All the runes are ready, the "text" of the symbiosis contract is written on the deep sea, the summoners are in place, and the demons are in the right place—everything needed for the launch ceremony is in place.

Ah Dog stood in the center of the rune matrix, his eyes flickering with faint green fire staring at Shirley at the edge of the circle, and as his consciousness became more and more chaotic, he nodded slowly.

With Gou's encouragement, Shirley came to the "node" position of the circle and tried to calm her mind.

She knew nothing about these intricate runes, had never received any formal occult training, and did not understand the difficult and dark rituals of annihilation—she was now nervous about the mystical runes.

But she trusts Dog – she needs this friend, and she has to reforge that connection.

She took a soft breath, slowly closed her eyes, and used all her memories and imagination to sketch the appearance of the demon she was about to "summon".

And that image has been deeply imprinted in her mind for many years, and there is no need to depict it in her heart, that extremely familiar figure has already appeared in her heart.

The runes on the earth began to light up slowly, and the ancient communication protocol was "awakened" with a logic and form unique to the Deep Sea Age, and a secret and subtle sense of connection appeared in the perception of Shirley and Ah Dog at the same time, and became more and more stable with the lighting of the rune matrix......

However, after only a few seconds, all the runes were extinguished without warning, and the connection that had just been established was instantly cut off—a short, piercing howl came from the air, shaking the charred bone fragments of the dog's body and the twelve bone arthropods behind Shirley.

Shirley woke up from her meditation, her eyes widened in dismay, and she saw the scene where all the runes were extinguished in an instant—her figure shook a little, and she saw that the dog in the center of the circle also suddenly raised her head.

The ritual of recasting the symbiotic pact failed.

"How can this be...... Shirley's expression was stunned, she looked at the runes that she couldn't understand at all, and then looked up at Ah Gou, who was also in a dazed state, "Did I do something wrong just now?" Or are these runes wrong? ”

"It shouldn't be...... I feel it activate......" Ah Dog was obviously confused, it stepped down from the position representing the "demon", came to Shirley's side and carefully checked the situation near the node, "These runes must be right, this part of the knowledge is almost directly imprinted in my mind, you should be fine with what you just operated, otherwise you wouldn't be able to light these things...... But I don't know what went wrong in between...... The whole process was jammed in the middle of the process......"

Shirley frowned vigorously, she noticed that the fire in Ah Gou's eyes had begun to fade, and her speech was intermittent, and she suddenly panicked: "I...... Let's try again! ”

Ah Gou immediately nodded: "Okay, try again!" ”

So they got back to the right place and tested the process again – and the result was the same.

The rune array was briefly activated and lit up, but only for a few seconds, before it was "stuck" like a malfunctioning machine, and all of them were extinguished with a short scream.

Shirley panicked a little, and in the brief connection she had just made, she sensed that the dog's condition was getting worse and worse - reason and humanity were gradually fading from him, and in a trance, he could not even distinguish her appearance.

With more and more dizziness and interruption of thinking, Ah Dog staggered to the "node" position where Shirley was, and it could barely support its body, so it could only lie down with great difficulty, and whispered while trying to concentrate: "No...... There must be something else I've missed...... The ceremonial set-up is...... Yes, the problem should be ...... Out of the special state of you and now, you must ...... Make adjustments ......"

"Adjustments? How to adjust? Shirley hurriedly asked, "Why don't I change places?" Is the node not in the right place? Or is this place not suitable for ......"

However, the dog no longer seemed to hear what she said, its head was lowered, and there was an unsettling clicking sound in its body, and its head swayed from side to side, and it could only let out a series of low murmurs that Shirley couldn't understand.

And at this moment, Shirley suddenly felt a familiar aura, and then, a low and majestic, but in this situation she was particularly relieved and surprised, a voice came into her ears: "What are you doing?" ”

Shirley and the groggy dog raised their heads almost at the same time and looked in the direction where the sound came from.

Duncan and Alice were standing not far from the wilderness.

"Captain!?" After a brief moment of hesitation and stunned, Shirley suddenly reacted, she seemed to have forgotten the changes in her body now, so much so that she nearly tripped herself when she took a step - but soon she regained her support with the long knobs behind her, and quickly came to Duncan, "Captain, help the dog, it ...... It's in a terrible state, we've lost contact, and the reforge ceremony just now went wrong, and I don't know ......"

