Martha vanished as if it had never existed in the first place.

However, the warm touch still lingered on her sideburns, and the slight scent of lemon lingered in her nose - she never seemed to have been, but never left.

Lawrence felt his fingers tremble a little, he lowered his head, tried several times to get the little cap back on, and it took a long time to put it back in his pocket, and he felt his heart pound - not even in a big storm.

Reason came belatedly, like the first awakening from a long dream, he realized that he had just brushed shoulders with madness, and even almost fell into a constant state of delusion, for a captain who had been adrift on the endless sea for most of his life, once he fell into this state, it was impossible to regain his senses, but at this moment he had neither the joy of the rest of his life, nor the palpitations of madness.

He felt only an indifferent sadness and regret.

And this indifferent sadness and regret is a warning - it means that from the bottom of his heart, he is not too resistant to "madness" itself.

Lawrence took a hard breath, trying to get all the thoughts that were entangled in his mind out of his mind, and he glanced around him, the White Oak was at his feet, and there was a shipload of men waiting for him to bring them back to Plain.

Now is not the time to go into madness.

"It's really time for me to retire..." The old captain sighed, and slowly walked towards the stairs in front of him, but he had only taken a few steps before he suddenly stopped, with a slight solemnity on his face.

He recalled the scene when "Martha" appeared just now—even though he knew that such "memories" were dangerous and could lead to the other party's reappearance, he couldn't help but recall, because he suddenly realized that some of the things "Martha" had just said to himself were very interesting: "Lawrence, be careful, you have come to the middle of the sea".

"If I were you, I shouldn't have any more doubts at this time, but leave here immediately..... Your vigilance has decreased... …」

Lawrence subconsciously repeated these two sentences in his mind, although he knew that it was a hallucination caused by his memory confusion and cognitive turmoil, he still involuntarily took these two sentences as some kind of warning - Martha may not exist, but did he feel some kind of danger in the depths of his intuition? These two sentences..... Is it your subconscious mind that is giving you a warning?

The old captain looked around and carefully observed the White Oak again, and everything he saw was normal, and then he raised his head again to look at the frost city-state next to him.

The frost city-state was also normal, the nearby port area looked calm and peaceful, the city area not far away had begun to light up, and farther away, the high sea cliff overlooking the sea, showing a rigid and powerful silhouette in the dim skylight.

But a faint sense of disobedience rose up, like an unstoppable tide gradually rising in his heart, and with this sense of disobedience, Lawrence suddenly heard the soft sound of the waves in his ears—superimposed on the sound of the waves around the White Oak, which he had not yet distinguished, but soon he realized that the sound was sounding directly in his head.

The sound of the waves..... Is it a warning? Is it the blessing of the Storm Goddess Gemona in effect?!

Lawrence's eyes froze, and he immediately gave up his intention to go to the shore, and suddenly turned and rushed in the direction of the bridge, the cold night wind whistling in his ears, irritating his nerves like a knife.

"Captain?" The first mate, who was on duty on the bridge, looked shocked when he saw Lawrence suddenly appear, he got up from his chair and walked quickly to the captain, "You're not going to shore......

"Things have changed," Lawrence said quickly, "I don't think something is right.... How long have we been parked here? Has anyone snuck ashore?"

"No," said the first mate at once, "you've ordered everyone to stay on board, and everyone is pretty honest. Plus, we've been docked here for a couple of hours now."

"It's fine that no one goes ashore," Lawrence nodded quickly, then glanced in the direction of the bridge, "Light the steam core, and we'll get out of this port."

"Ahh Huh?" The first mate didn't react for a moment, "Leaving this port? We're ........"

Lawrence interrupted him before he could finish, "There's something wrong with this place, I can't tell, but I'm feeling terrible. Remember when there was a problem in the stargazing room? And earlier, we couldn't get in touch with the frost, and from then on, everyone's vigilance was lowered, something... It's affecting all of us."

He spoke quickly, and he knew how abnormal his order was—he had no evidence of the correctness of his order, except for a slight disobedience to his intuition, and the White Oak had just undergone a voyage, and both man and machine needed to be repaired at this time, and in this case, his departure order was like nonsense.

