Chapter 336: No Longer Real
Chapter 336: No Longer Real
The battle in the alley was intense but short, from the two cultists’ whereabouts were exposed to the end of the battle, a total of only a few minutes had passed, but Vanna believed that the noise made in these few minutes had been enough to attract the guards on night patrol.
Of course, she wasn’t afraid of the Frost’s guardians, either from a standpoint or from a strength standpoint – she just didn’t have any intention of making a scene at a time like this.
And just as she was thinking about how to signal Duncan, who had entered the building, the dark, heavy door opened just in time.
The figures of Duncan and Maurice appeared in the light.
In the next instant, Duncan walked quickly toward the alley where Vanna and Alice were, while Maurice turned back to close the door while sketching patterns on the gate that looked like ancient writing, as if he were praying to the God of Wisdom for some kind of supernatural power.
“I sensed movement outside,” Duncan asked quickly as he came to the two Vanna’s and glanced up the alley with a slight frown, “What’s going on?”
“As expected, there are indeed Annihilationists watching this place – Alice detected them and we briefly exchanged blows,” Vanna replied immediately, “Both heretics are dead, no one escaped, but the The commotion of the fight may have drawn the attention of the Guardians, who will be arriving soon.”
“Alice noticed?” Duncan first glanced at the doll lady next to him in surprise, then immediately noticed the oddness in Vanna’s expression and realized that the situation just now might be far more complicated than imagined, but he didn’t pursue the question, he just nodded quickly, “Let’s not talk about so much for now, prepare to transfer.”
“I’ve already eliminated the traces we left behind,” at this moment Maurice also finished his aftermath and walked over, “Galoni’s side will forget the last twenty-four hours of her experience after awakening, even if there are highly skilled psychiatrists searching her memories, they shouldn’t be able to restore much of anything. ”
“Well, that’s good.”
Duncan nodded lightly, he didn’t really care too much about hiding his tracks, but it certainly wasn’t bad to have fewer people bothering him in the early stages of the operation.
He then raised his hand and beckoned in the darkness.
The sound of wings broke the quiet of the night, white pigeons resting on the roofs of nearby buildings swiftly leapt in, and in the next second, the ghostly green flames flickered in the alleyway, leaving only the sound of flapping wings to fade away in the night.
Calm was once again restored to the streets and alleys – and it was a few more minutes before a series of hurried footsteps and the swinging lights of carrying lamps appeared in the distance.
……
Aye hadn’t gotten too far away – in fact it had only flown a block away before finding a landing spot near an old factory.
It was an uninhabited tin shack.
The tin hut was next to the old factory, and the house had a not-so-small hole broken in the window, through which Aey burrowed into the house, accompanied by a violent rise in psychic flames, and the figures of Duncan and his party of four appeared inside the hut with it.
The first thing Vanna did was look around, seeing the thick dust that had settled in the outdated hut, a plank bed in the corner along with a simple table and chairs, and a few miscellaneous items piled up on the other side of the house, the cold wind howling outside the house, the broken hole in the nearby window making a whimpering, strangled sound in the wind.
“It’s for the pump house maintenance crew to take a temporary break, usually no one comes to live here outside of maintenance periods – I don’t know when the maintenance period is here, but at least it’s a place to take a temporary break today,” Vanna said as she made her way over to the window and Looking outside through the dirty glass, the old factory not far away stood silent in the night, the lights of the factory could be clearly seen and the sound of the machines running inside the factory could be heard, “The factory is still in operation, there must be priests sitting inside this kind of factory around the clock, and if there is a transcendental battle in the nearby neighborhood, the level of alert for this kind of factory will be raised along with it. ”
“Not a big problem, just don’t light up, they can’t sense this side anyway,” Duncan said casually, “We’ll wait here until dawn before we make our move – no problem, right?”
As he spoke, he glanced at the three men in his line of sight.
Alice was a cursed mannequin, Vanna was a beautiful strong woman, and even old Mr. Maurice, who looked the frailest, was a transcendent who wielded the power of a number of divine spells – strength-wise, there was no need to worry about them, it was just that the coldness of the winter nights in this northern city-state might not be so kind to an older gentleman of his age.
“There is no need to worry,” Maurice said, obviously noticing Duncan’s gaze, and he gave a small smile, raising his hand to his chest to trace the sacred runes bestowed by Rahm, the God of Wisdom, “Until a couple years ago, I used to go exploring from time to time those ancient relics and accursed ruined otherworldly lands located on the edge of dangerous seas, where the The environment can be far tougher than here – academic research is never an easy job, especially when dealing with history.”
