Agou took two unsteady steps and finally stopped. Puffs of dark smoke rose from the cracks in his bones. The bones all over his body seemed to be shaking like a demon, and in his bloodshot eye sockets, the light was flickering.

Such an obvious and abnormal reaction of course startled Shirley, who immediately stopped, shaking Agou's huge head while anxiously calling his name. After calling it seven or eight times, Agou finally came to his senses, raised his head slowly, and made a hoarse and low voice in his throat: "Why do I suddenly feel a little...unable to walk..."

"Are you okay?" Duncan also came over at this time. He frowned and looked at the Deep Hound who was obviously in a bad state. There was a bit of concern in his tone, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I... don't feel uncomfortable," Ah Gou shook his head, as if he was about to fall asleep at any moment, "I just feel weak, and... I really don't want to get close to that pile of things."

"Don't want to get close?" Duncan turned around and took a look at the strange thing that looked like a mountain of mud and was still slowly wriggling in the firelight.

Is this strange pile of "mud" having an effect on Agou? Some kind of instinctive suppression?

Agou's abnormal reaction attracted everyone's attention and immediately made Duncan think. The first thing he thought of was whether Agou's unique "perception" that far exceeded that of humans had observed something invisible again.

But judging from Agou's reaction, it didn't seem that it "saw" anything unusual.

"The Abyss Hounds are more or less considered a relatively powerful group among the Abyss Demons. They rarely become like this when facing the pressure of a powerful individual." Fanna squatted down and touched the bone fragments on the dog's body without any concern. Then she looked back and said, "Besides, that thing didn't give off any aura of pressure at all..."

"The word 'how much' can be removed," Shirley muttered beside her, "Agou is already very powerful..."

"Not really, I'm not really that great at all," Ah Gou quickly shook his head, "Isn't this place a bit too weird? How about we come back next time?"

"It's impossible to come back next time. This ghost ship may not stay here and let us explore again and again." Duncan shook his head, "But your current condition is really not suitable for moving forward."

Agou is being affected by some inexplicable force. If he continues to let it get close to that pile of things, it is very likely to have unpredictable consequences. The best way now is to let it and Shirley return to the Lost Homeland temporarily.

Duncan waved to the side, and Ai immediately flew over, circling in the air and shouting: "Who is calling the ship... This is a trap! Abandon ship and escape!"

"Take Shirley and Agou back to the Lost Homeland first," Duncan ignored the bird's noise and pointed at Agou, who was lying on the ground, and Shirley, who looked worried. After a brief thought, he pointed at Nina and said, "Take Nina back as well."

"Ah?" Nina didn't react for a moment, "Why should I go back too? I'm in good shape now!"

"That thing just tried to copy you. Although you 'beat' it, I don't know if the big guys at the end will have any other reactions after you get close to them," Duncan explained simply. "It doesn't hurt to think carefully in this situation."

Nina listened carefully and nodded obediently: "Oh, okay, I'll go back then."

Duncan had originally prepared a lot of persuasive words. After all, Nina was a curious girl and had been looking forward to this kind of adventure. However, he did not expect that she would agree so readily. This surprised him a little, but he soon smiled and shook his head.

She is still so sensible.

The flames of the Death Bird roared through the cabin, carrying Shirley, Agou and Nina out of the Obsidian.

But this space did not fall into darkness because of Ai's departure - the piles of bonfires that Duncan lit using the dry and stagnant mud as firewood still illuminated this gloomy and strange place.

The pile of strange matter at the end of the cabin was still quietly wriggling, as if half asleep and half awake, as if dormant in a dream.

But when Duncan cast his eyes on the pile of matter again, a clear "plop" sound was immediately heard from inside the thing.

"The kids are gone," Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the pile of dark matter. "Now it's time for the adults to solve this problem."

His steps were without hesitation, and as he approached step by step, the pile of wriggling matter that seemed to be in a dormant state before immediately reacted - the wriggling of its edges became more and more obvious, the expansion and contraction of the surface became more and more frequent, and the pulsating sound coming from its interior became faster and louder.

