Deep Sea Embers

Nemo suddenly felt a palpitation.

At this moment, he seemed to feel that what the fearsome "ghost captain" in front of him was making was not a simple promise, but a statement to him... an "established fact" that had been formed someday in the future ".

He didn't know where this feeling came from, he only knew that he couldn't help but lower his head at this moment, and said with a kind of awe that he couldn't even describe: "As you said."

Duncan nodded, then moved his gaze as if unintentionally, and looked at the old ghost standing not far away, leaning against the wall as if in a daze.

At this moment, the old man didn't say anything about the Frost Queen, and he didn't mutter about the second waterway, the rebels, etc. In the time and space that people forget.

In the old man's chaotic memories... does the Frost Queen still rule this place?

Duncan withdrew his gaze, called Alice who was also wandering beside him, and led Fanna and Morris towards the exit of the secret passage.

It didn't take long for them to return to the surface. After leaving the "Golden Flute" tavern, they came to the streets of Frost City.

The setting sun is gradually approaching the roof of the building in the distance, and the brilliant and mysterious double rune circle just touches the edge of several spiers in the upper city. In general over the city.

Dusk is approaching, and curfew time is approaching. Due to the stricter curfew order, everyone is rushing back to their homes or the nearest "night shelter", and Duncan, who is still walking around in the hurrying crowd A group of people seemed quite different.

But not many eyes paid attention to them, everyone was very busy.

"What do you think about this matter?" Fanna came to Duncan and said in a low voice—because of her similar height, she could get very close.

Duncan remained calm: "You mean the source of the 'fake'?"

"It seems to have appeared out of thin air—Me and Morris couldn't find the corresponding traces through our respective investigation methods, and even you couldn't find any clues," Fanna nodded lightly, "And we always thought that even these weird 'fakes', they also have to go through a 'normal' way to move their positions, there must be a source, and there must be a process of movement..."

Duncan slowed down a bit, and turned his head slightly: "Do you want to say that those fakes may have some kind of spatial 'power' that allows them to ignore the barriers of the real dimension and directly appear in a specific place?"

"That's my suspicion."

Duncan was noncommittal, and after a few seconds he said suddenly: "Did I tell you about Alice's first arrival on the boat?"

"No," Fanna blinked, "did anything happen when she first got on board?"

"The coffin of the puppet will keep coming back to the Lost Home - three times I threw her into the sea, and three times she and her wooden box returned to the ship," Duncan said slowly, "Guess what happened to her?" came back?"

Fan Na thought for a while, and said uncertainly: "Rely on... the power of the curse? Some kind of 'regression ability' of abnormality 099? Is it also the power of space?"

"No, she came back by paddling the coffin boards, very fast," said Duncan in a calm tone, "and then climbed up directly along the stern shell with great strength-because the paddling was so fast, I couldn't do it the first two times. I didn’t catch her, and I caught her the third time.”

Fanna: "..."

The young judge turned his head at the same time as Morris next to him, and looked at the puppet lady who was looking around with an indescribable gaze. The latter noticed the sight and turned his head to show a harmless smile.

"I don't rule out that those 'fakes' will directly appear in the city-state through some kind of space teleportation method, but logically, if they can really be teleported directly to the city, why does the 'Haiyan' have to travel all the way from the open sea?" Drive over instead of appearing directly in the port?" Duncan said lightly, "I prefer that the fake still needs a normal way of moving, and the reason why the fake in the sewer seems to 'appear out of thin air' is probably just Because we overlooked something, like a normal person would never think that the real reason for a cursed doll's repeated 'return' is that she paddles fast and has great strength."

Speaking of this, he paused, and continued thoughtfully: "...It is more likely that the place where the crow 'struck' was also due to this 'neglect',"

Morris, who was silent all the time, suddenly reacted: "Some kind of 'channel' that exists but cannot be observed? Or a 'rift' that opens from time to time?"

