In the center of the city-state, where the frost is highest, the Cathedral of Silence stands quietly on the top of the mountain. The gloomy sky makes this majestic and dark building seem more oppressive in silence. Its towering spires stand in the mist like thorns and sharp blades, overlooking the entire city.

A tall figure who stood out in the crowd strolled across the square in front of the church, looking around the scenery like an ordinary tourist.

Not long after, another old gentleman wearing a dark brown coat and with an elegant and gentle temperament walked out of the crowd and walked straight towards the tall figure.

Vanna saw Morris walking out of the crowd, and she quietly went to a relatively secluded place.

"There's nothing unusual here in the church square." Vanna leaned against a street lamp, staring at the church gate not far away, and said in a low voice.

"It's the same at the City Hall. At least on the surface, the people here don't show any signs of mental or cognitive contamination," Morris wiped his monocle, "but I've discovered something."

"A situation?"

"Someone was discussing the recent exploration of the sewers near the square. If I'm not mistaken, they were talking about the Second Waterway," Morris said. "They mentioned the gatekeeper Agatha in their conversation - the gatekeeper was leading the team personally."

"Gatekeeper Agatha?" Vanna's expression suddenly changed slightly, "But the captain said..."

"The real Agatha should be trapped in a mirrored Frost City right now," Morris whispered, "The one leading the team... is probably a fake."

Vanna took a deep breath, then suddenly raised her head and looked in the direction of the Cathedral of Silence.

The majestic and solemn building stood against the backdrop of the gloomy sky, and its towering spires stood silently in the mist.

Her expression became solemn: "...There is nothing unusual about the cathedral, so there are only two possibilities. Either the fake has deceived the cathedral, or..."

"Either the Frost Church is no longer trustworthy, or at least something has gone wrong in the cathedral," Morris nodded gently. "In either case, the Frost Church has obviously lost control of the whole thing. We should leave here, and we must tell Mr. Duncan about this immediately."

Vanna nodded silently and walked towards the exit at the edge of the square with Morris. Before leaving, she raised her head for the last time and looked at the open space opposite the Cathedral of Silence.

That was where the City Hall was located. The Queen's Palace, once known as the "Winter Court", stood there. There was fog on the top of the mountain. In the slightly thicker fog, Vanna saw that the building was standing silently under the sky like the Cathedral of Silence, with its tall spires and towers standing in rows. The tall towers were like thorns and sharp blades in the fog, silently overlooking the city.

Vanna suddenly stopped.

Morris turned his head immediately: "Vanna? What did you see?"

Vanna stared at the hazy mist.

Amid the mist, the City Hall returned to its original appearance. It was a palace-style building with various curved vaults. Surrounding the majestic gray-white main building were long halls extending to both sides like wings and continuously undulating vaults.

There are neither gloomy black spires nor forests of tall towers.

"Vanna? What's wrong with you?" Morris' voice sounded again.

"I just saw another cathedral - right where the town hall is," Vanna suddenly whispered, her expression looking particularly solemn. "Although it was only for a moment, I'm sure I wasn't seeing things!"

"Another cathedral?" Morris was surprised. He instinctively looked across the square, but all he saw was the town hall which looked normal.

But he did not doubt Vanna's judgment at all.

"This is not a good sign," the old scholar said in a low voice, raising his hand to press the hat on his head. "It seems that you are the only one who saw what happened just now. This may be because your spiritual vision as a clergyman is far superior to that of ordinary people. The vision appeared directly around the cathedral, which is evidence that the erosion is getting more serious."

Fanna didn't say anything. She just frowned and looked at the city area at the foot of the mountain. After a long while, she slowly said, "It's foggy. It's everywhere."

It was foggy, first in the central area of ​​the Frost City-State, and then began to spread to the entire city. From only wisps of mist at the beginning, the fog quickly became thicker. Within just a few hours, the whole city was shrouded in a haze.

"It's so foggy outside!"

Shirley was lying on the second-floor bedroom window, craning her neck to look at the scene on the street, and shouted with a look of surprise on her face.

