Chapter 175: The Eve of the Storm
Chapter 175 – Storm’s Eve
The nun who had been praying quietly in front of the goddess’s icon was gone.
The floor in front of the pulpit was empty, and the bright gas lamps illuminated the empty main hall and the rows of seats. Vanna and the Guardian warriors searched the not-so-big main hall, but they couldn’t find the strange “nun”.
Of course, Vanna knew that the nun probably didn’t exist from the very beginning – the other party’s body had obviously died in the underground sanctuary many years ago, and the one who was maintaining the prayers in the main hall was just a phantom of the other party, but it was the sudden disappearance of the phantom that made everyone realize that the other party was a phantom. But it was the sudden disappearance of this phantom that made everyone feel uneasy in confusion.
“Not in the corridors and small rooms over here either!”
The last two Guardian warriors who had gone to search returned to the main hall, and their reports confirmed one thing: the nun’s “phantom” had really disappeared completely from the church.
Vanna’s brow furrowed, and her mind quickly pondered– the phantom had disappeared.
The phantom had disappeared, but when had she disappeared?
Was it when she entered the underground sanctuary for the second time? Was it when she saw the string of numbers the real nun had written down on her deathbed? Or was it ……
At the time when the eerie spectral green flames flared up out of nowhere and wiped out the traces on the floor?
If it is the former, then the disappearance of the phantom is likely to be due to his “observer from the real world” penetrated the truth, and thus destroyed part of the illusion here, and if it is the latter …… means that the phantom captain took action.
The Captain of the Ghost wiped out the traces in the underground sanctuary as well as the apparition of the nuns in the main hall – for reasons no one knows.
Continuing to stay here would no longer lead to more discoveries, and it was imperative to tell Bishop Valentine about the current information, and subsequently go to the archives to confirm the warning signs he had just detected.
Vanna quickly led the team out of the church, and as they stepped through the church doors and turned back again, what they saw was indeed the church’s completely deserted and dilapidated state.
Vanna let out a breath, at least she had brought her men safely out of this weird place, and then she suddenly had a change of heart, and subconsciously raised her head, looking above the church.
A chubby white dove was standing on the high spire, looking over with its head cocked in a harmless manner.
Why was this pigeon still there?
Vanna couldn’t help but feel a little curious in her heart, but she quickly ignored these many doubts, and after arranging for the people who stayed around the chapel, she turned around and got into her car, embarking on the road back to the central cathedral.
The white pigeon lifted its wings and flew away from the chapel in a hurry.
But the dove didn’t fly too far – after getting out of the line of sight of the guards who stayed around the chapel, it directly drilled into a nearby alley.
Ghostly green auric fire rose swiftly in the deserted alleyway, transforming into doorways and whirlpools, and Duncan stepped out of the flames, then frowned slightly, looking thoughtfully in the direction of the church.
It had been the right thing to do, drawing Vanna and the “official forces” behind her to the scene had paid off in more ways than expected – the investigation had moved forward, and professionals are professionals, they know far more than the likes of Shirley and Dog ever could. The way of the road.
When he was close enough, Duncan could directly listen to the movements around the target through the “imprint” he had left on him, and since Vanna’s imprint had been strengthened during her last visit to the antique store, this listening could even allow Duncan to sense the young Inquisitor’s mood swings to a certain extent! –Just now, he had been staying over the church with Aey, and through this kind of listening, he had “observed” the whole process of the Guardian team’s exploration in the church.
Duncan pondered quietly in the shadows of the alley, organizing the information he had just received.
The nun was most likely fighting against her own “subspace projection” – there was no other intruder, and the intruder came out of the “rift” of her own soul?
The Acolytes of this world, once they are completely overwhelmed by the contamination,……, will directly become a “channel” connecting the subspace and the real world?
Is it only the acolytes that can do this, or do all humans have this kind of hidden danger, and the danger is even greater after the acolytes are contaminated?
This is one of the information that Duncan is most concerned about, but also the most unexpected and confusing.
