With a loud bang, the Annihilation Cultist vomited blood and flew ten meters away. He finally stopped after crashing into the trunk of a towering tree and slid to the ground like a torn sack.

The last look he revealed was one of great astonishment and bewilderment - perhaps he had imagined all kinds of powerful enemies and traps in his life, but he probably would never have imagined that one day he would be hit by a dog.

Shirley carried Agou's chain and walked step by step to the cultist who couldn't even move a finger, and stopped at a relatively safe distance.

This cultist was still alive - or rather, in this "dream", the injuries that would be fatal in the real world did not seem to be enough to kill him. Even though his head was almost smashed into his neck and most of his joints were bent in a strange and terrifying state, this guy was still alive, but too weak to move, and could only stare at this side with resentment mixed with a little fear.

Shirley ignored the other party's scary eyes, slightly raised the chain in her hand, and Agou stepped forward and approached the cultist.

“Who the hell are you…” The Annihilation Cultist spoke with difficulty. He looked at the hideous Abyss Hound approaching him, and a trace of fear finally emerged in his eyes uncontrollably. Not far away, the “Death Bird” that coexisted with him also struggled a few times, as if trying to resist, but soon quieted down due to the extreme weakness of the symbiote, which made his voice sound even more bluffing. “What are you going to do?!”

"This place is a dream. I won't be able to catch you in the real world." A smile slowly emerged on Shirley's face. She raised the arm that coexisted with the chain and gently rubbed the black chain against her face. Her expression was still harmless. "And if I meet you without any preparation, it will be dangerous if I don't notice it in time, so I have to leave some marks..."

"mark……?"

The Annihilation Cultist lying on the ground was stunned for a moment, and the next second, he saw the Deep Hound that was approaching suddenly open its mouth wide, and its hideous and terrifying skeleton teeth bit down mercilessly - he only had time to scream in fear, and the terrible pain almost tore his consciousness apart, and one of his arms had already turned into flesh and blood fragments in the Deep Hound's mouth.

"I remember your smell. We will catch you in the real world—" Ah Gou raised his head, staring at the wailing Annihilation Cultist with bloodshot eyes. A hoarse and low voice came from the chest made up of bones, "If we capture you alive, He will reward us..."

The wailing stopped abruptly, and the cultist's eyes widened instantly, staring at the ferocious Abyssal Hound in front of him. He opened his mouth wide, not knowing whether he was shocked that the Abyssal Demon could speak human language, or felt great fear and danger from the last sentence he just heard - "He" will reward... What is the origin of this strange girl and this strange demon? Who is the "He" they mentioned?

The next second, the figure of the Annihilation Cultist suddenly began to fade and distort. In just one or two breaths, his figure disappeared in front of Shirley and Agou.

"Sure enough, he ran away," Ah Gou turned his head and shook it left and right, with a helpless tone, "It should be that his accomplices in the real world noticed something and forcibly 'dragged' him away... We can't stop this kind of spiritual transfer."

"It's okay. You remember his scent, don't you?" Shirley waved her hand, and then asked seriously, "Can you really find him in the real world?"

"Don't be too far away - if that guy happens to appear within my perception range, I will definitely be able to find him," Agou said in a muffled voice, "The Deep Hound is the demon that is best at tracking. He can't erase the traces I left behind."

"That's good," Shirley breathed a sigh of relief, "It would be great if we could really catch him alive, even if he can only take up two papers..."

Agou ignored Shirley's muttering in the second half of the sentence. He looked up and heard the chaotic wind and noise coming from all directions in the forest. He saw that the trees in the distance were becoming transparent and dim in patches. The signs that the dream was about to disintegrate were becoming more and more obvious.

Obviously, something is influencing this dream - it is about to wake up.

※※※

There seemed to be a sound in the darkness. It sounded like a chaotic wind whistling, breaking the branches of the treetops as it blew through the woods, but when I listened carefully, it seemed to be just an illusion.

Duncan didn't have the extra energy to pay attention to the faint sounds coming from the darkness. He had already been completely attracted by the incredible scene before him.

It was indeed the Lost Homeland—after extending his perception to the depths of the vine, in the center of the darkness and fog, he saw indeed the familiar "ghost ship".

But... why? Why did the Lost Homeland appear in this place?

