Chapter 362.
Chapter 362 Without a Trace
Nemo suddenly felt a palpitation.
At this moment, he seemed to feel in front of this fearful “Ghost Captain” made is not a simple promise, but is stating to him a …… already in the future one day molded the “established fact! The “established fact” has already been molded in the future someday.
He did not know where this feeling came from, but only knew that he involuntarily bowed his head at this moment, and spoke with a certain kind of awe that even he himself could not describe: “As you say.”
Duncan nodded, then moved his eyes, as if unintentionally, to look at the old ghost who stood a short distance away, leaning against the wall as if in a daze.
The old man wasn’t chanting any more words about the Frost Queen, or muttering about the Second Waterway or the rebels, he was just staring, as if his spirit was wandering in a time and place that had almost been forgotten.
In the old man s chaotic memories …… does the Frost Queen still rule this place?
Duncan withdrew his gaze and called Alice, who was also wandering next to him, and took Vanna and Maurice with him towards the exit of the secret passage.
It wasn’t long before they were back on the surface, out of the Golden Flute tavern and into the crowded streets of Frostbite.
The setting sun was approaching the rooftops of the buildings in the distance, and the brilliant and mysterious circle of double runes touched the edges of the spires in the upper city, and visually, it was as if the mortal spires held up the chains that bound the sun, and made the wheel of the sun hang in the sky above the city.
Dusk was approaching, curfew time was fast approaching, due to the stricter curfew orders, everyone was hurrying back to their homes or the nearest “Night Shelter”, and in the rush of people, Duncan and his party, who were still walking leisurely, looked quite different.
But not many eyes were on them, everyone was busy.
“What do you think of this?” Vanna said in a lowered voice as she came to Duncan’s side – as close as she could get due to her similar height.
Duncan didn’t move, “You mean the source of the ‘fake’?”
“It appeared as if out of thin air – Maurice and I couldn’t find a counterpart in our respective modes of probing, and even you failed to pick up a clue,” Vanna nodded softly, “And we’ve always assumed that, even with all these bizarre ‘fakes’, that they have to move out of position in a ‘normal’ way, that there has to be a source, and a process of movement ……”
Duncan slowed his pace a bit, and gave a slight sideways glance, “Are you trying to say that the fakes might have some sort of ‘power’ of a spatial nature that would allow them to ignore the dimensional barriers of reality, and appear directly in a particular place?”
“That is my suspicion.”
Duncan was noncommittal, and after a few seconds he snapped, “Did I ever tell you about when Alice first arrived on the ship?”
“No,” Vanna blinked, “Did anything happen when she initially arrived on the ship?”
“The mannequin casket would keep coming back to the Lost Country – I threw her overboard three times, and she and her crate came back to the ship three times,” Duncan said nonchalantly, “How do you suppose she got back? ”
Vanna thought for a moment, not quite sure, “By the power of the …… curse? Some kind of ‘regressive psychic ability’ from Anomaly 099? A power of a spatial nature as well?”
“No. She paddled her way back on the coffin board, paddled very fast,” Duncan said in a quiet tone, “and then used a lot of force to climb right up along the stern casing – and because she paddled so fast, I missed her the first two times, and It was only the third time that I caught her.”
Vanna: “……”
The young inquisitor turns his head at the same time as Maurice next to him, and looks with an indescribable gaze at Miss Mannequin, who is looking around, and who notices the sight and turns her head with a harmless smile.
“I don’t rule out the possibility that those ‘fakes’ would appear directly in the city-state through some sort of spatial teleportation-like method, but logically, if they could really teleport directly to the city, why would the ‘Sea Petrel’ have to go all the way from the Outer Sea to drive here, instead of appearing directly in the harbor?” Duncan said lightly, “I’m leaning more towards the idea that the fakes still need to move in the normal way, and that the reason the one in the sewers looks like it ‘appeared out of thin air’ is most likely just because of something we’re overlooking, just like a normal person wouldn’t even think of a cursed mannequin repeatedly The real reason for the ‘return’ is that she paddles quickly and with great force.”
Saying this he paused, and continued thoughtfully, “…… More likely, the place that the crow ‘mistakenly’ entered was also due to this ‘ignoring ‘,”
Morris, who had never said anything, suddenly reacted, “Some kind of ‘passage’ that exists but cannot be observed? Or a ‘rift’ that opens from time to time?”
