Chapter 388 – Sudden Appearance of Breath
Chapter 388 – A Breath That Suddenly Appeared
The heretics and monstrous freaks executed in the Spirit World were now reduced to the remains of wreckage in the reality dimension, and the severe pollution suffered by the sewage treatment center had been temporarily purified, but for the shadows shrouding the entire city-state, it was feared that this was only the tip of the curtain that had been lifted.
The black-clad guards returned to the gatekeeper, and Agatha briefly counted and confirmed the status of her men before her eyes fell on the slightly shaven executive not far away.
“Is his condition confirmed?”
“It has been confirmed, he is indeed a normal human,” a black-clothed guard said in a low voice, “but having been severely shocked, the possibility of mental contamination cannot be ruled out – he needs a period of psychological counseling and observation.”
“Leave it to the local church,” Agatha nodded gently, “Also inform them that this sewage treatment center is in bad shape, and that the entire facility will need a thorough decontamination and inspection afterwards, and that they will restart the place after all hidden dangers have been cleared.”
“Yes, Gatekeeper,” the ministry nodded in response to the order, then glanced up at Agatha with some concern, “You …… haven’t run into any trouble, have you?”
Agatha frowned, “Hmm? Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been stranded ‘over there’ for more time than usual,” the minion explained, “Did you find any clues under the Spirit Vision?”
Agatha was still frowning slightly, a thoughtful expression on her face; for some reason, she always felt as if she’d overlooked something, but when she remembered it carefully she couldn’t find anything suspicious – was it the after-effects of being stranded in the Spirit World for so long?
Shaking her head, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her usual eye drops, but hesitantly put them away a moment later.
There was no discomfort in her eyes, as if she had already used the drops before she returned to reality.
“Nothing happened,” she said to her minions, “except that the heretics showed up weird and took slightly more time to ‘interrogate’.”
It was a pity nothing came of the interrogation – the heretics were so stubborn and fanatical that mere death couldn’t even shake their diehard hearts.
But what had …… himself overlooked?
Agatha’s mind was once again filled with vague doubts, but in front of her subordinates, she showed nothing.
“Are we returning to the cathedral next?” A black-clad guard asked from the side.
“Return to the Cathedral,” Agatha nodded, “We must immediately organize manpower to launch a search of all underground facilities throughout the city, the situation may be more serious than we thought.”
……
The time was approaching dusk, the edge of the sun was approaching the sea horizon, the brilliant double runic circle was escaping a magnificent light near the surface of the sea, the distant buildings of the city-state were gradually drenched by the setting sun, and the whole city took on a texture as if it was going to gradually melt in the evening sun.
Duncan stood in front of the narrow window at the end of the second-floor corridor, his lanky frame blocking out almost all the light spilling in from the window, and in the gap between the intertwined bandages, he gazed quietly into the afterglow of the setting sun in the distance, seemingly lost in thought.
The dog’s sneaky footsteps came from beside him, and without turning around, Duncan already knew who was approaching.
“All done with your homework?” He asked casually.
Shirley, who had just opened the door to her room and was about to slip down to the first floor to find a snack in the kitchen, stopped with a jolt, while Dog’s shivering head emerged from the shadows beside her, the latter mumbling in a lowered voice, “I told you I’d be found out for sure ……”
“I …… I finished my oral math question card,” Shirley ignored Dog’s horseplay and just scrunched her head and looked cautiously at Duncan, who was as imposing as a tower of steel at the window, “There’s still one more time left for the vocabulary, but I’m hungry ……”
Duncan heard total nervousness and aggravation in the girl’s tone, which made him turn his head to look at Shirley with a bit of a wince, “Did I say no food until you finish your homework?”
Shirley scowled and didn’t dare to answer.
Duncan sighed, smiled, and turned to Shirley and pressed on her head.
“Disliking studying a lot?” He said helplessly, “You look almost like you’re being bullied.”
“I …… get sleepy when I read ……,” Shirley said nervously, still a little uncomfortable talking to Duncan in his current body, the bandages and somber black clothes seemed to her to be seemed even a little more intimidating than the usual captain on the Lost Country, “I …… I’ll go to my room and do my homework!”
Duncan gently squeezed Sherry’s shoulder, and the latter’s turn to go back to her room was momentarily interrupted.
“Take a break if you’re tired,” Duncan shook his head, “Don’t study out of fear.” Shirley gave Duncan a somewhat incredulous look, but followed it with a quick nod, as if she was afraid the Captain would backtrack.
After a few more seconds, she looked at Duncan carefully and couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you have to make me read and write …… me …… It’s not like I have to take a college exam like Nina, or become some kind of scholar ……”
It was the first time Duncan had heard that query from Shirley’s mouth, but it was clear that the question had been coiled in her head for who knows how long – the orphaned girl who hadn’t been to school since she was a little girl, and who had only been attached to one of the Phantom Hounds was clearly not able to comprehend the Captain’s intentions.
