Chapter 1 Storm Believers

From judging that there might be uncontrolled extraordinary power within the museum to completing self-blessing and leading the team into the fire, the storm believers under the Deep Sea Church only used a dozen seconds.

Duncan watched these people rush towards the fire. Immediately afterward, the firefighters on the square began to cooperate with practiced skill. They used fire hoses for cover, starting to cool the museum entrance and open a path. Another team quickly formed ranks. This team, in addition to regular protective equipment, also wore Deep Sea Church emblems and amulet-like objects, following into the museum.

The constables remaining on the edge of the square took over the work of comforting and guiding the remaining citizens, and began contacting nearby churches to receive those fire survivors who had already been marked as suspected of being mentally contaminated.

Well-trained, closely coordinated, not only rehearsed countless times, but also seemed to have experienced countless real battles.

This was the appearance presented by a city-state that had survived to this day and developed into prosperity in this bizarre world filled with extraordinary phenomena—quickly identifying the shadows of the extraordinary in disasters, suppressing them to a level that ordinary people could withstand before the erosion erupted. Both the extraordinary and ordinary people fully accepted relevant education and training, and trained these basic disposal measures to almost muscle memory—and only then could the group maintain its existence.

Duncan took all of this in, but didn't have much time to sigh—he checked the soot-covered survivors on the edge of the square, not finding Nina's figure among them.

He suddenly raised his head, looking towards the museum.

From within the blazing museum, came a somewhat familiar aura.

He stepped towards the museum, but after taking two steps, he was stopped by a constable: "Sir, it's dangerous ahead, please leave it to the professionals."

Duncan glanced at the constable, nodded, and turned to walk away.

Tangling with the officials on the scene would not only waste time, but also delay the work of professionals. Duncan was a practical person, so he simply abandoned the museum's main entrance, quickly circled to the other side of the square, and hid in the shadows—the next second, a white dove flew directly across the square, plunging headfirst into a window on the side of the museum that was spouting flames.

Some people in the square saw this scene, but only thought it was a poor pigeon that had been frightened and dazed by the smoke and fire, sighed a few times, and stopped paying attention.

Inside the museum, Duncan stepped out of a vortex of ghostly green flames.

Smoke, fire, and heat instantly rushed towards him.

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

But he wasn't acting recklessly. He knew what to do before rushing in.

There was fire everywhere here, and fire... was a very obedient thing.

Duncan held his breath, and a little ghostly green flame quietly flowed under his feet, and then disappeared into nothing in the blink of an eye. In this short contact, he had already established an invisible connection with the surrounding flames—just like at the gathering place of the Sun Cultists in the abandoned factory basement, he felt the surrounding flames submit.

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

Duncan took a light breath and walked towards the door blocked by flames.

"Step back."

So the flames stepped back, and gradually extinguished behind him, revealing a corridor filled with thick smoke and burning embers.

Duncan looked back, and observed the signs on the nearby walls, judging that the place where he "landed" should be an office on the edge of the main exhibition area, and the corridor ahead should be a passage for museum staff. The end of the corridor was the main exhibition area, and one side of the corridor also had stairs or elevators leading to other floors.

He stepped into the corridor, searching forward while concentrating his mind, trying to find Nina's location in the museum—but to be honest, he wasn't at all sure whether he could successfully "locate" her.

Because it was the first time he had done such a thing... Although his current perception was beyond ordinary, and Goathead had said that "the captain's intuition is the most accurate guide," this kind of high-end operation of sensing someone's aura from afar was still quite unfamiliar to him, and even counted as a skill he had only seen in stories.

He was trying it now completely because a moment ago in the square, he had vaguely sensed a familiar aura emanating from the museum, which gave him the idea to try it out.

Duncan was moving forward in the corridor, the flames retreating and extinguishing, and he still couldn't sense where Nina was, but suddenly, he sensed something else.

"Hmm?"

Duncan muttered in confusion, his eyes turning in the direction of the perception—not far ahead, one floor down the stairs, an "imprint" that was becoming clearer and clearer in his perception was pulsating slightly. The owner of the imprint seemed to be in a lively state.

Duncan hesitated for only a moment, then quickly ran in the direction of the perception, passing through the constantly retreating and extinguishing flames, running down the stairs that had begun to weaken and loosen, while extending his control over the flames as much as possible, suppressing the fire in the entire building to the limit that this body could withstand, and that "imprint" became more and more distinct in his mind. In the end, he even began to vaguely hear the "voice" coming from that imprint.

"...Hand? Hey, these are just minor injuries on my hand, they'll be fine in two or three days...

"That's right, I've always been strong...

"Don't worry, the gap in the door is blocked, the smoke won't get in for now... You're really smart, you even knew there was a water room here... Oh, you looked at the route map in advance? The teacher talked about it in class? Safety education... Uh... I might not have been listening carefully, haha...

"You said you saw a dog just now? You must have seen it wrong, where would a dog come from in this place, haha..."

"What about this unconscious person here? You don't know either? Okay... At least they're still alive... It's okay, we'll definitely be rescued..."

"Are you scared?" Shirley asked softly.

"I'm very afraid of fire..." Nina hugged her legs tightly, feeling her voice trembling a little, "Especially, especially afraid of fire..."

"Actually, I'm also quite afraid..." Shirley paused for two seconds, "Okay, I'm the most afraid—I'm the most afraid of fire."

"You can't tell at all," Nina shook her head, "You were charging around just now."

"Because I'm afraid, that's why I was charging around," Shirley sat down casually, "Because I'm too afraid, so once I stop, I'll definitely never dare to rush up again... But it's okay now, we're both..."

Shirley oh-ed casually, then hesitated for a moment before slowly opening her mouth again: "By the way, I was saying... if, I mean if, I had a way to get us out, but the way might be a little scary, would you... want to try it?"

"A way?" Nina looked at her in confusion, "What way?"

"It's just..." Shirley stood up, but suddenly sat back down, "Ah, never mind, let's wait a little longer, it's not time yet, it's not time yet..."

Nina: "...?"