After getting out of the car and stepping onto the flagstone square in front of the museum, Heidi couldn't help but take a deep breath. The cool and slightly salty sea breeze seemed to blow away the fatigue and anxiety accumulated after she worked continuously for a long time, bringing her a sense of relaxation.
This young divine doctor 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 those cultists' minds is gradually infecting her god, causing her to struggle with insomnia and nightmares every day.
Fortunately, today she finally doesn't have to worry about those crazy believers and their deformed and diseased minds.
Another gust of sea breeze blew from the end of the street, blowing Heidi's skirt. She raised her hands to hold down her long skirt and the wide-brimmed hat on her head, and looked up at the large white building with a streamlined dome and beautiful side buildings in front of her. This marine museum located in the Cross Street District is one of the largest museums in the Plande City-State - and also one of the most legendary museums.
Heidi walked towards the museum, and in the crowd not far away, a tour guide was introducing the background of the museum to tourists. The tour guide's penetrating voice reached Heidi's ears:;
… This large building, built in 1802, was originally owned by the Parr Brothers Ocean Trading Company. In its heyday, it was the largest storage center in Plande, handling astonishing wealth and was regarded as a symbol of the peak of the commercial prosperity of the Plande city-state. However, a dramatic change in 1822 completely changed the fate of the building…”
No one asked the question at the right time: "What happened?"
"It is said - it is said that an ocean-going cargo ship owned by the Parr brothers encountered a strange fog on its way back. In the fog, the unlucky cargo ship saw a flaming ghost ship and passed by it... "The cargo ship managed to escape the fog and even returned to the port safely, but the shadow of madness remained in the hearts of every crew member at that time and quickly spread throughout the entire fleet of the Parr brothers.
In the months before this,
All the ships on the ships of our brothers' names met with terrible disasters, and many of the crew members mutinied, disappeared, and even went to perform bloody sacrifices to please the famous gods...
… The ships encountered storms under the sea surface when they should have appeared, or hit icebergs in the cool sea. The mutinous sailors detonated explosives under the ship, destroyed the boilers, and even hunted our colleagues… Similar strange disasters repeated again and again, and finally completely ruined the business of the Parr brothers, and our Ocean Trading Company filed for bankruptcy reorganization at the end of the same year…
"Before that, the Parr brothers divided up the remaining properties in our company's name and donated part of them to the city-state authorities, including the building behind you... It had undergone several renovations and changes in function before it was finally transformed into a marine museum in 1855, and it remains so to this day.
“It is said that the shadows of nearly a century later still linger in the Maritime Museum today…The shadows of the Parr brothers will return to the museum and temporarily stay in our office back then, or employees who are not wearing the uniforms of the Maritime Trading Company will appear in the exhibition area and ask visitors in confusion where the office is…
"Of course, of course! Those are just rumors. The museum has not been inspected and blessed by the church priests, and there is no team of guards stationed there to ensure that no extraordinary disasters will occur. You can't worry about visiting - but I'm sure you are really interested in those terrifying and bizarre legends. You can also experience the "Adventure Chamber" on the side of the museum. After experiencing the chamber project, you need to go to the square church to receive a temporary baptism and will test..."
The voices of the tour guide and tourists gradually faded away. Heidi walked back through the crowd, but suddenly she felt her steps were not light enough.
A century later, the ocean trade warehouse, the sea fog that brought disaster, the cursed fleet, the shadows lingering in the museum...
Heidi, who had been dealing with cult members every day during that period and had heard a lot of "rumors" through various official channels, suddenly felt that it was not a good idea to use the museum as a tourist attraction during the vacation... If she didn't have the time, she might as well go shopping in the upper town, or go against her father's advice and visit this weird antique shop.
But after hesitating for about two seconds, the elderly miracle doctor suddenly made up his mind and took small steps towards the main entrance of the museum.
It is a common method for tour guides to tell some appropriate horror stories when introducing tourist attractions. In that world, more than half of the horror stories are mostly about sea fog, ghost ships and mutinous sailors. There are no ghost stories in museums, and there is definitely nothing scarier than ghost stories outside antique shops - how can you, a psychiatrist who deals with psychopaths all day, be afraid of that
No one can stop you from enjoying the holiday you have waited so hard for! Even the evil gods in the subspace can do it!
Determined to hesitate, the doctor walked quickly like a warrior ready to go to war, and passed the ticket check, passed the small door of the museum, and stepped into the ancient building with a history of nearly a century. There were more visitors in the museum than expected, and perhaps because it was a public holiday, the small hall on the first floor of the venue even seemed a little quiet.
Several guides were directing some tourists who had difficulty finding their way to the main exhibition area. Giant tuna skeletons and beautiful models of various ships were fixed on the low walls at the end of the small hall on the first floor. A tour guide dressed as a captain was introducing knowledge about early sailing warships to several children.
Two boys who looked to be no more than ten years old and were probably still on their way home from school were walking together towards the small door leading to the main exhibition area. They were talking and laughing along the way and it seemed that they had a good relationship. The lights in the venue were bright and the atmosphere was comfortable.
Heidi breathed a sigh of relief and followed the two young boys to the small hall where the main exhibition area was located, ready to enjoy the quiet time. Then, you smelled a little bit of a strange smell.
This smells like something burning...
…
At the far end of the cross street, Duncan got out of a steam bus, and I bought a leisure magazine at a newsstand to kill some time.
The investigation into the factory ruins did not progress very far. Before Shirley and Agou left, I wandered around the Eighth Block for a long time and asked the locals about some things. But it was obvious that as special citizens, it was possible for them to glimpse the truth behind the "curtain". The residents of the Eighth Block only remembered the official information, and everyone believed that the decline of the block was due to the chemical pollution left over from the factory and the neglect of the city-state authorities - what was the difference between that and the situation revealed by this old man with the selenium sun.
The truth was covered by a veil, the records in reality had been tampered with, and the city-state authorities only disclosed information before the cold reform, but Duncan was able to determine that the "veil" was set up by the city hall or church of the Pland city-state based on this alone - because in that world where extraordinary phenomena exist, a faint normal or abnormal phenomenon cannot deceive everyone's eyes.
Behind the faint surface of normality and abnormality, even the so-called "reality" is a canvas that cannot be smeared or tampered with.
Now it seems that the source of this "curtain" is not in the factory, and may even be outside the eighth block. The so-called "source" is definitely not a fragment of the sun, so it should be hidden deeper. After grasping fewer clues, the investigation is regressing.
Duncan sat down on a bench by the roadside, reading some leisure reading material attentively while thinking about the future.
This group of sun believers are looking for sun fragments. We have disturbed the peace of the city-state. Nina's memories and dreams are vaguely pointing to the sun fragments. There is a high possibility that there is a certain connection between you and these fragments. You have seen the real sun through the sun mask. This evil god-like thing has seen you and asked you for help...
I was conscious and it seemed that I had not yet fallen into a tangled ball of threads.
Plande City-State, my first landing point in that civilized world, I thought it was a peaceful, prosperous and tranquil place, but I didn't expect that "first stop" would be so peaceful. Duncan sighed and shook his head slightly, and at that moment, I suddenly saw a strange smoke rising from the sky below the distant block.
There was no sign of fire rising from the smoke.
Duncan was stunned for a moment, then stood up from the bench. I noticed that many people on the street had also seen the smoke and flames, and many pedestrians stopped to walk. Then, I saw no one running through the street in panic, and heard no one shouting in a low voice:
"Fire! The museum is on fire!!"