Deep Sea Embers

Before leaving his temporarily hiding spot inside the cave, Duncan first dragged some rags from the nearby corpses and wrapped them around himself as clothes.

This was not because he couldn’t stand the cold temp, but more or less to block the gaping hole in the heart area. Although having a lethal hole through the chest didn’t affect Duncan’s ability to “survive” at all. As a normal human, walking around partially naked was really too creepy. At the very least, he wanted some psychological comfort from not having to hear the wind blowing through his heart….

Also, it’s common sense to speak to a living human without a huge hole in the chest less they want to be taken as undead and beheaded in the next. That’s how all those zombie movies work, right?

After treating the “wound” with a quick fix, Duncan carefully left the gloomy and damp cave for the passageway connecting to some form of a sewage system.

The tunnel was deep, damp, and dark, but there seemed to be hidden ventilation holes set in place for ventilation, meaning there were workers who would occasionally come down. This somehow made it bearable from the stink.

Eventually, he came across his first item of interest – oil lamps and torches hanging against both sides of the brick wall at measured intervals. Best of all, it’s been used recently, proving this wasn’t some abandoned underground facility.

After walking another long distance along the predetermined path, Duncan suddenly found himself at a fork road leading to a lower elevation. On top of this, pipes constantly pass waste into the main river, meaning this should be the converging point for the sewer and the residence home.

“……”

He had to take a moment to think about why in heaven would anyone want to commit themselves to such an environment. Not only were the brick walls and sewage water foul to the nose, but it couldn’t be good for one’s health either. However, there was some good news. If people had constructed such a massive sewage system, it must be catering to a large settlement with some technological advancements in society.

This was enough to give Duncan the strength to endure this foul attack on his nose. He wants information about this world, and now he’s getting some very key notes about it.

Duncan continued to move with increased vigor but was stopped a short distance away when his sight fell upon something built into the wall.

It’s a glass lamp, but more than the oil version he saw earlier, this one was built inside a sturdy metal casing and stuffed inside the walls. Also, the light it gave off was noticeably brighter than the previous versions.

Duncan leaned in and examined the object. Finally, he deduced the energy source was in fact gas spewing up from the hole inside, making this a gas lamp!

But it did differ from what he knew from his own world. The shape was different in terms of style, and the glass was inscribed with several slender rune symbols similar to what Alice’s coffin had. From what he could tell, they weren’t added afterward by a third party but at the factory during production.

The runes are a little different, but the air around these are similar. Both sacred and ritualistic.

Duncan stepped back and peered further into the sewer tunnel ahead. From here on out, the lights are all gas lamps set in regular intervals instead of the oil and torches. This seemed excessive in his opinion. For an underground facility that hardly gets visited by anyone except for necessary maintenance, why would the workers put this many equipment down here? This couldn’t possibly be cheap to maintain or pay for.

This gave Duncan a sense that they’re trying to repel something lurking here or beings that are hostile towards human civilization from the darkness.

With that in mind, he trod carefully and continued his exploration until he found something strange again.

It’s a deep dark red painting set in-between two lamps here. Due to its location, this part was dimmer than the other areas of the tunnel, but even so, Duncan could make out its image – it’s a pair of hands reaching upwards in the worship of a spherical orb above.

“The false sun will eventually fall, and the real sun god will be resurrected from blood and fire! The vitality of all things belongs to the sun, and the order of all things belongs to the sun!” Duncan stood quietly and read the inscription at the bottom of the creepy painting.

He stayed like this for a long time until a noise suddenly caught his attention again. It’s the sound of footsteps.

Next thing he knew, his eyes were met with several figures in burqas coming his way from the front. Their heads were all shrouded behind a hood so Duncan couldn’t see their faces. Nevertheless, he didn’t intend to hide from these suspicious fellas or want to in this cramped tunnel.