Ashes Of Deep Sea

Chapter 324: Chapter 328: Sailing towards Dagger Island Chapter 324: Chapter 328: Sailing towards Dagger Island After completing the disguise and preparations, Duncan cast his gaze towards the brightly lit and bustling urban district.

Fenna judged the current situation within the city based on her experience, “It’s curfew time now, there will be guards patrolling the streets, but in some of the more peripheral places, the patrols will be relatively weak—even in developed places like Proulland, the guards in the Lower City District can’t watch every corner. Generally speaking, the security standard for the peripheral urban districts is ‘in case of a Transcendent losing control, the nearest squad must be able to reach the scene within twenty minutes, and the casualties must be contained from spreading to adjacent blocks.'”
“The Sea Swallow exploded off the coast of the City-State, with no survivors aboard. That’s something we can’t hide. By now, the Frost authorities must be busy,” Morris spoke from the side, “We should give them a warning.”

“Oh, that’s easy for me. I excel in all forms of reporting, and they usually get the local departments pretty anxious,” Duncan said offhand. “But apart from giving a warning, we must proceed with our own investigation—this incident is very strange. I can smell something similar to what happened in Proulland back then. Those Heretics… they’re probably up to no good.”

As he spoke, he picked up the map that Tyrion had prepared for him.

The contents of the map were very detailed, with various special annotations—it was clearly not something issued by the City-State civil authorities. Undoubtedly, Tyrion’s informants embedded in this City-State had made substantial contributions to this map.

Duncan quickly found two points worthy of attention: Fireplace Street, located on the edge of the inner city district, and the graveyard area even closer to the heart of the inner city.

Duncan’s gaze fell on the plot marked as the graveyard area, noting that the entire area was divided into nine graveyards with numerical designations, from one to nine—they almost symmetrically surrounded the Cathedral district at the center of the City-State, forming a faint, circular arrangement that looked… truly unlike the planning style of a ordinary city-state.

Is this also a need of the faith of Bartok, the god of death?

“First, we’ll head to Fireplace Street to visit your ‘old friend’,” Duncan looked up at Morris, “and after the curfew ends, you and Fenna find a place to stay within the City-State. Alice and I will go to Graveyard Three.”

“The graveyard?” Morris questioned subconsciously.

“We’re supposed to give the City-State authorities a little warning, right? We can’t just go knocking on the city hall or cathedral to report, can we?” Duncan smiled, “A channel to get the message through will do, and I happen to know such a channel in Graveyard Three.”

Fenna spoke up unconsciously, “Passing the message is one thing, but more importantly, it needs to attract enough attention…”

Duncan turned his head, wearing a confident smile, “Don’t worry, they’ll take it very seriously.”

Under the cold, silent night sky, a white dove flew from the Frost coast into the night, heading towards the distant city district ablaze with lights.

At the same time, far away on the Homeloss on the Chill Sea, the door to the captain’s quarters finally opened.

Duncan’s silhouette appeared on the deck.

In the chill of the night, he moved his hands, feet, and shoulders, feeling the peculiar sensation of his consciousness separately controlling multiple bodies. After the sensation of delay faded, he exhaled softly.

He had just spent some time getting used to his new body in Frost —compared to the stumbling first attempt at “multitasking” back in Proulland, this time, with an additional body, he adapted much more quickly and smoothly.

In no time, he was able to handle matters on Homeloss while ensuring the actions of his body in Frost.

After steadying his mind, Duncan asked in his thoughts, “Where is Tyrion?”

The voice of the goat head responded immediately, “He’s near the rudder deck, should I call him over?”

“No need, I’ll go there myself,” Duncan shook his head, then casually ordered, “Adjust the course to Dagger Island, full speed ahead.”

“Aye, Captain!”

The screeching and creaking sounds arose from taut ropes and masts, and the noise of the massive ship adjusting its course and colliding with the waves broke the tranquility of the night. Tyrion, who was standing on the rear deck gazing into the distance, was startled by this sudden commotion. He looked up in surprise, just in time to see the dark wheel on the high helm slowly turning against the backdrop of the Creation of the World’s dim light, as if an invisible hand was steering the ship.