Duncan moved closer and saw that the "Lost Homeland" seemed to be floating on a layer of dark water. The thick inky darkness seemed to swallow up the lower half of the ship, and on the towering deck, the entire ship was dead silent, and no sound could be heard.

After a slight hesitation, he "flew" onto the deck of the "Lost Homeland".

In this darkness, he was moving with a simple "perspective", which brought him enough convenience.

The deck was empty, and everywhere you looked was an old yet familiar sight.

Following the route he remembered, Duncan slowly inspected the facilities on the deck and the nearby cabins.

Everything was exactly right.

But he knew that this was not the real Lost Homeland, nor was it a projection of the Lost Homeland - because he did not feel the close connection between "this ship" and himself, nor did he feel the feedback from the flames.

This ship was created by some other force.

The faint sounds of wind and noises came again from the darkness, and they were a little more obvious than before.

Duncan paid attention to the sounds coming from the depths of darkness, then came to the stern deck area and stopped in front of the captain's room.

His gaze moved upwards and suddenly stopped.

On this door frame, there is a line of unfamiliar words engraved:

〖May God Wander in dreams〗

Isn't it "The Gate of the Lost"? !

Duncan felt a little stunned, because he clearly remembered that the words "The Lost Homelander's Door" were clearly engraved above the door of the captain's room, and this door was also the only passage to his "bachelor apartment"... The "Lost Homelander" that appeared in the depths of dark fog was the same as he remembered in every place, why was the only wording above this door different?

He withdrew his gaze from the door frame and looked at the door panel in front of him - the next second, the door opened silently as if inviting him.

The familiar captain's room appeared before him. The dim light was on in the captain's room, and all the furnishings and the goat's head on the edge of the navigation table appeared under the light.

Goat head?

Duncan's heart suddenly moved.

He still remembered that when he accidentally entered the warp, he did not see the goat head on the "Broken Homeland" on one side of the warp, and there was no goat head on the "Model Homeland" in his bachelor apartment.

The presence or absence of the goat head seems to be a very subtle and critical "divergence point" between the various "versions" of the Homelander.

A series of guesses and memories instantly emerged in his mind. Duncan had already passed through the door of the captain's room. He walked cautiously to the navigation table and looked at the black "wood carving" on the edge of the table.

The goat's head sat quietly on its base, motionless like a real wood sculpture, and did not respond to the approach of the "Captain".

Of course, this may also be because Duncan's presence here at the moment is just a simple "perspective" rather than a visible entity.

Duncan did not try to alarm the goat head on the table, but continued to observe carefully.

Soon, he discovered another thing that was wrong.

The nautical chart on the table - it was supposed to be a nautical chart, which should have recorded the route of the Lost Homeland and the known city-states and waterways on the vast ocean. However, now, it presented a picture that Duncan had never seen before - a completely unfamiliar "map"!

It looked like a forest viewed from the air. In the miniature holographic projection, one could see undulating ridges, huge plant structures, and strange places scattered throughout the dense forest that looked like complexes of buildings. The translucent icon symbolizing the Lost Homeland floated above the miniature projection and was moving through the forest at an extremely slow speed.

With great astonishment, Duncan stared at the strange "sea chart" for a long time.

Of course, he couldn't discern any information of reference value from this completely unfamiliar map, but he recalled another strange sea map he had seen on the "Broken Homeland" in the warp.

On the Lost Homeland sailing in the warp, the nautical chart also showed a strange scene: in a chaotic and dislocated unknown sea, there were chaotic and strange navigation records everywhere.

Now, he saw another inexplicable "sea chart" on the Lost Homelander that emerged from the dark fog. This time... it even showed that the ship was sailing in a forest? !

This made him have an uncontrollable bizarre thought in his mind -

How many different "versions" of the Lost Homeland are sailing in different dimensions at the same time, recording different routes? !

Just as this strange thought popped up in Duncan's mind, a slight creaking sound suddenly came from the side, interrupting his wild thoughts.

He instantly turned his gaze towards the direction where the sound came from.

The black goat head on the edge of the navigation table was turning its neck little by little and turning its gaze towards this side.

A hint of consciousness seemed to gradually emerge in the dark eyeballs carved from obsidian.

The next second, Duncan heard a hoarse and low voice coming into his ears——

"Who's there..."

Notes:

①May He wander in dreams.