The content on the paper was incoherent, as if it contained some specious metaphors. Upon closer inspection, it only made people feel weird. Even a great scholar like Morris, who had read those words over and over again, could not make out any clues.

What are the Forsaken Kings? What are the Forsaken Clans? What are the Men in the Ashes and the "Refuge" mentioned repeatedly in these passages?

Duncan frowned, his eyes sweeping over the ink that was slightly smudged by water. Some of the words recorded on it made him have vague associations, but it was difficult for him to form any coherent thoughts. He just felt vaguely... this didn't seem to be just crazy talk. The paragraph that seemed like a religious record seemed to be telling something related to the current "deep sea era".

Or maybe it was something that happened before the deep sea era.

"Is this the handwriting of a crow?" Vanna suddenly raised her head and looked at Nemo who was standing beside her.

"It's his handwriting," Nemo squatted down to identify it, and nodded confidently, "He always lengthens the last stroke at the end of a sentence. Others don't have this problem."

"What does he believe in?" Vanna asked again, "Besides the Orthodox faith, has he ever been exposed to any other spiritual guidance? It doesn't have to be a heretical belief - gray societies like secret societies and academic monasteries are also considered."

"He is a devout believer in the God of Death since he was a child. Apart from Bartok's church, I have never seen him go to any other gatherings," Crow said while thinking, "As for associations and academic monasteries... that's even more impossible. How can he get involved in such things with his brain? A guy who needs three years of tutoring in the public high school in the downtown area to graduate, even if he wants to join those monasteries, they will have to accept him!"

"... a devout Orthodox believer who has never been exposed to any spiritual guidance other than the Orthodox faith... this is interesting," Vanna looked at the paper in Morris's hand, curled her fingers and rested them on her chin in thought, "the narrative style on it clearly has the shadow of the classical city-state era or the earlier Dark Ages, and it is a typical 'hieroglyphic style'. This kind of thing is not something that someone who barely graduated from a public high school can imagine out of thin air - and 'Crow' even keeps it close to him, which shows that he cares very much about what is on this piece of paper."

Duncan didn't say anything. He had been thinking silently. Suddenly he realized, "So, this thing might have been copied from somewhere."

"Copied it down?" Nemo was stunned for a moment, then he realized, "You mean, the crow might have strayed into a certain place, and the things on the paper... are the 'clues' he copied down there?"

"Perhaps, he himself did not know the significance of the things he copied, but this was the most suspicious and noteworthy information he saw there," Duncan nodded slowly, "and unfortunately, he might have brought disaster upon himself while copying these things."

"He strayed into a certain place..." Vanna stood up slowly, folded her arms across her chest, and said in thought, "Then this place must be completely unfamiliar to Crow, and the environment may be quite strange, so that the person concerned could not determine where he was in a short period of time, and could only hastily record what he saw as a clue. On the other hand, he may have been discovered and killed shortly after transcribing, so he did not have time to explore the surroundings - otherwise he would have had the opportunity to record more characteristic information to describe the environment he saw."

As she spoke, she looked down at the drowned body again and frowned slightly.

"Where on earth did he go? And how was he sent back? A wet corpse must have left traces when it was carried here..."

Nemo raised his head and looked around.

In the dry sewer corridor, there were no signs of a body being dragged.

"Perhaps we should go deeper along the route that the crow usually patrols. He may have left traces before he mistakenly entered that place," Morris said, looking up into the depths of the corridor ahead. "Does he usually go in this direction?"

"Yes," Nemo nodded. "This corridor leads to the upper city, but the lighting in the middle of the road is unstable and occasionally shrouded in darkness. Although short-term darkness is not a big problem, there is still a possibility that some... not-so-good things will appear, so we need to patrol frequently to detect those newly emerging shadows in time."

"Then let's go and take a look. We might be able to find some clues if we go early," Duncan nodded. "If there really is something running out over there, we can solve it all at once."

No one objects.

