Chapter 387: Return to Reality?
Chapter 387 – Return to Reality?
The White Oak stopped on the surface of the sea, and the “Black Oak”, which was shrouded in fog like a shadow, also stopped with it, and in the latter’s hazy shadow, it seemed to be hiding an invitation.
Lawrence looked at the ship, looked a little hesitant.
“Are we …… going to send someone up to take a look?” First Mate Gus’s voice came from the side, rousing Lawrence from his musings.
Lawrence turned his head and looked at the first mate beside him who had already followed him through thick and thin for twenty to thirty years, “…… You recognize it too, don’t you?”
“…… The last time we saw it was also near the Frost,” the first mate looked at the sea not far away, his tone seemed quite complicated, like Lawrence, he was also still wrapped in burning green flames at the moment, and his body took on an illusory posture like a ghost, “The last time we saw it was also near the Frost,” he said. “After so many years, several of our old subordinates know about your situation, but no one dares to mention this matter ……”
Lawrence was silent for a moment and suddenly spoke softly, “Do you remember not long ago, you saw a figure standing on the deck talking to me?”
The first mate was slightly stunned and immediately responded, “At that time that was ……”
“It was Martha – the ‘Martha’ that only I myself could see for the past so many years,” Lawrence’s voice was low, but the words he uttered made the first mate’s eyes gradually widen,… “I’ve seen her more than once on the ship during this time, and I’ve heard her voice while exploring that ‘Dagger Island’ …… I’ve always assumed that it was because of the hallucinations that this bizarre sea was amplifying in my mind. But now it seems the situation is not so simple.”
The first mate slowly turned his head and looked at the Black Oak, which was shrouded in fog and remained muted and dead silent, and it took a long time before he broke the silence, “It’s not an illusion, it’s here.”
Lawrence pursed his lips as if he was in deep thought, and only after a few seconds did he suddenly speak, “Signal it and see how it reacts.”
The first mate immediately nodded, “Aye, Captain.”
A few moments later, a set of lights on the White Oak’s side lit up.
The crew members, who were still in a ghostly state, turned the flaps in front of the searchlights and shot a series of regular flashes at the black “ghost ship” that was close at hand.
Lawrence stood on the bridge, staring in the direction of the black phantom ship, waiting for some kind of response from the ship – and fearing to see any.
“Martha …… are you there ……”
Nervousness caused him to subconsciously grab the handrail beside him while muttering softly as if to himself.
The next second, in that thick black mist, a wobbling point of light appeared on the deck of the Black Oak, which lit up for a few seconds before going out and then lighting up again, repeating three times.
“…… It responded,” the first mate turned his head and looked at his captain with a somewhat mixed expression, “You can wait here for now, I’ll send a couple of sailors up to see what’s going on first.”
“No, I’ll go myself,” Lawrence, however, waved his hand, and in his gradually calming expression he had evidently come to a decision, “If this is really some sort of phenomenon triggered by the gradual loss of control of my mind, it would surely be dangerous to let the other sailors rush up to that ship …… This matter needs to be faced by me, and only I can personally resolve it.”
The first mate obviously wanted to say something else, however, in front of the captain who had already made up his mind, he could only swallow back his words of discouragement in the end, “I understand.”
Lawrence gently nodded, “Go and prepare it for me, lanterns, ropes, weapons, ammunition, and in addition ……”
He suddenly stopped, his eyes looking over to the driver’s desk not far to the side.
A shriveled, dried-up corpse in an old-time seaman’s smock was there, moving carefully, bit by bit, towards the side, using the shadows of the bridge deck as cover in an effort to avoid attracting the attention of the others, and by this time it had almost moved next to that noose.
Lawrence thought for a moment, “I’ll take it with me – can’t leave an anomaly that’s already out of control on the White Oak, and it’s in too much of a state.”
Anomaly 077 stopped instantly. ……
At the same time, inside Frost City, at the sewage treatment center near Cemetery No. 4, the black-clothed guards were still vigilantly guarding the various intersections, and two other warriors were specifically watching over the unlucky administrator – the latter was sitting paralyzed beside one of the pipes next to the sewage settling tank, his face pale and his body still shivering a little bit, but he was still trying to answer the guards’ He was pale and still shivering, but tried to answer every question the guardsmen asked him.
