Deep Sea Embers

For unknown reasons, a scholar who went to teach history in a "civilian school", a teacher who is proficient in ancient history knowledge and seems to have a good relationship with Nina, his arrival was an unexpected situation for Duncan—but it was also a Chance.

The old Mr. Morris' attainments in the professional field will definitely help Duncan solve many problems, and if he can establish a good relationship with this professional person, there may be unexpected convenience in the future-an old scholar with a relatively high status, In a city-state, there must be a certain network of contacts.

Nina didn't know why her Uncle Duncan suddenly agreed to the home visit, and she didn't think about it, but felt very happy.

This trance even gave her an illusion—as if her life was really changing for the better, and she was gradually... returning to the past.

The night outside the window was getting darker, and the pale and cold light of World Creation reflected the window sill on the second floor of the antique shop. Under the quiet night, the whole city was gradually becoming quieter.

In this world full of strange things, most people have no night life to speak of.

"Come and eat," Duncan greeted his "niece" who was dazed by the window, and he brought the stewed fish soup to the table, as well as the bread that Nina bought in the afternoon and the onion rings that he fried just now. It seems that this dinner is actually not a big one, but considering the special nature of "fish", this meal may be considered a feast in the downtown area. "I have to get up early to go to school tomorrow."

"Oh, good Uncle Duncan."

Nina agreed, and obediently came to the dining table. The aroma of the fish soup had already wafted away. She shrugged her nose in amazement, and looked at Duncan in disbelief: "It smells so good... Uncle, when did your craftsmanship come out?" changed for the better?"

"Can this be regarded as good craftsmanship?" Duncan couldn't help laughing, thinking that his cooking skills might be a little better than Alice's, and there were times when he was evaluated as good craftsmanship, "Could it be that my cooking skills were poor before? "

"That can no longer be described as poor. You used to cook according to the standard of being unkillable, and you are always ambitious to research new dishes when you are obviously poor in cooking. Every time you pull me and you Test the poison together..." Nina balabala muttered, recalling the old days, her eyebrows were a little joyful, "One time, the food you made was so bad that you couldn't eat it yourself, so you had to throw it away Trash can, and then took me to the family restaurant on the next street to solve the lunch problem. When I came back, I saw the neighbor’s dog lying in front of the trash can and vomited all over the floor. Since then, the dog has been around you when it sees you... "

As Nina spoke, her voice suddenly and slowly lowered.

"Forget it, it happened several years ago, and you never like to hear me mention it..."

Duncan was silent.

In the residual memory of this body, none of the things that Nina recalled—for Nina, these are almost the only good memories she had when she was with her uncle, but they have been followed by the people who went astray. The last breath dissipated cleanly.

Nina silently broke apart the dry and hard bread, and soaked the bread with delicious soup to soften it little by little.

Suddenly Duncan reached out and stroked the boy's hair.

Nina raised her head in surprise: "Uncle?"

"Uncle's research on new dishes has been successful." Duncan said solemnly.

Nina stared at Duncan in a daze, her expression changed several times, countless thoughts were circling in her mind, and finally all her expressions turned into an uncontrollable smile: "Uncle, you are so serious! Funny!"

"Don't make fun of your lord," Duncan glanced at Nina, and then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he said inadvertently, "By the way, I'm going to tidy up the situation in the store. If you see a If there is something strange and unfamiliar in the building, don't touch it."

He is preparing for the next shuttle between the two places and the distribution and turnover of "materials".

With the development of Ai's ability, he will inevitably have to frequently transfer goods between the Lost Homeland and the antique shop, and it is difficult to completely hide this from Nina's eyes-so it is better to get a vaccination in advance.

Nina didn't doubt it at all, she nodded quickly, and Duncan immediately said: "In addition, I also plan to add more people in the store, so that if I go out during the day, there will be someone who can take care of me - of course this is just This initial plan may not be realized, but I just want to tell you in advance, lest one day you will feel strange when you suddenly see a stranger in the store."

This time, he was paving the way for Alice's arrival—of course, it was only a foreshadowing.

There are still many things to consider before Miss Puppet enters the city-state. Sending her over is just the most inconspicuous part of it. He also has to think about how to prevent the truth about Alice’s “doll” from being discovered——Ai Li Silk's appearance is almost the same as that of a real person. As long as she wears long gloves to cover her joints, there will be no major problems. At most, she can wear a veil to cover her face that is even more delicate than a real person. These are all minor problems. , the real big problem... is that guy's head.

He brought Alice here to help himself. It's not good for that guy to act like a mouse running around in front of people all day long.

Nina looked at Duncan in surprise: "Uncle, you actually want to recruit a clerk for the store?! This is a big deal... You have someone to choose? What kind of person is it?"

Duncan thought for a while, trying to filter out a bunch of not-so-good adjectives from his mind, and then said with a stern face: "I have a preliminary target, which is... a hardworking young lady."

After thinking about it carefully, Alice seemed to have only "hard work" as a compliment.

Then he saw the expression on Nina's face suddenly became subtle.

The girl looked her uncle up and down several times, and finally couldn't hold back: "Young lady? Uncle, don't you..."

Duncan is a person who has experienced it. Seeing Nina's appearance, he knew what she was thinking, and immediately tapped his finger on the table: "Eat well! What are you thinking about!"

Nina immediately held back her laughter and let out a sound of "Hang Chi Han Chi" and continued to eat with her head down. After taking a bite of the fish, she opened her eyes wide in surprise: "It's delicious!"

Duncan laughed, and broke some bread casually and threw it to the pigeons who were pacing beside him, saying, "Then eat more, there are still some in the kitchen."

On the small second floor of the antique shop, Nina and her Uncle Duncan had a simple and long-lost dinner in this way.

After dinner was over and everything was packed, Duncan stopped Nina who was about to go back to her room to rest.

He has something to confirm.

"Nina," he looked at the girl who had just packed up the cups and plates and came out of the kitchen, "I have something to ask you."

"Ah?" Nina was a little curious, "What is it?"

"Do you remember... when you were a child?" Duncan thought about the point of entry while recalling the information he heard at the gathering of the cultists. "It was when you were six years old."

Nina frowned. She didn't know why her uncle suddenly brought up the events of eleven years ago, but she still thought about it.

Eleven years had passed, and she was only six years old back then, so when she recalled the past, she didn't feel too much sadness in her heart.

"I was young and I can't remember a lot of things, but I do remember that it was a messy day... full of messy adults. Some people said there was a factory leak near the cross block, and some people said that there was a mass riot on Lower Third Street. , Some people even said that something happened in the upper city... I didn't remember many things at the time, and I got it right after I heard the adults talk about it..."

Duncan thought for a while and looked into Nina's eyes: "Then do you remember that there was a big fire? I took you to escape from the fire. Your parents... were in that fire..."

He only tentatively mentioned it, but he didn't expect Nina to suddenly open her eyes: "Big fire? Uncle, you really remember that there was a big fire at that time?!"

"...Of course I remember," Duncan knew that something was wrong when he saw Nina's reaction, "Is there anything wrong with remembering the fire?"

"I also remember that there was a fire at that time, a big, big fire," Nina said a little excitedly, "but then I told the adults around, but no one remembered it, they all said I At that time, I was frightened and stupid, there was no place to catch fire... Later, when I grew up, I went to find the original newspaper..."

Speaking of this, she stopped, and slowly shook her head with a weird expression: "But even the newspaper didn't mention any fire... All the records only said that there was a factory leak at that time, and the chemical substances caused a big fire. The illusion of scope..."