As they walked along the road, Shirley seemed a little indignant: "Why didn't that old man answer my questions? He acted as if he didn't 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 eleven 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 think about the health risks brought by industrial pollution. To the general public, the improved safety of city-states brought about by the development of modern science and technology is obviously more important than the risks brought by factories. Gas lamps, heavy firepower, steam networks, medicines and mechanical ships 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 modern city-states can clearly recognize one fact: factories are the skeleton and flesh of modern civilization and can no longer be separated from the city-states.

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 heart 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 textbooks, the textbook authors have a special explanation for this:

People must "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, but the sacred and pure heart that supports the operation of modern civilization. People must place these pure steels under the watchful eyes of gods to prevent the shadows of the warp from contaminating their oil 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, as well as 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? Pollution can't be 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 that the base of a storage tank had collapsed. The entire tank had fallen down and was pressed into the ruins of a nearby building. It looked 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 pollution here..."

"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 tension in your eyes is a bit too fake."

Shirley avoided Duncan's gaze and agreed while raising her hand: "Okay, okay... Mainly because Agou's condition is not very good..."

As soon as the girl finished her words, the crackling sound of jumping flames suddenly sounded out of nowhere beside her, and then a pitch-black flame spread along her arms and half of her body - the flames condensed into chains, and the figure of the Deep Hound emerged from the thick smoke and black flames at the end of the chains.

Duncan watched the process curiously. After Agou showed up, he smiled and nodded to the Deep Hound: "Long time no see, Agou - you ran pretty fast last time."

"I left in a hurry, I left in a hurry, please don't mind." Agou tucked his tail between his legs as soon as he appeared. When he heard Duncan's voice, his whole body visibly shortened by half an inch. He tried to shrink his limbs while lowering his head carefully. "What do you want me to do? I'm good at many things. I can carry a plate, sweep the floor, coax a child, etc..."

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 all this way, and yet you can still reach a new high?" Duncan couldn't help laughing, and raised his hand to point at the factory in front: "I don't have any instructions, I just want to borrow your eyes - can't you see some 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 eyes..." Ah Gou immediately flattered modestly, but he turned his head to look in the direction of the factory while flattering, muttering, "I was observing this factory just now, but I didn't see anything... It looks the same now, it's just an abandoned one..."

Agou's voice suddenly stopped, and then he suddenly lowered his body and let out a threatening growl from his throat. However, 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... I don't know. For a moment just now, I seemed to see... fire? It seemed to be a big fire, rushing out of the factory like a huge wave, but... 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?! Was it really a big fire?!"

Agou shook his huge skeleton head: "It was just a fleeting picture, maybe it was an illusion. I am a deep demon after all, it is normal to have hallucinations and mental disorders occasionally..."

"But the big fire is different!" Shirley said hurriedly, "We have been looking for so long and finally found traces of the 'big fire'. That's right, Agou, it must be here..."

Shirley was speaking excitedly when she suddenly felt a big hand on her shoulder. Her words stopped abruptly. In the belated tension, she turned her head with a stiff neck, only to see the terrible "Mr. Duncan" staring at her quietly.

"Why do you react so strongly to the 'fire'?" Duncan looked into Shirley's eyes and asked slowly.

"I..." Shirley opened her mouth, "Nothing..."

"You are also looking for the 'big 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 just now. "A big fire that doesn't exist in any official records, but you experienced it yourself, right?"

Shirley's body was a little stiff, and she swallowed slowly: "You...how could you..."

"I was looking for it, too," Duncan smiled, "Looks like I found the right place."