"Stop, stop, slow down," Duncan quickly waved his hand to interrupt Shirley's speeding balabala, while frowning slightly at the girl in front of him who had completely changed her appearance - he could still confirm from the "mark" that this was Shirley he was familiar with, but the other party's current demonic posture made him a little stunned - the dog not far away also looked very different, "What happened to you?" ”

Shirley was stunned for a moment, her lips trembling slightly: "I...... Our chains are broken. ”

The dog not far away seemed to have recovered a little at this time, and it raised its head with difficulty: "We...... Tried to re-run a symbiosis contract ceremony, but the ritual went wrong......"

"Something went wrong with the ritual?" Duncan immediately frowned, and asked as he walked to the rough makeshift circle on the ground, "What about exactly?" ”

"It just started and then suddenly stopped," Shirley quickly explained to Duncan as she walked forward with her back legs, and explained to the captain the "knowledge" that Dog had just told her, "...... I'm standing in this position, and the dog is standing in the position representing the 'demon', and then it's useless......"

As she spoke, she passed over Ah Gou, who was temporarily unable to move, and walked quickly to the center of the circle, pointing to her feet and explaining the situation to Duncan just now: "This is the position of Ah Dog just now, and the runes around here have lit up just now, just ...... Like now...... Such? ”

She hesitated and stopped.

Because she saw that the circle of runes around her suddenly released a faint glow—and then, all the runes on the entire circle began to light up one by one, and quickly flickered according to a complex set of rules.

Duncan, who had just figured out the process of the so-called "contract ceremony" next to the circle, also saw this scene, and his expression gradually became a little subtle: "......? ”

Shirley & Dog too: "......? ”

The ancient communication protocol came into force.

Alice saw a special set of "threads" extending from Shirley and Ah Dog at the same time, and the threads were guided by the glimmer of light in the circle to merge together almost in the blink of an eye, and quickly transformed into a physical form, reshaping the broken chain.

The whole process was so fast that there was no time to react - when Shirley finally realized what was happening, the chain between her and Ah Dog had been restored.

Then, the contract circle completed its mission, and all the runes finally completely dimmed, and gradually covered with a layer of gray texture that represented exhaustion.

Shirley in the center of the circle was stunned for a moment, and finally walked out of the position representing the "demon", she raised her arm, and the pitch-black symbiotic chain rattled, and on the other side of the chain, the rejuvenated dog was slowly getting up from the ground, shaking the huge skeletal head.

In those eyes that had been so dim that they were almost extinguished, the fire was re-lit, and once again released the light of wisdom that represented the pinnacle of high school graduation and the half-step city-state university.

The atmosphere was slightly awkward for half a minute.

"Can I understand it that way," a moment later, Duncan stood next to the wreckage of the circle, looking at the two "crew members" in front of him who had rebuilt their chains, but were still in the same form as before, "Now you are really Shirley's 'guardian dog', and Shirley ...... You are now a 'contract human' of Dog. ”

Shirley's expression was a little sluggish, and Ah Dog's posture was also a little sluggish.

Alice was stunned for a long time next to her, and then she reacted and suddenly said, "Why is this happening......"

Shirley's expression continued to glaze over.

But Ah Dog's wisdom suddenly worked, it thought for a moment, and hesitated to speak: "...... Purity. ”

Duncan's expression was subtle: "Purity? ”

Ah Gou raised his head and pointed to Shirley, who now has a partial human appearance, but looks almost like a ghostly demon as a whole: "Her purity as a ghostly demon ...... Very high. ”

“…… That's not right," Shirley finally reacted from her sluggishness at this time, and immediately spoke after hearing Ah Gou's words, "No matter how pure I am, I can't be higher than you, I'm just the demon part of my body, and you're originally the ...... over there."

Listening to the whimsical and solemn analysis of the two of them, Duncan looked at Shirley and then at Ah Dog, and felt that this matter was incredible, so he couldn't help but think about it for a while, but a strange and irrepressible thought suddenly popped up in his mind: "Maybe ......"

Shirley and Ah Dog said in unison: "Maybe? ”

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Ah Dog was once 'marked' by the God of Wisdom, Lachem," Duncan thought for a moment, and although he thought it was outrageous, he said with a serious face, "Although it wasn't dragged away at the time, it is indeed a saint of the God of Wisdom now—that's probably why." ”

Shirley's expression began to glaze again: "......"

After a moment, Duncan stepped forward, patted Shirley's arm (she's so tall now, she can't shoot anymore), and said seriously: "That's why I often say that knowledge changes fate." ”

(End of chapter)