After some serious consideration, Duncan decided not to reveal his identity for the time being. After all, he now knew the details behind the Lost Homeland's glorious performance.
A century ago, "he" sank the largest gathering place of faith of the Church of Death in a single wave, and in the most horrific way of directly dragging it into the subspace.
To put it in terms of calculation, it was roughly equivalent to blowing up Plande in front of Gemona, with all the ashes flying around.
He thought that if he said the words "Captain Duncan" at this time, the people outside the coffin would probably shout slogans and come up to be martyred on the spot - and by then it would be too late for him to say anything.
After all, he had seen the ruthlessness of loyal believers. Even though Vanna had no deep hatred for him, she could still jump and chop him when they met. The blood feud between these Death God believers and the Lost Homeland had lasted for a century...
However, Duncan's awkward avoidance had another meaning to Agatha and the old guard.
The young gatekeeper and the old cemetery keeper subconsciously exchanged glances.
“This is some kind of protection,” the former whispered, “The name of the superior transcendent has power.”
The latter nodded slightly: "Friendliness exists, at least for now."
Then Agatha calmed down and looked at the coffin again. At the same time, she subconsciously wondered: Why did this visitor always choose to use the dead as a "medium" to contact the real world? Does this mean that... the other party is a being with power in the realm of death?
However, as a high-ranking priestess of the God of Death, she had never heard of such an existence in the realm of death - a single encounter with an incarnation could drive a cemetery keeper of the battle-hardened veteran level temporarily insane. It was impossible for a transcendent individual of this level to have no trace in any of the classics.
However, despite her doubts, Agatha did not show them, but asked in a calm and proper voice: "May I ask what is your purpose?"
"I passed by and found that this city-state was shrouded in a shadow," Duncan said casually, saying what he had already thought of, "That shadow made me unhappy."
"Shadow?" Agatha frowned, and then thought of the riot that happened in the cemetery before, and immediately reacted, "You mean those Annihilation Cultists? Their activities..."
"They cannot be called shadows. The real shadows are behind them," Duncan said slowly. He knew that the young female voice outside represented the church power of the upper echelons of the Frost City-State. Her guidance was actually an effective warning to the Frost authorities. He had already prepared a complete set of reports for this purpose. "Didn't you notice? The power of the Lord of the Deep is spreading under your city..."
"What did you say?" Agatha's expression, which had remained calm until now, finally lost control for the first time. This was not one of the many plans she had made before. "Lord of the Deep?! His power is spreading under the city... What does this mean?"
Leaping directly from the Annihilation Cultists to the Deep Saint behind them... the seriousness of this matter is on a completely different level!
"I have a suggestion for you. You might as well expand the scope of your investigation." Duncan did not answer Agatha's question, but continued, "The Annihilation Cultists active in the city are just a small wave before the huge wave comes. Something bigger is lurking under the water. Pay attention to the deep sea, pay attention to an almost forgotten ancient deep-sea diving plan, and pay attention to the things that have recently surfaced from the deep sea. All of these are connected."
Agatha and the old guard looked at each other.
The young gatekeeper didn't think of much at first, but the old guard who had personally experienced a certain era suddenly thought of something.
"You mean... the Qianyuan Project?" The old man blurted out. When he mentioned the word "Qianyuan Project", his voice obviously hesitated for a moment, "How do you know..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
It doesn't seem surprising that a superior being of obviously extremely high status knows some secrets among mortals.
Agatha opened her eyes slightly, her gaze moving between the old guard and the coffin several times, then suddenly stopped and quickly whispered to the old man beside her: "I have to warn the City Hall...something might happen on Dagger Island."
The old guard said quickly and quietly: "You'd better go now."
While they were talking in low voices, Duncan's voice suddenly came from the dark coffin: "Well, my warning has been delivered, and I won't stay any longer."
Agatha was startled and asked subconsciously: "Are you leaving?"
"I still have some things to do," the voice from the coffin sounded, and it sounded as if it was in a hurry. "If there is a chance, I will come to visit again."
