The battle in the alley was fierce but short, and only a few minutes had passed between the two cultists' whereabouts were revealed and the battle was over, but Fanna believed that the few minutes of commotion were enough to draw the night watchmen over.

Of course, she is not afraid of the Frost Guardians, both in terms of position and strength—but at such times, she has no intention of making any extraneous branches.

And just as she was thinking about how to signal Duncan as he entered the building, the dark door opened.

Duncan and Morris appear in the light.

In the next second, Duncan walked briskly to the alley where Vana and Alice were, and Morris turned around and closed the door while he volleyed an ancient text on the door, as if praying to the god of wisdom to exert some supernatural power.

"I noticed movement outside," Duncan came to the two of Vanna, glanced up at the situation in the alley, frowned slightly, and quickly asked, "What's going on?" ”

"As expected, there are Annihilation cultists watching this place—Alice noticed their tracks, and we briefly fought," Vanna replied immediately, "Both heretics are dead and no one has escaped, but the movement of the battle may have caught the attention of the defenders, and they will be there soon." ”

"Alice noticed?" Duncan first glanced at the puppet lady next to him in surprise, and then noticed the strangeness in Vanna's expression, realizing that the situation just now might be far more complicated than he imagined, but he didn't ask, just nodded quickly, "Don't say so much about it, prepare to transfer." ”

"I've erased the traces we left behind," Morris walked over after finishing the aftermath at this moment, "Garoni's side will forget the last twenty-four hours after she wakes up, and even if a clever psychiatrist searches her memories, there shouldn't be much to restore." ”

"Well, that's good."

Duncan nodded slightly, he didn't really care too much about hiding his whereabouts, but it certainly wasn't bad to have fewer people to disturb him at the beginning of the operation.

Then, he raised his hand and beckoned in the darkness.

The sound of flapping wings broke the silence of the night, and the white doves that stayed on the roofs of nearby buildings leaped swiftly, and in the next second, the faint green flames flashed through the alley, leaving only the sound of flapping wings fading away in the night.

Calm returned to the streets—and it was a few more minutes before a series of hurried footsteps and the flickering lights of lanterns appeared in the distant streets.

……

Ay didn't go very far - in fact, it flew just a block away and found a foothold near an old factory.

It is an uninhabited tin hut.

The tin hut was next to the old factory, and the windows of the house were broken through a small hole, and Ay entered the house through the hole, and with the sudden rise of the spirit flames, the figures of Duncan and the four of them appeared in the hut.

Vanna immediately looked around and saw a thick layer of dust in the old hut, a wooden bed and simple tables and chairs in the corner, and some miscellaneous items piled up on the other side of the room, the cold wind howling outside, and the hole in the nearby window making a strange whimpering sound in the wind.

"It's for the pump room maintenance staff to take a temporary break, and usually no one will come to live outside of the maintenance period - I don't know when the maintenance period here is, but at least today this is a temporary place to rest," Fanna said as she came to the window, and glanced outside through the dirty glass, the old factory not far away stood silently in the night, and you could clearly see the lights of the factory and hear the sound of the machines running in the factory, "The factory is still operating, and there must be a priest in this kind of factory around the clock, If there is an extraordinary battle in a nearby neighborhood, the alert level of this type of factory will also increase. ”

"It's not a big problem, just don't light the lights, they can't sense the breath here anyway," Duncan said casually, "We'll wait here until dawn before we act—no problem, right?" ”

As he spoke, he looked at the three people in his sight.

Alice is a cursed puppet, Vana is a beautiful girl and a strong man, and even the weakest-looking old Mr. Maurice is also an extraordinary person with many magical powers - in terms of strength, there is no need to worry about them, but the cold of the winter night in this northern city-state may not be so friendly to the old gentleman.

