Shirley took Agou away quickly, and Duncan withdrew his gaze from the distant intersection and fell on the ruins of the factory again.

After the spiritual fire faded, the invisible curtain closed again, and the factory returned to its previous "normal" appearance - the traces of the fire were completely erased, and the ubiquitous ashes disappeared into nothingness.

Duncan's gaze slowly moved upwards, above the factory, and into the sky.

He imagined that there was a gauze-like curtain that quietly covered the surroundings, hiding the truth beneath the reality. Although there were not many residents left in the Sixth Block, there were at least a few thousand people, and right under the noses of these few thousand people, the invisible curtain had shrouded the truth for eleven years.

The residents here have even completely forgotten the fire - they just thought it was the "chemical pollution" leaked from the factory that caused the neighborhood to become so dilapidated.

Thinking of this, Duncan suddenly frowned.

The truth behind the factory was a fire. Ah Gou also confirmed that there was no chemical pollution left around the factory. Since there was no so-called "pollution", why had there been no newborns in the entire Sixth Block for eleven years? !

If the generation gap of newborns wasn't caused by chemical pollution... could it be that some kind of power from the supernatural realm was preventing the emergence of new births in Block Six?

Duncan looked up at the sky thoughtfully.

It seems... that invisible curtain is even larger than he imagined.

※※※

"We escaped...really?"

In an alley some distance away from the Sixth Block, Shirley poked her head out of the shadows. She carefully watched whether there were any sheriffs patrolling on the nearby road, while lowering her voice and speaking to the corner of the wall beside her.

There was a dark shadow lurking in the corner, as if the invisible and intangible darkness had a sticky texture. Agou hid in the shadow and made a low and vague voice: "It wasn't us who escaped. It was some big shot who let us go."

"They all mean the same thing," Shirley waved her hands and sat down on the ground without caring about her image. "Fuck, I was scared to death... I didn't dare to breathe, and I didn't dare to swear the whole time. I had to pretend to be well-behaved... Ah Gou, you don't know..."

"I know that I can see more than you can. Have you forgotten?" The voice in the shadow said faintly, "How does it feel? Is it more tiring to walk with a smiling shadow of the warp than to deal with a group of ferocious sheriffs and guardians?"

"... Stop talking, I'm cold," Shirley rolled her eyes, "It's all because of what you said to me last time that was so scary. I didn't know anything, and I definitely didn't know how to be scared today... Why would such a big shot have to pretend to be an 'ordinary person'? He even squeezed into the bus like an ordinary person, and even bought a ticket on the bus! Who would have thought that I would run into him in this way!"

Agou was silent for two seconds: "... Maybe it's just out of interest, or maybe it's just staring at you. This is what I fear the most... We have already dealt with this kind of existence, and I'm afraid our fate has been entangled..."

Shirley shuddered slightly and asked cautiously, "You mean...will we really meet him again in the future? Forgive me..."

"Have you forgotten what he said when we left?" Agou sighed, "He will find us."

Shirley didn't speak for a while, just lowered her head and remained silent. After a while, Agou suddenly said, "What? Are you scared? Do you regret it? It may be a little late now... I reminded you before that when you step into the extraordinary field, you must be prepared to deal with various superior forces. Most of those things are beyond human imagination. If you had listened to my advice a few months ago and didn't start investigating the old things, you could still live your peaceful life now..."

"Regret it!" Shirley lowered her head and interrupted Agou's voice fiercely, "I have never regretted it from the beginning, and I won't regret it in the future! Don't say such depressing words to me again!"

"Okay, okay, I won't say any more - have you rested enough? It's almost time for us to leave. Didn't your 'new friend' make an appointment with you?"

"I... I'll wait two more minutes," Shirley scratched her hair, her voice a little muffled, "My legs are a little weak, I'll wait a little longer..."

Agou didn't say anything else, but just made a hoarse snoring sound. Then the wriggling shadow where he was hiding shrank little by little and gradually merged into Shirley's shadow.

