Deep Sea Embers

In the end, Duncan didn't understand what a "child" was.

Goat's head is vague about this, and it seems that because it doesn't know the details of these ancient things that are wandering on the edge of the civilized world, as for Duncan, he can only summarize a little concept from the limited clues—

The offspring are the product of ancient times, and they hate the modern world. They have strange and dangerous powers, and they hide in secret and low-key. Except for the offspring of the sun, other "offspring" almost never show up in the civilized world. It is at the edge that threatens the safety of explorers.

And among all this information, there is one more interesting point:

The Sons of the Sun seem to be able to disguise themselves as humans - only the supernatural beings of the Church can distinguish disguised Sons of the Sun from ordinary people.

Duncan thought of the recent changes in the city-state of Prand, and thought of those "Sun believers" who suddenly adjusted their lives after a few years of low-key.

Behind the cult's high-profile activities... is it ordered by the "children"? What are those ancient and strange beings plotting against the Prand city-state?

Duncan stood on the edge of the deck of the Lost Country, staring for a long time at the turbulent sea beneath his feet.

There are also descendants in the deep sea, which are ancient beings different from the descendants of the sun, and "they" threaten the safety of the fleets of voyages between various city-states.

Duncan was wary and curious about these deep-sea creatures.

He believes that although he has never dealt with these things, as long as the Homeless is still wandering at sea, he will encounter these strange things sooner or later, and there is no harm in making more preparations before that.

Whether it is gathering intelligence, further controlling one's own power, or discovering the potential of Homeless, they are all planning for the future.

Of course, he is not afraid of the dangers lurking in the deep sea - after all, he has been floating on the sea with this ship for so long, and he can guess how many strange things there are in the deep sea, and the heirs are just that. It's just one of the countless strange threats. The so-called lice don't itch and the debt doesn't worry. As the captain of the Homeless, there are so many things he needs to be vigilant about here.

He pondered for a long time on the deck, and found that what he needed to worry about most at the moment was whether the "supply channel" he finally found would be affected - wouldn't those deep-sea offspring affect his fishing?

Although the pigeon Ai Yin has the ability to transport materials, it is still uncertain about its carrying capacity and reliability. What's more, the city-state of Perand is an orderly place, and the supplies that are transported to the ship also cost money. , so this supply line is not necessarily when it will come in handy.

Coupled with the lucrative catch from the last fishing trip, Duncan knew very well that the improvement of living conditions on the Homeless was ultimately a gift from nature.

And those "children" are now a hidden danger - they may affect the gift of nature.

Duncan was a little worried, he just hoped that the evil things in the sea would not affect his fishing.

…

The bright gas lamps emit light, dispelling the darkness in the underground facilities of the church. The deep sea runes inscribed in the long corridors exude reassuring power. The lines that symbolize the waves and the coast contained in those runes are connected to each other, as if to outline With an invisible giant net, the underground structure of the entire building is shrouded in a sacred and quiet atmosphere.

Fanna was walking in the underground sanctuary of the church. This sacred and quiet place calmed her slightly impetuous mood.

The goddess of the storm, the most powerful force in the boundless sea, but she is not only a symbol of the violent side of the "storm", this ancient **** is also in charge of the power of silence and seal.

Just as the sea has two sides, calm and storm always go hand in hand, so is the authority of the goddess - the underground of the cathedral symbolizes the "mirror image of the storm".

There are many gods in this world that are one with two sides, or have the characteristics of one and two sides. The **** of death is in charge of vitality at the same time, and the **** of wisdom also has the authority to deprive reason, madness and madness. Ordinary people may not know much about this aspect, but as a A high-ranking cleric, Fanna has a lot of knowledge in this area.

She also knows that it is precisely because of the two-sidedness of many gods that some highly controversial, even heretical ideas have arisen, and some scholars even believe that the whole world is also two-sided - in a certain dimension, even There is a "depleted land" where the sea and the land are completely mirrored. There is an endless dry land, and extremely rare rivers and oases are dotted in the aridity. In that depleted land, there is even a wisdom civilization that is specious to the real world. They mirror everything in reality...