Agou also crouched by the window, his ugly bony head squeezed side by side with Shirley. After staring outside for a long time, he suddenly said, "The reason why there is fog in urban areas is usually the large temperature difference between day and night, and human activities cause water vapor to rise and increase dust in the air. When the water-containing air between buildings encounters a sudden drop in temperature, it will form..."

Shirley was confused when she heard this: "Agou, what are you talking about?"

"Agou is talking about the content of the second chapter of The Logic Behind Nature. He has been reading this book these past two days," Nina, who was doing her homework at the desk next to her, turned her head and glanced at him. She said casually, "You should try to read simple books on your own occasionally. It's very useful for mastering words. If that doesn't work, you can start with picture books."

Shirley thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "Are you mocking me for not knowing enough words and for only being able to read picture books?"

Nina's attention has turned back to her homework: "No, because you can only read picture books, and describing facts is not considered irony..."

Shirley suddenly widened her eyes, as if she was about to get angry, but then she was attracted by the thicker fog outside the window and waved her hands repeatedly: "Hey, I won't tell you this anymore - come and have a look! It's really foggy outside! I haven't seen such a thick fog even in Plande..."

"The temperature difference between day and night in Plande is small, and there are strong winds in the morning and evening, so it is not easy to fog." Nina did not even raise her head. "I won't look at it. I haven't finished my homework yet. The test paper that Mr. Morris gave me is really difficult, and the multiple-choice questions are too confusing. I always feel that I chose the wrong one..."

"Hey, if you encounter an option you can't handle, just choose C," Shirley said nonsense, and then her eyes turned again, as if a new idea came to her mind, "Nina, do you want to go out and play? It's nearby, not far away - there is a snack shop across the street. There must be few customers in this weather. Maybe you can buy a very cheap cake..."

"I'm not going," Nina said casually, "If you want to go, go by yourself. If I don't complain to Uncle Duncan when he comes back..."

She had just said half of her words when a strange, rustling sound suddenly rang out in the room, interrupting the conversation between the two girls.

"Did you... hear any sound just now?" Shirley quickly jumped back from the windowsill and looked around vigilantly.

Nina also became nervous, and just as she subconsciously wanted to look around, she suddenly saw something strange on the surface of the test paper and the book spread out in front of her.

The words were moving, the symbols were rotating, and the distinct black and white ink marks were trembling as if they had come alive. At the edges of those trembling pen marks, black shadows spread rapidly like smudged ink and quickly filled the entire paper.

Almost in an instant, all the books and papers Nina had just read began to vibrate violently, and overlapping whispers mixed with rustling sounds echoed throughout the room!

"Ah! There is something evil in the book you are reading!" Shirley exclaimed suddenly, and subconsciously lifted the chain connecting her to Agou. At the moment when she exclaimed, the evil creature that was pursuing the smell of knowledge and floating towards the real world also entered the room!

The black smoke swirled wildly, and entities condensed and emerged from the smoke. Bone fragments clattered to the ground, and in the blink of an eye they turned into ugly and terrifying demons - three Abyss Hounds fell to the ground, letting out terrifying growls, their chaotic scarlet eye sockets filled with madness and confusion!

Then, they saw Agou lying on the open space next to the window, seemingly a little dazed.

The Deep Hounds looked at each other in bewilderment - Shirley even felt that she saw a moment of confusion in the postures of those chaotic and unintelligent "native demons".

But this did not affect her reaction at all.

The black chains rattled instantly, and Shirley raised her arms high. With great force, she swung Agou in a full circle like a meteor hammer, and the next second she smashed towards the demon closest to the window!

"I'll beat you to death!"

With a loud bang, the two dog heads collided with each other with great force. The demon who had just escaped from the deep sea was obviously no match for Agou, who had practiced combat with Shirley for many years - both in terms of the hardness of his skull and his reaction.

The first deep demon was smashed into pieces as soon as it came into contact.

The second dark demon only had time to open its mouth, and before it could even let out a roar, it suddenly felt a sudden and rapid surge of high temperature.

A flame came from the side, and Nina raised her leg and gave a 6000°C flying kick.