Fake.

Nemo Wilkins' face was filled with unconcealed horror after learning from Duncan and others what a "fake" was, and how many fakes had recently appeared in the city-state, and even that their erosive and cognitively interfering properties might have covered a large area.

Even the old ghost, who was sometimes sober and sometimes confused, felt the horror behind this grotesque phenomenon, and he kept muttering about the queen and the queen's guard, and his face showed a restless look, and it took a long time to quiet down.

And after that, Nemo felt anger.

He couldn't accept that the "crow" who had followed him for many years died so inexplicably - let alone that the latter had been made into a replica and that the replica was lying in front of him, which was obviously an insult to the deceased.

"There is a shadow of annihilation cultists behind this matter, and now the guards in the city should have started a large-scale search, and it is estimated that some progress will be made soon," Duncan noticed Nemo's mood change and said, "But even if we find those annihilation cultists, I am afraid that we will not be able to solve the problem fundamentally—what is hidden behind those cultists is the source."

"What's hidden behind those cultists?" Nemo suddenly woke up from his exasperation, as if something suddenly came to mind, "Behind them.... Could it be that this matter also involves god-level existence?"

Answering him was Vanna, "Replicas are pouring out from beneath the depths, and even the Frost Queen fifty years ago couldn't solve this crisis—you think this kind of thing can be done by a group of cultists?"

"There are clues that this matter has involved the Dark Lord," Morris continued, "The power, and even some of the limbs, may have appeared in the real world—don't ask about the specifics of the situation."

It is not a good thing that ordinary people have too much contact with the information that points to the gods.

Nemo heard a faint hint of warning in the old scholar's tone, and he immediately came to his senses and nodded vigorously, "I understand..... I won't ask."

He didn't want to be strangled to death in the middle of the night by a tentacle of the Dark Lord in his dreams because he heard something he shouldn't have heard.

Vanna bent down and examined the crow's corpse on the ground.

The fake is lifelike, at least outwardly, it still retains almost exactly the same appearance as its owner, except for the edges, where the dirty black "mud" is oozing out little by little, and it seems that the disintegration process has just begun.

This is also the first time Duncan has seen the process of a fake from the perspective of an observer to the disintegration of the fake, and this information is also invaluable to him.

He reached out and rummaged through the pocket of the Raven's coat, where the previous piece of paper with the cryptic "Sacred Book Narrative" had been copied.

The inside of the pocket is empty, and the inside is also gradually disintegrating.

Vanna stretched out her hand, and the water vapor in the air quickly condensed into an ice blade, and a dagger appeared in her hand, and she used the temporary dagger to pick open the clothes near the crow's chest, and found that the inner layer of the clothes was strangely flocculent, and the fibers and clumps that adhered to each other blurred together, and the deeper flesh and skin structure showed a state of fusion.

"That piece of paper wasn't copied..... The interior of the clone is in a typical state of derangement.... There is no blood........." Duncan muttered to himself, reaching out to touch the slowly wriggling black mud on the ground next to him, only to see the latter suddenly shrink and fade to the side as if it were alive, "... These things haven't solidified yet, but the creep is slowing down."

He slowly stood up and sighed softly, "There's nothing to check, let's purify it to get rid of the trouble." Vanna, you stand out some."

When Vana heard this, she quickly took a few steps back to the side, and at the same time pulled Alice, who was still unknown, back away, along with Old Mr. Morris.

Nemo and the old ghost stepped back when they saw this, even though they had no idea why Vanna was so nervous all of a sudden.

And then they knew.

A faint green flame suddenly appeared on Duncan

Immediately after, the flame swooped down on the "fake" not far away as if it had smelled the predator of its prey - the flames soared into the air, and the crackling sound of the extraordinary firewood burning sounded continuously, and the corpses formed by the strange black mud were burned into ashes almost instantly, and while the flames burned, the gas lamps on the surrounding walls, the old ghost, and the lanterns carried by Nemo also seemed to be dyed with a layer of dark green!

The whole process actually lasted less than a few seconds, but Nemo was already in a cold sweat - when the flame rose into the air, great fear filled his body and mind, and he even felt that his soul was going to resonate and spontaneously combust in front of the flame, so that when the flame disappeared, he even had a sense of happiness for the rest of his life.

Duncan turned his head and looked at the few people who had almost ducked into the corner of the wall on the other side of the hallway, "It's burned...... What are you hiding so far for? Wouldn't it be enough to take two steps back?"

