The battle in the alley was fierce but short. It only took a few minutes from the time the two cultists were exposed to the end of the battle. But Fanna believed that the noise made in these few minutes was enough to attract the night patrol guards.

Of course, whether from a standpoint or in terms of strength, she was not afraid of the Frost Guardians - but at this time, she had no plans to create any further trouble.

Just as she was thinking about how to signal Duncan to enter the building, the dark door happened to open.

The figures of Duncan and Morris appeared in the lights.

The next second, Duncan walked quickly towards the alley where Vanna and Alice were. Morris turned around and closed the door while sketching patterns on the door in the air that looked like ancient words, as if he was praying to the god of wisdom to exert some extraordinary power.

"I noticed some noise outside," Duncan came up to Vanna and the others, looked up at the situation in the alley, frowned slightly and asked quickly, "What happened?"

"As expected, there are indeed Annihilation Cultists keeping an eye on this place. Alice noticed their tracks and we had a brief fight," Vanna replied immediately. "Both heretics are dead and no one escaped. However, the noise of the battle may have attracted the attention of the guardians. They will be here soon."

"Alice noticed it?" Duncan first glanced at the doll lady next to him in surprise, and then noticed the strangeness in Vanna's expression, realizing that the situation just now might be far more complicated than he had imagined. However, he did not ask further questions, but nodded quickly, "Don't say so much for now, prepare to move."

"I have already erased the traces we left behind," Morris also came over after finishing the cleanup. "Galoni will forget her experiences of the last 24 hours after she wakes up. Even if a skilled psychiatrist searches her memory, they probably won't be able to recover much."

"Yeah, very good."

Duncan nodded slightly. He actually didn't care much about hiding his whereabouts, but it certainly wouldn't be a bad thing to have fewer people disturbing him in the early stages of the operation.

Then he raised his hand and waved in the darkness.

The sound of flapping wings broke the tranquility of the night. A white dove that was perched on the roof of a nearby building flew over swiftly. The next second, a dark green flame flashed across the alley, leaving only the sound of flapping wings gradually fading away into the night.

The streets returned to silence again - a few minutes later, a series of hurried footsteps and the swaying light of lanterns appeared on the street in the distance.

※※※

Ai didn't go far - in fact, it only flew about a block away and found a place to stay near an old factory.

It is an uninhabited tin hut.

The tin hut was next to the old factory. There was a hole of moderate size in the window of the hut. Ai crawled into the hut through the hole. Along with the sudden rise of the spiritual flame, the figures of Duncan and his four companions appeared in the hut.

Fanna looked around immediately and saw that the old cottage was covered with thick dust, there was a wooden bed and a simple table and chair in the corner, and some sundries were piled on the other side of the house. The cold wind was howling outside the house, and the hole in the nearby window made a strange whimpering sound in the wind.

"It's a temporary rest place for the pump room maintenance personnel. Usually no one comes here outside the maintenance period. Although I don't know when the maintenance period here is, at least it's a place to rest temporarily today," Vanna said as she walked to the window and looked outside through the dirty glass. The old factory not far away stood silently in the night. The lights of the factory could be clearly seen and the sound of the machines running in the factory could be heard. "The factory is still operating. There must be priests in this kind of factory that operates day and night. If there is an extraordinary battle in the nearby blocks, the alert level of this kind of factory will also be raised."

"It's not a big problem. Just don't turn on the lights. They can't sense the presence here anyway," Duncan said casually. "We can wait here until daybreak before taking any action. Is that ok?"

As he spoke, he looked at the three people in his sight.

Alice is a cursed doll, Vanna is a beautiful and strong girl, and even the weakest-looking old Mr. Morris is a transcendent who possesses many divine powers. In terms of strength, there is no need to worry about them, but the cold winter nights in this northern city-state may not be so friendly to elderly gentlemen.