“It’s hard to say, but the cultists have something to do with it,” Duncan said, “I’m concerned about the things recorded on the paper the raven brought back, they don’t all look like ‘heretical ideas’ in some kind of modern way, but more like ‘heretical ideas’ in some kind of modern way. They don’t seem to be all ‘heretical thoughts’, but more like descriptions of facts that happened in some sort of modern, unintelligible phrase, and such ‘records’ …… have always been very much to the liking of the cultists. “Maybe it really is time to bring Dog and Shirley here – the eyes of a spectral demon might be able to pick up on something in a dimension beyond reality.”
……
A gray wind swept in and blew through the doors of the harbor’s defense office, and the figure of Agatha, the gatekeeper, stepped out of the gray wind.
Colonel Lister behind his desk looked up at the Lady Gatekeeper who had appeared in his office, “You even saved yourself a briefing this time.”
“Sorry, it’s an emergency after all,” Agatha said, suddenly noticing the two thick dark circles under her eyes on Lister’s face, “…… You didn’t sleep last night?”
“I’m not the only one who didn’t sleep,” Lister shook his head with a bitter smile, “We spent the whole night trying to decipher the mysterious signals sent by the Sea Mist Fleet, and several cryptographers and mathematicians were about to fight with their chairs- -I learned for the first time that jaded academics who argue also greet other people’s relatives.”
Agatha was silent for a moment, her eyes seemed a bit strange, and after a moment she spoke, “The Cathedral may ‘borrow’ a few scholars from you later, precisely in the fields of cryptography and mathematics.”
Liszt froze, “Why?”
Agatha’s face was expressionless (half of her expression was blocked by the bandage), “…… to crack the wicked secrets left to us by another wicked being.”
“Well, it looks like you guys aren’t any less annoyed than I am,” Lister sighed, then pulled himself together, “Getting down to business, what are you trying to find out about with your surprise visit?”
“About the blockade situation in the city-state,” Agatha said, “Originally, the cathedral shouldn’t have asked about the defense of the city-state, but now the situation is special, I really can’t rest assured.”
“I understand,” Lister nodded, “Please rest assured that the entire Frost is completely blockaded nowadays – even if there really are places that aren’t blockaded in place, with such a huge Sea Mist Fleet gathering offshore, it’s impossible for Anyone would dare to go in and out at will. We’ve temporarily frozen all permits to leave the harbor and told the surrounding city-states as well as ships on the Outer Sea to stay away from Frost, and all applications for entry received so far have been dismissed as well.”
“Good, that at least doesn’t make it a bigger problem,” Agatha exhaled softly, “What about the Dagger Isle side?”
“Still on lockdown until further ‘professional advice’ is given from the Cathedral side,” Lister said, his expression slightly strained, “As of yesterday, the island was still sending back constant messages of Regular returns of ‘all is well’, and even though the city-state side has stopped supplying supplies to the island while choking off all communication responses, there has been no other response from that side.”
“Don’t let your guard down, the Haiyan incident proves that the contamination on that island has a tendency to actively move towards the city-state …… That ‘thing’ isn’t going to just go quiet,” Agatha said seriously, “The Cathedral is already preparing a force of Dead Oaths and ascetics, but the unsealing of the powerful holy relics will take some time yet.”
Lister nodded, then seemed to want to say something, but before he could open his mouth, a sound of footsteps then suddenly came from the direction of the corridor, interrupting his movements.
A Port Area soldier appeared at the office door.
Lister raised his head and looked at the soldier with a slightly hurried look on his face, “What happened?”
The soldier stood up straight and reported in a fast-talking voice, “Reporting sir, a ship that was scheduled to dock at Frost did not show up on time.”
“Didn’t show up on time? No clue,” Lister frowned, “Now that all routes around the city-state have been blocked, of course no ship will dock.”
“Reporting sir, it’s not that it didn’t dock-it’s that it didn’t show up at all!” The soldier hurriedly explained, “That ship was supposed to arrive today, and we were ready to send it a notice of the city-state blockade, but it was late in contacting us, and we just contacted Cold Harbor’s side again, and Cold Harbor confirmed that the ship had completed its supply check properly on their side before – but after approaching the Frost Offshore, it hasn’t been heard from since!”
Hearing this, Lister’s expression finally became serious, he inhaled softly and stood up from behind his desk, “What was the name of that ship?”
“The White Oak!”
(End of chapter)