Even though this was not the first time he had witnessed such a scene since boarding the ship again, he couldn’t help but frown.

Many parts of Homeloss were indeed as he remembered, but the ship constantly reminded him in various subtle ways—it had become a Ghost Ship, baptized by Subspace.

While lost in thought, Terrian heard the steady, powerful footsteps approaching from nearby. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw his father’s figure appear on the ship’s deck beneath the night sky.

“Startled by the sudden noise?” Duncan asked with a smirk as he saw Terrian staring at the ship’s wheel earlier, “A goat-headed creature is at the helm.”

“I know, I’ve seen it twice already,” Terrian regained his composure, his expression back to normal, “It’s just still a bit uncomfortable to accept—even though the Sea Mist has some traits of being ‘alive,’ the ‘liveliness’ of your ship is just too excessive by comparison.”

“It brings unexpected conveniences,” Duncan said offhandedly.

Terrian made no comment but couldn’t help asking after observing the ship’s sailing posture for a moment, “The Homeloss is accelerating and adjusting its course—what are you planning to do?”

“I came to tell you—we’re heading to Dagger Island.”

“Dagger Island?” Terrian was startled but quickly gathered his thoughts, “Has something happened there?!”

“One of Frost’s military ships exploded and sank on its way back to the main island—it had briefly stopped at Dagger Island, and by the time it was returning, it had become a carrier of contamination,” Duncan did not conceal the information, “Now I suspect the situation on Dagger Island may already be out of control, but for some unknown reason, the whole alert system on the island has not responded, and there have been no unusual reports received from Frost itself.”

“…Invasive contamination, something silently pierced through the defense system of Dagger Island,” Terrian instantly understood but then expressed disbelief, “But… the defense systems there shouldn’t be so easily breached…”

“…What about me?” asked Terrian, pondering and vaguely understanding his father’s intention, “What do you need me to do?”

“Ai Yi will take you back later; take your team and be on standby near Frost,” Duncan decided after some thought, “Prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

“The worst-case scenario?”

“The contaminated warship sank fast, unnaturally so,” Duncan explained while extracting useful memories and information from the body he had recently occupied, “As if something from the seabed was dragging it down…”
Terrian’s expression grew more solemn as he slowly realized the gravity of the situation.

“Since the rebellion in Frost half a century ago, we have assumed that ‘what’ the Abyssal Project disturbed has never actually been dormant, but has been active all this while, even consciously accumulating power,” Duncan’s gaze wandered into the distance, his voice calm yet as if harboring a brewing storm, “Terrian, how many ships have sunk into the sea near Frost over this half-century, and what… could now be lurking beneath that City-State?”

The deck fell silent.

Under the tranquil and chilly night sky, the infamous pirate shivered suddenly.

…
A white dove flew into the city district. In the desolate streets during curfew, a fleeting glow of ghostly green fire flashed past.

The night patrol had just left the area, and the citizens of the City-State wouldn’t venture out at this late hour, so no one noticed the sudden firelight appearing in the alley’s shadow, nor the few unfamiliar figures emerging from it.

An old-looking house stood on a corner of Fireplace Street.

Gray exterior walls, a dark-colored sloping roof, a black door, and gas lamps with iron filigree decorations—a typical northern City-State structure that appeared to have been recently inhabited.

Morris stepped forward and confirmed the number on the doorplate by the gas lamp’s light.

This was indeed the residence mentioned in Brown Scott’s letter.

“I’ll check inside with Morris,” Duncan, dressed in a black long coat and wide-brimmed hat, turned to Fenna and Alice beside him, his voice muffled but deep from beneath the thick bandages, “You two wait nearby—just don’t alert the night patrol.”

Checking the inside of a house didn’t require many people, and if the “Brown Scott” was there and had any capacity for communication, having too many people around might lead to unintended complications—after all, Duncan wasn’t here to wreak havoc today; he came to gather intelligence.

(Book recommendation time: This one comes from Yao Rubing, “Please Don’t Come Looking for Me Anymore!” It’s a light novel, a promising sprout, a work by a member of our group, much celebrated. May it thrive.)