"Don't worry," Morris visibly noticing Duncan's gaze, a slight smile as he raised his hand to outline the sacred runes bestowed on his chest by the god of wisdom, Lachem, "Until the last two years, I used to explore the ancient ruins and cursed ruins of the perilous seas, where the environment was far more difficult than here—academic research is never an easy job, especially when dealing with history. ”

Duncan thought for a moment and felt that the old gentleman was right.

Historians and folklorists in this world are indeed quite hardcore professions - even the "home-leaved scholars" have to have three or two tricks to learn from each other, after all, they will fight with the things they are studying every once in a while, and those cursed scrolls and evil relics are not honestly lying in the exhibition room.

Not to mention Morris, a well-rounded scholar who is full of free fighting and wilderness survival before he studies history......

"We can actually contact Captain Tirion's informants in this city," Vanna said, "and they should be able to help with lodging and information......

"I'll be in contact with them, but not now," Duncan waved his hand, followed by a slightly serious expression, "From this day forward, be careful to screen anyone that Frost touches, including the 'informants' that Tirion mentioned. ”

Vana was stunned, then realized something: "You confirmed the 'Brown Scott' ......"

"It's a deep-sea replica, and it's disintegrated on its own, and we're a step too late, and we've only found a few clues he's left behind," Duncan said, shaking his head, "but that's something we expected, and on top of that, we also met a female apprentice in that house who was in a state of cognitive and memory confusion—she was a normal person. ”

Vanna's expression suddenly became serious.

"That's Brown's student, named Garoni—in her memory and cognition, she has completely deleted the part about her mentor's shipwrecked death," said Morris, who was beside him, "and judging by me and the captain, this is the case...... The whole frost may not be an exception. ”

"Since more than half a month ago, Tyrion has been receiving strange and contradictory information, sometimes mentioning that Frost has a phenomenon of 'return of the dead', sometimes saying that it is all rumors, the so-called dead are actually normal residents of Frost from the beginning, and sometimes, this completely contradictory information will even be sent from the same source," Duncan took Morris's words and continued, "At first, Tyrion thought that it was the Frost authorities controlling the news, It was the Church that was working to reduce the impact of the strange events on the inhabitants, but now it seems to be ...... This is most likely due to cognitive confusion. ”

"Captain Tirien's informants are all over the Frost ...... You mean, it's cognitive and memory pollution that covers the entire city-state?! Vanna realized the seriousness of the matter, "Then ...... in this city-state now"

"No one can say how many are replicas and how many are genuine, and this is secondary, after all, replicas should not escape my eyes, and I can quickly distinguish them when I meet, and the most troublesome are those ordinary people who are already abnormal......" Duncan said, pausing for a moment, and then shaking his head, "In short, the informants that Tirian left in this city are not so reliable, some of them may have been replaced, or some of them may have been distorted, There may even be some who are already eyeliner for the annihilation cultists...... Be cautious when approaching them. ”

Vanna nodded solemnly—but in her eyes, a happy look emerged little by little.

The cold and mysterious northern city-state, the inhabitants of the city-state who are constantly replaced, the eyeliner that was once inserted is no longer reliable, and those seemingly normal and harmless ordinary citizens are generating memory and cognitive pollution little by little, and untrustworthy voices fill the entire city, and pollution spreads under the surface-

It's good because everything comes back to her area of expertise.

Eradicate heresy and purify pollution.

She began to understand another layer of Pope Helena's purpose in sending her to the Lost Land.

Already with a vision of a peaceful night, Prand doesn't need her as an inquisitor now, but as long as she follows the Lost Country, she will always have a stage to show her strength.

Duncan gave Vana a strange look in his eyes.

"Is it my delusion? How do you feel like you're feeling better all of a sudden? ”

"Ah, it's just that I thought I could continue to eradicate heresy, and I was in a good mood."

Duncan's mouth opened, not knowing for a moment what to make of the young inquisitor, but he quickly turned his attention to something else.

He looked at the distracting figure standing next to him.

"I'm done with Morris's progress, it's time to talk about the situation on your side."

(End of chapter)