In the fog that filled the entire sea like an endless veil, the "Tide" and the two escort ships from the Deep Sea Church began to enter the area illuminated by the spiritual fire "torch", their figures gradually became clear in the fog, and the silhouettes that originally looked shaky and undulating due to the border environment also stabilized with the reflection of the firelight.

As for the sailors on the Tide, they felt a more pronounced change in the process—the green flame that rose into the sky was like a beacon of order, and the never-dissipating fog of the border sea miraculously subsided near the lighthouse, and as they got closer to the fire, the noise and murmur of their surroundings also diminished—changes that the sailors who had been patrolling the Curtain of Eternity for many years had never experienced.

On the bow deck of the Lost Country, Vanna frowned slightly and listened, as if she could distinguish distant sounds from the wind, and then nodded to Duncan: "Greetings and respects to you from the Commander of the Tides, Sandra, he asked about the next action. ”

Duncan nodded, "When the Resting and the Restless arrive, we'll go into the thick fog, taking care not to leave the illuminated range of the Flame Lighthouse." ”

Vanna immediately conveyed the captain's instructions to her fellow churchmen, and Duncan was intrigued by her "psychic communication" that relied on meditation and prayer to reach nearby believers in the deep, and after looking at it curiously for a moment, he seemed to remember something else: "Words...... Should there really be a radio on the Lost Country? ”

"If you want to use it in a safe area, that's fine, but if you want to use it on the border side...... Then it's not reliable," Vana replied earnestly, "In the border waters, the probability of evil in the machine will be very high, except for the stable use of a machine with strong protection such as the steam core, everything else will more or less have some problems, and the radio is the most prone to problems." ”

As Vanna's voice fell, Lucrecia added: "The radio station is easy to listen to 'sounds' from unknown sources, which pollute people's minds, and some things will follow the radio into the real world and silently corrupt those devices that are not protected by steam—so under normal circumstances, ships entering the border waters must turn off the ship's radio, and even the internal telephone used on the ship must be cut off." ”

"Something will follow the radio into the real world?" Duncan raised his eyebrows, as if he thought it was quite ...... "interesting", "So the patrol ships on the border can basically only rely on Vanna's 'psionic communication' to communicate with each other?" ”

"Psionic resonance is a 'miracle' bestowed by the gods," Vanna lowered her head slightly, outlining the sigil of the storm goddess Grimona on her chest, "Just like a boiler protected by steam, the words sent through psionic resonance are also blessed, which can avoid being polluted and distorted by external forces in this chaotic border sea - of course, this does not mean absolute safety, and psionic communication is also disturbed and polluted, and there is no such thing as 100% safety in this boundless fog." ”

"I see......," Duncan nodded thoughtfully, as he had first set foot on the land of the city-state, absorbing this new knowledge of the frontier with great curiosity and curiosity, and then he turned his head and asked casually into what seemed to be nothing, "what about you, Agatha?" Is the 'psychic communication' between you and the Sabbath and the Sabbath the same as Vanna's? As a 'shadow', is the 'psionic communication' you establish when you communicate with other Death Priests different from the regular 'psionic communication'? ”

Agatha's hazy figure emerged from the deck, and her slightly ethereal voice came from the air: "It doesn't seem to be any different to me. Even when it came to this, I could feel Bartók's blessing as I did in my memory, and I could hear the voices of my brothers and sisters in the other churches, in fact...... After coming here, I even feel like I'm hearing a little clearer than I remember, which is incredible. ”

Agatha's reference to "memory" is obviously referring to her "life as a gatekeeper" - although that life is false, that memory is 100% restored to the real Agatha, and her judgment from this is naturally very informative.

The "clone Agatha" who exists in the form of a "shadow" feels that the voice she hears is clearer than what she remembers, when she listens to the "psionic communication" in the border waters?

This somewhat counter-intuitive phenomenon made Duncan can't help but fall into deep thought, he originally felt that the clone Agatha was weaker than the "body" left in the frost in these realms involving magic and miracles, but in this border sea, the situation was ...... Doesn't seem to be the same as you think?

Ultimately...... What is the essence of the "psionic resonance" power that the priests of the Church of the Four Gods wield, and the "psionic communication" they have established from it?

