In the end, Duncan couldn't dig up any more memories from his mind.
Although Ron – the original owner of the body – had indeed worried about Nina, years of illness and abuse of alcohol and drugs had seriously damaged his cognitive ability. Therefore, when the guy breathed his last breath, many of those not rarely-seen warm memories were gone, lost forever with the passing of the soul.
Nevertheless, one thing's certain, there was a fire eleven years ago in the lower sector of the city. It took Nina's parents and changed the child's life forever.
This may be a coincidence, but how many coincidences exist in this world? The sun fragment descended on the city-state of Pland. It caused the raging fire that burned a huge area of the city and killed many innocent people as collateral damage, thus causing a certain child to be orphaned as a result. Then a few years later, Ron, the uncle of said niece, became a degenerate due to illness and became the very suntists that likely summoned the sun fragment…
When there are too many coincidences, then it's no coincidence. Perhaps a hand was twisting the knobs and pulling the strings behind these fateful events.
During his long contemplation, a loud and clear voice suddenly interrupted Duncan: "I have inquired about the matter from the locals in the past few days. According to their knowledge, there was no famous fire eleven years ago…. However, some of them did mention a factory leak of poisonous gas from the storage tank. The gas spread across several blocks and caused a lot of people to hallucinate and go crazy. The event was also published in the weekly newspaper back then as well."
Duncan looked up in surprise and saw that it was an ordinary-looking female who spoke.
However, before he could seriously consider what the other party had said, the cult leader's gaze had already turned to him: "Compatriot, you happen to be a local here. Do you know the situation in this regard?"
Duncan was startled and suddenly realized that he had become the focus of the scene – for this group of outsiders who were trying to gather intelligence, their own local who "lived in the lower city of Pland" was undoubtedly a good source of intelligence!
Noticing a few sights coming from the surroundings, he thought about it for a moment: "I didn't live here eleven years ago, so the specifics are not clear. However, the leakage of the factory has indeed been mentioned…"
While elaborating, he looked at the female believer who had just spoken: "Eleven years ago, there really wasn't any fire in the lower city?"
"At least as far as I've gathered," the cultist nodded. "According to what I've heard, there hasn't been a major fire in the lower sector of Pland in the past twenty years… There were small fires such as kitchen mishaps, but that is obviously not considered in the scope of our search."
Duncan blinked and said nothing.
He clearly remembered that Nina's parents had died in the fire eleven years ago! The memory fragments in his mind even have the image of "himself" rushing out of the fire with Nina!
What went wrong? Is it because this body went deranged when I inherited it? Or is it because there's no fire in the lower sector of the city? Or…. it's just that this cultist in front of me didn't get the right information yet…
A faint doubt grew in his heart because the matter involved Nina and "himself". Then as he was processing what to do, a faint voice came again from that Shirley child: "The factory leak from eleven years ago… Did it happen in the sixth block?"
"Sixth block? Mmm... I believe so," the female believer nodded. "It is said that the incident caused quite a big stir back then because many people were left with health conditions. As a result, many lower city residents still remember it to this day."
A few believers next to him nodded and echoed what they heard, which reinforced the story since that's what they uncovered as well.
"The factory leaked…" the leader in the center of the assembly hall suddenly broke the silence, and the deep and majestic voice resulting from the mask echoed following his words. "The chemical leak could just be a cover-up by the authorities. The fact that it happened eleven years ago is too big of a coincidence. We will continue investigating this direction and see if the story points to the sun fragment."
The worshippers at the scene immediately nodded in support.
"Although the sun fragment is slumbering, its awakening day is fast approaching. Four years ago, our brethren's in Pland attempted to awaken the fragment with a rite, but they were foiled by the interference of the Storm Church. But fret not. The efforts were not in vain. On the contrary, the blood spilled that day only deepened the sun's connection with our world. So now, we must pay close attention to the news and rumors on the streets. If anything unusual happens, it may also point to the sun fragment. Do you all understand?!"
While the worshippers bowed their heads and respectfully accepted the order, Duncan, on the other hand, noticed another key point mentioned by the leader: Four years ago!
Duncan only knew the Storm Church destroyed a major stronghold of the sun cultists, but he never knew it was related to the sun fragment!
As the ghost captain organized the new information he had just gained, a strange pungent smell suddenly penetrated his nostrils and drew the man back to reality – it smelled like burning sulfur that's been mixed with various chemicals.
The next second, the surrounding cultists also smelled this pungent and unmistakable scent, causing most of them to scan around for the source. However, the masked leader standing at the hall's center instantly reacted. He pulled out the same type of sun talisman from his pocket and raised it high to unleash a globe of translucent flame!
"Vile filth… The flames have been deceived!" The leader glanced at the burning sun talisman and voiced his anger, "There is a heretic lurking among us!"
The hall instantly flew into an uproar, and Duncan's first reaction was that he had been exposed. Although he didn't know how he got exposed, but the sun talisman carried by the leader seem to be able to identify the spy in their mix.
Thinking of this, he sighed faintly and was ready to release the dove's undead form when he heard another sigh from the opposite side.
It was the girl called Shirly who sounded regretful: "I knew that Dog's spell is unreliable. The disguise only lasted for three hours."
Before the words fell, a pitch-black flame suddenly exploded around the girl's side!
The flame was born out of thin air, with the shape of fire but dark as a shadow. It first spread from one of the arms to the shoulder until it covered one-third of Shirley's entire figure. Eventually, the eerie black flame condensed on the ground like an oozing fluid and reformed into a pitch-black demon dog physically connected to the girl through a chain!
The undead hound was over half a person tall, and its body appeared to be spliced together from countless twisted bones of other animals. Of course, there was no flesh, but it had wriggling black flames wrapped around the bones like skin. However, the most eye-catching part wasn't its main body, but the head! Those bloodied red eyes were so full of malice and hunger that it looked like it would devour its prey merely by visual contact!
"Dark Hound… A summoner of the Annihilation Sect?!" The leader in the center of the assembly hall was furious when he saw this scene, "What is the meaning of this?! Are the worshippers of death declaring war against the sun's follower?!"