"It's hard to say, but this matter must have something to do with those cultists," Duncan said, "I am very concerned about the things recorded on the piece of paper that the crow brought back. They don't seem to be all heresies." Thoughts', it's more like describing the facts that happened in the past with some words that modern people can't understand, and this kind of 'record'... has always been very suitable for the appetite of those cultists.

"Perhaps it's really time to bring Agou and Shirley here—the eyes of the secluded demon may be able to discover something in a dimension other than reality."

...

A gray wind swept through the gate of the Port Defense Office, and the figure of the gatekeeper Agatha stepped out of the gray wind.

Colonel Liszt behind the desk raised his head and looked at the gatekeeper lady who appeared in his office: "You didn't even need to report this time."

"Sorry, it's an emergency," Agatha said, suddenly noticing the thick dark circles on Liszt's face, "...you didn't sleep last night?"

"I'm not the only one who didn't sleep," Liszt smiled wryly and shook his head, "We've been trying to decipher the mysterious signal from the Sea Fog Fleet all night, and several cryptographers and mathematicians are about to carry their chairs to sleep. Wake up——for the first time, I know that elegant scholars will also greet other people's relatives when they quarrel."

Agatha was silent for a while, her eyes seemed a little weird, and she said after a while: "The cathedral may 'borrow' some scholars from you in the future, and they are in the field of cryptography and mathematics."

Liszt was taken aback: "Why?"

Agatha has no expression on her face (half of the expression is blocked by a bandage): "... to crack the secret of evil that another evil being left us."

"Well, it seems that you have as many troubles as I do," Liszt sighed, and then cheered up, "Let's get down to business, what do you want to know about this sudden visit?"

"About the blockade of the city-state," Agatha said, "originally the cathedral shouldn't be involved in the defense of the city-state, but now that the situation is special, I'm really worried."

"I understand," Liszt nodded, "please rest assured, the entire Frost has been completely sealed off now—even if there is a place that is not properly blocked, with such a huge sea fog fleet gathering in the offshore, it is impossible for anyone to dare to casually In and out. We have temporarily frozen all port exit permits, and told the surrounding city-states and ships on the open sea to stay away from the frost, and all port entry applications received so far have also been rejected."

"Very good, at least it won't make the problem worse," Agatha breathed out softly, "Where is Dagger Island?"

"It is still in a state of blockade until the cathedral gives further 'professional advice'," Liszt said, with a slightly dignified expression, "as of yesterday, the island was still sending back regular reports of 'everything is normal' , Even if the city-state has stopped the supply of materials to the island and cut off all communication responses at the same time, there is no other response from there."

"Don't let your guard down, the Haiyan incident proves that the pollution on that island has a tendency to actively transfer to the city-state... That 'thing' won't just calm down like this," Agatha said seriously, "The cathedral A force of Deathsworn and Ascetics is already being prepared, but the opening of the mighty relic will take some time."

Liszt nodded, and then seemed to want to say something, but before he could speak, a sound of footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the corridor, interrupting his movements.

A Minato soldier appeared at the door of the office.

Liszt raised his head and looked at the soldier with a slightly hasty look on his face: "What happened?"

The soldier stood up straight and reported quickly: "Sir, a ship scheduled to dock at Frost did not show up on time."

"Didn't show up on time? There's no beginning or end," Liszt frowned, "Now all the routes around the city-state have been blocked, and of course there will be no ships docking."

"Report sir, it's not that it didn't dock—it didn't show up at all!" The soldier quickly explained, "The ship was supposed to arrive today, and we were ready to send it a city-state blockade notice, but it hasn't contacted for a long time. , We just contacted Lenggang again, and Lenggang confirmed that the ship had completed the supply inspection normally on their side - but after approaching the Frost Offshore, there was no more news from it!"

Hearing this, Liszt's expression finally became serious. He took a light breath and stood up from behind the desk: "What's the name of that ship?"

"White Oak!"