Chapter 98 Who is drawing up the list?
Chapter 98 Who’s Drawing Up the List?
The viewpoint presented in the mirror seemed to be based on a window, and Duncan felt like he was a person clinging to the window, peering through the glass at the room, which contained an unusually tall young woman whose side profile looked somewhat familiar.
With a little recollection, Duncan remembered where he had seen that face before – it was that Inquisitor of Prendern’s prestige in full bloom, Vanna Wayne!
Her figure had appeared in the newspapers.
Why had he himself seen such a sight? Why would one suddenly see this devotee of the Storm Goddess through a window? Some hidden connection? And when had this connection been established? Why did he suddenly perceive this invisible “line” when he had never realized it before?
Countless thoughts popped up in Duncan’s mind, but in the next second, the chaotic thoughts in his mind were interrupted by the same thing that he saw in his line of sight.
He saw what the Inquisitor was reading in the mirror.
It was a document, written in a strict format, with the sacred symbol of the Storm Goddess printed on the surface of the paper, and the first sentence at the beginning was: I hereby notify the captains of all ships on the infinite sea and the accompanying priests and guides, that the Anomaly 099 – Mannequin Hearse has gone out of control in recent days, and as witnessed by the Most Holy and the Most Illuminated One, the cursed thing is lost in the storm, and I hereby announce this anomalous out-of-control situation and its characteristics as follows… …
Duncan’s eyes slowly widened as he looked over Vanna’s shoulder at the document written in a format that seemed to be a specific prayer about Anomaly 099, the dangerous curse with the power to decapitate, the place where the Doll Hearse originated, and the record of the “Alice Guillotine”…. ……
In astonishment, his eyes moved all the way down, and at the end of the document, he saw the record of the “attack” on the White Oak, but the key part of the last sentence was blocked by the tall figure of Ms. Judge, so he couldn’t see it clearly.
Duncan in front of the mirror to probe left and right, heart anxious, subconsciously chanting: “to the side, to the side to make way ……”
Vanna in the lounge suddenly felt as if there was a wisp of breeze blowing across her earlobes, she subconsciously looked to the side and saw that the window was open a crack, and the chilly evening sea breeze blew in through the window.
The flames of the few oil lamps in the room swayed, the soft lights dispelling the malice that permeated heaven and earth as night approached, and also bringing her an extraordinarily reassuring feeling.
She put the document aside and turned her head to the regional bishop, “Put it away, the bishops of the city-state are certainly circumspect in their dispositions, this is safe.”
The regional bishop nodded, and while stepping forward to put away the document, he twisted the electric light in the room again, and the light that was brighter than the oil lamp dispelled the dimness at the turn of day and night: “Do you still have to rush back to the central cathedral this night?”
“Bishop Valentine is still waiting for me to confer on matters,” Vanna nodded slightly, “Things have been unsettled in the city-state for some time now, and we may need to conduct a large-scale consecration to fortify the cathedral’s protection against the entire city-state.”
With that, she glanced up at the chandelier dangling from the roof, the bulbs fitted into it making the room as bright as day, “…… Gee, if only the electric lights could have the same effect of warding off evil spirits, obviously so bright and the range of illumination is far superior to flames… …”
“Who says it isn’t,” the regional bishop spread his hands, “It’s just a shame electricity isn’t holy.”
Vanna shook her head without saying anything, and after bidding the Regional Bishop farewell, she stepped out of the common room.
After Vanna’s departure, one of the oil lamps near the window suddenly swayed slightly, followed by a return to calm.
The scene in the mirror faded away, and after the green film of light faded, the glass re-reflected what was inside the captain’s chambers.
In the moment just now, when that Inquisitor lady had turned her head, Duncan had still been able to make out the line at the end of the document – a line whose most useful information to him was just a few words:
Vision 005 – The Lost Country.
“The classification of the Lost Country Number is indeed ‘Vision’ …… And it’s surprisingly high numbered.” He returned to his desk and murmured thoughtfully, but then immediately became a bit puzzled, “Then again, how exactly is the numbering done?”
Nina’s textbook mentioned the numbers and names of many anomalies and visions, and also mentioned that this “list” and the rules behind the list originated from the ancient Kingdom of Crete, but the specifics of how the numbers of those anomalies and visions were determined and who determined them were unknown, only saying that the churches had the right to interpret and the obligation to publicize them, and mentioned that under normal circumstances, the more advanced the number, the more important the number, the more important the number. Under normal circumstances, the more advanced the number, the more bizarre, dangerous, or with a special historical status – initially Duncan had not thought about it, but at this time he suddenly came up with questions.
