Chapter 14 Memories

A scholar who, for some unknown reason, ran to a "commoner school" to teach history, a teacher who knew ancient history and seemed to have a good relationship with Nina—his arrival was unexpected for Duncan, but also an opportunity.

The old Mr. Morris's expertise in his professional field would definitely help Duncan solve many problems, and if he could build a good relationship with such a professional, it might bring unexpected benefits in the future—an old scholar with a certain status would inevitably have a certain position in the city-state.

Nina didn't know why her Uncle Duncan suddenly agreed to the home visit, nor did she think much about it, she just felt particularly happy.

In a daze, it even gave her the illusion that her life was really changing for the better, gradually... returning to the past.

Outside the window, the night was getting darker, and the pale, cold light of the World Scar shone on the windowsill of the antique shop's second floor. In the quiet night, the whole city was gradually becoming quiet.

In this world filled with bizarre things, most people didn't have much of a nightlife to speak of.

"Come and eat," Duncan called out to his "niece" who was spacing out in front of the window. He put the stewed fish soup on the dining table, along with the bread Nina had bought back in the afternoon and the onion rings he had fried up just now. In his opinion, this dinner wasn't very lavish, but considering the special nature of "fish," this meal might be considered a feast in this part of the lower city, "You have to get up early for school tomorrow."

"Oh, okay, Uncle Duncan."

Nina agreed and obediently came to the table. The aroma of fish soup had already spread, and she sniffed in surprise, looking at Duncan in disbelief, "It smells so good... when did your cooking skills become so good?"

"Does this even count as good cooking?" Duncan couldn't help but smile, thinking that his cooking skills were probably only slightly better than Alice's, yet he was being praised for his good cooking, "Was I really that bad at cooking before?"

"It can't be described as just bad. You used to cook according to the standard of not dying, and you always ambitiously researched new dishes even though your skills were terrible, and you always dragged me to try your experiments with you..." Nina babbled on, reminiscing about the old days, she was even a little animated, "One time you made something so disgusting that you couldn't even eat it yourself, so you had to throw it in the trash can, and then drag me to a family restaurant down the street for lunch. When we came back, we saw the neighbor's dog lying in front of the trash can, throwing up everywhere. From then on, the dog avoided you whenever it saw you..."

As Nina spoke, her voice suddenly lowered again.

"Never mind, it's all from several years ago, and you never liked me mentioning these things..."

Duncan was silent.

In the memories left in this body, there was no trace of what Nina recalled—these were almost the only good memories she had of being with her uncle, but they had all disappeared with the last breath of the Apostate.

Nina silently broke off a piece of dry, hard bread, softening it bit by bit with the delicious soup.

Duncan suddenly reached out and ruffled the child's hair.

Nina looked up in surprise, "Uncle?"

"Uncle's new dish research has been successful," Duncan said with a straight face.

Nina stared blankly at Duncan, her expression changing several times. She didn't know how many thoughts were swirling in her mind, but in the end, all the expressions turned into an uncontrollable smile, "You look so funny when you're being serious, Uncle!"

"Don't make fun of adults," Duncan glanced at Nina, then as if suddenly remembering something, casually mentioned, "By the way, I'm planning to tidy up the shop these days. If you see anything strange or unfamiliar on the first floor, don't touch it."

He was preparing for the upcoming transits between the two worlds and the "material" collection and distribution.

As Aiy's abilities were developed, he would inevitably have to frequently transport goods between the *Sea Wanderer* and the antique shop, and it would be difficult to completely hide this from Nina—so it was better to give her a heads-up in advance.

Nina didn't suspect anything, and she quickly nodded. Duncan then continued, "Also, I'm planning to add a helper to the shop so that there will be someone to take care of things in case I go out during the day—of course, this is just an initial plan, it may not be possible to realize it, but I'm just telling you in advance so that you won't feel strange if you suddenly see a stranger in the shop one day."

This time, he was paving the way for Alice's arrival—but only paving the way.

There were still many things to consider before letting the doll enter the city-state. Transporting her over was only the most inconspicuous part. He also had to think about how to prevent Alice's "doll" secret from being discovered—Alice's appearance was almost indistinguishable from a real person. As long as she wore long gloves to cover the joints of her hands, there wouldn't be any major problems, maybe also a veil to cover her face, which was even more exquisite than a real person's. These were all minor problems. The real big problem... was that thing's brain.

He was bringing Alice over to help him, and it wouldn't do if that thing was always performing a frightened retreat in front of people.

Nina looked at Duncan in surprise, "You're actually going to hire a shop assistant?! This is a big deal... Do you have someone in mind? What kind of person is it?"

Duncan thought for a moment, trying to filter out a long list of not-so-good adjectives from his mind, and then said with a straight face, "There's a preliminary target, a... diligent young lady."

He thought about it carefully, and it seemed that "diligent" was the only positive adjective left for Alice.

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

The girl sized up her uncle several times, and finally couldn't help but ask, "A young lady? Uncle, could it be that you..."

Duncan was an experienced person, and he knew what Nina was thinking as soon as he saw her expression, so he immediately tapped the table with his finger, "Eat your food properly! What nonsense are you thinking!"

Nina immediately suppressed her laughter and made a "khm, khm" sound, continuing to eat with her head down. After tasting a piece of fish, her eyes widened in surprise again, "It's really delicious!"

Duncan smiled, and while casually throwing a piece of bread to the pigeon pacing nearby, he said, "Then eat more, there's more in the kitchen."

In the small second floor of the antique shop, Nina and her Uncle Duncan ended a simple and long-awaited dinner.

And after dinner was over and everything was cleaned up, Duncan stopped Nina, who was about to go back to her room to rest.

There were some things he wanted to confirm.

"Nina," he said, looking at the girl who had just come out of the kitchen after cleaning up the dishes, "There are some things I want to ask you."

"Ah?" Nina asked curiously, "What is it?"

"Do you still remember... things from your childhood?" Duncan asked, while carefully considering his entry point, and recalling the information he had heard at that cult gathering, "Especially the year you were six years old."

Nina frowned. She didn't know why her uncle would suddenly bring up old events from eleven years ago, but she still started to think about it.

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

"I was very young back then, and I don't remember many things, but I just remember that it was very chaotic that day... There were chaotic adults everywhere. Some people said that a factory near Cross Street had a leak, some people said that there was a collective frenzy in Lower Third Street, and some people even said that something happened in Upper City... I didn't have any impression of many things at the time, and I only pieced them together later after hearing adults talk about them..."

Duncan thought for a moment, looking into Nina's eyes, "Do you remember a big fire? I remember taking you out of a fire, and your parents... were in that fire..."

He was just tentatively mentioning it, but he didn't expect Nina to suddenly open her eyes wide, "A fire? So you remember there was a big fire back then?!"

"...Of course I remember," Duncan knew from Nina's reaction that there was indeed something wrong with this matter, "What's wrong with me remembering the fire?"

"I also remember there was a fire, a very, very big fire," Nina said excitedly. "But when I told the adults around me about it, no one remembered it. They all said I was scared silly at the time, and there was no fire anywhere... Later, when I grew up, I even went to look for the newspapers from that time..."

She stopped here, shaking her head slowly with a strange expression, "But even the newspapers didn't mention anything about a big fire... All the records only said that a factory leaked at the time, and the chemical substances caused widespread hallucinations..."