The group temporarily bid farewell to the crow's body and prepared to explore deeper into the sewer corridor. Before passing the young man's body, Nemo and the old ghost lowered their heads at the same time.

"Wait for us here, we'll come back to pick you up," said Nemo.

The old ghost bent down, took out a triangular amulet from somewhere, and stuffed it into Crow's chest: "Don't run around, kid."

Duncan watched the scene silently, waiting for Nemo and Old Ghost to finish saying goodbye before turning around and leading the team forward.

"We will tell Captain Tirian what happened here when we return," Vana suddenly said on the way, "The young man will not die in vain."

"Thank you," Nemo whispered. He was obviously in a bad mood, and he was still depressed and frustrated. "That kid... he didn't accomplish anything remarkable in his life, but he was remembered by Captain Tirian and Captain Duncan this time, which is probably an honor."

"Does he have any family?" Morris also broke the silence and asked softly.

"Family? They're long gone. He grew up in an orphanage. He came out of the orphanage when he was a teenager and became my apprentice." Nemo shook his head. "I heard from the director of the orphanage that the boy was picked up from the street, from a trash can on the corner of the street. When he was first picked up, he was only as long as a crow from head to toe..."

“Abandoned baby,” the old ghost muttered, his voice filled with anger. “When the queen was still alive, she would not allow such a thing to happen - those who abandoned babies would be thrown into jail! But now people have fallen to the point of throwing their children into the trash can... That kid was lucky. When he first came to us from the orphanage, he was very thin and weak. He was like a monkey in his teens. I was worried all the time that he would catch a cold and die in the winter, but he survived... survived..."

The old man suddenly stopped, as if he was a little stuck, and then shook his head in a depressed mood: "After all, I didn't survive."

The atmosphere in the team was particularly depressing. Even Alice, who was usually slow-witted, could sense the depressing atmosphere. She looked around in confusion, and finally came to the old ghost hesitantly, as if she wanted to comfort him: "Don't be sad."

The old ghost raised his head and stared at Alice wearing a wig and veil. He was stunned for a moment, then sniffed hard: "Queen, you have to take care of this matter..."

Alice looked at the old man in front of her at a loss.

But soon, her embarrassment was broken - the team suddenly stopped.

The corridor ahead was shrouded in dim light. Two gas lamps that seemed to be faulty were embedded in the wall. The light they emitted was barely enough to completely dispel the darkness in the depths. Vanna looked up at the ground at the junction of light and darkness, and her expression gradually became more serious.

"Over there... there's a person lying down."

She said in a low voice.

A thin-looking figure lay motionless beside the gutter at the edge of the corridor. The gas lamp, which was dim due to poor airflow, emitted a faint glow, shining on the familiar thick blue coat.

The group came to the fallen body, and after seeing the other person's face, Duncan was not surprised at all - it was Crow.

However, unlike Duncan and the others who had expected this, Nemo and Lao Gui were only shocked and even a little terrified when they saw that face.

“Crow?!” Nemo’s voice was trembling. He stared at the person lying on the ground in amazement and subconsciously took a half step back. “How…how…”

"It's a fake." Duncan calmly interrupted Nemo's exclamation. From the first glance alone, he confirmed that the body in front of him was a fake formed by "elements" - because around this "corpse", a small amount of black viscous substance had begun to appear, and it was obvious that its disintegration process had begun.

There seemed to be differences between the counterfeits. Although they were all made of the same "elements", some counterfeits could survive in the city-state for ten days or half a month, while others disintegrated when they were transported to the cemetery. And this "fake" in front of him...it seemed to disintegrate even faster.

It has only been a few hours since the crow disappeared.

Duncan thought quickly in his mind -

If the crow really had strayed into some dangerous and strange place—such as the lair of the Annihilation Cultists—and had copied down the suspicious "hieroglyphic narrative" there, then the copying of him... should have started there as well.

And now, his copy was lying in this area, in the place he often patrolled.

The direction is right.

Perhaps, the source of the replica is nearby!