Chapter 15 Dreams

The sky over the streets was gradually darkening.

After seeing Morris off and cleaning up the shop on the first floor, Duncan finally had time to talk to Nina about what her teacher had said during the home visit.

After all, this was actually the main reason old Mr. Morris had come to visit today—though the two of them had gotten sidetracked as they talked.

"Have you not been resting well lately? Or are you feeling unwell?" Duncan asked caringly, spreading butter on a slice of bread at the dining table on the second floor. "I heard from your teacher that this has been going on for several days now."

Nina was clearly a little nervous. She had probably guessed that the teacher would bring these things up today, but until recently, she hadn't thought that her Uncle Duncan would really start paying attention to her situation at school—a long-lost feeling of being cared for, yet also uneasy, filled her heart: "It's just that I've been feeling a bit… sleepy."

"Then it seems Mr. Morris was telling the truth," Duncan said, carefully observing Nina's expression. "Is it a physical thing? Or something else? If you have something on your mind, you can tell me."

He paused, then added thoughtfully, "Of course, at your age, there might be things you don't want to talk about with an adult like me, which is normal, because you're growing up, and you have an independent personality and your own thoughts, which should all be respected—but you must still remember that it's not shameful to seek help when you encounter difficulties. If I can help, you can tell me, and we'll figure it out together."

He tried to make his words sound reliable and friendly. It wasn't easy, because he had never had a blood relative of this age to take care of before, but he had some experience dealing with students, so at this time, he was talking to Nina as he would to a teenage student—he thought his attitude was gentle and reliable enough.

"I… I'm really okay, really!" Nina seemed a little uncomfortable with such an affectionate uncle, but deep down she didn't resist it. She waved her hand vigorously, meeting Duncan's gaze. "I've just been feeling sleepy lately, and I always wake up startled when I sleep, and sometimes I have dreams."

"Dreams?" Duncan frowned, suddenly thinking of something. "Nightmares? Is it about the big fire when you were little?"

Perhaps because he was currently focusing on the Sun Shards and the unsolved case from eleven years ago, he suddenly subconsciously thought of this, but Nina shook her head: "No, it's not about when I was little."

"Then what is it?"

"I always dream of… dreaming of myself standing in a very, very high place, like a tower in the city, and the districts below are all dark, with ruins and ashes everywhere," Nina said slowly, recalling the dream. "The ruins and ashes are like a huge scar, extending along the center of the lower district all the way to the Crossroads District, and then to the edge of the upper district, as if to tear the city apart. I'm trapped in that very, very high place, wanting to leave, but I'm blocked by an invisible wall…"

Nina recalled, then shook her head slightly. "The dream is always like that. To say it's scary… nothing scary actually appears, and no danger approaches, it's just watching the city being crushed by something, leaving a scar, and then I'm trapped in place and can't move. Every time I wake up, I'm very tired, and I start feeling sleepy in class the next day…"

Duncan listened carefully to the girl's description, slowly furrowing his brow.

What Nina described… was indeed not the big fire she had experienced in her childhood, nor was it the scene that Duncan remembered.

It was more like a static "display," revealing to her a scene of Pland that existed in some other time or space.

If he were on Earth, Duncan would have dismissed this as a recurring strange dream, but in this bizarre world, he couldn't help but feel alert.

First, Nina somehow remembered a fire that existed only in her and Duncan's minds, and then she had these continuous, seemingly "prescient" strange dreams.

"When did you start having these dreams?" Duncan asked seriously.

"About a week or two ago? Maybe a little earlier… I can't remember," Nina said, taking a sip of vegetable soup, her voice muffled. "I didn't pay attention at the time…"

After hearing this, Duncan wanted to say, "You should have told me sooner," but he suddenly remembered that Nina's "uncle" at that time was still a degenerate who was indulging in cult activities and alcohol, and she had no reliable person to confide in. So he swallowed the words back and instead said, "Have you consulted a professional? Like a doctor?"

