Chapter 1108: Caged Bird

Tingen City is actually not that small.

With the population of both the urban and suburban areas, the count reaches hundreds of thousands. In this era of steam and machinery, a city without any economic pillars or being a political center achieving such population size is quite remarkable.

Miss Xianyu, Fors the writer, felt that this “small city” was especially large that drove her to the point of despair.

If one wanted to escape from here, it wasn’t an easy thing, especially in this current chaotic period even the public carriages were paralyzed. Naturally, steam trains couldn’t be immune to this effect, as they have temporarily stopped operating with no idea when they might resume.

——And that blocked her easy escape from Tingen.

——Fors certainly couldn’t just leave the city on foot and traverse the countryside all the way back to Backlund.

Even if it were truly possible, this salted fish wouldn’t dare choose that method. She severely lacked a sense of security, even subconsciously suspecting that once she left places with more people, she would immediately fall prey to something sinister…

Perhaps this is a writer’s occupational disease, an overly rich imagination made Fors feel like she was suffering from paranoia as she quickly envisioned numerous terrifying conspiracies against herself, with various death scenarios spinning like a carousel in her mind.

Already timid, she found herself scaring herself further with her own thoughts. The more she thought, the more afraid she became, leading Fors to resolutely make a decision.

She would seek the protection of the Orthodox Church!

In Fors’s view, this might be the only self-rescue method she could currently adopt. Besides this, she truly couldn’t think of any other good options. After all, she lacked battle strength and barely possessed anything useful as a Sequence 9 “Apprentice”—only the ability to pass through obstacles using the Spirit Realm’s uniqueness.

Yet she could only pass through walls or blocked doors, under the premise that there was no restriction by Extraordinary Power, and the barrier was not too thick.

Beyond this somewhat gimmicky Extraordinary ability, she was no different from an ordinary person… Oh, she does differ; ordinary people might be stronger in a fight than she would be.

However, to helplessly watch and do nothing, to merely await her fate, is not what Fors wished to see. A cornered dog can jump a wall, a salted fish encountering a threat to life would surely instinctively flop a bit.

And perhaps destined to join the Tarot Association in the future with her raw talent and jade quality, Fors at this moment showed an unexpectedly consistent mindset with the future Mr. Fool. Yes, she chose to officially report herself and actively surrendered…

Though rationally, wild Extraordinary individuals like her should avoid official contact as much as possible, yet at this critical moment, who could bother with so many concerns.

Seeking help from the official authorities at least offers a chance.

If she didn’t do so, it’s likely her corpse might appear in the sewers or some grotesque cult’s sacrificial ritual scene after two days.

The rich imagination and practiced self-victimization made Miss Xianyu burst forth with a strong survival instinct and unprecedented action force. After preliminarily checking Tingen’s official power distribution, she found herself easily making a choice. Because just like the mainstream beliefs throughout the Lune Kingdom, Tingen City was primarily devoted to the Night Goddess, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Steam and Machinery.

The three Churches have divided areas based on the size of their congregations—

The Night Goddess Church corresponds to the “Saint Selena Church” on Red Moon Street.

The Church of the God of Steam and Mechanics corresponds to the “Saint Number Church” in the suburbs.

The Church of the Lord of Storms corresponds to the “River and Sea Church” in Tingen North District.

Because Fors did not understand much about Tingen, she naturally wasn’t clear where the official Extraordinary organization of this city was headquartered, so she could only seek out the churches on the surface.

The Lord of Storms’ church is located in the northern district of the city, but was the first to be ruled out by Fors. She had some idea about the things there, especially since her friend Hugh had specifically told her about the attitude differences of the three Churches towards wild Extraordinary individuals.

Overall, although all three Churches openly aim to crack down on wild Extraordinary, the Night Church and Steam Church’s concepts and styles are relatively softer.

Only the Storm brothers were really fierce in their crackdown without holding back, Fors just wanted to take a risky move, definitely not to fall into a trap or get herself killed, so she decisively passed on this option.

As for the Church of the God of Steam and Mechanics being located in the suburbs, it was not a good option either; she didn’t want to leave the city and people-concentrated places, hence she ruled it out too.

Thus—

Naturally, only one choice remained: she would seek out the Night Church!!

……

……

Fate is not a caged bird.

However, the fate of the caged bird is already predetermined.

The drama played out in Tingen, the face-off between Night Watchers and betrayers, the script written by Sealed Object 0—08… all the sins, all the struggles, all that happened were long intertwined by lies and schemes, regardless of the process, the outcome was already destined.

