The White Oak stopped on the sea, and the Black Oak, which was shrouded in thick fog like a shadow, also stopped with it. In the latter's hazy shadow, there seemed to be an invitation hidden.

Lawrence looked at the ship, looking a little hesitant.

"Should we... send someone up to take a look?" The voice of First Mate Gus came from the side, waking Lawrence from his thoughts.

Lawrence turned his head and looked at the first mate who had been with him for twenty or thirty years. "...You recognized it too, right?"

"...The last time we saw it was near Frost," the first mate looked at the sea not far away, his tone was quite complicated. Like Lawrence, he was still wrapped in burning green flames at this moment, and his body was illusory like a ghost. "For so many years, several of us old subordinates know about your situation, but no one dared to mention it..."

Lawrence was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke softly, "Remember not long ago, you saw a figure standing on the deck and talking to me?"

The first mate was slightly startled, then immediately reacted: "That was..."

"It's Martha - the 'Martha' that only I can see in the past few years," Lawrence said in a low voice, but his words made the first mate's eyes gradually widen. "During this period of time, I have seen her more than once on the ship, and I also heard her voice when exploring the 'Dagger Island'... I always thought that this was because this strange sea area was magnifying the hallucinations in my mind, but now it seems that the situation is not that simple."

The first mate slowly turned his head and looked at the Black Oak, which was shrouded in fog and remained silent and dead. After a long time, he broke the silence: "This is not an illusion, it is here."

Lawrence pursed his lips, as if he was lost in thought. After a few seconds, he suddenly spoke: "Send a signal and see how it reacts."

The first mate nodded immediately: "Yes, Captain."

A moment later, a set of lights on the side of the White Oak came on.

The crew member, still in ghostly form, turned the baffle in front of the searchlight, and shot a series of regular flashes at the black "ghost ship" that was so close.

Lawrence stood on the bridge, staring at the direction of the black ghost ship. He was waiting for the ship to give some kind of response - but he seemed afraid to see it give any response.

"Martha...are you there..."

The nervousness made him subconsciously grab the handrail beside him, and at the same time he muttered softly as if talking to himself.

The next second, in the thick black fog, a flickering light appeared on the deck of the Black Oak. The light stayed on for a few seconds, then went out, and then lit up again, repeating this three times.

"...it responded." The first mate turned around and looked at his captain with a complicated expression. "You can wait here first. I will send a few sailors to check the situation."

“No, I’ll go myself,” Lawrence waved his hand. His expression gradually calmed down, and he had obviously made a decision. “If this is really some kind of phenomenon caused by my gradually losing control of my mind, it would be very dangerous for other sailors to rashly go to that ship... I need to deal with this matter, and only I can solve it myself.”

The first mate obviously wanted to say something, but in front of the captain who had already made up his mind, he could only swallow back his words of dissuasion: "I understand."

Lawrence nodded slightly: "Go and help me prepare lanterns, ropes, weapons, ammunition, and also..."

He suddenly stopped and looked towards the control panel not far away.

A shriveled corpse wearing an old-time sailor's smock was moving cautiously, little by little, to the side. It took cover from the shadow of the bridge and tried to avoid attracting other people's attention. It was almost next to the noose.

Lawrence thought for a moment and said, "I'll take it with me. We can't leave an out-of-control anomaly on the White Oak, and its condition is too abnormal."

Anomaly 077 stopped instantly.

※※※

At the same time, in Frost City, at the sewage treatment center near Cemetery No. 4, the black-clad guards were still vigilantly guarding the intersections. Two other soldiers were specifically looking after the unfortunate administrator - the latter was slumped beside a pipe next to the sewage sedimentation tank, his face pale, his body still shaking a little, but he still tried to answer every question from the guards.

"I don't know, I really don't know... How can I tell..." The only ordinary person left at the scene, the only living "human" in the entire sewage treatment center, the bald middle-aged administrator kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, his face full of fear and tension, "This place has always been fine, I have known those people for more than a day, and they never seemed to have anything wrong..."

