Duncan put the book back and checked the furnishings in other parts of the house, but did not find anything valuable - there were very few things in this small bedroom and it did not seem to be used often. The most valuable clues were the book and the two old notebooks in the desk drawer.

The notebook was filled with content related to steam engines and engineering principles, occasionally interspersed with a few complaints about certain teachers or classmates.

This makes it easy to judge that the person living here is a young person who is still of school age.

Duncan slowly sorted out the fragments of memory in his mind, and returned to the master bedroom after restoring everything in the room to its original state.

After sitting on the edge of the bed and thinking for a while, he stood up and walked to the closet next to him. Almost following his muscle memory, he opened the door and opened one of the drawers.

Several bottles of liquor were quietly hidden deep in the drawer, along with half a box of pain-relieving and nerve-soothing pills. These were the items left behind by a cultist named "Ron".

He had a serious illness that had deteriorated to the point where no medicine could cure it. Low-quality liquor and painkillers that might work temporarily were always kept in his drawer, but these things were obviously of no help in prolonging the life of a sick person.

So this man who had lost hope in life turned to the Sun Cult. The missionaries told him that the healing power of the Sun God could solve all the world's diseases and purify the body and mind of the converts. To a certain extent, those believers did keep their promise:

They have a bloody and strange ritual that uses blood as a medium to introduce the vitality of innocent people into the bodies of sick believers. Duncan doesn't know the principle of this ritual, nor does he know whether it can really cure incurable diseases. It's just that based on the remaining content in the memory fragments, the cultist named "Ron" did get better after the ritual, and further became a die-hard believer of the sun, and even donated more than half of his wealth to the "messenger".

But Duncan didn't care what happened between the dead cultists.

He reached deeper into the drawer and successfully found a secret compartment. After fiddling around in it for a while, he found a revolver and a box of bullets in good condition.

The Plande city-state does not prohibit citizens from carrying guns, but legal procedures are required. A fake antique dealer living in the lower city obviously lacks the funds and identity to apply for a gun license, so this is undoubtedly an illegally possessed weapon. Out of caution, the original owner of this body left the gun in the room instead of taking it to the assembly venue. He usually uses this thing to protect his shop, but now it belongs to the captain.

Of course Duncan knew that this was just an ordinary weapon, not to mention compared with the "anomalous object" on the Lost Homeland, even the seemingly backward flintlock rifle on his ship might have a special power that surpassed this revolver - but he was a realistic person, he knew that when he was operating in the Pland city-state, it was different from being on the ship. The body he was using now was flesh and blood, and many places in this city were by no means safe.

After all, he couldn't just let the pigeons stay out of everything - Ai's activities made too much noise, which could easily attract unnecessary attention from the church forces in the city.

Just then, a slight sound suddenly caught Duncan's attention.

He heard the sound of keys rubbing coming from the direction of the shop door on the first floor, followed by the sound of a door opening and hurried footsteps.

Duncan quickly put the revolver away and noticed that it was already bright outside the window. He had been busy in this antique shop all night. Pigeon Ai suddenly pressed on his shoulder: "You have a new text message!"

"Be quiet," Duncan immediately glanced at the pigeon and said quickly as he walked towards the door, "Stay in the room and wait for my order. Also, don't speak if there are outsiders present."

Aye immediately flapped his wings and flew to a nearby cabinet, "Captain Aye!"

Duncan left the room quickly, and just as he reached the stairs, he heard the hurried footsteps stepping onto the steps, followed by a young and hurried girl's voice coming from below: "Uncle Duncan? Are you back?"

The next second, a girl with long dark brown hair, wearing a brown skirt and a white shirt, came into Duncan's sight.

★Illustration 4★

The girl looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, thin and small, with a little morning dew on her hair. Her features were not too outstanding, but she had the youthful beauty that was expected of her age. She stared at Duncan who was standing at the stairs to the second floor with wide eyes, with surprise and surprise on her face.

Duncan did not respond. He just stood silently on the second floor. The sunlight pouring in from a narrow window behind the stairs was against his figure, making his expression hidden in the haze. He looked at the girl silently for several seconds before he finally spoke slowly: "What did you call me just now?"

"Uncle Duncan?" The girl was surprised for a moment, and then she became a little nervous. She held the handrail next to her and peeked carefully, as if she wanted to see the expression on the face of the middle-aged man upstairs in the backlight. "Is there something wrong? Have you...have you been drinking again? You haven't been home for several days...I just saw the lights on the first floor..."

The girl's expression and voice were all seen and heard by Duncan. She obviously didn't know how to (or had never thought of) hide her emotional reaction.

According to the memories he devoured, this girl should be the "niece" of the original owner of this body and his only relative.

Duncan was vaguely certain that the girl didn't think there was anything wrong with what she said, and didn't realize that "Uncle Duncan" in her mouth was a wrong title from the beginning.

What went wrong? Why did this girl, who theoretically had no way of knowing his secret, call out the name "Duncan" so naturally?

Various speculations quickly surged in his mind. At the same time, Duncan also found a little information corresponding to this girl in the fragments of memory in his mind - the child with dark brown hair, the last figure of the original owner of his body who was still somewhat nostalgic in the world.

"Nina," Duncan said calmly, his expression unchanged, his thoughts storming in his head completely unnoticed, "You lived in school yesterday?"

"I've been living in school these days," the girl at the bottom of the stairs answered immediately. "I thought you would stay out for at least a week like before, so after I cleaned up my house, I went to stay with my classmates... Mrs. White, who manages the dormitory, agreed. I suddenly found a book left at home today, so I rushed back... Are you okay? I feel that you are... weird..."

"I'm fine, I just felt a little sleepy."

Duncan responded naturally, then walked towards the first floor. Some extremely outrageous guesses had already arisen in his mind, and now he had to confirm them.

He passed Nina by. The young girl on the stairs turned sideways and looked at Duncan curiously. When the latter almost reached the first floor, she suddenly asked, "Uncle Duncan, are you going out later? Are you... going to stay at home for a few more days?"

"...It depends." Duncan didn't turn around because he wasn't sure if the expression on his face was natural enough. He just followed the tone he remembered to answer the question from his "niece". "I'll go check at the door. If nothing happens, I'll be home these few days."

"Okay, I'll go buy some groceries. We don't have much food at home..."

The girl spoke quickly as she ran up the stairs, her steps were brisk and her tone was light-hearted.

Duncan had already walked to the door of the store. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

He turned around and looked up at the sign hanging at the door of the store. On the old and dirty sign, a line of letters came into view clearly:

〖Duncan's antiques store〗①

The first few letters are as old as the ones that follow, showing no signs of temporary modification, as if they had been like this from the beginning.

Duncan frowned and slowly walked to the window next to him. He leaned forward and observed his face in the reflection of the dirty glass.

It was indeed a strange face. It did not belong to the majestic and gloomy ghost captain, but to a middle-aged man with unshaven beard, sunken eyes, and a tired look. It belonged to a cultist named Ron who had died in the sewer.

Duncan straightened up little by little. He heard the city slowly becoming active around him. The crisp sound of bells jingling came from the doors of the shops that opened in the morning. The sound of bicycle bells and the voices of passers-by talking gradually filled the street. Someone passed by the antique shop. It seemed to be the neighbor who lived next door. A greeting came into Duncan's ears:

"Good morning, Mr. Duncan - have you read today's newspaper? It seems that the Deep Sea Church has destroyed a large cult den. This is really a big deal!"

Notes:

①Duncan Antique Shop.