“Because knowledge is useful,” Duncan said after a moment of silence, before looking at Sherry very seriously, “the knowledge that makes you resist and headache, holds up the whole civilized world – look out there at the streets moving with the cars on the streets outside, the roaring machines in the factories, and the boundless sea outside the city-state, haven’t you ever wondered how those things work? Never wondered what a city-state looks like in the distance?”
Shirley thought for a while, she seemed to know what the “right answer” was, but finally shook her head with some hesitation: “No, I …… always thought it was enough to fill my stomach, I didn’t think about it that much. ”
“But you don’t just need to fill your stomach now, Shirley,” Duncan bent down and looked earnestly into the other’s eyes, “Maybe you don’t understand it now, but I want your life to be a little more complete – you’ve missed out on a lot of things, but since you are now a member of the Lost Country, those missed will surely be made up for.”
Shirley stared blankly at Duncan, she actually still somewhat didn’t quite understand what the captain was talking about, but she still seemed to vaguely detect some …… warmth in the other woman’s earnest and serious tone.
This temperature was vaguely familiar.
So she nodded her head in a half-understanding way and made a somewhat elongated sound, “Oh ……”
“Good,” Duncan smiled, slowly straightening up, “Now that you understand, go down and get something to eat later and get back to your homework, I ……”
He stopped abruptly.
Shirley, who was craning her neck waiting for the next instruction, looked up a little regretfully at this point, “Huh? What happened to you?”
Duncan didn’t answer her, but merely waved his hand gently while his gaze had been cast into the distance – appearing to be looking across the corridor, but in the depths of his eyes it was as if a glimmer of light was being reflected somewhere very far away.
He blinked, and while the corridors and roof of the house were reflected in one eye, the other seemed to see a ship burning with an ethereal green flame, hovering between the mists and the shadows.
Off the Frost, in the captain’s quarters of the Lost Country, which was slowly balking across the vast ocean, Duncan suddenly looked up from his chart table.
His sudden movement brought an immediate reaction from the goat’s head at the edge of the table, which creaked and turned its neck, “Ah, Captain, what are your orders? Is dinner ready? Although there are no hands available on board right now, I would still like to serve you dinner within my means, what would you like to eat? We can start with a southern dish, fried meatloaf fried pork chops fried fish cakes fried meatballs baked bird’s eggs steamed bird’s eggs boiled bird’s eggs simmered bird’s eggs pickled bird’s eggs smoked bird’s eggs ……”
“Shut up, I didn’t look up to hear you name the dishes,” Duncan glared at the raucous goat-head, but with a hint of gravity in his expression, he raised his head, looked out the windows of the captain’s cabin – which was in the direction of the Frost City-State – and spoke thoughtfully, saying “The White Oak?”
“The White Oak?” Goathead froze for a moment, then reacted immediately, “Ah, you’re talking about that steamer, the one Alice was traveling on before? Why do you suddenly remember it? Do you want to recover the trophy? I can provide you with a whole set of options to take it in – do you plan on getting new sailors on board? That captain should be able to stay ……”
“It’s nearby,” Duncan didn’t care what the goathead was rambling on about, he just slowly stood up from behind the table, frowning slightly as he spoke, sensing the faint but tangible connection carefully, “in the… . near Frost?”
“White Oak is near Frost?” Goathead finally stopped rambling, his tone tinged with shock, “That can’t be right… isn’t …… Frost on lockdown right now? And Tirion’s fleet is still blocking the route, there’s no way he wouldn’t report to you if a foreign ship was approaching, right?”
“…… Things aren’t quite right, I did sense the presence of the White Oak,” Duncan said thoughtfully, “but its position …… vague, and it seems to keep changing ……”
He narrowed his eyes and gazed in the direction of the Frost City State, trying to determine exactly what bearing the aura that had suddenly grown strong in his perception was.
The White Oak’s aura appeared suddenly, and it became strong in a short period of time, as if a flame suddenly lit up in the darkness and attracted his sight, a feeling …… that had never appeared before.
And I don t know whether it is an illusion or not, Duncan also felt that the breath of that ship appeared several times with big ups and downs and fluctuations, as if …… the lights were suddenly bright and dim.
In thought, he lowered his head and looked at the wooden carving of a goat s head on the table, “Do you know what is going on?”
The goat head thought about it and shook his head, “Why don’t I just give you the name of the dish ……”
“Doesn’t come in handy in a pinch.” Duncan tugged at the corner of his mouth, got up and walked around the nautical table, striding outside the captain’s cabin.
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(End of chapter)