"Relax, you are just an ordinary person. It is normal for you to be blinded by supernatural powers." The black-clad guard in charge of questioning had to comfort the frightened administrator, while occasionally looking up at the open space next to the sedimentation tank. "The gatekeeper will deal with those freaks - Ms. Agatha will be back soon."

The administrator subconsciously raised his head to take a look at the empty space. Then, the horrific scene from not long ago seemed to invade his mind again—the three "church pastors" suddenly turned into unfamiliar faces, the terrifying dark demons appeared from the air, and more than a dozen employees of the processing center turned into twisted humanoid monsters, engaging in a fierce battle with the black-clad guards...

The unfortunate manager shuddered all over and quickly closed his eyes, but the darkness brought by closing his eyes triggered new fear. He opened his eyes, with a lingering fear on his face.

The black-clad guards nearby noticed this scene but could only look at it with sympathy.

He had spent such a long time in ignorance in the sewage treatment center that had turned into a nest of monsters, surrounded by lurking brutal cultists and fake monsters that had been replaced by elements - when the truth was suddenly revealed, he was already a sign of excellent psychological quality for not being scared into a madman.

Those employees who turned into fakes were most likely replaced one by one, and now this manager is obviously the last one left. If the guards had not suddenly broken into this place, this manager's fate would probably be to be replaced by the next "fake" - he himself can obviously think of this, and the fear is indescribable.

After the incident here is over, this manager may never be able to return to work at the sewage treatment center - let alone work, he may need long-term psychological treatment before he can return to normal life, but this is not something the guards have to consider.

The guards were more worried about their superiors at the moment - the strength of the gatekeeper Agatha was unquestionable, and three ordinary annihilation priests plus a dozen fake freaks who could only be regarded as cannon fodder could not be the opponent of that lady, but now... she had not come back yet.

After a while, even the manager, who was in a state of fear and anxiety, noticed the tense and solemn atmosphere at the scene. He raised his head and glanced at the black-clad guards around him who were on alert. After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me... Is the gatekeeper okay?"

"Ms. Agatha is in the spirit world. She is worried that the battle between the extraordinary people will affect ordinary people like you - and destroy the sewage treatment equipment here," a female guard in black said in a deep voice. Her steady voice was reassuring. "Don't worry, no heretic can defeat Bartok's gatekeeper in the spirit world. She must be continuing to investigate clues, so she was delayed on her way back."

The manager nodded quickly: "Okay...Okay..."

And in the next second, a cold wind suddenly blew through the factory area, and several black-clad guards guarding the intersection looked at the open space near the sedimentation tank at the same time.

The female guardian who had just spoken breathed a sigh of relief, with a hint of a smile on her face: "Ah, it looks like Ms. Agatha has solved the problem."

As the guardian finished speaking, phantoms suddenly appeared one after another in the open space next to the sedimentation tank - as if another dimension was reconnecting with the real dimension, hazy and illusory shadows appeared in the air one after another, and within just a few breaths, those shadows quickly condensed into entities and fell on the dirty ground.

There were a dozen fake freaks that had turned into human-shaped mud, and the cold and mutilated corpses of three Annihilation Cultists.

The corpse of the fake freak "melted" quickly after hitting the ground, turning into dry mud that would never move again. The body of the Annihilation Cultist began to burn the moment it returned to the real world, and within a few seconds it was turned into piles of charcoal by the black flames. The deep demons that coexisted with them dissipated into the air before they could even regain their physical form.

The manager of the sewage treatment center stared at this surreal scene in amazement, and even forgot the fear in his heart for a moment. Then, he saw a gray-white whirlwind appear in the center of the open space. There seemed to be smoke and thick fog in the whirlwind. In the blink of an eye, a figure in a black coat and holding a cane condensed out from the gray wind and stepped out.

Agatha, with bandages wrapped around her body, raised her head and looked at the familiar reality dimension in front of her, as well as the subordinates around her who seemed a little nervous.

"The problem is solved." She nodded gently to her subordinates, her voice low and reassuring, as always.