An undead bird formed from illusory flesh and blood and crystal bones, a sharp and piercing strange female voice, rising and burning green flames - and strange sentences that no one could understand.

Shirley's already hazy consciousness suddenly came to her senses. She looked in amazement at the strange bird that suddenly broke in front of her, and watched it circle in the air again. The figures of the preachers of the end around her froze in strange postures as the strange bird circled, just like... the people on the screen in the "cinema" suddenly stopped moving because of the cassette.

One of these monsters was even frozen in the process of taking a step forward, so that his body almost floated in the air, looking weird, scary, and a little funny.

The undead bird circled again, and this time, a door and vortex formed by green flames opened in the air, and then a tall figure stepped out and came in front of Shirley.

"I remember reminding you that you can ask for help when you encounter difficulties." Duncan lowered his head and stared at the girl lying on the ground covered in blood. "Why didn't you come to me?"

"I... I forgot," Shirley blinked. The moment Duncan appeared, she found that the pollution and curse she suffered from the End Preacher were quickly fading away. As the harsh noise and frenzied consciousness in her mind quickly subsided, her mind gradually regained clarity, and a strange and tangled look appeared on her face. "My mind was very confused just now... Yes, these guys kept screaming, making me dizzy..."

Duncan slowly turned his head and glanced at the attackers who had been pinned in mid-air by Ai's high ping attack.

It was the first time he had seen this kind of strange... thing. It looked a bit like a human and was wearing tattered human clothes, but its entire body was mutated and it almost no longer looked like a human. Its limbs were twisted with flesh and blood, and bone spurs extended from every joint in its body. Its face had a fanatical and funny look, and it was almost uglier than Agou.

Duncan frowned and looked back at Shirley: "Did they beat you? Where did all this come from?"

"They were the ones who beat me!" Shirley shouted immediately. The moment she said this, she felt something was wrong, but she quickly put this strange feeling aside. "I don't know where these guys came from. Agou said they were preachers of the end, those crazy people who followed the subspace..."

"The Preachers of the End... the ones that follow the Warp?!" Duncan was a little nonchalant at first, but after hearing the second half of Shirley's words, his expression suddenly changed slightly. Then he seemed to have thought of something and immediately looked at Ai, "Don't abandon them yet!"

While he was talking, the End Preachers whose figures were frozen by Ai had already shown signs of flickering, but Ai quickly flapped his wings, and the three attackers who were about to be isolated from reality suddenly returned to the real dimension. Ai's sharp voice rang out in the room: "The network is connected, the network is connected!"

"Send them to the ship," Duncan nodded to the pigeon spirit, "I'll meet them on the deck over there."

"The mission must be accomplished! The mission must be accomplished!"

Ai screamed twice and quickly drew a vortex of flames in the air. The figures of the three End of the World preachers disappeared in the rising spiritual fire in the blink of an eye.

In the dimly lit room, only Duncan, Agou and Shirley were left, as well as three corpses not far away that were smashed into the End of the World by the Meteor Dog.

Shirley stared in amazement at what was happening before her eyes, watching those subspace believers who almost took her and Agou's lives disappear in the room in the blink of an eye - this "battle" ended so strangely and easily that it wasn't even a battle at all.

Mr. Duncan did not take any action at all. From beginning to end, he did not care about what means or special curses those End Preachers had. He just appeared here, and then seemed to have some interest in those guys, so he kidnapped them casually, just like picking up a few stones on the roadside.

He may not even realize that those cultists are "combat-capable".

At this moment, Duncan's voice suddenly came, interrupting Shirley's wandering thoughts: "How are you injured?"

Shirley suddenly woke up from her thoughts of "Mr. Duncan is so scary". Her first reaction was to show off her strength as usual and pretend to be indifferent to her injuries. But just as she was about to speak, she grimaced and said "ouch". The piercing pain in her back and arms came at the same time, and she couldn't help but curse: "It hurts so much..."

Duncan looked at her with concern: "Should we take you to the hospital?"

"Don't do that!" Shirley reacted suddenly, and continued to grin while trying to prop herself up, "I don't have any money..."

