Chapter 662 – Directions to the “home port”

Chapter 662 – Directions to the Home Port
The cage was located in a specially reinforced cabin, the narrow, humid and hot cabin was divided into a dozen large and small cages by iron bars, in which the “sacrifice” was imprisoned.

Walking into a place like this was never going to be a good experience – even Lucrecia would have frowned when she stepped into this prison.

By the time Duncan arrived, the caged victims had been moved to an open space at the end of the cabin – a relatively nice place, and right next to the vent, which looked like it would be a place for the guardians to stay for a short while.

There was an unpleasant smell in the air, the smell of blood and rotting flesh as they decayed, dirty bloodstains could be seen in the cages on both sides, some of which were obviously recent, and various “processing tools” used for bloodletting, skinning, and piercing were hung on the walls and pillars between the cages, emitting an unpleasant odor. The various “processing tools” for bloodletting and skinning and piercing were hung on the walls and pillars between the cages, giving off an unpleasant odor.

Duncan passed the cages and instruments of torture and was led by Lucrecia directly to the end of the cabin to look at the surviving victims.

There was some commotion – a tall figure covered in spiritual flames walked into the cabin, looking like an evil spirit intruding into the realm of reality, and the surviving “sacrifices” let out cries of alarm and tried to hide, but they were too weak to even stand up and run away. But they were too weak to even stand up and escape, so after some struggles, they could only rely on each other and crowded in the corner, looking at the “evil spirit” standing in the flames with frightened and uncertain gazes.

Duncan felt helpless – of course he knew that his current state was rather scary, but this time he relied on the “artificial beacon” made by Lucrecia to “descend” on this ship. But he relied on the “artificial beacon” made by Lucrecia to “descend” on this ship this time, in order to fit with the beacon, he had to maintain this spiritual form.

However, he soon realized that not everyone seemed to be running for cover – there was a small, thin figure that remained in place.

It was a small girl who looked to be perhaps seven or eight years old, ragged and bruised, her face covered in blood, and she sat peacefully on the floor, tilting her head back to look at Duncan and Lucrecia with no discernible emotion in her eyes.

A little curious, Duncan bent down in front of the child and looked into the other’s eyes, “You are not afraid?”

However the child did not react, not even her eyes changed in any way, she just stared blankly at Duncan, the bottom of her somewhat blank eyes reflecting the glow of the ethereal green blaze in front of her.

“I’ve already inquired, those cultists ‘sacrificed’ her parents in front of the child, and she was like this after that,” Lucrecia said in a whisper behind Duncan as she stepped from the side, “it was a long time ago thing – she’s been on this ship for a year now.”

“The Witch of the Sea paused, then continued, “…… Children are special and precious ‘ritual material’, especially for the Annihilationists, who keep their children in the most important places. They will leave their children for the most important ritual occasions.”

Duncan didn’t speak, his back turned to Lucrecia, so the latter had no idea what his father’s expression was upon hearing this – except that there were ghostly green flames spreading slowly deeper into the cabin and beginning to splinter.

After a few seconds, Duncan reached out and the disembodied spirit pressed his hand to the child’s head, gently stroking her hair.

“You’re going to be okay.”

Duncan then stood up and turned back slightly, “Lucy, do you have any candy with you?”

Lucrecia was stunned for a moment and shook her head with some apology, “…… No, I only carry some potions …… that I have to use on a daily basis, ah, there are cookies, cookies baked by Luni.”

As she said that, she quickly fished out a few cookies from her arms, and after glancing up at her father she stepped forward and slipped the cookies into the boy’s hands.

The little girl finally showed some reaction as she looked down at the food in her hand and began to instinctively shove them into her mouth, eating them quietly and quickly.

“Eating” was one of the few instincts she had left after a year of “living” on this ship.

After a while, two more shriveled, scrawny figures crawled out of the corner, almost wriggling their way up to Duncan, bowing their heads and kissing the spot where he had just stepped.

Duncan raised his head and gazed at the eyes that were either cowering, blank, or numb in the dark corners, and it was a long time before he asked suddenly and softly, “Are there any of the faithful still alive on board?”

“Already killed them all,” Lucrecia replied, “By your ‘standards’, none of the Annihilationists, except for that ‘saint’, need to be left alive.”

“Well, very well,” Duncan nodded slowly, then instructed, “Have your group of servants get some food and water, and let these people regain a little strength first.”

Lucrecia lowered her head, “Good.”

Duncan and Lucrecia then left the extremely unpleasant cabin – a few moments later, they arrived on the deck. The “living” ship was still sailing straight towards the “Holy Land” – sailing the ocean in a state of disarray and terror.

