Some things are not meant to be discussed in front of Nina.

Listening to the scene described by Agou, Duncan's heart skipped a beat.

Ashes floating around Agou... a lot of ashes... what does this mean?

In that factory shrouded in a veil, ashes were hidden everywhere. Ashes are the traces of flames that once burned, proof that a fire once existed, symbolizing things that have been destroyed. So, the ashes around Nina...

He looked up at the staircase leading to the second floor.

Nina was busy in the kitchen upstairs. He could vaguely hear the sounds of her cooking. The clinking of kitchenware was light and cheerful. That optimistic girl had experienced many things today, but still maintained a good mood.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Shirley, who was sitting across from him.

"So, after Agou told you it had discovered a very suspicious target, you tried to sneak into the school and search for clues around Nina. At the same time, you also started approaching the Sun Cultists active in the city, trying to find clues on them to unravel the mystery of the fire eleven years ago..."

Shirley nodded gently.

"Yes."

"I guess what you're looking for isn't the shards of the sun, is it?"

"What's the point of looking for shards of the sun?" Shirley asked rhetorically. "To find a flame and then question why it burned? What I'm looking for... is the person who set the fire back then."

"This isn't an ordinary fire," Duncan said quietly, staring into Shirley's eyes. "If that's really a shard of the sun... its power can do more than just destroy a factory. Shirley, you're doing something very, very dangerous."

"If I tell you the truth, don't get angry," Shirley said, thinking for a moment before honestly lowering her head, "I think just sitting in front of you is dangerous enough..."

"Haha, maybe," Duncan was slightly startled, and couldn't help but laugh. Then he got up from behind the counter and slowly walked towards the staircase leading to the second floor. "I'm just offering a friendly reminder, of course, it's up to you to judge."

"Wait," Shirley suddenly stood up, but hesitated, pausing for two seconds before continuing, "Judging by your attitude... you didn't know about Nina's special condition before?"

Duncan stopped, pondered for a moment, then pointed to his eyes: "It seems that the 'eyesight' of this body I'm using now isn't very good, and I really didn't notice some things."

This body...

Shirley keenly noticed these words, but she didn't dare to ask anything. She was just curious as she watched him continue to walk upstairs: "What are you going to do now?"

"What am I going to do? Of course, go upstairs to eat," Duncan said, looking down, taking it for granted. "You guys come up too, it's dinnertime."

It's dinnertime?

What does it feel like to eat at the home of a subspace bigshot?

Shirley didn't know how to describe to others the strange thoughts that flashed through her mind as she followed the bigshot upstairs. She was nervous and expectant, curious and fearful. Although she knew that this was likely just an ordinary daily meal, she couldn't help but wonder what terrifying and bizarre things would appear on the table later.

In this seemingly ordinary antique shop, lived a shadow from subspace. This was the lair of a subspace shadow, a collapsing gap between the real world and the deep world, and in such a lair... even the offspring of an evil god appearing on the table seemed quite normal to her.

Shirley went upstairs with this whimsical guess and nervous mood, and arrived at the slightly narrow kitchen, then saw the things on the table.

It was just a plate of hard bread that had just been heated, a pot of vegetable soup most common in the lower city, and some ketchup and mushroom sauce.

The most eye-catching thing on the whole table was a pot of fish soup—several pieces of fish meat that had been cut and processed, unrecognizable in their original form, floated in the whitish soup, and a fresh, fragrant smell wafted over, stirring Shirley's stomach.

"I made soup with the remaining half of the salted fish in the kitchen," Nina said to Duncan with a smile, then looked at Shirley, "This fish was bought by Uncle, try it, it tastes great!"

Shirley sat down a little dazedly at the table, her eyes sweeping back and forth between the ordinary dishes. Duncan, seeing this, couldn't help but laugh: "What's wrong? The food is too ordinary, beyond your expectations? Or does it not suit your taste?"

"Ah, no, no, no... this is much better than what I usually eat..." Shirley replied subconsciously, then added, "But I really didn't expect it to be such ordinary things."

"This fish looks a bit strange," Agou, who was next to her, also poked his head out and glanced at the food on the table, opening his mouth in a muffled voice, "I always feel... a familiar aura."

"What kind of gourmet food do you know?" Shirley glanced at it upon hearing this, "You usually treat pebbles as biscuits..."

"Mr. Agou doesn't eat?" Nina asked in surprise.

"Abyssal demons don't eat human food—in fact, they don't need to eat at all," Shirley nodded. "They just occasionally gnaw on stones and steel plates when they're grinding their teeth."

Agou immediately hummed and shook his head upon hearing this: "I'm a little sad that you say that. Have you forgotten how I used to find ways to steal food outside to feed you? Occasionally I also eat a little..."

As it spoke, it leaned over to the edge of the table, approaching the fish soup. However, after staring at the fish soup for two seconds, the second half of its sentence came to an abrupt halt.

In the next second, the abyssal hound suddenly retracted its gaze, scurried back to its original spot with a whoosh, and lay there without moving.

Shirley was stunned by its reaction: "Agou, what's wrong?"

Agou looked at Duncan at the first moment, what he saw, was the other party's gentle smile.

Agou looked at Duncan at the first moment, what he saw, was the other party's gentle smile.

"Don't you like eating fish?" The indescribable swirl of light and shadow asked with a smile.

Agou's head shook from side to side. Suddenly, it felt that the so-called friendly and amiable conversations, the kind and approachable smiles, and the cooperation in the investigation were all just illusions. In the depths of that indescribable twisted light and shadow, there was only terror!

A "child of the Deep Sea" whose rank was higher than its own was chopped up and stewed into soup, even the essence was made into "real food"... this terrifying thing was happening on that dining table!

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

The abyssal hound said in a muffled voice.

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

It knew that the things in that pot were really "fish". No matter what it used to be, it was now fish.

The essence of the offspring had long been twisted and tampered with. If not for the eyes bestowed upon it by the Abyssal Holy Lord, even it would not be able to recognize what those chopped meat slices originally were.

Now, that was really harmless food, even if Shirley ate it, there would be no problem. But Agou himself would never approach that table today, even if he was beaten to death!

Duncan didn't know why Agou suddenly had such a big reaction to the fish soup, but he figured it was related to the special diet of the abyssal demon, so he didn't care.

His attention was on Nina.

Nina looked no different from usual. Although she might have some worries, this sensible child chose to handle her mood in a way that wouldn't embarrass anyone.

And on the other hand, Duncan already knew that something was "hidden" around Nina.

Or in other words, the huge and invisible "veil" in that factory was also spreading invisibly, shrouding Nina.

He didn't dare to make a direct judgment yet, and he couldn't determine what the ashes surrounding Nina meant, but without a doubt, Nina must have been in an extremely special position during the fire eleven years ago.

As special as that factory.

But Nina didn't know anything. She had lived like this for eleven years, without knowing anything.

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

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

Nina was stunned for a moment, then shook her head from side to side: "I'm not a child anymore!"

"I know, you're not a child anymore," Duncan laughed. Among Nina's shaking hair, tiny specks of faint green light flashed and disappeared, "But you're still a kid."

Nina puffed out her cheeks slightly.

"Uncle, are you still going to go with Shirley to... 'investigate' in the future?"

She finally couldn't help but ask.

"Within safe limits," Duncan replied seriously.

"...Can't you not go?"

Duncan shook his head: "No."

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

"Eat well," Duncan revealed a smile, pointing to the 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, her cheeks bulging.

"Okay, I got it."