Walking on the road, Shirley seemed a little indignant: "Why didn't that old man answer my questions? He seemed to not hear me when I talked to him... Is it true that being short means people don't take me seriously?!
"I think the main reason is not your short stature, but that you kept asking people about the factory," Duncan turned his head slightly to glance at the girl, "and instead of wasting time on a local who is unwilling to cooperate, wouldn't it be better to go and see the factory with your own eyes
Shirley pursed her lips and said nothing more. In front of her and Duncan, at the end of the street, the factory that had been abandoned +- years ago was already faintly visible.
In the lower city, many factories are located near residential areas, or even separated from residential areas by only a wall. The limited city-state land and the blockade of the vast sea have meant that city planners cannot spare enough land to house industrial facilities. The stable land is almost crowded with people everywhere, so naturally there is no such concept as "industrial relocation" and "suburban resettlement".
Most people in this world have no time to consider the health risks brought by industrial pollution. For the general public, compared with the risks brought by factories, the improvement of city-state safety brought by the development of modern science and technology is obviously more important - gas lamps, heavy firepower, steam networks, medicines and mechanical ships. These things have increased the population of the new city-state era by nearly three times compared to the old era. Anyone who understands the operating mechanism of the modern city-state can clearly recognize one fact: factories are the skeleton and flesh of modern civilization, and can no longer be separated from the city-state.
In fact, according to the description in Nina's textbook, these factory facilities are not even concentrated in the lower city - although the city planners are trying their best to move those overly dangerous facilities to the edge of the city, some things still have to be set up in the hinterland of the city, even next to the cathedral, such as the sacred bell tower and the "central steam core" used to transport "sacred gas" to the entire city.
These things are essentially giant machines that contain terrifying power and great risks, yet they are still placed next to the heart of the city.
In Nina's engineering and mechanics textbook, the author of the textbook has a special explanation for this:
People have to "endow the sacred steam with sanctity" and "rely on the power of the cathedral to ensure the timing of the bell tower" - machines are not just machines, they are also the sacred and pure heart that supports the operation of modern civilization. People have to turn these pure
Steels placed where the gods watch, to prevent the shadows of the Warp from tainting their oils and bolts.
Duncan recalled what he had read in Nina's textbook, and then looked up at the abandoned factory standing in the city, with a strange feeling in his heart.
This weird and absurd world... really challenges his three views at any time.
He and Shirley arrived in front of the factory. A thin wall with many collapsed parts was the only boundary between the factory and the surrounding residential area. Between the factory and the nearby residential area, there was a narrow circle of wasteland. There was no grass on the barren land. Only many scattered brick and stone fragments and scrap metal fragments that had rusted for who knows how long could be seen.
No matter how important factories are to cities, no matter how much people have adapted to living with factories day and night, factories are still factories, and when these behemoths get out of control, they will still leave huge scars on the city.
But in this city-state where every inch of land is valuable, Duncan still found it a little strange that a scar could remain for eleven years without being "repaired".
... .The land in the city-state should be very valuable," he said thoughtfully, standing at the edge of the wasteland, looking at the abandoned factory building in front of him, "It doesn't make sense for this place to be abandoned like this...
"Didn't the old man just say that if the pollution is not cleaned up completely... Shirley didn't seem to think so much, "Some pollution can only be eliminated over time."
"Maybe..." Duncan shook his head. His eyes moved between a series of pipes and storage tanks at the edge of the factory, trying to restore the "original appearance" of the accident that had occurred here. He saw several broken pipes and the base of a storage tank.
It has collapsed, and the entire tank has fallen down, pressing on the nearby building ruins, looking like the corpse of a huge monster.
Judging from these scenes alone, it seems plausible that a leakage accident occurred here.
But Duncan still frowned slightly.
The old man basking in the sun said that there was residual pollution around the factory, which had even resulted in no newborns in the entire Sixth Block in the past eleven years. However, there were no warning signs or patrolling or guarding personnel around the factory.
Things don't make sense. Although there is nothing too abnormal, these slightly unreasonable situations still make people feel confused.
"Are we really going in?" Shirley's voice sounded from the side, and her face looked a little nervous. "There might really be...
"Can't your dog give you some advice?" Duncan glanced at Shirley. "This place is deserted. You can also let the Deep Hound come out for some fresh air. Besides, I don't believe you are really afraid of the so-called "pollution" here."
The intensity in your eyes is a little too fake."
Shirley avoided Duncan's gaze and raised her hand while agreeing:
Okay, fine... If Agou's condition is not very good... .
As soon as the girl finished speaking, the crackling sound of jumping flames suddenly sounded beside her, and then a pitch-black flame spread along her arm and half of her body - the flame condensed into a chain, and the figure of the Phantom Hound emerged from the thick smoke and black flames at the end of the chain.
Duncan watched the process curiously. After Agou showed up, he smiled and nodded to the Deep Hound: "Long time no see, Agou - you ran really fast last time."
"I'm in a hurry, I'm in a hurry, please don't mind," Ah Gou tucked his tail between his legs as soon as he appeared. When he heard Duncan's voice, his whole body visibly shrank half an inch. He tried to shrink his limbs while carefully lowering his head.
"What do you want me to do? I am good at many things, from carrying a plate to sweeping the floor to coaxing a child... .
Before the Deep Hound finished speaking, Shirley beside him had already covered half of her face, as if to say, "I've been a coward enough on this road, and you can still set a new record." Duncan couldn't help laughing, and raised his hand to point at the factory in front: "I don't have any instructions,
Just lend me your eyes - can't you see things that ordinary people can't see? Take a look at that factory and tell me if there's anything wrong.
"Look at what you said, you can still appreciate my look. Ah Gou immediately flattered modestly, but while flattering - he turned his head to look in the direction of the factory, muttering to himself, "I was just observing this factory, and I didn't see anything.
What? It looks the same now, just an abandoned...
Agou's voice suddenly stopped, and then he suddenly lowered his body and let out a threatening growl from his throat - but the next second, he suddenly shook his head and made a puzzled sound: "..Huh?"
Shirley got a little nervous when she saw this: "Agou, what did you see?!"
"... I don't know. For a moment, I seemed to see... a huge fire, bursting out of the factory like a huge wave,... and it was gone in the blink of an eye...
Agou's voice was full of doubt, but Shirley suddenly became excited: "Are you sure you saw the fire?! It was really a big fire!?"
Agou shook his huge skeleton head and said: "It was just a flash of an image, maybe it was an illusion. I am a deep demon after all, it is normal to have some hallucinations and abnormal thoughts occasionally... .
"But the fire is different!" Shirley said hurriedly, "We have been looking for so long and finally found the traces of the fire. That's right, Agou, it must be here... .
Shirley was speaking excitedly when she suddenly felt a large hand on her shoulder. She stopped talking abruptly. In the delayed tension, she turned her head with a stiff neck, only to see the scary "Mr. Duncan" staring at her quietly.
"Why did you react so strongly to the fire?" Duncan asked slowly, looking into Shirley's eyes.
"... ..Shirley opened her mouth, "No...
"You are also looking for the fire that happened eleven years ago, right?" Duncan ignored the girl's attempt to change the subject. He had suddenly thought of something from Shirley's abnormal reaction. "A fire that does not exist in any official records.
But you've experienced the fire yourself, right?"
Shirley's body was a little stiff, and she slowly swallowed her saliva: "You... How could you... .
"I was looking for it, too," Duncan smiled, "Looks like I found the right place."