It took only a dozen seconds for these Storm believers affiliated with the Deep Sea Church to judge that there might be supernatural powers out of control in the museum, and to complete their self-blessing and lead the team into the fire scene.

Duncan watched these people rushing towards the fire, and then the firefighters in the square began to cooperate in a well-trained manner. They used fire hoses for cover, began to cool down the entrance of the museum and open the passage, and another team quickly took out the line. This team hung the emblem of the Deep Sea Church and things like amulets on the outside of their regular protective equipment, and also rushed into the museum.

The sheriffs who remained at the edge of the square took over the task of comforting and guiding the remaining citizens, and began to contact nearby churches to receive those fire escapees who had been marked and suspected of being mentally contaminated.

They are well-trained and well-coordinated. Not only have they practiced countless times, but it seems more like they have actually fought in combat countless times.

This is what it looks like to survive and thrive in this strange world full of supernatural phenomena in a city-state - quickly identify the shadow of the supernatural in a disaster, and quickly suppress it to a level that mortals can bear before the erosion breaks out. Both supernatural and ordinary people receive sufficient education and training in related fields, and train these basic handling measures to almost muscle reactions - only then can the group maintain its survival.

Duncan saw all of this, but he didn't have much time to sigh - he checked the dusty survivors at the edge of the square, but didn't see Nina among them.

He suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction of the museum.

A familiar smell came from the burning museum.

He walked towards the museum, but after taking two steps, he was stopped by a sheriff: "Sir, there is danger ahead, please leave it to the professionals."

Duncan glanced at the sheriff, nodded, and walked away.

Arguing with the official personnel on the scene not only wasted time, but also delayed the work of professionals. Duncan was a pragmatic person, so he simply gave up the main entrance of the museum, quickly walked around to the other side of the square and hid in a shadow - the next second, a white dove flew directly across the square and dived into a window on the side of the museum where flames were coming out.

Some people in the square saw this scene, but they just thought it was a poor pigeon that was frightened and fainted by the smoke and fire. They sighed a few times and then paid no more attention to it.

Inside the museum, Duncan stepped out from the vortex of dark green flames.

Smoke, flames and heat waves instantly hit us in the face.

Duncan was not afraid of these things, but he could feel that the functions of his flesh and blood were being affected by the fire environment. If he walked in like this, his soul might be fine, but this body would definitely be unusable.

But he did not act rashly. He knew what to do long before he rushed in.

There are flames everywhere here, and flames... are very obedient things.

Duncan held his breath as a stream of green flame quietly flowed under his feet and disappeared into nothingness in the blink of an eye. In this brief contact, he had established an invisible connection with the surrounding flames - just like the previous gathering place of the Sun Cultists in the basement of the abandoned factory, he felt the submission of the surrounding flames.

Even the scorching air currents in the air began to change, no longer affecting the breathing of this body.

Duncan took a deep breath and walked towards the door blocked by fire.

"Stand back."

Then the flames retreated and died out behind him, revealing a corridor filled with smoke and embers.

Duncan looked back and observed the signs on the nearby wall, and judged that the place where he "landed" should be an office on the edge of the main exhibition area, and the corridor in front should be the passage for museum staff to pass through. At the end of the corridor is the main exhibition area, and on one side of the corridor there are stairs or elevators leading to other floors.

He stepped into the corridor, searching forward while concentrating his attention, trying to find Nina's location in the museum - but to be honest, he was not sure whether he could successfully "locate" her.

Because it was the first time for him to do such a thing... Although his perception was now beyond that of ordinary people, and Goat Head had said that "the captain's intuition is the most accurate direction", this high-end operation of sensing someone's aura from a long distance was still a rather unfamiliar area for him, and it was even a skill he had only seen in stories.

The reason he was trying this now was because there was a moment when he was in the square before when he vaguely sensed a familiar atmosphere in the museum, which gave him the idea of ​​giving it a try.

Duncan walked forward in the corridor, the flames around him retreated and extinguished, and he still could not sense where Nina was, but suddenly, he sensed something else.

"Um?"

Duncan muttered in confusion and looked in the direction where the perception came from - not far ahead, on the floor below the stairs, a "mark" that was becoming clearer and clearer in his perception was beating slightly.

The owner of the mark seems to be in a lively state.