"Don't worry." Morris obviously noticed Duncan's gaze. He smiled and raised his hand to trace the sacred rune given by the God of Wisdom, Lahem, on his chest. "Until the past two years, I often explored those ancient ruins and cursed ruins on the edge of dangerous seas. The environment there is much more difficult than here. Academic research has never been an easy job, especially when dealing with history."

Duncan thought about it and felt that the old man was right.

Historians and folklorists in this world are indeed quite hardcore professions - even the "homebody scholars" who never leave their houses have to have a few unique skills to rely on, after all, they often fight with the things they are studying, and those cursed books and possessed relics are not just lying there in the display room.

What's more, Morris is a well-rounded scholar. He must have maxed out free fighting and wilderness survival before studying history...

"We can actually contact the informants that Captain Tirian has planted in this city," Vanna said, "They should be able to help arrange accommodation and provide intelligence..."

"I will contact them, but not now," Duncan waved his hand, and then his expression became slightly serious, "From today on, Frost must carefully identify anyone when they contact them, including those 'informants' mentioned by Tirian."

Vanna was startled, and then she realized something: "You have confirmed that 'Brown Scott'..."

"It was a deep-sea replica, and it had already self-disintegrated. We were a step late, and only found a few clues he left behind," Duncan said, shaking his head. "But this was basically expected before. In addition, we also saw a female apprentice in that house with cognitive and memory disordered. She was an ordinary person."

Vanna's expression suddenly became serious.

"That was Brown's student, named Galoni. She had completely forgotten about her mentor's death in the shipwreck in her memory and cognition," Morris said. "According to the captain and I, this situation... may not be an isolated case in the entire Frostbite."

"Since more than half a month ago, Tirian has been receiving strange and contradictory intelligence. Sometimes the intelligence mentioned that the 'return of the dead' occurred in Frost, and sometimes it said that it was all rumors. The so-called dead were actually normal residents of Frost from the beginning. Sometimes, this completely contradictory information was even sent to us by the same informant," Duncan took over Morris's words and continued, "At first, Tirian thought that the Frost authorities were controlling the news and that the church was taking action to reduce the impact of strange events on residents, but now it seems... this is most likely caused by cognitive confusion."

"Captain Tirian's informants are all over Frostbite... You mean, this is a cognitive and memory pollution covering the entire city-state?!" Vanna realized the seriousness of the matter, "Then now in this city-state..."

"No one can tell for sure how many are replicas and how many are genuine ones, and that's secondary. After all, replicas should not be able to escape my eyes, and I can tell them apart quickly when I see them. The most troublesome are those ordinary people who are no longer normal..." Duncan said, paused, and shook his head after a brief thought. "In short, the informants that Tirian left in this city are no longer so reliable. Some of them may have been replaced, or their cognition may have been distorted, or even some of them may have become spies of the Annihilation Cult... Be cautious when contacting them."

Vanna nodded solemnly - but a look of joy gradually emerged in her eyes.

In the cold and mysterious northern city-state, the residents are constantly replaced. The spies that were once planted are no longer reliable, and those ordinary citizens who seem normal and harmless are gradually suffering from memory and cognitive pollution. Untrustworthy voices fill the entire city, and pollution spreads beneath the surface.

Which is good because it all comes back to her area of ​​expertise.

Eradicate heresy and purify pollution.

She began to understand Pope Helena's other intention in sending her to the Lost Homeland.

Now that he has the vision of a peaceful night, Plande no longer needs her as an inquisitor, but as long as she follows the Lost Homeland, she will always have a stage to show her talents.

Duncan gave Vanna a strange look.

"Is it my illusion? Why do I feel like your mood has improved all of a sudden?"

"Ah, I just feel a little happy thinking that I can continue to eradicate heresy."

Duncan opened his mouth, not knowing for a moment how to evaluate the young inquisitor, but he soon focused his attention on another thing.

He looked at the puppet standing nearby, distracted.

"I have finished talking about the progress with Morris, it's time to talk about the situation on your side."