As the words fell, there was no movement in the coffin.
The visitor left, and even left quite suddenly. Agatha and the old guard were a little stunned for a moment. They did not expect that the mysterious "visitor" came tonight just to say these few words, just to convey a warning - such a sudden visit and sudden departure made them seem even more unpredictable in their eyes.
While the two people in the cemetery were in shock, Duncan had already returned to that dark and chaotic strange space.
He did leave in a hurry - in his original plan, he had intended to stay in the cemetery for a while longer, and even considered coming out of the coffin to have a formal meeting with the cemetery's guard and the gatekeeper named "Agatha".
But just now, he who was walking in the spirit world suddenly felt something strange.
In the dark and boundless space filled with starlight, Duncan raised his head and his eyes fell on something not far away.
The dense stars representing all living beings in the frost were twinkling in the void, and the twinkling of one of the stars... was showing abnormal fluctuations, releasing an abnormal aura.
Duncan leaned over and stared at the "star".
Its light was rapidly dimming, as if indicating that a vibrant life was quickly passing away, but at the edge of the ever-dimming light, something was quietly approaching and trying to entangle the starlight.
After a moment's thought, Duncan reached out his hand toward the starlight.
※※※
On the cold sea that has been completely shrouded in darkness, a few pieces of debris that have not been swallowed by the whirlpool are rising and falling in the waves, and are drifting towards the north of the Frost City-State under the push of the ocean current.
One of the larger pieces of debris broke away from the surrounding debris like a canoe, and on top of the wreckage, a burly body that was almost unrecognizable suddenly jumped twice.
The body was wrapped in a tattered military uniform, and its entire body was covered with shocking marks left by the flames. The hair on its head had been burnt and its face was unrecognizable. Its left hand was twisted abnormally, obviously broken by some huge impact, and its legs were twisted and deformed, with skin and flesh torn.
But there was almost no blood flowing out of the wounds - the high temperature during the explosion had burned all the wounds.
This is a shocking injury, but this body... is still alive.
Belazov tried to open his eyes. He tried several times and felt as if he had torn part of his eyelids. Finally, he could vaguely see a little dim light.
Dull and chaotic pain spread throughout his body, and the organs in his chest seemed to be torn into pieces by a rusty saw, but all these sensations were mixed together in a strange numbness, making it almost impossible for him to distinguish where each sensation came from in the body - he couldn't even tell whether his limbs were still connected to his torso.
He knew that his nervous system had probably collapsed, all his internal organs were rapidly failing, and the last of his adrenaline was doing its best to keep his brain functioning. He had not survived - he had just not died yet.
Memories were emerging from his mind bit by bit. He still remembered what happened on Dagger Island, and he also remembered that he discovered something strange on the ship and activated "Procedure No. 22".
He was somewhat surprised - in such a huge explosion, he did not die on the spot, but was still alive and could recall some things about his life in his dying moments.
Perhaps, it was because the captain's room was exceptionally sturdy and somewhat withstood the impact of the explosion; or perhaps, it was because he had failed to save the 31 normal crew members who might have been on the ship that he had to endure all this pain at this time to punish himself for his mistake.
But none of this matters anymore.
He could barely see the wreckage floating on the nearby sea, and could tell from it that the Petrel had been completely destroyed, and the main structure of the ship should have sunk into the sea by now.
He had no time to think about whether the wreckage that sank into the sea would lead to other unforeseen consequences - he had done his duty and fulfilled his oath of loyalty to the best of his ability, and the rest was beyond his ability.
Belazov exhaled slowly, and with a tearing feeling in his chest, he calmly waited for the door of Bartok, the God of Death, to open to him.
However, the first one to take him away was not the messenger of death.
Under the cold glow of the World's Creation, a tall young man in a blue coat and holding a cane appeared at the edge of the floating wreckage.
A pitch-black chain extended from the tall man's occipital bone and floated into the air in the smoke. A strange creature that seemed to be formed by the smoke and had an outline like a jellyfish was floating quietly at the end of the chain.