Morris used his words to the fullest, and in a quiet conversation, he confirmed many questions to Garoni.

During the conversation, he and Duncan gradually confirmed the status of the female apprentice.

All memories of Brown Scott's shipwreck six years ago and the death of her mentor since then have completely disappeared from Galoni's mind.

No, it's not just memories that disappear, but the entire cognitive system that goes with it—

The death of a person triggers a chain reaction, which includes ripples in the social circle, the handling of the aftermath, memories and emotional ups and downs over a long period of time, and the various details of the changes left in this house in the past six years, which cannot be solved by simply deleting and replacing a memory.

However, in Garoni's mind, "Brown Scott died in a shipwreck six years ago" never happened, and the series of subsequent reactions to this incident did not leave a trace, and she only felt that she had lived in the house for granted, and had been quietly waiting for her teacher to return - and now, her teacher had returned, and was resting in the upstairs room.

The shrill whistle of the kettle suddenly sounded, interrupting the conversation in the living room, and Garoni immediately got up and walked towards the kitchen: "Sorry, I'll go turn off the fire." ”

Taking advantage of the moments when the Senjin lady left, Duncan looked up at Morris on the sofa opposite: "Her perception has been interfered with. ”

"We should inspect the whole building," Morris whispered, "and if Brown is really here, he'll be sure to leave something behind while he's still awake—he wrote me a second letter not long ago, when he apparently had already sensed something." ”

“…… Let Garoni rest for a while. Duncan whispered.

Morris nodded, and in the middle of the conversation, Garoni had returned from the kitchen—she was carrying a large tray of warm ginger tea and some biscuits, and the lady, with her pale skin as a stone, placed her things on the coffee table and looked up at the two guests: "I've been waiting for a long time, let's drink some ginger tea to warm up." ”

"Thanks," Morris said, gesturing to the couch next to him, "Galonie, you sit down here first, sit down, I'll tell you something." ”

"Ah...... All right, Mr. Morris," said Garoni, who felt a little strange, but sat down obediently at once in the face of her mentor's best friend, "what do you want to say?" ”

Maurice looked into Garoni's eyes: "Lomonov inequality group. ”

Garoni's eyes snapped open, and a flood of knowledge, memory, and logic puzzles instantly covered all of her thoughts, and before she could figure out the general outline of these "information storms", a strong, self-protective tiredness had already surfaced in her heart.

She fainted silently, snoring calmly and sleeping peacefully.

Duncan watched this scene expressionlessly, and was silent for two seconds before asking, "How long will she sleep?" ”

"Depending on IQ, Heidi had slept twelve hours, and Garoni should have been a little longer," Morris shrugged, "Folklorists aren't usually very good at math. ”

Duncan didn't know what to say for a while, and after a long time, he said, "Why are you using this trick on your daughter?" ”

Morris was a little subtle: "Heidi insists that her hypnotic skills have surpassed mine—and fathers occasionally have some strange desire to win." ”

Duncan thought for a moment, felt that the topic did not need to continue, and stood up and looked at the staircase that led to the second floor.

"Now we can take a good look - if Garoni wasn't lying, her teacher should be in the bedroom on the second floor by now."

The old staircase creaked and the second-floor corridor illuminated with bright electric lights, and Morris and Duncan ascended the staircase in search of the "returning" folklorist.

The structure of the second floor of the house was uncomplicated, with a straight corridor connecting each room, most of which had unlocked doors - Duncan and Morris quickly confirmed most of the rooms and stopped in front of the door of the last room on the left side of the hallway.

This is the only place on the entire second floor that is locked.

Morris stepped forward and tugged on the doorknob, his brow furrowed slightly: "Locked—reversed." ”

"Locked from the inside?" Duncan had a vague sense of disobedience, and then remembered something, "Just now Garoni said that she would deliver meals to the teacher's room every day......"