What's more, leaving the port needs to be coordinated with the port authorities, and reigniting the steam core without reporting it is a serious violation, and he must take responsibility for his own decision.

But the violent warning signs beat in his heart, and the sound of the waves echoed in his mind more and more intensely, and Gemona's blessing warned him not to continue to contact the "port", not even to say a word.

The first mate stared at the captain in front of him steadily, and after nearly half a minute, he suddenly straightened up and said loudly, "Yes, Captain!"

On board, the captain's word is the law.

A deranged captain will cause the entire ship to be buried together—but in a higher probability, an experienced captain will save a shipload of people from a crisis.

The order was quickly given to the whole ship, and the bewildered sailors were urged to action, and soon they were ready to set sail again with reflex skill.

The new boiling gold catalyst *** entered the steam core, the muffled sound of mechanical vibration awoke in the depths of the White Oak, the sailors quietly lifted the anchoring rope from the ship's side and retracted the gangplank to the deck, Lawrence stood on the bridge, carefully observing the movement on the dock through the wide glass boat-

Some figures moved on the docks, blurry and unreal in the dim gas light, and some loading and unloading vehicles drove a little farther away, leaving long, thick shadows on the road.

They didn't seem to notice that a ship had rekindled its steam core in the night, and that nothing "anything" had suddenly appeared to intercept the White Oak, which was about to sneak away.

The situation was better than expected, and in Lawrence's worst conjecture, he even feared that the moment the steam core was rekindled, hundreds of sea monsters would suddenly appear in the surrounding waters and drag the White Oak directly into the water.

"Keep the lights on, don't blow the whistle," Lawrence said quickly to the first mate next to him, then stepped over to the bridge and took the steering wheel with his own hands, "I'm at the helm myself—the boiler is kept at high pressure and ready to overload at any time."

"Yes, Captain."

Although there were doubts in his heart, everyone on this ship did not hesitate to carry out the old captain's orders, and Lawrence could feel that the steel behemoth under his feet was slowly moving.

The lights were kept on the whole ship, the propellers under the water began to turn, the White Oak was gradually moving away from the harbor, and the sound of the sea being stirred sounded, everyone became nervous, and everyone's eyes were on the city-state that was shrouded in night.

Lawrence felt sweat in his palms.

But there was still no unusual reaction from the city-state - even if the White Oak's movements could no longer be hidden, no one came to check on the situation.

He looked at the radio station next to him, and the telegraph was as silent as death.

Theoretically, the Port Authority should have sent an urgent call, and the port officials on duty would have questioned the reason for the White Oak's sudden departure – but nothing happened.

This only strengthened Lawrence's confidence that his judgment was correct.

Something is wrong with this place!

The power of the steam core increased by one level, the speed of the propellers gradually increased, and the White Oak broke away from the dock area faster and faster, and the open sea began to appear directly in front of the bridge, and the water shimmered and shimmered.

Lawrence took a deep breath and clenched the steering wheel firmly: "Boost to full speed!"

A gray wind swept through the courtyard and coalesced in the vestibule of the cathedral, and Agatha's figure stepped out of the gray wind, and she hurried through the portico and hall to the "contemplative chapel" where Bishop Ivan of the city-state was.

The icon of Bartók, the god of death, stood silently at the end of the church, the dark coffin lay horizontally on the platform at the foot of the icon, the lid of the coffin was open, and Bishop Ivan, who usually rested in the coffin, stood aside, looking up in the direction of Agatha.

The mummy-covered bishop, with only one eye exposed, dressed today in a robe with gold trim on a black background and a tin staff in his hand, spoke as Agatha approached, "I've heard about Dagger Island."

"I can see that you're going to preside over the meeting yourself," Agatha nodded, but was a little worried, "Can you hold it up?"

Bishop Ivan raised his hand, and between the gaps in the bandages, there seemed to be a grayish-white mist slowly wafting out.

"As long as the body and the mind can hold up."