The nun who had been praying quietly in front of the statue of the goddess disappeared.

There was only bare ground in front of the pulpit. Bright gas lamps illuminated the empty main hall and rows of seats. Vanna and the guards searched the not-so-large main hall but could not find the strange "nun".

Of course, Vanna knew that the nun might not have existed from the beginning - her real body had apparently died in the underground sanctuary many years ago, and the one who was praying in the main hall now was just an illusion of her. However, the sudden disappearance of this illusion still made everyone feel uneasy in confusion.

"There's nothing in this corridor or in the small room!"

The last two guards who went to search also returned to the main hall, and their reports confirmed one thing: the "phantom" of the nun had really disappeared completely from the church.

Vanna frowned slightly, thinking quickly in her mind -

The apparition disappeared, but when did she disappear?

Was it when he entered the underground church for the second time? Was it when he saw the string of numbers written by the real nun before she died? Or was it...

When that strange green flame suddenly ignited out of nowhere and wiped out all the traces on the ground?

If it is the former, then the disappearance of the phantom is most likely because I, the "observer from the real world", have seen through the truth and destroyed part of the illusion here. If it is the latter... it means that the ghost captain has taken action.

When the ghost captain erased all traces in the underground sanctuary, he also erased the phantom of the nun in the main hall - for reasons no one knew.

There would be no more discoveries if we continued to stay here. The most urgent thing was to tell Bishop Valentine the current information and then go to the archives to confirm the warning signs that I had just noticed.

Fanna quickly led her team members out of the church. When they walked through the church gate and looked back again, they saw that the church was completely abandoned and dilapidated.

Vanna breathed a sigh of relief, at least she and her subordinates had safely left this strange place. Then she suddenly had an idea and subconsciously raised her head to look above the church.

A fat white pigeon was standing on a tall spire, looking over here with its head tilted, looking harmless.

Why is this pigeon still here?

Fanna couldn't help but feel a little curious, but she quickly ignored these doubts. After arranging for the people to stay around the chapel, she turned around and got in the car, starting her journey back to the Central Cathedral.

The white dove flapped its wings and flew away from the church quickly.

But the pigeon didn't fly too far - after escaping the sight of the guards who stayed around the church, it went straight into a nearby alley.

The dark green spiritual fire rose rapidly in the deserted alley and transformed into a door and a whirlpool. Duncan stepped out of the flames, then frowned slightly and looked in the direction of the church thoughtfully.

It was right to expose this matter. Attracting Vanna and the "official power" behind Vanna indeed yielded unexpected results - the investigation moved forward. Professionals are professionals, and the knowledge they possess far exceeds that of Shirley and Agou, who have unorthodox methods.

When the distance is close enough, Duncan can directly monitor the movements around the target through the "mark" he left on the target. Since the mark on Vanna's body had been strengthened when she last visited the antique shop, this kind of monitoring can even allow Duncan to sense the emotional fluctuations of the young inquisitor to a certain extent. Just now, he and Ai had been staying above the church, and through this kind of monitoring, he "watched" the entire process of the Guardian team's exploration in the church.

Duncan was thinking quietly in the shadow of the alley, sorting out the information he had just obtained.

It was very likely that the nun was fighting against her own "subspace projection" - there was no other invader at all, and the invader ran out from the "crack" in her own soul?

The clergy of this world... once they are completely crushed by the pollution, will they directly become the "channel" connecting the subspace and the real world?

Is this only true for clergy, or do all humans have this hidden danger, and are clergy in even greater danger after being contaminated?

This was the piece of information that most concerned Duncan, and also the one that surprised and confused him the most.

Duncan didn't know much about the several righteous gods in this world and the churches under their names, but at least through observations over this period of time, he could confirm that the stance of these churches was on the side of order and protection. The clergy ensured the safety of the city-states in the extraordinary realm, and they were also the most steadfast line of defense against the "deep" pollution of the world.

However, now he knows that this firm line of defense, under certain conditions, will itself become a "pipeline" between the real world and the subspace... Why is this?

What does it mean if this transformation doesn't just happen to the Hierophants, but all humans are transformed into Warp Channels under certain conditions?

The connection between the subspace, which is feared by the world, and the real world and mortals seems to be more complicated than he imagined at first...

In addition to this information, there is also the number "1885" left by the nun.

This was indeed a detail that Duncan and Shirley had not discovered when they came here to explore before, and it was also a detail that surprised Duncan at this moment.

If Vanna's judgment was correct, the nun did not die in the solar fragmentation incident in 1889, but died in 1885 - and in the years after that, this chapel should have been shrouded in distorted time and space!

What does this mean?

Duncan's thoughts were in turmoil as he slowly raised his hand. He rubbed his fingertips gently, and a cluster of green flames burned quietly in his sight.

He could clearly feel that the spiritual fire was spreading - spreading in the invisible dimension, on the "other side" of the Pland city-state, while constantly sending him faint feedback.

This was his third confusion.

Shortly after Vanna discovered the string of numbers in the underground temple, the string of numbers disappeared out of thin air. At that time, a spiritual fire appeared briefly. The young inquisitor must have thought that it was the work of "Captain Duncan", but in fact...

Duncan was even more confused than her.

Duncan did not erase the string of numbers. He had no idea why the fire he released suddenly appeared in the underground church and specifically burned the string of numbers "1885" - this gave him a feeling that the fire did not spread to the church in space, but spread to 1885 in time!

Duncan was suddenly stunned.

Maybe... this isn't an illusion...

For some reason, he suddenly recalled the time when he was studying Alice's wooden box, and the words of advice he heard when he spied on the execution of the Frost Queen half a century ago -

[“…Please don’t pollute history…”]

Duncan's face was as gloomy as water, and his brows knitted up little by little. He thought of a sentence he heard not long ago:

[Except for the subspace, everything in this world can be contaminated. 】

※※※

Vanna returned to the cathedral in a hurry. She wanted to go to the archives first to confirm the serious sense of incongruity in her memory, but she went to see Bishop Valentine first and told the old man the results of her investigation in the chapel in the sixth block.

After listening to Vanna's story, Valentine remained silent for a long time. He frowned and thought for a long time before muttering with a toothache: "Subspace... This is really the most troublesome of all troublesome situations..."

"When we were about to leave, the string of numbers pointing to 1885 in the chapel and the nuns praying in the main hall disappeared. It seemed to be related to the power of 'Captain Duncan'," Vanna added, "but we did not stay in the church to conduct repeated tests because we were worried about the risk of contamination spreading."

"...Correct caution," Bishop Valentine nodded gently. "We are still unsure of the attitude of the ghost captain. It seems that although he did provide us with important information, he also erased some clues in the end... In any case, he is not our 'friend'."

Fanna hesitated for a moment and looked at the old man in front of her: "Any response from the church headquarters? Have you reported the situation here to His Holiness the Pope?"

Valentine glanced at Vanna, nodded and said, "I have reported all the situations here to the Storm Cathedral. His Holiness the Pope said that he would send support as soon as possible - but the cathedral ship is still some distance away from Plande. Even the fastest speedboat will find it difficult to arrive within a few days, so... you should be prepared to rely on yourself."

As he spoke, the old bishop sighed softly and turned to look at the statue of the Storm Goddess.

"A disaster is brewing and we don't know when it will break out. Whether Plande, the pearl of the sea, can wipe out the haze depends on our own ability."