With nervousness and curiosity, Agatha looked around the place secretly.

It looked like just an ordinary house, and most of the furniture was a little old, but it was kept very clean and the air in the room was fresh. Perhaps the window had been opened not long ago to let in some air. The sound of boiling water came from the direction of the kitchen, which sounded like the movement of a samovar.

This doesn't look like a "descent place", it's just a private house.

Of course, Agatha knew from the beginning that this was indeed just an ordinary house - until a few days ago, it was listed in the registration book of the Citizen Help Center as a house for rent. She just thought... since an unspeakable visitor chose to make this place his temporary residence, shouldn't it be a little special?

But she found nothing.

"Would you like some tea? Or some coffee?" Duncan came to Agatha and asked casually.

Agatha suddenly woke up and looked at Duncan sitting opposite her in surprise. It took her a moment to realize what he meant and she waved her hand quickly: "No...thank you, I'm not thirsty."

"Don't be so reserved, just make yourself at home," Duncan smiled, sat down on the sofa opposite Agatha, and said in a casual manner, "Let me think... If I'm not mistaken, you should be the gatekeeper of this city-state? It's unlikely that someone who takes the initiative to come to my door at this time is an ordinary guard."

"Gatekeeper Agatha," Agatha nodded immediately, trying to appear calm, "Did you know I was coming?"

"You will definitely come, or you will be another church leader," Duncan said calmly, "Annie will tell the gravekeeper about my situation, and the gravekeeper will report the situation to the church. I just need to wait here, and then I can meet with the church leaders of this city-state."

Agatha adjusted her sitting posture slightly, and looked at the burly figure in front of her with a more serious attitude: "I want to know...your real purpose. Who are you, and why did you come to Frost?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Duncan raised his eyebrows. "It was to solve the problem here. I thought I had made it very clear in the report letter."

Agatha opened her mouth, obviously still a little uncomfortable with such a simple answer. After two or three seconds, she hesitated and said, "Really... is that all?"

"If you need a darker reason and a more complicated conspiracy to make this reasonable, I can make one up," Duncan said casually. "Which style do you prefer? The end of the world or the conquest of King's Landing?"

Agatha's body tensed visibly.

"Well, you scared her," Vanna suddenly coughed twice behind Duncan, "the gatekeeper will take it seriously."

"Will it?" Duncan turned his head slightly in confusion, "I thought this joke was quite obvious..."

"Based on my experience, yes," Vanna sighed helplessly, "People in this line of work are always on edge, and you can't take jokes."

Duncan didn't know what to say for a moment, while Agatha looked at the extremely tall woman in confusion. For some reason, since she entered the room, she always felt that the other person's eyes fell on her intentionally or unintentionally, as if... observing something with interest.

But this is not important. What is important is that she confirmed that the superior being in front of her was just playing a joke on her - a bad and scary joke.

"Please forgive my sensitivity," Agatha said sincerely, "Recently, the anomalies in the city-state have become more and more serious. Everyone's nerves are tense. I even suspected..."

She hesitated for the rest of the sentence, but Duncan continued with ease: "Did you suspect me for a time? Don't be nervous, this makes sense. After all, I showed up at the right time, and I dealt with the Annihilation Cultists and the 'fakes' the first time I came here."

Agatha said nothing, but looked a little embarrassed.

"I want to know what progress your investigation has made," Duncan said without paying attention to the other party's reaction. "Are there any clues?"

Agatha hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether she should reveal too much information about the Frostbite to the mysterious "visitor" in front of her. But after a moment, she still spoke while considering it: "After receiving your warning, we did capture some Annihilation Cultists, but we hardly got any useful information. Those heretics who deeply coexist with the Deep Demons have extremely tough minds and often choose to self-destruct at the last moment. The few who were captured alive were all marginal characters and had no idea of ​​the whole plan...

"Until now, we have only confirmed that the frequent appearance of replicas in the city is indeed caused by those heretics, and they have indeed built a hidden and huge nest in Frost City. But as for the specific location of this nest... we still have no clue."

At this point, Agatha paused and continued, "As for the Dagger Island you mentioned in that letter... What's even more disturbing is that it has disappeared."

"I know." Duncan said calmly.

"You already know about this?" Agatha asked in surprise, "This news should still be kept secret..."

Duncan said calmly: "I also have my own intelligence channels in the mortal world. Even if I don't leave the city-state, I know some of the things happening in the outer sea."