These outrageous speculations based entirely on speculation are of course not admitted, and even the famously enlightened Bishop Valentine from the Prand city-state sneered when he heard this statement—

In the old man's original words, there is a subspace at the bottom of this world is enough to make people head, some folk theologians should stop hanging things under the subspace, okay?

Fanna suddenly shook her head, letting her uncontrolled thoughts gather again.

In the quiet underground of the cathedral, it is easy for people's thinking to spread out uncontrollably. This is because the "mirror image of the storm" brings too serene psychological hints. Psychological barrier, this effect is invisible and powerful, even a strictly trained Inquisitor like her is not immune.

But on the other hand, this special environment has special uses.

For example, getting some fanatical and deranged cultists to speak.

Fanna stopped at the end of the corridor of the underground sanctuary, where there were several doors leading to various "interrogation rooms", and a statue of the Storm Goddess stood quietly in the foyer between the doors.

This icon is different from the statue of the goddess on the ground in the church - the icon on the ground opens its hands, as if receiving the kowtows of the people, surrounded by its own infinite majesty, while on the ground, the icon of the goddess has its hands folded in front of the chest, Quiet and gentle, like a girl listening attentively.

But no matter which icon it is, the face is covered with a veil - a symbol of the unknowability of the gods.

This listening icon with folded hands is another gesture of the Storm Goddess: the Maiden of Tranquility.

She suppresses water bodies below sea level and shelters the tranquility of the city-state's underworld.

Fanna bowed and saluted in front of the statue of Jinghai Maiden, then turned and pushed open the door of a nearby interrogation room.

The sound of the door shaft turning broke the silence in the underground facility. After the door opened, a spacious but dimly lit room appeared in front of Fana.

There is a large table in the center of the room. Ms. Heidi in a long black dress is getting up from the table, and opposite the table is a chair with restraint chains, and a sun heresy is sitting quietly on the chair. superior.

The heretic was blind, leaning crookedly against the handrail next to him, as if his reason and strength had been pulled away from his body, leaving only chaos remaining.

There was still a strong scent of incense in the room, and Ms. Heidi's medical box was still on the table. Inside, you could see the empty large syringe, the wriggling thorn vines, and the golden awl that seemed to still have blood stains.

"Oh, Your Excellency Fanna, you came just in time," Ms. Heidi turned to greet when she heard the door open, "I just finished a 'treatment'."

Fanna's eyes swept across Heidi's medical box, her expression was the same as always: "Seriously, it's still difficult for me to associate this set of things with your 'treatment'..."

"These are standard tools for psychiatrists...well, I admit that I probably use them more often than the average doctor," Ms. Heidi said, shrugging, "but who asked me to be employed by the municipality? What about the 'hypnotist' who often helps the church? The 'patients' I've come into contact with are not normal patients, especially cultists like this. Shaking crystals and low-frequency pendulums don't have a triple dose of a needle.' Midnight Elixir' works well."

"...I very much suspect that the reason you inject three times the dose to the cultist every time is because you can only hold three times the dose in this big syringe," Fanna complained to the acquaintance in front of her, but then shook her head, "but It doesn't matter, you can pry open the mouths of these guys...Tell me, what's the gain?"

"Yes, and the harvest is not small, the situation is strange," Ms. Heidi replied immediately, "I have performed deep hypnosis on several cultists, and also used some special methods, and now it is basically certain ... These participated in the sacrifice ceremony. It's very likely that the cultists didn't go mad after the ritual got out of hand..."

"Didn't he go crazy after the ceremony got out of control?" Vanna frowned immediately, although she already knew after talking to Bishop Valentine that the complexity of the matter would be beyond expectations, but Heidi's words exceeded her expectations. ,"What does it mean?"

"I searched their memories and found that these people's thinking... or cognitive logic, something went wrong before the last failed sacrificial ritual, more strictly speaking, these cultists seem to have been Affected by some kind of... cognitive filter, so that in their memory... eh? Lord Fanna, you don't seem to be too surprised?"