※※※

At lunch time, Vanna stuffed the bread with jam into her mouth and swallowed it in big gulps while looking at the briefing materials at hand. She felt a little choked, so she picked up the glass beside her and took several big gulps of it.

Uncle Dent's voice came from across the table, with resignation: "Vanna, eat more elegantly - and don't drink wine as if it were water."

"The heretics won't wait. We can shorten the meal time as much as possible so that we can send the heretics to see their master as soon as possible," Vanna looked up at her uncle and said while trying to swallow the food in her mouth, "Besides, this is not a banquet outside..."

"You have to pay attention to etiquette at family gatherings. Sooner or later, you won't be able to get married if you keep doing this," Dante said with a headache as he looked at his niece, who was already of marriageable age but had never brought a boyfriend home. "Well, it's better to say that you're already unmarriageable..."

Vanna finally slowed down her eating. The young judge looked a little embarrassed: "I... the duties of a judge are more..."

"The Deep Sea Church does not prohibit priests from getting married, and the Inquisitors all have normal families. I have also read The Storm Codex," Dante shook his head. "Seriously, is there really no one suitable?"

Vanna lowered her head and poked the bread on the plate with her knife: "The main reason is that there is nothing good to fight..."

"...You should ask if you can take back your oath later," Dante sighed, looking worried. "You shouldn't have made such a careless oath when you received the ceremony, especially the first one, which required a strong person to travel with you. Bishop Valentine should have stopped you at that time..."

Vanna lowered her head even more. She was tall but now she looked embarrassed. When she was scolded by her uncle, she was still like a child. Even her voice was a little muffled. "How can you take back a vow casually? It was a sacred agreement made in front of the goddess. And... I didn't make that vow casually. Almost all female guardians have that clause when they swear. It is a symbol of bravery given to us by the storm, and it is also to prove to the goddess..."

Dante silently looked at his niece who was a head and a half taller than him and said, "Have you ever thought that one day you would become invincible?"

Vanna: "...Isn't this for the second and third clauses of the oath..."

Dante: “…Alas.”

This is a topic that the uncle and nephew have brought up every now and then in the past one or two years, and every time the topic ends in embarrassment, and this time is no exception.

But Vanna quickly adjusted her mood. She resolved the battle on the plate at an astonishing speed, then put away the information at hand and stood up to leave: "I'm done, uncle, you... um?"

Vanna suddenly stopped. She looked at Dante Wayne's face in surprise and pointed at his ruby ​​eye. "Uncle, the wound near your eye is bleeding... Are you okay?"

"Ah?" Dent was stunned for a moment, then quickly reached out and touched it. After seeing the blood on his hand, he quickly stood up and took a mirror to check the condition of his artificial eye. He was shocked to see that the edge of his ruby ​​eyeball was bleeding bit by bit, and the blood was flowing down the wrinkles and scars around the wound. The amount was not much, but it was very scary.

"Don't move," Vanna walked over quickly and put her hands near Dante's eyes, while whispering the words from the "Storm Tome", "May the sea breeze moisten the limbs and make this flesh and blood heal as before."

Under the effect of the sacred prayer, Dante felt a slight itch near his wound, and the slight bleeding soon stopped. He was a little helpless: "Don't be so surprised, this is not the first time in these years - after all, they are cold ores and metals, and it is normal to have some "small conflicts" with flesh and blood occasionally."

Vanna's expression did not relax at all. She still stared at Dent's ruby ​​eye. After a long time, she asked, "Do you feel anything else? Any burning pain? Or do you see some phantoms through this ruby ​​eyeball?"

Dante blinked and looked at Vanna. His blessed ruby ​​eyes reflected everything clearly.

The flames burned fiercely behind Vanna, and the restaurant was covered with ashes and scorch marks. Shapeless charcoal and molten deposits hung from the roof like an upside-down omen.

The ruby ​​eyeball felt slightly hot, then gradually returned to its icy cold state.

Dante smiled. "Of course not. Everything is fine."