Chapter 116

Chapter 116 “Everything is normal”

Shirley left quickly with Dog while Duncan shifted his gaze from the distant intersection and landed on the factory’s ruins again.

After the ghost fire faded and the invisible curtain closed, the factory had returned to its previous “normal” appearance – the traces of the fire were completely erased, and the ubiquitous ashes also gone, hidden into the nothingness like it had for the past eleven years.

Duncan’s gaze slowly shifted upwards, past the factory roof until it reached the sky. He imagined, picturing a veil like a blanket, quietly covering the surroundings and obscuring the truth under reality.

Although there are not many residents remaining in the sixth block after the incident, there are still thousands left. Yet, under the eyes and noses of thousands still living here, the invisible curtain obscured the truth for eleven years.

Thinking of this, Duncan suddenly furrowed his forehead.

The truth in the factory is a fire, and Dog also confirmed that there is no chemical pollution residue around the factory. Since there is none of the so-called “pollution”... then why did the entire sixth block not have any newborns for so long?!

If the real problem isn’t due to chemicals leaking, then it must be a different contamination.... Is it some force from the transcendent realm preventing the birth of new babies?

Duncan looked thoughtfully at the sky.

Looks like...... the invisible curtain is bigger than I had imagined.

......

“We ran out... Really ran out?” In a leaky and dirty alley some way out from the sixth block, Shirley carefully poked her head out of the alley, cautiously observing whether there were police patrolling the roads nearby.

“It’s not that we ran out. It’s the big boss letting us go.” Dog replies while hiding underneath a corner of the wall where the shadow was at its thickest.

“It’s all the XXXX same meaning,” Shirley waved her hand, then plopped her ass down on the ground without caring about her own image. “That XXXX scared me to death... I was so scared that I almost couldn’t breathe. I had to not swear, pretend to be good, and.... Dog, can you say something?”

“I know, I see more than you can, did you forgot?” The voice in the shadow spoke faintly in a squirming manner, “How does it feel, isn’t walking with a smiling shadow of subspace more tiring than dealing with a group of vicious policemen?”

Vanna lowered her head and poked the bread on the plate with a dinner knife like a meek child: “The main problem is that there’s no one capable of beating me...”

“...... When you go back, ask if you can take the oath back.” Dante sighed deeply, “You never should’ve sworn those oaths in so casually, especially the first one about must having a strong man as a partner. Why didn’t Bishop Valentine stop you back then...”

Vanna’s head drooped a little lower again until it’s on her shoulder, but due to her tall stature, even her defeated posture was enough to be two heads above her uncle’s. Sounding muffled and weak: “There is no way to take back the oath easily. It is a sacred agreement made in front of the goddess. Besides.... I am not someone who makes an oath so casually. Almost all female guardians have taken one. It’s a symbol of our bravery bestowed upon us by the storm, proof that the goddess...”

Dante silently stared at his niece, who was two heads taller than him: “Then have you ever imagined that you will one day become invincible in the world by training so much?”

Vanna: “... Isn’t this for the second and third articles of the oath...”

Dante: “Aigh.....”

This topic had been discussed countless times over the past few years, which always ended awkwardly for both or in a stalemate. Unfortunately, this time was no exception.

However, Vanna had never been one to get dragged down for long. Quickly adjusting her mood, she solved the battle on the dinner plate with amazing speed before getting up to leave: “I’m done eating, Uncle... Huh? ”

Vanna jerked to a stop, staring at her uncle with surprise and shock while pointing to his prosthetic ruby eye: “Uncle, the wound near your eye is oozing blood... You okay?”

“Huh?” Dante was stunned for a moment but quickly reached up and touched it. After confirming it was blood, he ran to a mirror to see for himself. From the round ruby making up his fake eye was indeed a trickle of blood slowly seeping down his cheek, the scar around the eye more striking and frightening now than ever.

“Don’t move,” Vanna hurriedly approached from behind, placed her hands around Dante’s forehead and whispered the words of the Storm Codex. “May the sea breeze moisturize the body and make this flesh and blood heal.”

Under the action of the divine prayer, Dante felt a slight itch near his wound before the small bleeding stopped. Sounding a little helpless: “Don’t make such a fuss. This is not the first time anyways; after all, a cold metallic ball with rubies is bound to cause irritation when rubbing against the skin.”

The expression on Vanna’s face did not relax at all. On the contrary, she continued to stare into Dante’s ruby eye, and only after a long time did she ask: “Do you feel anything else? Is there a burning tingle? Or see some illusions through this ruby eyeball?”

Dante blinked without flinching or fluctuating emotion in front of his niece. Through the ruby eyeball that’s been blessed to clearly see the truth, what’s happening was unlike anything that should be – flames burning behind Vanna, ashes and scorch marks filling up the dining hall and the disembodied and molten deposits of the roof.

Gradually, the hot sensation returns to normal after he absorbs the phantom truth.

“Of course not, everything is normal,” Dante replies nonchalantly like nothing’s wrong as he always did in the past.