Was this number …… in the order of discovery?
If it was in the order of discovery, then the Lost Country, which was only a hundred years old, could not have occupied such a high number; after all, there were all kinds of visions in the world that were older than the Lost Country, and theoretically all the upper numbers must have been filled up a long time ago.
But if they were not ranked in order of discovery, but according to the degree of danger, wouldn’t these numbers have to change from time to time? Whenever a new anomaly or vision was discovered, the danger value would have to be reassessed and the entire “ranking” would have to be corrected, which would become a big project and would be extremely inconvenient to use.
Although the textbook says that the danger level of anomalies and visions may not be 100% positively correlated with the ranking, it clearly mentions that in most cases, the anomalies and visions with the highest number are more dangerous and terrifying than the ones with the lowest number.
This brings us to a question worth thinking about: if the existing list of anomalies and anomalies is a relatively stable thing that doesn’t change easily, then its arranger is practically a prophet-like character, who almost has to anticipate the “ranking” of each anomaly and anomaly when listing them, and not only has to accurately assign the position to new anomalies and anomalies when they are discovered, but also give them a “ranking” in the table in advance. Not only must he accurately assign new anomalies and anomalies to their positions when they are discovered, but he must also leave “empty spaces” in the table for powerful anomalies and anomalies that will appear in the future.
Duncan saw the expression “Vision 005 – Lost Country” and suddenly had doubts about this “list” and the maker behind it, but soon he put these doubts aside for the time being. Because there is something more important than the rules behind the “list of extraordinary things” – Alice.
That Harmonium Gate’s cursed doll had such a big name!
“I’m going out.”
Duncan said casually to the pigeon on his desk, striding out of the Captain’s chambers.
The goathead in the chart room heard the door to the room move and immediately turned his head with a creak and spoke routinely after seeing Duncan, “Last name ……”
“Duncan Ebnomar – let’s not talk about that, where’s Alice?”
“Ah, the great ship ……” the goat head just wanted to blah blah blah a few paragraphs out of habit after confirming the name, only to be blocked by the captain just as a few words popped out, holding back a creak in his neck before responding, “You’re Looking for Ms. Alice? She’s probably in her room counting her hair ……”
“Counting hair?” Duncan froze, “What new problem has she added …… Forget it I’ll go there myself, you just keep driving the ship.”
After this word put down he also did not wait for the other party to respond, twisted his head and opened the door and left the captain’s room in a wind, leaving the goat head on the chart table staring blankly at the doorway that had already been reclosed tightly.
“I haven’t even had a chance to say more ……” After holding his tongue for a long time, Goathead finally reacted, his tone depressed, “Is my ability to open up a conversation diminished… …”
As soon as his words fell, he saw the door in the corner that led to the captain’s chambers open a crack, and Aey the pigeon squeezed out of the doorway with a big wiggle, fluttering his wings and flying onto the table.
“Chatting for five dollars?” The pigeon cocked his head and blinked his little eyes.
“Well, well, well, there’s one that’ll chat with me!” Goathead instantly cheered up, in line with the standard that the ship was full of his own people, he wasn’t at all picky about who he communicated with, “What do you want to talk about? That said, can you really talk normally? It always feels like you ……”
“Whole lot of fries.”
“Huh?” Goathead froze, “No, I mean, do you really realize that you ……”
“Whole lot of fries.”
“…… If you want to talk about cooking sea food ……”
“Whole lot of fries.”
“Can you say something else?”
“Whole lot of fries.”
Goathead: “……”
Not paying attention to the commotion in the captain’s cabin after he had left, Duncan walked straight through the upper decks and soon made his way to the seaman’s cabin below decks, and after a moment to gather his thoughts in front of the door to Alice’s room, he reached out and knocked on the door, “Alice, it’s me.”
A stuttering voice soon came through the door, “Please …… please …… come in ……”
Duncan subconsciously raised an eyebrow at the sound of the commotion, then pushed the door open as soon as he could.
That doll in a long gothic dress sat in front of the table next to the bed, facing one of the dressing mirrors on the table, she held her head in both hands, a head of silver-white hair like a waterfall – that head’s eyes turned over, a smile gradually bloomed on her pretty and delicate face, “Ship …… ship …… captain, night …… night …… night… …”
Duncan: “You put your head in place.”
“Booyah.”
(end of chapter)