The intelligence channel was of course Tirian - after all, Dagger Island disappeared in front of the Sea Fog Fleet, and Tirian would naturally report the situation to the Lost Homeland as soon as possible.

But even though he knew this shocking news for the first time, Duncan could only be shocked - he couldn't understand how such a big island could disappear out of thin air.

From what Tirian had conveyed, the island did not disappear by sinking, but rather by melting directly into the sea water. There were also a series of large explosions before it disappeared, which seemed like something had been activated by the people on the island - but other than that, there was no further information.

Information was scarce, the way of disappearance was too bizarre, and no clues or traces were left after the disappearance. Dagger Island turned from one mystery into another bigger mystery. No one knew what happened there, and no one knew where the island went.

"Do you know where Dagger Island has gone?" Agatha's voice interrupted Duncan's thoughts. The city-state gatekeeper raised his head and looked at him sincerely. "Do you know what happened to it?"

Duncan thought about it and felt that if he directly admitted that he had been thinking about it all night and still couldn't figure it out, it might affect his image a little, so he hesitated for a moment and pointed to the ground.

"Below?" Agatha was stunned for a moment. "You mean, Dagger Island did sink into the sea... But the eyewitness reports at the time said that there was no vortex phenomenon on the sea surface caused by the sinking of the island..."

Duncan didn't know how to answer - he was still curious about how such a big island could disappear out of thin air!

He continued to stretch out his hand and point at the ground.

"You're not talking about Dagger Island... the clue is under your feet?" Agatha seemed to react, and almost in an instant, she recalled her most recent conversation with Bishop Ivan, and recalled the matter about the "second waterway" deep underground!

The city hall and the church have searched the entire city-state. The strict curfew system and repeated large-scale inspections are theoretically enough to catch a large number of hidden cultists, but the cultists caught are always only a few marginal figures... First, the waterways, subways, pipeline wells and other places where people can hide have been searched, but there are no clues...

The city-state is so small. If there is no trace of those heretics in the above-mentioned places, then the only possibility left is the second waterway.

Those collapsed areas, those caves plunged into darkness, those shafts and pipes covered with pollution... They may indeed be unsuitable for survival, but what if those Annihilation Cultists really survived in those places?

Of course, searching for the "second waterway" was already in the plan, but she had never dared to confirm whether this search operation, which was bound to be extremely costly, was meaningful. Now, she had finally found the most powerful support for this action - a friendly god-like being clearly stated that she had to keep looking.

"So that's it - I see, we are heading in the right direction," Agatha suddenly stood up, her tone filled with realization and joy. She looked at Duncan opposite her, her attitude suddenly became particularly sincere and respectful, and she bowed deeply, "I understand - thank you very much for your reminder!"

Duncan kept his fingers and feet moving, looking in a daze at the bandaged woman in front of him who suddenly became excited.

What does she understand?

"We will immediately start the next search, and this time we will definitely root out the nests of heretics," Agatha did not notice Duncan's stunned look. She just spoke with confidence and was about to leave soon. "Then I will not waste your time - forgive me for disturbing you this time, I have to leave."

"Um... okay," Duncan stood up half a beat late, and said subconsciously, "Then you walk slowly..."

Agatha thanked him and turned towards the door, but then she seemed to remember something and stopped suddenly.

Alice, who was about to stand up to see her off, almost bumped into her.

Agatha's eyes swept over Alice, but this time she didn't pay too much attention to the blonde woman who had no heartbeat or breathing - it was normal for a quasi-god to have some strange followers around her, and it was not worth making a fuss about.

She turned her head toward Duncan.

"Please rest assured. I will instruct the church's guards that no one will disturb you," Agatha said very seriously. "I hope you can live happily in Frostbite. If there is any new situation, I will come in person."

"Oh, that's good," Duncan laughed, which satisfied him. "I really don't want anyone to disturb me."

Agatha nodded, then turned and walked towards the door again, but after taking two steps, she seemed to suddenly remember something and stopped.

"There's one more thing I almost forgot." The goalkeeper pressed his forehead awkwardly and said to Duncan.

Duncan asked doubtfully: "Oh?"

Agatha hesitated for a moment, and finally asked the question that had troubled her and many others for a long time: "Regarding the 'secret number' you left at the end of the 'report letter' last time, what exactly does it mean? Please forgive our shallow knowledge. We have tried to solve it for a long time, but still cannot understand the puzzle you left behind."

Duncan: “…Ah?”