There are some things that are destined not to be discussed in front of Nina.

Duncan's heart skipped a beat when he heard the scene described by Agou.

There are ashes floating around... lots of ashes... what does this mean?

In the factory shrouded by curtains, there were hidden ashes everywhere. The ashes were traces of the flames that had burned, proof that the fire had once existed, and symbolized things that had been destroyed. Then the ashes around Nina...

He raised his head and looked at the stairs leading to the second floor.

Nina was busy in the kitchen on the second floor. The sound of her cooking could be faintly heard from here. The sound of kitchen utensils colliding seemed very light. The optimistic girl had experienced a lot today, but she was still in a good mood at this moment.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Shirley who was sitting opposite him.

"So, after Agou told you that he had found a very suspicious target, you managed to sneak into the school and tried to find clues around Nina. At the same time, you also began to approach the Sun Cultists active in the city, trying to find clues from them in order to unravel the mystery of the fire eleven years ago..."

Shirley nodded gently: "Yes."

"I guess it's not the fragments of the sun you're looking for, right?"

"...What's the point of looking for fragments of the sun?" Shirley asked back, "To find a flame and then ask why it is burning? What I want to find... is the person who set the fire."

"This is not an ordinary fire," Duncan stared into Shirley's eyes quietly, "If it is really a fragment of the sun... its power is more than just burning down a factory. Shirley, you are doing something very, very dangerous."

"Don't be angry if I tell you the truth," Shirley thought for a moment and lowered her head. "I think it's dangerous enough to sit in front of you..."

"...Haha, probably." Duncan was slightly startled and couldn't help laughing. Then he stood up from behind the counter and slowly walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor. "I'm just giving you a friendly reminder. Of course, it's up to you to decide how to do it."

"Wait a minute," Shirley stood up suddenly, but hesitated for two seconds before continuing, "Judging from your attitude... you didn't know about Nina's specialness before?"

Duncan stopped and after a moment of hesitation, he raised his finger and pointed at his eyes: "It seems that the 'eyesight' of this body I'm using now is not very good. I really didn't notice some things."

This body...

Shirley noticed these words keenly, but she didn't dare to ask anything. She just looked at the other person and continued to walk upstairs with some curiosity: "What are you going to do now?"

"What? Go upstairs to eat, of course." Duncan looked down and said as a matter of course, "You guys come up too, it's time for dinner."

It's time for dinner.

What's it like to eat at a Warp boss's house?

Shirley didn't know how to describe to others how many strange thoughts flashed through her mind as she followed the boss upstairs. She was nervous and expectant, curious and scared. Even though she knew that this was most likely just an ordinary everyday meal, she couldn't help but guess what horrific and bizarre things would appear on the table later.

In this seemingly ordinary antique shop, there lives a shadow from the subspace. This is the nest of the subspace shadow, the collapsed gap between the real world and the deep world. In such a nest... even the appearance of the offspring of the evil god on the dining table is quite normal in her opinion.

With all these wild guesses and nervous mood, Shirley went upstairs, came to the slightly narrow kitchen, and saw the things on the dining table.

It was just a plate of freshly heated hard bread, a pot of vegetable soup, which was the most common in the downtown area, and some tomato sauce and mushroom sauce.

The most eye-catching thing on the entire dining table was just a pot of fish soup - in the whitish soup floated a few pieces of fish meat that had been cut and processed and whose original appearance could not be recognized. The fresh and fragrant smell wafted over, triggering Shirley's stomach to move.

"I made soup with the half salted fish left in the kitchen," Nina said to Duncan with a smile, and then looked at Shirley, "This fish was bought by my uncle. Try it, it tastes delicious!"

Shirley sat down at the table in a daze, her eyes scanning the ordinary dishes. Duncan beside her couldn't help but laugh when she saw this: "Why, the dishes are too ordinary, which is beyond your expectation? Or are they not to your taste?"