Duncan hesitated for only a moment, then quickly ran in the direction he sensed. He passed through the retreating and extinguishing flames, ran down the fragile and loose stairs, and at the same time extended his control over the flames as much as possible, suppressing the fire in the entire building within the limit of his body's endurance. The "mark" became more and more clear in his mind, and in the end, he even began to faintly hear the "voice" coming from the mark -

"...Hand? Hey, these are just minor injuries on my hands. They will heal in a few days...

"That's because I've always been very strong...

"Don't worry, the door has been sealed, so smoke can't get in for now... You're really smart, you actually knew there's a washroom here... Um, did you look at the route map in advance? Did the teacher talk about it in class? Safety education... Um... I might not have listened carefully, ahahaha...

"You said you saw a dog just now? You must have seen it wrong. Where did a dog come from in this place? Hahaha..."

"...What should we do with the unconscious person over here? You don't know either? Well...at least he's still alive...It's okay, we will definitely be rescued..."

I didn't hear it wrong, that was Shirley's voice.

Duncan recognized the mark, which was the "flame" he had left on Shirley not long ago, and the other party's voice was entering his mind through the mark.

The familiar aura he had felt for a moment in the square before seemed to be brought by this mark - he did not actively contact this mark, but passively sensed its existence because the distance was too close.

This was the first time that Duncan actively released this "mark", so there were still many features that he was not familiar with, but now it seemed that the connection between the spiritual fire was more useful than he had imagined.

While he was feeling a little emotional, he also had a hint of doubt:

Shirley is talking to another person, who sounds like her friend... Who is she with?

※※※

The closed bathroom became a temporary shelter. The narrow and claustrophobic space blocked the approaching disaster outside. There was the sound of water splashing in the sink not far away. The lights were off, and the flickering firelight shining through the window became the only source of light here. Nina curled up carefully beside the sink and could almost count her own heartbeats.

Abnormally rapid.

Her new friend, the girl named Shirley was checking the sealing of the doors and windows. Her hands were burned by the flames, but she was still busy as if nothing had happened. Not far away, there was a lady lying on the ground - Nina didn't know this lady, but she saw her being knocked unconscious by a fallen brick on the way she fled here, so she and Shirley dragged the lady into this place.

Judging from her dress, this lady was obviously not a poor person living in the downtown area like herself, but a respectable lady living in the upper town... Unfortunately, in the face of disaster, there was no difference between respectable people and poor people in the downtown area.

The sound of water in the sink suddenly weakened and gradually stopped.

"...The main water pump is out of service," Nina, who had been listening to the surrounding noises, suddenly said, "The fire is huge."

The "new friend" who was a head shorter than her walked over and squatted in front of her, their two pairs of eyes level in the darkness.

"Are you scared?" Shirley asked in a low voice.

"I'm afraid of fire..." Nina hugged her legs tightly, her voice trembling, "I'm really, really afraid of fire."

"...Actually, I'm also quite scared," Shirley was silent for two seconds, "Well, I'm most afraid of - I'm most afraid of getting famous..."

"I can't tell at all," Nina shook her head, "You were just running around recklessly."

"We rushed forward recklessly because we were scared," Shirley sat down carelessly. "We were too scared, so once we stopped, we would never dare to rush forward again... But now, we are both trapped here, with nowhere to run. We can only wait like two idiots."

Nina touched Shirley's arm in the dark and suddenly realized that she was trembling too.

The other party was really scared as expected.

"You swear," Nina whispered, "I thought... you were a well-mannered and good student."

"It's already this late, so stop pretending. I'm just like this," Shirley said, with a bright smile on her blackened face, "and... forget it."

She seemed to want to say something to Nina, but swallowed it back in the end. Then she looked back at the door and asked, "Use your good brain to analyze it quickly. How long can we survive here?"

Nina looked up and said, "I... don't know either, but as long as we can block the smoke, we'll be safe for now. This room is very sturdy, and it's at the corner of the stairs, so it shouldn't collapse for a while."

Shirley said "oh" nonchalantly, then she hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking: "By the way, I say...if, I say if, I have a way to take us out, but the method may be scary, do you...want to try it?"

"What solution?" Nina looked at him in confusion. "What solution?"

"That's it..." Shirley stood up, but suddenly sat back down, "Ah, never mind, let's wait a while, it's not time yet, it's not time yet..."

Nina: “……?”