Nemo suddenly felt a palpitation.

At this moment, he seemed to feel that the terrifying "Ghost Captain" in front of him was not making a simple promise, but stating to him... An "established fact" that has already taken shape someday in the future.

He didn't know where this feeling came from, except that he couldn't help but bow his head at this moment, and speak with a kind of awe that even he couldn't describe: "As you say."

Duncan nodded, and then as if unintentionally, he looked at the old ghost standing not far away, leaning against the wall in a daze.

The old man didn't mutter any more words about the Frost Queen, nor did he mutter about the Second Waterway, the rebels, or anything like that, he just sat there in a daze, as if his spirit was wandering in some time and space that was about to be forgotten.

In the chaotic memories of the old man.... Does the Queen of Frost still rule this place?

Duncan withdrew his gaze, called Alice, who was also wandering beside him, and led Vana and Morris towards the exit of the secret passage.

It didn't take long for them to return to the surface, leaving the Tavern of the Golden Flute and entering the streets of the Frost City-State.

As the sun set over the rooftops of the buildings in the distance, the brilliant and mysterious double rune rings touched the edges of several minarets in the upper city, as if the minarets forged by mortals held up the chains that bound the sun, causing the sun wheel to hang over the city.

Dusk was approaching, curfew was approaching, and everyone was hurrying back to their homes or the nearest "nighttime shelter" due to stricter curfews.

But not much attention was paid to them, and everyone was busy.

"What do you think about this?" Vanna came to Duncan's side and said in a low voice—she could get close because of her similar height.

Duncan remained silent: "You mean the source of the 'fake?'"

"It seems to have appeared out of thin air—neither I nor Morris have been able to find any traces, not even you have been able to find a clue," Vana nodded slightly, "and we have always believed that even these weird 'fakes' have to go through 'normal, some way' to move their position, to have a source, and to have a process of movement."

Duncan's pace slowed down a bit, and he tilted his head slightly: "You want to say that those fakes may have some kind of spatial power, which can make them ignore the barriers of reality and appear directly in specific places?"

"It's my suspicion."

Duncan was noncommittal, and it was a few seconds before he suddenly said, "Did I tell you about Alice's first time on the ship?"

"No," Vana blinked, "did anything happen when she first arrived on the ship?"

"The puppet coffin will keep coming back to the Lost Homeland—I threw her into the sea three times, and she and her crate returned to the ship three times," Duncan said unhurriedly, "Guess how she got back?"

Vanna thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "Depend...... The power of the curse? Anomaly 099's 'regression' ability,? Is it also the power of the nature of space?"

"No, she rowed back with the coffin board, very fast," Duncan said in a calm tone, "and climbed up with great force straight up the stern hull—for she was so fast that I didn't catch her the first two times, and only caught her the third time."

Vanna: "......."

The young inquisitor turned his head at the same time as Maurice next to him, and looked at the puppet lady who was looking around with an indescribable gaze, who noticed the gaze and turned his head to smile harmlessly.

"I don't rule out that those 'fakes' will appear directly in the city-state through some kind of spatial teleportation, but logically, if they can really be teleported directly to the city, 'Why does the Petrel have to sail all the way from the open sea, instead of appearing directly in the port?' Duncan said lightly, "I'm more inclined to believe that the fake still needs to move normally, and the reason why the fake in the sewer looks like 'out of thin air,

It's probably just because we've overlooked something, just like normal people can't think of a cursed doll repeatedly, the real reason is that she strokes fast and has a lot of strength.

At this he paused, then continued thoughtfully, ".... It is more likely that the crow's strayed into that place was also due to this 'neglect,'"

Morris, who had been silent all along, suddenly reacted: "Some kind of 'passage' that exists but cannot be observed,? Or a 'rift' that opens from time to time?"

"It's hard to say, but it's certainly something to do with the cultists," Duncan said, "I was very concerned about the things recorded on the piece of paper that the crow had brought back, and they didn't seem to be all hereticals, but more like a description of what had happened in some kind of phrase that modern people couldn't understand. It has always been very much to the appetite of those cultists.

"Maybe it's time to bring Dog and Shirley over to the eyes of the dark demons, maybe you can find something in a dimension other than reality."

A gray wind swept through the gates of the port defense office, and the figure of Agatha, the gatekeeper, stepped out of the gray wind.

Colonel Liszt, behind his desk, raised his head and looked at the janitor who appeared in his office: "You didn't even save the report this time."

"I'm sorry, it's an emergency," Agatha said, suddenly noticing the two thick dark circles on Liszt's face, "... You didn't sleep last night?"

"I'm not the only one who hasn't slept," Liszt shook his head with a wry smile, "We've been trying to decipher the mysterious signals from the Sea Mist Fleet all night, and several cryptographers and mathematicians are about to fight with their chairs—for the first time I've known that elegant scholars would greet other people's relatives when they quarrel."

Agatha was silent for a moment, her eyes seemed a little strange, and after a moment she spoke, "The Cathedral may be borrowed from you, a few scholars, in the field of cryptography and mathematics."

Liszt was stunned: "Why?"

Agatha's face was expressionless (half of her expression was blocked by bandages): "........ Crack the secret of the bad taste left to us by another evil taste being."

"Well, it looks like you're no less troubled than I am," Liszt sighed, then perked himself up, "Let's get down to business, what do you want to know about your sudden visit?"

"As for the blockade of the city-state," said Agatha, "the cathedral should not have been concerned with the city-state's defense, but now the situation is special, and I am really relieved."

"I understand," Liszt nodded, "rest assured, the whole frost is now completely sealed off - even if there is a place that is not in place, there is such a large sea fog fleet gathering in the offshore waters, and no one will dare to enter and exit casually. We have temporarily frozen all port permits and advised the surrounding city-states and ships on the open sea to stay away from the frost, and all port entry applications received so far have been rejected."

"Good, at least it won't make the problem bigger," Agatha exhaled softly, "What about Dagger Island?"

"It's still in lockdown until the cathedral gives further 'professional advice,'" Liszt said, his expression slightly solemn, "and until yesterday, the island was still sending back 'everything is normal, regular returns, even if the city-state has stopped supplying the island and cut off all communication responses, there has been no other reaction from there.

"Don't let your guard down, the incident with the Petrel proves that the pollution on that island has a tendency to move to the city-state..... That thing, it's not going to be so honestly quiet," Agatha said solemnly, "The Cathedral is already preparing a force of sworn oaths and ascetics, but it will take some time for the powerful relics to be unsealed."

Liszt nodded, and then seemed to be about to say something, but before he could speak, a sudden sound of footsteps came from the direction of the hallway, interrupting his movements.

A Minato soldier appeared at the door of the office.

Liszt raised his head and looked at the soldier with a slight haste on his face: "What happened?"

The soldier straightened up and reported quickly, "Report to the sir, one ship is scheduled to be in the cold

The ship docked by Frost didn't show up on time."

"Didn't show up on time? There is no beginning or end," Liszt frowned, "Now that all the shipping routes around the city-state have been blocked, of course there will be no ships docking.

"Report sir, it's not that there is no docking—it doesn't show up at all!" The soldier quickly explained, "The ship was supposed to arrive today, and we were ready to send it a notice of the city-state blockade, but it didn't make contact for a long time, and we just contacted Cold Harbor, who confirmed that the ship had completed its supply checks on their side normally - but after getting close to Frost Offshore, it hasn't been heard from again!"

Hearing this, Liszt's expression finally became serious, he took a light breath, and stood up from behind his desk: "What's the name of that ship?"

"The White Oak!