By the last ten meters, it had completely turned into a clear heartbeat rhythm—

Thump, thump, thump—the sound of clear and powerful heartbeats continued to be heard, echoing clearly in this open and dim cabin!

But apart from the continuous heartbeat and the increasingly intense wriggling on the surface, this pile of things did not have any other reaction.

Until Duncan came to it, it just maintained this "vibrant" state.

"Goddess...what on earth is this blasphemous thing..."

Vanna frowned tightly and said with disgust.

When she got close enough, she could see the shape of the substance more clearly - it did not have the outline of any living organism at all, and its surface seemed like flowing mud, but from time to time some suspicious bumps and depressions appeared in the mud, looking like half-melted internal organs or suddenly expanded blood vessels and nerve bundles. While it kept making a heartbeat, it also showed characteristics that seemed to respond to external stimuli - these characteristics ultimately attributed to constant blind movement.

Since she became an inquisitor, Vanna had seen countless heresies and evils, but the level of blasphemy and evil in the thing before her still shocked her.

Even Alice next to her was a little confused. Miss Doll stared at the pile of things for a long time before she said, "It doesn't look like it can be used to cook..."

Vanna's eyes widened instantly as she looked at Alice - she was shocked again.

Morris fully demonstrated the carefulness and curiosity that a scholar should have. He seemed to ignore his psychological discomfort and resistance. He approached the pile of matter and studied it carefully for a long time. Then, he suddenly noticed something in the process of the pile of things expanding, shrinking and squirming: "It seems that there is something wrapped in it!"

"Inside?" Duncan was slightly startled, and then he noticed the clue found by Morris: at the edge of the mud, there seemed to be a small piece of something like a piece of clothing.

Is this wriggling pile of mud actually just a layer of covering?

After realizing this, Duncan immediately reached out and pointed at the pile of wriggling things.

The numerous bonfires burning around the cabin immediately spread out countless lines of fire, and almost in the blink of an eye, the spiritual flames gathered on the pile of "living mud".

The flames of the spirit body suddenly burned fiercely!

The flame was huge but precisely controlled. Duncan ordered the flame to only burn the black sludge without harming other substances inside. Under his conscious catalysis and control, the pile of disgusting, wriggling things was burned to ashes in just a few seconds.

The things that were originally covered deep in this pile of matter finally appeared in front of everyone.

"This is……"

Morris looked at the scene in front of him in some surprise.

A human, a middle-aged man, was leaning against a pile of debris in the embers left by the burning spirit flames. His eyes were wide open, as if he was fighting for his life with some ferocious enemy before his death. However, he covered his mouth tightly with one hand, as if he was restraining a huge terror. His body was in a shocking state.

More than half of the body had been dissolved by something, turning into a terrifying decomposition structure.

Only a heart, exposed outside the open chest, was beating slowly and powerfully.

Plop… plop… plop…

The sound of a heartbeat that seemed to contain some kind of strong will echoed throughout the cabin.

It turned out that the heartbeat Duncan heard as he approached was actually coming from this heart.

But this human was obviously already dead, and his heartbeat did not mean any sign of life.

"A human?" Vanna frowned immediately and carefully looked at the middle-aged man who died in the deepest part of the Obsidian. "Is this also a replica created by the Obsidian?"

"The body structure is twisted and mutated, which is consistent with the characteristics of a replica, but it seems that something is wrong..." Morris muttered in a low voice, and carefully fiddled with the remaining limbs of the body with his walking stick. He observed the fragmented pieces of clothing and judged what they should look like when they were complete. "This clothing... looks like a uniform."

"This is indeed a uniform." Duncan said suddenly. He seemed to have discovered something. As he spoke, he bent down, ignored the hideous remains, and groped around the beating heart, taking something from a piece of cloth.

It was a small badge.

It has the identity and name written on it.

"He is the captain of the Obsidian, Christo Barberi." Duncan glanced at the badge and said lightly.