Its entire back half was almost torn into pieces, huge cracks spread all over the deck and hull, the big explosion made those broken debris present a blooming and horrifying scene, countless scattered fragments still stayed in the position when the explosion just occurred, and the whole ship to maintain a relatively static and bizarre gesture, the green flames in all the fragments and fissures between the burning quietly, as if the whole ship will be “solidified”. It was as if the whole ship had been “solidified” in the moment of disintegration, and the destruction was permanently branded on the ship.

Vision 001 is gradually rising to a high point in the sky, but the nearby sea surface appeared layers and layers of fog, fog from the ship’s surrounding diffuse rise, and in the air above the intertwining and convergence, the sunlight through the layers of fog, presenting a kind of weak and hazy texture.

“…… The aura of the spirit world is rising, the ‘change’ that has occurred on this ship seems to have attracted the shadows that hover at the borders of reality,” Lucrecia glanced at the surrounding waters as they appeared on the of the eerie mist, her brows furrowing slightly, “This is a ‘barbaric sea’ far from the main shipping routes, and the surrounding space isn’t as stable as that near the city-state.”

“Will they cause trouble?”

“No,” Lucrecia thought for a moment and shook her head, “With your power ruling the ship, those shadows wouldn’t dare come really close, but the ordinary people on board do seem to need to be moved away as soon as possible – their mental state It’s already bad enough that they might metamorphose under the influence of the spirit world’s environment.”

“I’ll have Aye open a gate afterward and help you teleport those people to Lightwind Harbor,” Duncan nodded, then asked suddenly, “Also, can you tell where the ship is sailing?”

“The stargazing room has been destroyed in the great explosion, and it’s impossible to tell the exact bearing, but based on the Rabbi’s general senses in the spirit world, it should be sailing to the southeastern ‘border’.”

Duncan turned his head instantly, “Border?”

“Yes,” Lucrecia said with a nod, “I’m as surprised as you are, but there are no more city-states or small islands in that direction, and the ship is now penciled in to ‘return’ at your command, so its only possible destination …… is that ‘curtain’ at the border.”

This ship’s “home port”…… is actually in the direction of the border?
Could it be that there are still some uncharted islands near the mist known as the “Eternal Curtain”? Or is …… the ship’s target simply that mist?

As if she could see the surprise and doubt in Duncan’s heart, Lucrecia took the initiative to speak up: “All along, the Church of the Four Gods has had a number of standing fleets patrolling the borders of the entire civilized world, and in the vicinity of the ‘Curtain’, all the islands have been explored, and all the landing points are under the control of the Church. So the only explanation is – the ship’s destination is located inside the mists, where there is a vacuum of sight for the Church.”

Duncan frowned, still feeling incredulous: “…… They opened a secret route under the eyes of the Church?”

“Crossing the border through the Church blockade or bypassing the Ark fleet’s patrol route is not difficult in itself, after all, the border is so long that the Church can’t put every inch of the curtain under its watchful eye, the patrol fleet’s main raison d’etre from the beginning was not to intercept passing illegal ships, but to monitor the changes in the border mists,” Lucrecia Explaining, “Between the patrol fleets, there is plenty of time and space to carve out a number of ‘secret routes’, and I could reach the Eternal Curtain unnoticed without attracting anyone’s attention if I wanted to.”

She paused for a moment, her tone becoming strangely serious.

“So more than the existence of ‘secret routes’, what’s truly unthinkable is the possibility that this ship’s ‘home port’ is located inside that mist.”

Duncan understood what Lucrecia meant.

In the long “border” sea, it was not difficult to avoid the eyes of the Church, but what was really difficult was to survive in that fog after avoiding the eyes of the Church.

The great wall of fog of the “Eternal Curtain” is the end of the civilized world, and “staying away from that fog” has always been an iron rule in the hearts of all adventurers since the records of the Age of the Deep.

Lucrecia’s discussion of this matter with him at this moment had an added layer of complexity – the “accident” on the Lost Country a hundred years ago had occurred after Duncan Ebnomar had insisted on crossing the fog.

What was in that fog? Is there an end to the fog? Is there a wider world beyond that fog? What did the Lost Country find in the depths of that fog a hundred years ago?
These questions had long been on the minds of Duncan Abnormale’s children, and even now, even after Duncan had returned to this world with the Lost Country, these questions remained like dark clouds over Lucrecia’s head.

In a sense, this cloud is even over the whole world.

With a gloomy and complicated look gradually surfacing in his eyes, Duncan turned around and slowly came to the end of the bow deck, propped his hands on the guardrail and stared at the misty sea in the distance.

Right now, the ship was sailing at full speed towards that cloudy sky.

(End of chapter)