Deep Sea Embers

After getting off the car and stepping onto the stone plaza in front of the museum, Heidi couldn't help but take a deep breath, the cool and slightly salty sea breeze blowing away the exhaustion and anxiety accumulated after working continuously for a long time , bringing her a little relief.

This young psychiatrist hasn't had a vacation for almost a month, and has been dealing with manic and crazy cultists almost every day recently. She even feels that the madness in the minds of those cultists has gradually infected her spirit. Let yourself fight against insomnia and dreaminess every day recently.

Fortunately, today she finally doesn't have to think about those crazy believers and their deformed hearts.

Another gust of sea breeze blew from the end of the street, blowing Heidi's skirt. She raised her hand to hold the long skirt and the wide-brimmed hat on her head, and looked up at the streamlined dome and beautiful side building in front of her. large white building.

The Maritime Museum in the Cross Streets is one of the largest museums in the city-state of Plante - and one of the most legendary.

Heidi walked towards the museum, and among the crowd not far away, a tour guide was introducing the background of the museum to the tourists, and the tour guide's penetrating voice reached Heidi's ears:

"...this large building built in 1802 was originally the property of the Parr Brothers Ocean Trading Company. It was a symbol of the pinnacle of commercial prosperity in the Puland city-state, but an upheaval in 1822 completely changed the fate of this building..."

Someone asked a timely question: "What happened at that time?"

"It is said--it is only said that an ocean-going cargo ship under the name of the Pal brothers encountered a strange thick fog on the way back, and in the thick fog, the unlucky cargo ship saw a burning ghost ship , and passed by...

"The cargo ship managed to escape the fog and even returned to the port safely, but the shadow of madness remained deep in the hearts of every crew member at that time, and quickly spread throughout the entire fleet of the Pal Brothers. In the months after that, all the ships under the name of the Pal brothers began to encounter terrible disasters, and the crew continued to mutiny, disappear, and some even performed bloody sacrifices to please unknown gods...

"...The long-distance ship encounters a storm on the calm sea, or hits an iceberg in the warm sea, and the mutinous sailors detonate the explosives on the ship, destroy the boiler, and even hunt down their colleagues... such weird things The disaster repeated again and again, and finally ruined the business of the Pal Brothers completely, allowing their ocean trading company to apply for bankruptcy and reorganization at the end of the same year...

"After that, the Pal brothers divided up the remaining property under their company name and donated part of it to the city-state authorities, including this building in front of us... It has gone through several times since then It was remodeled and its function changed several times until 1855, when it was finally transformed into a marine museum, which continues to this day.

"It is said that until today, the shadow of nearly a century ago still lingers in this maritime museum... The shadow of the Parr brothers occasionally returns to the museum, and temporarily stays in their office at that time, or wears the uniform of the Ocean Trading Company The employees of the company appeared in the exhibition area and asked the tourists about the location of the office area in confusion...

"Of course, of course! These are just rumors. The museum has been inspected and blessed by the priests of the church, and there is a team of guards standing there to ensure that no extraordinary disasters will happen. You can visit with confidence—but if you really If you are interested in these thrilling and bizarre legends, you can also experience the "Adventure Chamber" on the side of the museum, but before experiencing the Chamber of Secrets project, you need to go to the square church to accept temporary baptism and will test..."

The voices of the tour guide and tourists gradually faded away, and Heidi walked forward over the crowd, but suddenly felt a little heavy on her feet.

The ocean trade warehouse a century ago, the dense fog that brought disasters in the open sea, the cursed fleet, the shadows that linger in the museum...

These days, Heidi, who has been dealing with cult members every day and has heard a lot of "rumors" through various official channels, suddenly feels that it is not a good idea to use the museum as a vacation sightseeing project... It is even better to go to the downtown area with this time Hang out, or follow Dad's lead and visit the quirky antique shop.

But after struggling for less than two seconds, the young psychiatrist suddenly made up his mind and strode towards the main entrance of the museum.

Telling some just-right horror stories when introducing attractions is a common method for tour guides. More than half of the horror stories in this world are inseparable from the elements of sea fog, ghost ships and mutinous sailors. There are ghost stories in museums, maybe in antique shops. Is there anything scarier than ghost stories—how can she, a psychiatrist who deals with psychosis all day long, be afraid of this?

No one can stop her from enjoying this long-awaited vacation! Not even the evil gods of the subspace!

Determined and walking like the wind, the psychiatrist strode through the ticket office like a warrior ready to go, passed the gate of the museum, and stepped into this ancient building with a history of nearly a century.

There are fewer visitors in the museum than expected, perhaps because it is not a public holiday, the hall on the first floor of the venue even looks a bit deserted.

Several venue guides are guiding the route to the main exhibition area for some tourists who encounter difficulties. On the towering wall at the end of the hall on the first floor, there are huge whale skeletons and exquisite models of various sea ships. A man dressed as a captain The lecturer is introducing the knowledge of early sailing warships to several children.

Two girls who looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, who might still be in school, were walking together to the gate leading to the main exhibition area. They talked and laughed all the way, and seemed to have a good relationship.

The venue is brightly lit and has a cozy atmosphere.

Heidi breathed a sigh of relief, and followed the two young girls to the hall where the main exhibition area was located, ready to enjoy this quiet time.

Then, she smelled a little weird.

It smells... like something is burning...

...

Near Cross Street, Duncan got out of a steam bus, and bought a magazine at a nearby newsagent to while away the time.

The investigation near the ruins of the factory did not make much progress. After Shirley and Agou left, he wandered around the sixth block for a long time and asked the locals about some things. It is possible to spy on the truth behind the "curtain". The residents of the sixth block only remember the information disclosed by the government, and everyone believes that the decline of the block is due to the chemical pollution left by the factory and the neglect of the city-state authorities—— This is no different from what the old man basking in the sun revealed.

The truth is covered by the veil, the records in reality have been falsified, and the city-state authorities only disclosed the falsified information, but Duncan cannot conclude that the "veil" was set up by the city hall or the church of the city-state of Purdue - because in In this world of supernatural phenomena, a powerful anomaly or vision may blind everyone's eyes.

In the face of powerful anomalies and visions, even the so-called "reality" is a canvas that can be painted and tampered with.

Now it seems that the source of that "curtain" is not in the factory, and it may not even be in the sixth block. If this so-called "source" is the sun fragment, then it should be hidden deeper.

The investigation cannot continue until more clues are obtained.

Duncan sat down on a bench by the side of the road, while casually reading the content of the recreational book, while thinking about the future.

Those Sun Cultists were looking for the sun fragments, and they disturbed the city-state; Nina's memories and dreams vaguely point to the sun fragments, and there is a certain connection between her and the fragments; she glimpsed the appearance of the real sun through the sun mask , that indescribable thing that looks like an evil god has seen him and asked him for help...

Before I knew it, I seemed to have fallen into a messy ball of thread.

The Puland city-state, its first landing point in this world's civilized society, thought it would be a peaceful, prosperous and peaceful place, but it did not expect that this "first stop" would be so uneven.

Duncan sighed and shook his head slightly, and at this moment, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a strange cloud of smoke rising from the sky over the nearby blocks.

In the smoke, there is still a faint fire rising.

Duncan was stunned for a moment, and stood up from the bench. He noticed that many people on the street had also seen the smoke and flames, and many pedestrians stopped and stayed. Then, he saw someone running past in a panic. On the street, I heard someone shouting loudly:

"It's on fire! The museum is on fire!!"