Nina looked up: "Are you talking about a psychiatrist?"

"Yes, a psychiatrist," Duncan thought for a moment, then nodded immediately.

In this world, "psychiatrist" was an indispensable profession, because there were too many things in the night and the deep sea staring at the city-states, and ordinary people's minds were very likely to develop problems, large and small, under the influence of these auras—nightmares, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, cognitive distortions, and even personality disorders. These conditions plagued many people, to the extent that treatment technology in related fields had developed to an incredible level—the most skilled psychiatrists would even use supernatural powers to correct a distorted mind.

Nina's frequent strange dreams should also fall under the "conditions" that these psychiatrists were concerned with.

"I haven't," Nina said in a muffled voice. "Their consultation fees are very expensive… I'm just having some strange dreams."

"But these strange dreams are already affecting your life," Duncan said seriously. "Continuously dreaming of these strange scenes may be a sign of danger. You should have learned about this at school."

As he said this, he was quickly considering in his mind—there must be something wrong with Nina's continuous strange dreams. In any case, now that he was living in a bizarre world, he had to be wary of these supernatural "elements." But he was a layman in terms of theory, so he had to find some professionals to deal with this matter.

Coincidentally, he also wanted to find an opportunity to contact the "professionals" in civilized society and see how they dealt with events that might involve the supernatural.

Nina was still hesitant, but in the face of Duncan's serious expression, she finally gave in: "Then… then we can go to the community church this weekend and ask the Deep Sea Priest there to do a soothing blessing. That costs very little. If it doesn't work, we can see a specialized psychiatrist, okay?"

Church? Deep Sea Priest? A clergyman who served the Storm Goddess Gomona?

Duncan's heart stirred, and he suddenly thought this was also a good idea—he was also very interested in those clergymen who served the gods.

"Okay, it's settled then," he nodded immediately. "You're going to the museum this weekend anyway, so after you come back, we'll stop by the church."

"Okay!"

After dinner, Nina went back to her room early as usual. Duncan also returned to his room and immediately saw Aye lazily perched on the windowsill.

The pigeon had flown outside all day and returned without any gain.

Duncan casually closed the door and walked to the window. The pigeon lazily raised its wings to greet its owner, making a "debie debie" sound: "Destroy it, hurry up, I'm tired…"

"You've worked hard indeed," Duncan said, seeing that the bird looked half-dead. He knew it must have been exhausted today, so he took off the "cultist sensor" from the pigeon's back and comforted it, "This is not so easy after all. They're hiding very deep, and the Deep Sea Church has been watching closely recently, so they'll definitely be more careful…"

The pigeon rolled its eyes, shook its wings, and continued to lie still.

Duncan couldn't help but laugh: "Even so, this will still have to be done in the future… Of course, flying all day is a bit too intense, so I'll arrange a better balance of work and rest for you."

He had decided to make searching for cultists in the city a long-term task for the current stage. Although he was no longer so tight on money after doing today's "big business," and didn't have to rely on "hunting" to make ends meet, it was still meaningful to make trouble for those cultists.

On the one hand, doing so might allow him to catch a big fish from the cultists and satisfy his need for information—higher-level priests would certainly know more secrets about the "Sun," and might also know more information about the Sun Shards eleven years ago, which was what Duncan was concerned about.

On the other hand, there was also a seemingly wild, supernatural loli active in the city-state, who was also constantly making trouble for the Sun Cultists, and she might also know some secrets of the supernatural world. Duncan wanted to try his luck and see if he could talk to her again about the Abyssal Deep Sea and the Abyssal Demons—after talking with Morris, he was now very curious about that "starry sky" above the Abyssal Deep Sea.

Noticing the serious expression on Duncan's face, and realizing its future fate of being forced to work overtime, Aye sighed extremely humanly.

"Ah…" The bird's tone was full of sorrow. "There's already a tragic barrier between us…"

Duncan: "…Your vocabulary is quite rich!"