Nothing can escape this constraint, from the grand Gods beyond the Human Realm to the dust-like planets themselves, all caught within the net cage.

Even the starry sky is part of this pattern.

……

……

36 Zotlan Street, second floor, Blackthorn Security Company.

Klein was pacing back and forth in the reception hall, like an ant on a hot pan, spinning around anxiously yet unsure what to do.

The reception hall was very quiet, possibly because Roshan and the other clerical staff weren’t present today, and this silence spread through the air, unlike the usual peaceful times, it gradually turned into a kind of deathly silence that made people quite agitated and restless.

Especially compared to those crowded, noisy streets where quarrels, snatching, brawls, and even bloody incidents occur from time to time, Zotlan Street today was also eerily quiet. Looking out from the second-floor window, one could see the entire street’s desolation and quietness, not a single human figure, lifeless as if it were a silent city where the residents had vanished.

Klein took a deep breath; he knew this was normal.

This street’s commercial development is relatively low, usually lacking in popularity.

And now almost half of the city’s population had gathered at telegram offices, train stations, various shops, markets, and even dock warehouses, so naturally, they wouldn’t appear here. It’s not just a characteristic of this era; even in the Earth world before his transmigration, similar situations would occur, where the populace perceived an impending crisis, leading to a panic buying frenzy…

The only difference being that in this steam and mechanical era, productivity is far from being comparable to the world before his transmigration.

Normally, it can’t even be said to meet the basic needs of the public, let alone at this critical juncture where everyone is desperately trying to hoard more and more supplies. The more unavailable they are, the more panic ensues, and this further deepens the crisis, leading to subsequent unrest…

“Klein, I’ve already reported this to the higher-ups and also sent warnings to the ‘Punishers’ and the ‘Mechanical Heart,’ but without a sufficiently convincing reason, they might not easily be persuaded.”

At this moment, Dunn Smith came walking out from the corridor.

The Night Watch Captain was frowning tightly, seeming deep in thought about some troublesome matter, and looking somewhat fatigued.

The main reason being he was on duty at the Chains Gate last night until this morning, which was already quite exhausting. Just as he was about to leave for home to rest, Klein rushed in with a piece of news that sounded alarming, putting immense pressure on him.

However, fortunately, Dunn was a responsible captain who trusted his teammates.

Furthermore, with what happened last night, today’s situation in Tingen has become chaotic. If some evil force were really trying to exploit this, it wouldn’t be impossible.

Taking all these factors into account, Dunn still responded decisively; he’s not someone who shirks responsibility.

“Klein, I understand you might have some concerns or reluctant secrets, but I’m glad you came to tell me this…”

Locking his deep grey eyes onto his trusted team member, Dunn seriously said, “I don’t know how you learned about that conspiracy, but we need more precise information, do you understand?”

“This, this…”

Klein opened his mouth, then finally shook his head, saying bitterly, “Captain, I really don’t know, the only speculation is, perhaps they’re trying to open some sort of portal to welcome the possible arrival of an Evil Spirit…”

This was what he had gleaned from fragments of those mutterings; as for anything else, he truly knew nothing.

“Welcoming the arrival of an Evil Spirit…” Dunn murmured, his expression visibly becoming much more solemn, “If that’s indeed the case, it might already be beyond what we can handle.”

“Will the Church send people over?”

Klein asked, clinging to a shred of hope. If a Demigod or Saint were to oversee things, there would definitely be no problem, right?

Though he understood it was unrealistic, if people rushing forward with one-sided claims could bring strong Church members for inspection without decisive evidence, then the Church wouldn’t be able to do anything else. During such times, the upper management wouldn’t be able to do anything other than running around tirelessly.

“Hard to say…” Dunn shook his head, reluctant to discuss this topic, likely knowing its lack of realism. “Regardless, let’s focus on what needs to be done ourselves… Klein, where was the last place you saw her?”

“She was… she was…”

Klein was about to answer when his gaze unconsciously shifted out the window.

In that instant, his mind went blank, with the words stuck in his throat, unable to come out.

He felt his heart pounding intensely, like thunder, almost drowning out his thoughts until all he could perceive was the drum-like beating of his own heart. He lost all ability to think, just staring at the end of Zotlan Street, where that woman’s figure reappeared, walking purposefully towards Blackthorn Security Company…

—As if it were the inevitable unfolding, as if the trajectory of fate had been manipulated from the very beginning.

—No matter which direction it flowed towards, it inevitably arrived at the same destined end.