrong with my memory of the fire?”
“I remember there was a fire, a very big fire,” Nina said excitedly, talking rapidly, “But later when I told the adults around me, no one remembered the incident; they all said I had just been scared senseless, and that there was no fire… I even went looking for the newspapers from that time as I got older…”
She paused, her expression turning peculiar as she slowly shook her head, “But even the newspapers didn’t mention any fire… All the records only mentioned a factory leak, with chemical substances causing widespread hallucinations…”