Chapter 185: 'Safe and Sound”

Chapter 185 “Safe and Sound”

The undead bird circled around the room before blowing up a vortex of flame with her body. Through this ethereal door, Duncan stepped through and came before Shirley.

“I remember telling you to ask for help when you are in trouble.” Duncan lowered his head and quietly spoke to the girl covered in blood, “Why didn’t you look for me?”

“I... I forgot,” Shirley blinked, feeling a sense of relief as the buzzing noise evaporated from her head. Then showing a tangled expression, “I was very confused just now... that’s right, these guys won’t stop screeching in my ear with their weird prayers. It made me all dizzy...”

Slowly turning to glance at the attackers frozen in stasis, Duncan could fault the girl for losing her cool. It’s the first time he had seen something this strange as well. They’re more beast than human at this point. If not for the tattered clothes on their body, Duncan had every reason to believe they were actual monsters from a horror flick.

Then Duncan frowned after recalling another detail, “Were they the ones who hit you? Where did they all come from?”

“They hit me!” Shirley immediately proclaimed like a distraught child running home to tell her parents. It’s weird, but that reaction came to her out of reflex. “I don’t know where they came from. Dog said they’re Ender Missionaries, the crazy bastards that worship subspace...”

“Ender Missionaries... people who worship subspace?!” Duncan didn’t expect an encounter like this on a random night. Looking over to Ai, who’s still flying around the room, “Don’t zap them yet.”

As he ordered, the few surviving Enders had already shown signs of being erased by Ai’s powers in how they’re flickering like a shoddy tv signal.

“The network is connected! The network is connected!” Ai flutters back to reality and lands on Duncan’s shoulder, her beak pecking the ghost captain in protest of interrupted work.

“Alright, alright, I get it. More fries for you later. First, send them to the ship instead,” Duncan nodded to the dove, “I’ll pick them up on deck over there.”

“Mission accomplished! Mission accomplished!” Giddy with joy, Ai took to the air with hurricane speed and swept the Enders up with a green vortex that instantly spirited them away.

Shirley was stunned to see what was happening in front of her. In fact, the battle ended so abruptly and strangely that it didn’t feel real at all.

Mr. Duncan didn’t make a move at all. In fact, the man didn’t care what tricks or special curses the Enders had from beginning to end. He just showed up here, and then, as if he had a slight interest in the group, he plucked them away like someone casually picking up a stone from the roadside.

“You’re not going to spend the night here today, are you?” Duncan raised his finger and pointed to the mess in the room, “Do you think this place can still be inhabited?”

Shirley looked around the hut that she and Dog called home for many years. Everywhere she looked, it’s smashed furniture and debris from the fighting. There’s nothing of value left in this place.

The girl didn’t say anything for a while and only glumly looked down at the ground.

“The patrolling guardians don’t seem to have noticed the commotion here. We can still pack your things if you want,” Duncan sighed. He knew Shirley’s mood couldn’t be good, but there was nothing he could say to comfort her. “But regardless, you can’t stay here anymore. Even if you don’t mind the broken furniture, we don’t know if those Enders will revisit this place. You’re a target to them now...”

Duncan didn’t have the heart to continue. He knows Shirley was a child that’s far more mature for her age due to the harsh environments she grew up in.

“I... will pack some stuff,” Shirley said sullenly.

“Need help?” Duncan asked.

“No need,” Shirley shook her head, “I have... very little.”

Indeed, the girl had very little to pack.

Duncan only waited for a short while before Shirley finished the task: a small tin box for carrying, a rag doll, and a few tattered clothes she had salvaged from the former closet.

“We’re taking all these... so we’re not coming back in the future?” Dog peeks up at the small tin box and sullenly asks, which doesn’t get a response at all.

Duncan knew he had to do something now after hearing that. Coming over to Shirley’s side, he lowered himself to eye level and patted the girl’s head in a comforting manner.

“Let’s go, let’s go home.”

A green fireball promptly shot out of the old-looking hut and soared through the night sky. Its destination, Duncan’s Antique Shop.