“I don’t know, I really don’t know …… where I can tell the difference ……” The only remaining ordinary person on the scene, the only living ” human being”, the middle-aged administrator with a shaved roof kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, his face fear mixed with nervousness, “It’s always been fine here, I’ve known those people for more than a day now, and they’ve never looked out of place …… “
“Relax, you’re just a normal person, it’s not uncommon for you to be blinded by transcendent powers,” the black-clad guard in charge of the questioning had to calm the frightened administrator while looking up every now and then at the clearing next to the settling pool, “The gatekeeper will take care of those freaks –Lady Agatha will be back soon.”
The janitor subconsciously looked up at the vacant lot, and then the horrible scene from a short while ago seemed to invade his mind again – the three “church ministers” suddenly turned into strange faces, horrible ghostly demons were present from the air, and a dozen processing center employees turned into twisted humanoid monsters. A dozen employees of the processing center turned into twisted humanoid monsters, and fierce battles broke out with the black-clad guards. ……
The unlucky administrator immediately shivered and hurriedly closed his eyes, but the darkness brought by closing his eyes triggered a new fear, and he opened his eyes with lingering fear on his face.
At the side of the black-clothed guards noticed this scene, but could only cast a sympathetic gaze.
After spending so much time in a sewage treatment center that had been turned into a nest of freaks, surrounded by lurking, murderous cultists and fake freaks that had been replaced by protozoa – when the truth was suddenly revealed, he was mentally sound enough not to be scared into insanity.
The employees who had become fakes had probably been replaced one by one, and now the administrator was obviously the last one left, and if the guards hadn’t suddenly crashed the place, the administrator would have ended up being replaced by the next “fake” – himself! He himself could obviously think of that, and the fear was unspeakable.
After the incident here, the caretaker would never be able to return to his job at the sewage treatment center – not to mention his job – and would probably need a long period of psychiatric treatment before he could return to a normal life, but that’s not something the guards would have to think about.
The guardsmen were more worried about their superior’s situation at the moment – there was no doubt that Gatekeeper Agatha was powerful, three unusual Annihilation Magi plus a dozen or so fake freaks that could only be considered cannon fodder couldn’t possibly be that lady’s opponent, but now …… she hadn’t come back.
After another moment, even the administrator who was in a state of fear and unease also noticed the tense and grave atmosphere of the scene, he raised his head and looked at the surrounding black-clothed guards who were in a state of alert, and after hesitating for a few moments, he couldn’t help but open his mouth and say, “May I ask if everything is okay on the side of the …… gatekeepers? ”
“Lady Agatha is in the Spirit World, she’s worried that a fight between the Transcendents will spread to you, a commoner – as well as damage the sewage treatment equipment here,” a female black-clad guard said in a hushed voice, her calm voice carrying a reassuring power that “Don’t worry, no heretic can defeat Bartok’s keeper in the spirit world; she should have been delayed in her return as she continued to investigate the clues.”
The administrator hurriedly nodded, “Good …… good ……”
And in the very next second, a cold wind suddenly blew through the factory, and several black-clothed guards guarding the intersection coincidentally looked toward the open space near the sedimentation pond.
The female guard who had just opened her mouth suddenly sighed in relief, a small smile appearing on her face, “Ah, it looks like Ms. Agatha has already solved the trouble.”
As this guardian’s words fell, phantom shadows suddenly appeared one after another on the open ground next to the precipitation pool – as if another dimension was being reconnected to the reality dimension, hazy and illusory shadows appeared in the air one after another, and within just a few breaths, those shadows quickly condensed into solid bodies and fell onto the dirty ground.
It was a dozen or so fake freaks that had been transformed into humanoid mud, as well as the cold, mutilated corpses of three Annihilationists.
The bodies of the fake freaks quickly “melted” and turned into dry mud that would never move again, while the bodies of the Annihilists began to burn the moment they returned to the real world, and were reduced to a pile of charcoal by the black flames in a matter of seconds, while their symbiotic demons dissipated into the air before they had time to regain their physical form.
The administrator of the sewage treatment center watched this surreal scene with dumbfounded amazement, even forgetting the feelings of fear in his own heart for a moment, and immediately after, he saw a grayish-white whirlwind appear in the center of the clearing, which seemed to have soot and thick fog tossing about, and in the blink of an eye, a figure wearing a black jacket and holding a cane coalesced out of the gray wind and stepped out.
Agatha, who had bandages wrapped around her body, raised her head and looked at the familiar dimension of reality in front of her, as well as her subordinates who seemed to be a bit nervous around her.
“Problem solved.” She nodded softly to her minions, her voice low and reassuringly magnetic, as always.
(End of chapter)