"Ah, no no no... This is much better than what I usually eat..." Shirley answered subconsciously, and then added, "But I really didn't expect it to be such an ordinary thing."

"This fish looks a bit strange," Agou next to him also leaned over to take a look at the food on the table and said in a muffled voice, "I feel like... it smells a bit familiar?"

"What delicacies do you know?" Shirley glanced at it and said, "You usually eat stones as biscuits..."

"Mr. Agou isn't going to eat?" Nina was surprised when she heard that.

"The Deep Demon doesn't eat human food. In fact, it doesn't need to eat at all," Shirley nodded. "It just chews on stones and steel plates when it grinds its teeth occasionally."

When Ah Gou heard this, he immediately snorted and shook his head: "You make me a little sad when you say that. Have you forgotten how I managed to steal food outside to feed you? Occasionally, I also eat a little..."

As it spoke, it leaned over to the edge of the dining table and moved closer to the pot of fish soup. However, after staring at the fish soup for two seconds, the second half of its sentence came to an abrupt end.

The next second, the Deep Hound suddenly withdrew its gaze, scurried back to its original spot, and lay there motionless.

Shirley was confused by the other party's reaction: "Agou, what's wrong with you?"

The first thing Agou looked at was Duncan, but what he saw was his gentle smile.

"What? You don't like fish?" the indescribable vortex of light and shadow asked with a smile.

Agou's head shook left and right, and suddenly, he felt that the so-called cordial and friendly conversation, the kind and easy-going smile, and the friendship of cooperative investigation were indeed just illusions. In the depths of that indescribable distorted light and shadow, there was only terror!

A "deep-sea offspring" of a higher rank than it was chopped up and stewed into soup, and even its essence was truly transformed into "food"... This horrifying thing was happening at the dining table!

"I... don't like eating fish."

The Deep Hound said in a muffled voice.

In the corner of its eye, the pot of freshly made fish soup was still emitting steam and exuding a smell that was very pleasant to humans.

It knows that the thing in the basin is really a "fish". No matter what it was before, it is now a fish.

The nature of the offspring had long been distorted and tampered with. If it were not for the eyes bestowed by the Holy Lord of the Abyss, even it would not be able to recognize what those chopped pieces of meat were originally.

Nowadays, it is really harmless food, and there will be no problem even if Shirley eats it.

But Agou himself would never get close to the dining table today!

Duncan didn't know why Agou suddenly had such a big reaction to the fish soup, but thinking that it might be related to the special diet of the Deep Demon, he didn't care.

His attention was on Nina.

Nina looked no different from usual, although she might have had some extra worries, but this sensible child chose to deal with her feelings in a way that would not embarrass anyone.

On the other hand, Duncan already knew that Nina was "hiding" something.

Or in other words, the huge and invisible "curtain" in the factory also spread invisibly and enveloped Nina.

He didn't dare to make a direct judgment, and he had no way of knowing what the ashes surrounding Nina meant, but there was no doubt that Nina must have been in an extremely special position in the fire eleven years ago.

As special as that factory.

But Nina knew nothing. She had lived in ignorance for eleven years.

"Uncle?" Nina finally noticed Duncan's gaze. She was a little confused. "What's wrong?"

Duncan didn't answer, but reached out and gently stroked Nina's head.

Nina was stunned for a moment, then shook her head left and right: "I'm not a child anymore!"

"I know you're not a child anymore," Duncan laughed. Between Nina's shaking hair, tiny dots of green light flashed and disappeared, "but you're still a child."

Nina puffed up her cheeks slightly.

"Uncle, will you continue to go with Shirley on... 'investigations' in the future?"

She finally couldn't help but ask.

"Within a safe range." Duncan answered seriously.

"…Can't I not go?"

Duncan shook his head: "No."

Nina was silent for a moment, then asked, "What can I do?"

"Eat well," Duncan smiled and pointed to the dining table, "Then sleep well, study hard, and finally protect yourself and believe in your Uncle Duncan."

Nina stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth, which was bulging.

"Yes, I understand."