"No way, this door hasn't been opened in days—a week or more," said Morris at once, his eyes slowly scanning the door in front of him, and there seemed to be a slight floating light surging in his eyes, "and there was no sign of the lock being broken." ”

“…… So, it's just that Garoni 'thinks' that she brings food to her teacher's room every day, but her teacher hasn't actually opened the door since many days ago," Duncan said, glancing back slightly at the staircase that led to the first floor, "The cognitive distraction has been continuing. ”

Morris didn't speak, but raised his hand and knocked lightly on the pale yellow door.

There was no response in the room.

"Brown, it's me," Morris began, "if you're inside, leave the door open—don't worry about your current state, we'll fix your troubles." ”

There was still no response in the room.

Duncan stared at the door silently, only to feel that the situation was ...... Not unexpected.

Eventually, he sighed softly, "Let me come, Morris, we may still be a step too late." ”

Morris's expression stiffened, as if he wanted to say something, but his lips twitched twice, and he still didn't say anything, just silently stepped aside.

Duncan didn't use any bells and whistles, but stepped forward and slammed it, and the ordinary wooden door, which was not very strong, was broken with a loud bang, and it was wide open.

A room almost completely shrouded in darkness presented to the two of them.

There were no lights in the room, and the windows facing the street seemed to be blocked by something, so that the light from the street lamps outside could not shine inside, except for the light that came in from the hallway illuminated a small area of the doorway, and where the light did not shine, it was faintly visible that something seemed to cover the roof and floor.

Duncan was the first to enter the room, his right hand holding a dark green spirit flame in his palm, and the other hand fumbling for the light switch next to the door.

When the lights were on, everything in the room was finally clear.

"This is ......," Maurice exclaimed, in astonishment, as he saw the scene inside the room.

A grayish-black, mud-like substance dotted the room, covering the floor, polluting the walls, and even sticking firmly to the roof, and half-melted "mud" dangling from the filth of the roof and hanging in the air, looking like crooked and swollen blood vessels, or some oddly shaped stalactite.

For a moment, Duncan remembered what he had seen in the bilge of the Obsidian.

These weird and terrifying "mud" ...... It looks exactly like the Obsidian's bilge!

The muscles in Morris's face tensed.

Frankly, from the beginning he didn't believe that his "old friend" had actually returned to the human world, and he knew that there must be some kind of out-of-control transcendent vision behind it, and it might even be related to the curse of the deep sea, but ...... Even though he had vaguely expected it before opening the door, after really seeing this scene, he still felt a huge shock.

"A replica of the deep sea...... It looks like they're all going to end up like this," and just then, Duncan's voice interrupted Morris's stunned gaze, "We're a little late, it's a pity." ”

Morris blinked, then shook his head vigorously, as if trying to get the jumbled thoughts out of his mind, and he walked deeper into the room, carefully bypassing the "mud" masses that were scattered across the floor, before stopping at a table.

The table was also covered in mud, and one of the largest clumps of mud had been piled up between the table and the bed.

“…… He had written two letters, and at least at that time, he still had some sense," Morris said softly, "he must have noticed his anomalous ......"

"His sanity lasted at least until the moment he locked this room, after which he couldn't control the course of events," Duncan said thoughtfully as he came to his desk, observing the solidified mud around him, "These replicas from the deep sea seem to be ...... It's all different, some don't have the slightest sense at all, some even retain their original memories and can survive for a while like ordinary people, and some ...... Like the captain of the Obsidian, completely twisted into an alien, but with a soul from beginning to end. ”

"Like some kind of unstable experimental product?"

Morris said casually, and at that moment, something suddenly came into his sight.

There was a piece of paper, pressed against the edge of a solidified mass of mud that vaguely had the outline of an arm.

"This is ......," the old scholar widened his eyes and exclaimed in a low exclamation as he carefully pulled out the piece of paper, "Mr. Duncan, look at this! ”

Duncan immediately leaned over, and on the dirty piece of paper, some words that were no longer clear came into his eyes—

"To the investigators, here are the changes that took place in the final stages of my body:"

(End of chapter)