Chapter 1 How to Survive

How do ordinary people survive in a world with extraordinary phenomena, where the land is sealed off by a boundless ocean, and where city-state guardians are engaged in an endless struggle with anomalies?

Duncan still lacked understanding of this city-state, but at least in the places he had seen, the ordinary people of this world still lived in an environment of order and stability—

They worked, studied, rested; they ran shops, traded goods, they went out on their days off, to cinemas and restaurants, to parks and harbors; they visited museums, and chatted with neighbors after dinner—they lived lives that were not very exciting, but usually quite stable.

The steam-powered buses stopped and started, sometimes at stations, sometimes on the roadside, with passengers getting on and off at any time. The silent driver occasionally exchanged a few words with the ticket seller, but spent most of his time concentrating on driving. The young ticket seller looked up at the roof of the bus from time to time—she seemed to still be concerned about that pigeon.

Duncan sat in his seat, curiously observing everything around him, watching these lives of ordinary people.

It seemed that aside from needing to understand the anomalies and phenomena that existed in the world, and to abide by this knowledge as a kind of "safety code," the lives of these ordinary people were not much different from what he had seen on Earth.

As it approached the crossroads district, the bus stopped again, this time at a station, where many passengers boarded.

Duncan looked curiously at the scenery on the platform, at the distant chimneys and the crisscrossing steam pipes above the buildings, but suddenly, he vaguely felt an unusual heat rising near his chest.

The heat came from the sun emblem he had hidden close to his body!

Duncan, who had been admiring the scenery, was taken aback. He subconsciously touched the place where the emblem was hidden. In the next second, he felt that the emblem was not only heating up, but also vibrating slightly.

He didn't know what was happening, but it was clear that the emblem was resonating with something nearby—through the connection already established between himself and the emblem, he awkwardly sensed the source of this resonance. In the next second, his eyes locked onto a figure outside the window who was quickly passing through the crowd.

The figure was wearing a black coat, and looked like an ordinary passerby, but the "sense of direction" from the sun emblem pointed unmistakably to that figure!

Duncan immediately stood up from his seat and walked quickly towards the door. As he moved his mind, the pigeon Ai Yi also received the instruction, fluttering its wings and flying down from the roof of the bus, landing on his shoulder.

The ticket seller standing near the door looked at this scene in surprise, and only after Duncan got off the bus did she mutter in a low voice, "How did he train this pigeon..."

But then this little episode in daily life faded from the ticket seller's attention. She turned to look at the few passengers who had just boarded the bus: "Come here to buy tickets... Children also need to buy tickets. It's obviously over one meter one... Four years old? It can't possibly be four years old, once you cross the line it's a full ticket!"

At this moment, Duncan had already walked into the crowd, and he quickly passed through the station and intersection crowded with passersby, tracking the figure in the black coat.

The man in black was walking very fast, and the dense flow of people by the road in the afternoon made it easy for him to avoid visual searches. In fact, in just a few minutes, the figure had left Duncan's sight.

However, the resonance of the sun emblem was still there, and the "sense of direction" coming from the depths of the emblem was always indicating the correct direction for Duncan.

While following the guidance of the sun emblem, Duncan was thinking quickly.

There was no doubt that the man in black was suspicious. The emblem must have sensed something to suddenly react… perhaps, it sensed a homologous power from the True Sun God.

From Goat Head, he already knew that this emblem had the function of identifying compatriots and guiding the "Sun's Blessing," but under normal circumstances, only the Sun God's believers could use these functions or sense the emblem's guiding effect.

Duncan had once usurped control of the emblem with spiritual fire, but at the time he thought his flames had also destroyed most of the emblem's abilities, but now it seemed… the emblem's recognition ability was still there!

It's just that this recognition ability was now being used by himself…

Under the guidance of the emblem, he gradually left the main road crowded with passersby, and after winding around, he gradually walked into a quiet alley.

He saw the suspicious figure again—the figure was quickly walking past the intersection ahead, seemingly unaware that there was a tracker behind him.

Vaguely, Duncan felt that the emblem on his chest had become a little hotter than before, and the resonance it transmitted was becoming clearer and stronger.

Duncan quietly activated the spiritual fire, reading the information transmitted by the sun emblem. A large amount of clearly directional "perception" immediately entered his mind.

This feeling was very subtle—although the sun emblem did not have the characteristics of thinking, Duncan seemed to feel that the emblem was excitedly conveying messages to him, telling the person who did not believe in the Sun God where other believers were.

He even wanted to remind the emblem to be more reserved—after all, it was still the Sun God's sacred object not long ago, and at this time, it shouldn't be as excited as a hand warmer when acting as a guide.

At the same time, he became more and more certain that he was approaching a secret gathering place where many Sun God believers were gathering.

Just as he expected, more "Sun heretics" were gathering in the dark corners of this city-state. The group that was wiped out in the sewers before was just a part of these cockroach-like cultists.

He didn't know what these cultists wanted to do, but he knew that these cultists definitely knew more about ancient history, sun worship, and the Order Era than Nina's teachers.

To understand the deeper secrets of this world, one must come into contact with the forces of the supernatural realm. It was difficult to approach the church and city-state authorities through normal means, but cultists were much easier—just blend in with them.

Or beat them into one.

Duncan was thinking this when he suddenly stopped.

He had come to the end of a small road, and the sneaky man in black had just slipped into an intersection nearby. The signal from the sun emblem was clear and strong, and there were no other figures of passersby visible nearby.

Through the sun emblem, he sensed that more "compatriot signals" were approaching his location.

Duncan silently pulled up the collar of his coat, covering half of his face in the collar—and almost the next second after this action was completed, he heard many footsteps appearing in the shadows of nearby buildings.

One figure after another appeared.

There were a dozen people, and there was no difference in their dress from ordinary citizens—after all, no cultist would walk around the city during the day in a robe, just like a normal assassin shouldn't wear an eye-catching white hooded jacket to cause trouble in the downtown streets.

Only the constant heat and clearly directional signal from the sun emblem made him sure that every one of these guys who emerged from around was a follower of the True Sun God.

Duncan raised his head and looked at the end of the intersection, and saw that the black-clothed man he had been tracking before was also among them. The other party was looking at him vigilantly, and beside him, a tall, thin young man whispered a few words to his companion, before looking up at him.

"This is private territory, what are you doing sneaking in here?" the tall, thin man said. He seemed to be trying to create the feeling that "these are all ordinary citizens, you're the one acting suspiciously," because he didn't know the details of this tracker, so he neither acted rashly nor relaxed his vigilance.

Duncan muttered to himself that he, an amateur, was indeed not suitable for doing this kind of professional tracking work, and he was also curious about what these cultists would do with him, the tracker, if he pretended to be stupid—were they planning to pretend to be a group of dedicated underworld forces and scare him away, or were they planning to diligently develop their cult career and tie him up to give their Sun God a meaty meal?

"Didn't you hear me?" the tall, thin man frowned, and said impatiently. As he spoke, the surrounding figures moved forward half a step imperceptibly, vaguely forming an encirclement. "I'm asking you a question..."

Duncan shrugged and casually pulled out the sun amulet from his pocket, his tone sincere: "One of us."

Blend in first, maybe get more information.

If they don't believe it, then beat them into one.