Duncan thought subconsciously, but his thinking was quickly interrupted—

"Here they are," said Agatha in the shadows suddenly, "the Sabbath and the Restless are approaching. ”

A penetrating whistle sounded from the depths of the fog, and two black ironclad ships with a towering bridge, a small chapel standing on the stern, a bow and a large main gun on both sides of the hull slowly emerged from the fog, and four small frigates appeared on the surface of the sea with the undulations of the fog.

The bright light of the spiritual fire rising from the "guide ship" illuminated the shadows of the ships with blurred outlines, and in response, the two black ironclads once again heard the whistle of greeting, and a series of light signals were fired.

"Commander of the Rest, Polegine, Commander of the Rest, Orlando, greetings and respects to you," Agatha's figure nodded slightly to Duncan, "They have sent reconnaissance boats to briefly confirm the situation in the surrounding waters, and have found no traces of annihilation activities, nor small islands that could be used as temporary bases or security posts, but inside the curtain, the reconnaissance boats have briefly heard some unusual noises that can confirm that there is indeed something 'something' in that direction." ”

Listening to Agatha's report, Duncan's expression became more serious, and then he exhaled softly, and his heart gradually calmed down.

"Let's go—again, don't go out of the realm of the fire."

As the shattered "guide ship" began to slowly accelerate again, the "United Fleet", temporarily organized by the Deep Sea Church, the Death Church, and the "Lost Fleet", finally sailed towards the eternal veil and gradually entered the boundless depths of the fog.

The clouds and mist that obscured the sky and the sun crushed like a barrier, and at some point turned into a huge curtain around the fleet, the sun was left behind, the sunlight gradually faded from the field of vision, and with the fog becoming more and more dense, a chaotic but not dark "sky light" gradually became the main color of this sea in the fog.

Thirty minutes after entering the Curtain Boundary, the fog began to "converge" noticeably and became thicker, and they began to take on a ...... The viscous and "textured" form, like some kind of solid mass, floats unevenly in every inch of the field of vision.

There seemed to be some hazy silhouettes in the condensed fog, as if cautiously observing the fleet that had suddenly broken into the border, and the uninvited guests who appeared in the sea area as onlookers appeared.

The deck gradually became a little quieter, and even Shirley, who was always chattering and noisy on weekdays, seemed to sense the change in her breath, and cautiously closed her mouth, looking at the "fog" that flowed near the side of the ship like living creatures, and the faint silhouettes in the fog.

"This ...... This thing doesn't look like the 'fog' I know......" Dog muttered quietly, "It's not the same as what I see outside the Veil......"

"When you enter the veil, the texture of the fog becomes like this—as if there is a loss of order between the virtual and the real, and the diffuse fog begins to tend to take on a mass of condensed matter, as if there is something sentient around it, bringing the fog together......"

Lucretia said, standing at the edge of the deck and holding out her hand, her fingertips gently flicking at the mist that was flowing past the side of the ship, like a stream in the air.

"But in reality, there is nothing inside them, and there is nothing in the center of the condensed fog...... Do not easily trust any entities seen in the fog, and unless they have shown a clear tendency to move, it is best to always treat them as apparitions or their own whims. ”

"Hey, it's okay to just put your hand in it?" Shirley couldn't help but exclaim after seeing Lucrecia's actions, "These fogs look very evil!" ”

"It's dangerous in the fog, but that doesn't mean it's corrosive and poisonous - otherwise you'll be dead the moment you enter the Veil," Lucretia glanced at Shirley and shook her head, "As long as you have enough experience and the right methods, within six nautical miles of the border is a 'relative safe zone'...... Of course, no matter how cautious you are, many people still die in this so-called 'relative safety zone'. ”

Listening to the exchange between Lucrecia and Shirley beside him, Duncan remained silent and did not speak, he just stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the fog that kept dividing and merging nearby, and his expression seemed to have been thinking about something.

Lucrecia noticed Duncan's silence.

"Dad, did you think of something?"

Duncan blinked, and after a moment's hesitation, finally muttered softly, "It's familiar." ”

Lucrecia: "Familiar? ”

Duncan snorted, but his gaze remained on the amorphous clumps floating around, his brow furrowing more and more as he looked at the faint silhouettes in the fog, the cloudy light in the sky, and the strange texture that occasionally appeared in the flow of clouds......

(End of chapter)