"I have a psychological shadow for this thing." Vannet said bluntly.

Duncan: "......"

He stood awkwardly for a moment, then touched the bandage near the tip of his nose, and turned to walk deeper into the hallway: "Ahem, let's go, let's see what else is ahead."

A few people walked after Duncan, and Nemo looked at the burly figure walking in front with trepidation, and after walking a few steps, he looked back at the old ghost who was following him: "You say.... Could Captain Tirion be afraid of his father too?"

The old ghost didn't seem to hear it, but just walked and looked up at the front as if he were a little distracted, until Nemo couldn't help but call him twice, and then he suddenly muttered without a head: "That fire.... I've seen it

Nemo was stunned for a moment: "Seen? You said you'd ever seen a flame like that? Where have you seen this?"

The old ghost didn't answer again, he hung a rope on his body, and held a crowbar in his hand, and walked forward unhurriedly as if he were sleepwalking, and then he seemed to suddenly remember something, and muttered as he caught up with Duncan and Alice, who were walking in front, "The queen is ahead, hurry up, hurry up.....

Nemo looked at the old ghost's back, scratched his hair, and muttered, "Okay, I'm sick again."

After some time, the team stopped again.

There is no road ahead.

A pile of crumbling boulders and half-molten steel debris blocked the road ahead – and it looks like it's been blocked for half a century.

"This is the end of this corridor," Nemo said, pointing to the collapsed area in front of him, "It was blown up when the Queen's Guard retreated, and the entire collapsed area is probably a few hundred meters long, and it is impossible for anyone to pass through."

"That's the end of it..... But we didn't find anything along the way...." Vana couldn't help but frown, looking back in the direction the team had come, "I didn't even find the 'fake, the traces left by the movement.'"

Duncan didn't speak, he came to the crumbling ruins, and carefully observed the stacks of stone, cement, and steel, his brow furrowed, and he didn't say a word.

Seeing this, Alice couldn't help but leaned over, "What are you looking for?"

"There may be crevices or holes," Duncan said casually, "and people can't get through, but mud-like fluids can seep through very small holes."

"You suspect... Did the fake first seep through the collapsed area in the form of a fluid element, and then coalesce into a human figure on the other side of the corridor?" Morris quickly understood what Duncan meant, but the image he imagined in his mind gave him goosebumps, "That sounds like that. It's chilling."

Duncan didn't speak, he took two steps back, and then looked up at the end of the hallway that had been completely blocked.

There really isn't any trace here.

Along the way, there was no trace of anything unusual.

That fake...... How the hell did you end up in the hallway? Where did the "crow" go before, and how did he get there?

In the vast and endless sea, a thin layer of mist arose.

A steamship with a beautiful white hull sailed in the mist, ship

The bow pierced through the fog floating on the surrounding sea, leaving a cascading wake.

Captain Lawrence came out onto deck in a thick coat and gazed somewhat distractedly at the misty sea in the distance, and the silhouette of the horizon and icebergs looming in the fog.

It was daytime, and the sun was high in the sky, but the sun did not dispel the mist on the sea, nor the chill in the sea breeze, but he only felt the chill gradually seeping through his coat, as if it were about to burrow into his bones—it felt as if his whole body was gradually immersed in the cold water.

"The temperature in the north.... It's not kind enough to me, an old man who was born and raised in the Central Sea."

Lawrence couldn't help but mutter.

His first mate, Gus, a tall, thin middle-aged man with short brown hair curled slightly, laughed when he heard the captain's muttering, "It's always like this in the cold sea—there's more fog than anywhere else, and sometimes it's foggy during the day, there's a chill in the air, and there's a sudden snowfall in the city-state... It's hard for outsiders to adapt."

"Originally, I was going to spend a little more time in Frost, but now it seems that I should go back as soon as I finish the necessary work, I will have to get sick if I stay in this place for a long time," Captain Lawrence shook his head, "The fog is getting more and more affected, and we will need to reconfirm the course in an hour."

The first mate immediately nodded, "Yes, captain, I'll arrange it later."

Lawrence snorted, then asked, "Is there a response to the signal sent to Frost?"

"Not yet," replied the first mate, "but it's normal, the ports of the northern city-states have always been as efficient as they have always been—wait a little closer, they'll have to respond to our requests for entry."