Duncan didn’t know much about the several gods of this world and their churches, but at least through this period of observation, he could confirm that these churches stood on the side of order and guardianship, and that the acolytes ensured the safety of the city-state in the transcendental realm, and at the same time, they were also the most steadfast line of defense in the fight against the world’s “deeper” contamination. A line of defense against the “deep” contamination of the world.
However, now he knew that this firm line of defense, under certain conditions, could itself be transformed into a “conduit” between the real world and the subspace……. Why is that?
If this kind of transformation will not only happen to the acolytes, but all human beings will be transformed into subspace channels under certain conditions, then what does this mean?
The subspace that was incomparably feared by the world, the connection between it and the real world, and earthly mortals seemed to be more complicated than he had imagined at first …… In addition to this piece of information, there is also the number “1885” left by the nun.
This is indeed a detail that Duncan and Shirley did not find when they explored this place before, and it is also a detail that surprises Duncan at this moment.
If Vanna’s judgment was correct, the nun did not die in the solar debris incident in 1889, but died in 1885 – and in the years after that, the chapel should have been shrouded by a distorted time and space!
And what did that mean?
Duncan’s thoughts rose and fell while he slowly raised his hand, and as he gently rubbed his fingertips together, a cluster of ghostly green embers burned silently in his sight.
He could visibly feel the psychic fire spreading – in the unseen dimensions, on the ‘other side’ of the Prandrian city-state – and sending him weak feedback.
This was his third confusion.
Shortly after Vanna had discovered the string of numbers in the underground sanctuary, it had disappeared into thin air, and there had been a brief appearance of psychic fire, which the young inquisitor must have believed to be the handiwork of “Captain Duncan,” but in reality ……
Duncan was even more confused than she was.
That string of numbers was not erased by Duncan’s hand, and he had no idea why the flame he had released suddenly appeared in the underground sanctuary and burned the number “1885” in a targeted manner – it gave him a feeling as if the flame was not spreading in space to the church. It gave him a feeling as if the flame had spread not in space to the church, but in time to the year 1885!
Duncan suddenly froze.
Perhaps …… it was not an illusion yet ……
For some reason, he suddenly recalled the time when he had been studying Alice’s crate, and recalled the injunction he had heard when he had peered into the scene of the Frost Queen’s execution half a century ago-
“…… Please don’t pollute history ……”
Duncan’s face sank and his brow furrowed a little as he thought of a phrase he had heard not long ago:
Anything in this world can be contaminated except subspace.
……
Vanna breezed back to the cathedral, wanting to head to the archives first to confirm what was going on with that serious dissonance in her memory, but went to see Bishop Valentine once more first and told the old man about her findings in the Sixth Ward Chapel.
After listening to Vanna’s account, Valentine didn’t say a word for a long time, and he pondered for a long time with his brows furrowed before grunting with a toothache-like expression, “Subspace …… This is really the most troublesome of all troublesome situations… …”
“As we were getting ready to leave, the string of numbers in the chapel pointing to 1885 and the nuns praying in the main hall were gone, seemingly related to the power of that ‘Captain Duncan’,” Vanna added, ” But we didn’t stay in the church for repeated tests for fear of the risk of contamination spreading.”
“…… Rightly cautious,” Bishop Valentine nodded gently, “Right now we can’t be sure exactly what the attitude of the spectral captain is, and right now it seems that while he did give us an important piece of information, he also erased some clues at the end …… In any case, he is not our ‘friend’.”
Vanna pondered for a moment and looked at the old man in front of her, “Have you heard anything back from the church headquarters? Have you already reported the situation over here to the Pope Coronation?”
Valentine glanced at Vanna and nodded, “I’ve already reported the situation here to the Storm Cathedral as much as I can, and the Pope Coronation has said that support will be sent as soon as possible – but the church ship is ultimately a distance away from Plainland, and even the swiftest of fast ships will have a hard time arriving within a few days, so …… it’s better to be prepared to rely on yourself.”
While saying that, this old bishop sighed softly and turned around to gaze at the icon of the Storm Goddess.
“Disaster is brewing, I don’t know when it will erupt, whether or not this pearl of the sea in Pland will be able to wipe away the gloom depends on our own skills.”
(End of chapter)