Duncan thought about it for a moment and decided that the old man was right.
Historians and folklorists in this world are indeed pretty hardcore professions – even the “home school scholars” who don’t stay at home have to have three or two tricks up their sleeves, after all, they will fight with the things they are studying every now and then, the cursed scrolls and the evil relics. The cursed scrolls and the relics of the evil spirits are not just lying around in the display room. Not to mention an all-rounded scholar like Maurice – he’s afraid he’s got full points in Free Fighting and Wilderness Survival before he studies history ……
“We could actually go ahead and contact the informants that Captain Tirian has planted within this city,” Vanna said from the sidelines, “They should be able to help with lodging arrangements as well as provide information …… “
“I’ll contact them, but not now,” Duncan waved his hand, followed by a slightly more serious expression, “Starting today, do a better job of carefully screening anyone Frost comes into contact with, including those ‘informants’ Tirian mentioned ‘.”
Vanna was stunned, then realized something, “You confirmed that the ‘Brown Scott’ ……”
“It’s a deep-sea replica and has disintegrated itself, we were late and only found the few clues he left behind,” Duncan said, shaking his head, “but it was a situation that had been largely anticipated beforehand, and on top of that, we met a person in that house who was in a state of cognitive and memory disorientation of the female apprentice – she’s a normal human.”
Vanna’s expression instantly followed in seriousness.
“That’s Brown’s student, named Galoni – in her memory and cognition, she has completely deleted the parts related to her mentor’s death at sea,” Morris spoke up from the sidelines, “and in my and the Captain’s judgment, the This situation …… is perhaps no longer an exception throughout the Frost.”
“Since more than half a month ago, Tirian has been receiving odd and contradictory information, sometimes the information mentions the phenomenon of the ‘return of the dead’ in Frost, and sometimes it says that it’s just a rumor, and that the so-called dead have actually been the normal inhabitants of Frost from the very beginning, and sometimes, this completely contradictory information would even be sent in from the same informant’s channel,” Duncan picked up on Maurice’s words and continued on, “At first, Tirian thought it was the Frost authorities controlling the news, the Church stepping in to diminish the impact of the bizarre events on the residents, but now it seems . . it’s highly likely that this is the result of cognitive dissonance.”
“Captain Tirian’s informants are all over Frost …… You mean this is cognitive and memory contamination that covers the entire city-state?!” Vanna realized the gravity of the situation, “So now in this city-state ……”
“Who can’t say how many are replicas and how many are genuine, and that’s secondary, after all, none of the replicas should be able to escape my eyes, and I’ll be able to tell them apart quickly when I meet them, what’s most troublesome is the ordinary people who are already out of sorts ……” Duncan said, and paused and shook his head after a short reflection, “In short, the informants that Tirian left in this city are no longer so reliable, perhaps some of them have already been replaced, perhaps some of their perceptions have already been distorted, and perhaps some of them are even already the eyes of the Annihilationists …… Contact with them with be cautious.”
Vanna nodded with a solemn expression – but under her eyes, a pleasant gleam surfaced a little.
The cold and mysterious northern city-state, the residents of the city-state that were being constantly replaced, the eyes that had once been planted were no longer reliable, and the seemingly normal and harmless ordinary citizens were creating memory and cognitive pollution little by little, untrustworthy voices filled the entire city, and the pollution was spreading below the surface –
Which was good, because it all came back to her area of expertise.
Eradicating heresy and purifying pollution.
She was beginning to understand another layer of Pope Helena’s intention in sending herself on the Lost Country.
Already possessing a peaceful nightfall, Vision-Prande had no need for her as an Inquisitor nowadays, but as long as she followed the Lost Country ship, she would always have the stage to make her mark.
Duncan gave Vanna an odd look in his eyes.
“Is it just me? Why does it feel like you’re in a better mood all of a sudden instead?”
“Ah, it’s just the thought of continuing to root out heretics that puts me in a bit of a cheerful mood.”
Duncan opened his mouth, for a moment he didn’t know what to say about this young Inquisitor, but soon he focused on another matter.
He looked over to the mannequin that was standing next to him, walking away.
“Now that I’m done with Maurice’s progress, it’s time to talk about your side of the story.”
(End of chapter)