Duncan was stunned: "Is this about money? You are like this!"

"I haven't finished yet," Shirley finally sat up, "My physique is different from that of an ordinary person. If I go to the hospital, I will definitely be discovered. If it attracts the attention of the church, I won't be able to explain it. And you see--"

As she spoke, she raised her arm so that Duncan could look at her wound.

The wound is healing - after the curse and pollution of the End Preacher subsided, her self-healing ability has been restored. Now the hideous tear no longer bleeds, and the pollutants deep in the wound have been squeezed out by the squirming flesh and blood. The growth rate of the new flesh is visible to the naked eye.

Moreover, the most serious wound on her back was gradually healing. Although it was still very painful, Shirley knew that she had survived this time.

"As long as those End of Days preachers stop nagging me, I'm not afraid of them," Shirley said stubbornly, looking up. "Under normal circumstances, this injury wouldn't allow me to lie on the ground...hiss, it hurts..."

A slight clicking sound suddenly came from not far away, interrupting Shirley's muttering.

She and Duncan looked in the direction of the sound at the same time, only to see that it came from a dead Preacher of the End. His deformed body had turned into a grayish-white mass like weathered rock, and began to break into pieces. The residue continued to fall off, and then weathered into ash before hitting the ground and quickly dissipated.

As the bodies of the preachers continued to weather and peel off, the room shrouded by the curtain also changed - the shadow that had been lingering outside the window began to fade quickly, and the light from the street lamps coming from the direction of the street also returned to normal, and the abnormal shadows in the room and the cold malice that lingered everywhere also dissipated.

"...The End Preacher dedicated himself to the Warp, and now it's time to pay the price," Agou's voice sounded muffled, answering Duncan's confusion, "These scum will be swallowed by the Warp, and not even a speck of dust will remain in the real world."

"...Then the death of this kind of cultist is quite environmentally friendly," Duncan thought, "It saves the trouble of cleaning up the scene."

Then he turned to look at Shirley: "Are you feeling better? If you are, then come with me."

As the words fell, a cluster of green flames appeared in the air. Ai flew out of the flames, circled around, and landed on his shoulder.

"I'm going with you?" Shirley didn't react for a moment, "Where to..."

"You're not planning to stay here tonight, are you?" Duncan raised his hand and pointed at the mess in the room. "Do you think this place is still habitable?"

Shirley slowly stood up with the help of the wall, her eyes sweeping over the old house where she and Agou had lived together for many years.

There were smashed furniture and corroded debris everywhere. Valuable and worthless items were all destroyed.

Actually, there wasn’t much.

Shirley dropped her eyelids and remained silent for a while.

"The patrolling guards don't seem to notice the movement here, so we can still pack up our things," Duncan sighed. He knew how Shirley felt, but he had no way to comfort her. "But no matter what, we can't live here anymore. Even if we don't consider the things that were smashed, we have to consider whether there will be more attackers in the future. Although we don't know why those End of Days preachers came to you, you have been targeted by them..."

Duncan said nothing more.

He knew that Shirley was a much more mature child than she looked. This girl had grown up in a harsh environment and should know what was important and what was not.

"I... pack my things." Shirley said sullenly.

"Need some help?" Duncan asked.

"No need," Shirley shook her head, "There are... very few things."

She has very little stuff.

Duncan only waited for a short while while Shirley packed up the things she wanted to take away from several corners. They were just some inconspicuous old things, including a small rag doll that was almost torn to pieces, as well as a few old clothes that were not destroyed and two slightly deformed small iron boxes that seemed to contain clinking odds and ends.

She put all these things into an old small box, then carried the box to Duncan and said honestly with her head down: "Everything is packed."

Agou turned his head to look at the small box in Shirley's hand and muttered in a low voice: "You took all these away...so we won't come back in the future?"

Shirley said nothing.

Duncan looked at the girl in front of him quietly, and a gentle smile slowly appeared on his face.

He stepped forward and touched the girl's hair.

"Let's go home."

Phantom green flames rose into the sky and the undead bird spread its wings in the flames, blocking Shirley's view of the cabin for the last time.