Free Web NovelChapter 41: Chapter 41: Inside the Antique Shop
The inside of the antique shop was just as Duncan had guessed—full of clutter, decay, and a disheartening business scene. Merely looking at the dust piled near the showcase window, a Visitor could imagine how the owner had let his life fall apart.
The first thing he noticed were the shelves near the walls on both sides. Sturdy, low tables held large vases, sculptures, and cryptically intended totem-like objects. The wall behind the shelves was grid-like, fitted with spaces for placing smaller "items." Opposite the main entrance was a long counter, behind which a dusty rack held dimly colored paintings and small ornaments.
Behind the counter, there was also a stairway leading to the second floor, dimly lit and with an indiscernible structure at the moment.
Beneath the stairs was another door which, in "memory," should lead to the store’s back warehouse—half-filled with clutter.
It was hard to imagine that the heretic he had possessed was surviving off a shop that seemed unlikely to attract any customers and even had extra money to offer to the Sun God’s priest.
When Duncan walked deeper toward the counter, the old wooden floor creaked. Passing the stairs, he noticed the lamp fixed to the wall.
It was an electric light.
Duncan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.
The style of the lamp was unfamiliar; the iron frame and murky lampshade exuded a sense of foreignness, but regardless, the structure of that tungsten filament bulb inside was clear—the light was powered by electricity.
Had electricity become so widespread in this world? Were ordinary households in the Lower City District using electric lights too?
Then why were the light sources previously in the sewer gas lamps, oil lamps, and torches? Why were the street lamps outside gas lamps too?
A huge doubt emerged, which clearly seemed unreasonable to Duncan, especially in the environment of a sewer—there, having open flames and using flammable gas lamps held obvious disadvantages compared to clean and safe electric lights! freewebnøvel.coɱ
Initially, he thought that technological limitations forced the city’s managers to use gas lamps as a light source in the sewers, but now it appeared... at least in the Plunder City-State, technology had advanced to the point where electricity had entered the homes of ordinary people!
A tremendous sense of disparity filled Duncan’s heart; he tried to search the scattered memories in his mind for corresponding knowledge but only found the answers "This is supposed to be common sense" and "The city is planned this way."
It seemed either this knowledge was not public, leaving the heretic he possessed clueless, or the knowledge was so fundamental that it did not leave a strong enough impression in the heretic’s mind, causing the corresponding memories to fade rapidly after death, only leaving an impression of "supposed to be."
Holding a temporarily unsolvable puzzle in his mind, Duncan reached out and turned on the electric light—with a light click of the switch, a bright light immediately illuminated the area near the stairs and the counter.
There was another switch on the opposite wall, used to control other areas of the shop on the first floor, but Duncan did not intend to touch it yet.
Now, deep into the night, a small light turning on in an already closed antique shop might be explained by "shop owner waking up for a walk at night," but suddenly turning all lights on might draw unwanted attention.
With the limited light near the stairs, Duncan’s gaze first swept over the nearest items. What first caught his eye was a wooden totem-like object, under half a meter high, painted with red and blue pigments in bizarre mask patterns, next to what seemed to be a ceramic antique vase—tagged with an outrageous price in front of them.
Originally 420,000, discounted to 360.
It reeked of a self-defeatist attitude. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Duncan’s gaze quickly moved away, sweeping throughout the entire shop.
Every piece of genuine merchandise here would have resulted in Homeloss ramming headfirst into Plunder’s city wall.
The fakes couldn’t get any faker. A real collector wouldn’t need to verify them. Any mentally competent individual wouldn’t believe that an antique shop in the Lower City District would sell authentic antiques—would someone dealing in real antiques set up market in such a poor area? The oldest item in this entire shop might just be the sign at the front door...
Yet, Duncan wasn’t surprised by the existence of the shop itself—the owner knew he sold counterfeit goods. The people who shopped here also had no expectation of decorating their homes with millennium-old statues. Both parties were well aware of the reality. The citizens of the Lower City District needed a way to satisfy their spiritual needs—the "Antique Shop" sign at the door wasn’t for the owner to show others; it was for the visitors to reassure themselves.
After all, there are those selling jade under the overpass on Earth, claiming ninety-eight per bracelet as old-pit ice variety, where a slight knock against the doorframe at home would scatter beads of glass everywhere—don’t the buyers and sellers both know what’s going on?
Duncan wasn’t interested in the shop owner’s troubled past. He was concerned with one thing: this place could serve as his first "landing spot" as a captain of Homeloss on dry land.
A "forward operating base" for understanding the terrestrial world and modern civilized society.
He had already secretly decided, under conditions that allowed for the "walking in the Spirit Realm," to maintain his current body as much as possible and to operate within the Plunder City-State using this "antique shop" as a cover. Moreover, if Ai Yi’s training progressed well and she could truly manage controlled transport of "physical objects" between Homeloss and Plunder, this antique shop could also become a secret supply depot.
Duncan moved behind the counter and sat on a chair, meticulously sifting through the memory fragments in his mind, fishing for any potential hidden dangers.
The original owner of this body was a Believer of the Sun God, but he was also the lowest in the entire church hierarchy. As the City-State authorities continuously cracked down on heretical activities, the space for Sun God Believers within Plunder had been drastically reduced. The members were extremely cautious—besides wearing full hoods and masks to any gathering, connections between many lower members and the upper echelons of the church were usually limited to just one or two specific "contact persons." This was undoubtedly good for Duncan now—
It meant that even among the Heretics, only that one person knew his real identity and contact method. If that person was gone, then no one would know his unmentionable heretical identity.
He could walk openly in front of City-State administrators, as a clear and innocent good citizen.
And even better, after carefully sorting through his memories, Duncan confirmed that the biggest hazard had actually disappeared.
Because his contact was one of the three robed Heretics he had seen right after awakening...
Those three unfortunate souls had already been set up by a "pigeon."
He relaxed a bit, shifting to a more comfortable posture in the chair.
After the greatest danger had disappeared, if there was anything else to worry about, it was the other Sun God Believers who had participated in the sacrificial ceremony in the underground meeting place, along with the larger and more mysteriously dangerous Sun God Church behind those believers.
If his memories served right, four years ago Plunder City-State had launched a severe attack against the Sun God Church entrenched in the city. Since then, this deviant faith had faltered in the City-State—not to mention conducting ceremonies, just hiding well and not being caught by church guardians was already enough to be thankful for.
But now, these extremely low-key Heretics had done something quite high-profile.
The purpose of the sacrificial ceremony was to please the deity, and another goal was to gather strength or enhance the deity’s influence on the real world—the Heretics present at the meeting, including the officiating priest "Envoy," were actually only lower members of the Sun God Church. Would these lower members organize such a large event spontaneously?
Duncan’s memory fragments were not extensive, and a lower Heretic would not have access to the core secrets of the church. However, just by reasoning from the information he had, he could guess that those suddenly active Heretics were likely acting under higher orders.
That heretical sect worshiping the "True Sun God"... they planned to do something big in Plunder, and the accidentally interrupted sacrificial ceremony was probably just an insignificant splash before the start of this big event.
Duncan held no particular sentiment for this "Plunder City-State," but if he aimed to develop here, he had no choice but to consider what impact a group of lunatics like the "Sun God Believers" wreaking havoc in the City-State might have on him.
