"Uneasy?" After hearing Agatha's answer, Bishop Ivan's tone changed significantly. He stared into Agatha's eyes and said, "As a saint, being 'uneasy' is not a good sign... What happened? When did it start?"

"Right after returning from that polluted sewage treatment center," Agatha did not hide anything. She knew that the old bishop in front of her was the most trustworthy person in the entire city-state. "I always felt like I had forgotten something, like... I left something there. But I have reviewed what happened there several times and found nothing wrong."

"That sewage treatment center..." Bishop Ivan said in a low voice. He certainly knew what Agatha was talking about. The matter was reported to the cathedral and the city hall immediately at the time, and the subsequent investigation and purification work is still in full swing. "I am also paying attention to this matter. The surviving manager is still receiving treatment in a mental hospital. The original dozen employees of the treatment center are still missing. Judging from the sampling report at the scene, you should have purified the pollution of the entire facility at that time. In theory, there should be no hidden dangers left."

"But I still feel uneasy," Agatha admitted. "Although there is no evidence, I must have overlooked something."

"…Have you checked your mental state? What are the results of your cognitive calibration?"

"Of course I have checked it," Agatha nodded. "I have done both self-cognition calibration and subconscious examination with the assistance of a psychiatrist. No problems were found."

Bishop Ivan did not speak for a while. After a few seconds, he broke the silence with a thoughtful look: "Then it is possible that your own 'inner' is warning you - it may come from your subconscious, it may come from your spiritual vision, or even from your faith."

"I will go back there and confirm it again," Agatha nodded. "Before that, I will go to the prayer room to pray for a while - I hope the Lord can give me some guidance."

Bishop Ivan nodded slightly and said, "Go ahead. I hope prayer can alleviate your troubles."

Agatha hummed, stood up and left the platform where the coffin was placed, and disappeared outside the door of the Meditation Temple a moment later.

The spacious church fell silent for a moment. Only Bishop Ivan, who looked like a mummy, was still sitting on the edge of the coffin. He looked in the direction where Agatha had left, as if he was lost in thought. After an unknown amount of time, he sighed softly, stretched out his hand, and sketched the triangular emblem of Bartok, the god of death, on his chest: "May the Lord guide me..."

In the silent meditation sanctuary, the candlesticks embedded in the niches burned quietly. The flames flickered silently, and the mirror-like black marble floor reflected the light of the candlesticks. Around the leaping flames, there seemed to be many shadowy phantoms flashing by.

※※※

Outside Frost City, on the border of the offshore area, a patrol ship flying the Frost Navy flag was patrolling the sea according to the prescribed route.

A naval commander came to the bow deck and frowned as he looked at the sea in the distance. The cold light of the Creation of the World shone down from the sky, making the sparkling waves on the sea surface pale. Among the waves, large and small pieces of floating ice could occasionally be seen. Those floating ice fragments were floating in an orderly direction in the distance, and vaguely seemed to form an invisible "boundary line".

Of course, the commander knew what those seemingly naturally generated "floating ice" were - they were actually not "floating ice fragments" at all, but part of the Sea Fog Fleet.

Those are the floating ice around the Sea Mist. When the cursed ghost ship appears on the sea, such floating ice will appear around it. They symbolize the "sphere of influence" of the pirate captain and are also the embodiment of the cursed power of the Sea Mist. Any ship that approaches the Sea Mist without permission will first be baptized by those "floating ice". The lighter ones will be hindered in their movements, and the serious ones will even be directly frozen on the sea, and all the people on the ship will become ghosts in the ice.

The Sea Mist often used this method to block the waterway, intercept merchant ships passing through its sphere of influence, and collect so-called "ice handling service fees" - in most cases, the ship could complete this shameful extortion without even firing a shot.

Of course, the current Sea Fog Fleet has temporarily resolved its hostile relationship with the Frost Navy, and those floating ice will not actively spread to the heads of the Navy patrol ships, but their existence itself is a deterrent attitude, and the meaning it conveys is very clear:

Even though this is the doorstep of Frost's home, the Sea Fog Fleet's sphere of influence lies further ahead.

The commander in the Frost Navy uniform gritted his teeth and sighed, trying to calm himself down.

The overall situation is important, and soldiers should obey the judgment of their superiors - the city-state needs security, and this security requires the Sea Fog Fleet.

The blockade of the entire sea area is above all else.

"It's foggy at sea again," a junior officer came to the deck and muttered as he looked into the distance, "It's foggy almost every day."

The patrol ship commander raised his head and looked at the sea ahead.

Just as the subordinates said, fog was forming on the sea. The gauze-like fog was gathering little by little on the sea surface and spreading around the "ice boundary". The brilliance of the creation of the world permeated the fog, making the place appear pale.

"It's probably caused by the Sea Mist again," the commander frowned. "Wherever that ship goes, the ice and fog follow."

"The Sea Mist has not moved," the subordinate said, "Maybe the 'Pirate General' just wants to show his presence?"

"No matter what he thinks," the commander shook his head, "we should not go near foggy and ice-floating areas—Frost cannot be the first to violate the contract."

"yes."

The commander hummed, then looked at the fog in the distance, his expression somewhat puzzled: "But then again...isn't the fog a little thicker than usual tonight?"

The subordinates followed their superior's gaze and saw that the fog surrounding the ice floe was indeed still expanding and seemed thicker than usual. Deep in the increasingly thick fog, it seemed as if something was shaking.

"The fog is really getting thicker..." the junior officer muttered, "Is there something in the fog?"

“…something is not right.”

The patrol ship commander's expression suddenly changed as he spoke, and he quickly picked up the telescope and looked in the direction of the thick fog. After a moment of careful observation, he finally confirmed that there was indeed something shaking in the fog - it was very large and was approaching.

It's a ship!

"It's a ship, coming from the patrol area of ​​the Sea Fog Fleet." The commander put down the telescope and spoke quickly, "Send a light signal - the Sea Fog Fleet has crossed the border, tell them to stop immediately."

"yes!"

The junior officer responded loudly, and then quickly ran to the back of the deck. After a while, the large searchlight installed on the upper deck of the patrol ship lit up and sent a series of light signals towards the thick fog.

However, the ship that was approaching in the thick fog showed no signs of slowing down.

The patrol ship commander stared at the blurry shadow in the fog, watching as the other party not only did not slow down, but instead rushed towards him at an even faster speed. Moreover, as the other party approached, even the fog on the surrounding sea seemed to be spreading consciously - in just a short moment, the surging fog had spread to within a hundred meters around the patrol ship, and even had a tendency to surround the ship from all directions!

"Damn pirates!"

The patrol ship commander couldn't help but curse inwardly, turned around and quickly ran to the bridge, rushing to the control station while shouting: "Back up, turn, that thing is heading straight towards us - has the Sea Mist Fleet responded?"

"There's no response to the light signal! There's no response to the short-distance call!" The soldier at the console next to him shouted back, "We are calling the Sea Mist at the agreed frequency, but there's no response from the other side... Wait, there's a response!"

The communication light on the console suddenly lit up, and the automatic recorder began to click. A long punched paper tape kept spitting out from the mouth of the machine. The signalman quickly picked up the tape to identify the marks on it, but after a moment he looked up blankly: "The Sea Fog Fleet said they did not cross the border - all their ships are still in place."

"All in the same place?"

The patrol ship commander's eyes widened, and then he suddenly looked up and looked out of the porthole - thick fog had already spread to the bow of the patrol ship. Although the helmsman was trying hard to turn, it was obvious that the ship's movement speed could not keep up with the spread of the strange fog, and in the constantly surging fog, the hazy shadow was getting closer and closer.

"Turn, full left, turn!"

The patrol ship tilted violently, the steam core let out a hoarse roar, the steering rudder and the side propeller worked together, driving the ship to turn in the fog with a force that seemed to disintegrate the entire ship. Amidst the violent shaking and a series of noises, the patrol ship commander tightly grasped the railing beside him and stared at the scene outside the porthole with wide eyes -

In the suddenly broken fog, a huge ship rushed out, almost brushing the patrol ship's railing.

It was not a member of the Frost Navy, nor was it a member of the Sea Mist - it was a mottled and rusty old warship. The severely damaged hull paint and the outdated bow structure seemed to silently tell the vicissitudes of life it had experienced.

The patrol ship commander stared in amazement at the huge ship passing by his patrol ship. After several seconds, he suddenly reacted and recalled the illustrations and records he had seen in an old document.

"It's the 'Warrior' that sank forty years ago..."