Chapter 102: Chapter 106 Duncan’s Gift
The illusory seawater disappeared as swiftly as a dreamscape at dawn, and Fenna’s spirit returned to her body once more. After taking a deep breath, she abruptly opened her eyes and saw that she was still standing in that stone chamber, resembling an underwater cave, with a raging fire burning before her.
She turned to her side and saw Bishop Valentin also opening his eyes.
The memory from the assembly of Spiritual Energy was still vivid in her mind. Fenna instinctively looked at the palm of her hand—of course, it was empty. The piece of parchment that only existed at the assembly site had not been brought into the real world.
“We had only just issued a notification, informing the captains of the distant seas about the ‘Puppet Coffin’ going out of control,” Bishop Valentin sighed, “and now it seems we have to issue a new notification.”
Fenna moved her wrist slightly, contemplatively looking at the bishop, “The question is… how should the notification be written? Apart from the fact that Anomaly 099’s name has changed, we know nothing…”
The old bishop didn’t speak immediately, evidently finding it a rather thorny issue as well.
Fenna had brought back a message from Vision 004, but that message was merely the new name of Anomaly 099. Perhaps she had indeed heard more comprehensive information from the tomb’s owner, or even the new traits after Anomaly 099 was renamed “Puppet,” but that part of the content had clearly been left forever in the main tomb chamber with the shredded parchment.
“At this stage, we can only announce the situation of Anomaly 099’s renaming from ‘Puppet Coffin’ to ‘Puppet,’ and revise the description of all traits of Anomaly 099 as ‘possible mutations,’” Valentin finally said after a long silence, “Being an anomaly within the first hundred, its change of name is certain to bring about a series of chain reactions. Its power, triggering conditions, sealing conditions, and even external traits are very likely to have changed as well. To continue treating it according to old intelligence could be disastrous…”
Fenna silently nodded her head.
The number of Anomaly 099 had not changed, and its absolute dangerousness and eerie level may not have varied greatly, but to humanity, it had now transformed from a known anomaly to an unknown one—the experience built upon countless human lives was thus rendered useless, and “unknown”… had become its greatest danger.
If after the last notification, the captains upon the Endless Sea encountering Anomaly 099 still had a chance to try and recontain and seal the “Puppet Coffin” using old data, then starting today… the only choice for anyone encountering the “Puppet” was to immediately get away and hope that the Four Orthodox Guardians could seal it again.
The chamber fell silent for a while as both Fenna and Valentin pondered their own thoughts. After some unknown length of time, Fenna suddenly broke the silence, “…All numbers of anomalies and visions originated from Vision 004, right?”
“Of course,” Valentin nodded, “Why do you suddenly ask?”
“I am thinking… about the anonymous corpse in that tomb and the always silent Tomb Guardian, exactly ‘who’ they are,” Fenna mused, “They are clearly not human, nor even beings from this reality—not gods, nor the shadow of ancient deities in the Subspace… Why would a vision capable of interacting with the outside world ‘help’ humanity in this way? And how did the owner of the tomb ascertain the list of anomalies and visions?”
Valentin looked into Fenna’s eyes, and only after she rattled off all her questions did he sigh, “This is your first time entering the interior of the tomb as a listener. Most people, like you, will leave with many such questions… Unfortunately, as the years go by, while our understanding of anomalies and visions has grown, the essence of Vision 004 remains beyond reach. That tomb… it never explains information related to itself.”
“I recall you also entered that tomb,” Fenna turned her head, curiously looking at the old bishop, “What was the information you brought back? Was it also related to anomalies or visions?”
“Not exactly,” Valentin shook his head, “While in most cases, the information revealed by the tomb is related to anomalies or visions, the owner of the tomb occasionally conveys other things, sometimes even very… odd and useless information. When summoned by the Tomb Guardian, no one can be certain what the owner of the tomb wants to communicate, the only certainty is that the information from the tomb is genuine…”
Fenna still looked at the old bishop with curiosity, “So, what was the information you brought back…?”
The bishop seemed a bit conflicted, “It wasn’t very useful, just… a single sentence…”
The bishop’s intent to avoid was obvious, but Fenna was a persistent person and did not pick up on the old man’s attitude, “So what was it specifically?”
Valentin reluctantly glanced at the persistent Judge and spread his hands, “July 24th, clear weather in Prand, southeast wind at force four to six…”
Fenna: “…?”
“Don’t look at me like that; sometimes the messages are just like this,” Valentin covered his forehead, “anomalies and apparitions are unpredictable, and this ‘unpredictable’ manifests in all sorts of ways. I just happened to catch a particularly special one… If you’re going to laugh, could you turn around? I’m already at such an age…”
“Sorry,” Fenna strained to keep a straight face, then turned away before adding, “But to be honest, I’m kind of jealous. Even a simple weather forecast would be better than the bizarre and eerie experiences of today—no news is good news, right?”
“…Ah, I guess I’ll just take your word for it…”
…
On the edge of the Upper City District, inside an older standalone house, Heidi looked expressionlessly at her father, who appeared somewhat uneasy: “…So, you went on a home visit to a student’s house a couple of days ago, you spent several hours chatting leisurely with the parents, but only took about twenty minutes to talk about the student? And when you left, you forked out over three thousand solaras for an old dagger and a fake crystal pendant made of glass?!”
Morris was seated behind a table, which had a purple crystal pendant (the tag had been removed) on it, and behind him a shelf was filled with all sorts of collectibles. He wiped his forehead, where not a trace of sweat existed, looking a bit embarrassed: “The pendant was free, a gift with the purchase…”
“…And you’re presenting it to me as a birthday gift? Isn’t that an even bigger problem?!” Heidi could not help but cover her forehead, “Couldn’t you at least pretend that it was carefully chosen…”
Morris thought for a moment, then spread his hands helplessly: “I really couldn’t find a second genuine item in that store, there wasn’t much to choose from…”
Heidi: “…”
After a few more seconds of indignant confrontation, she couldn’t hold it in and let out a sigh of surrender: “Forget it, it’s not the first time… How do you always end up being such an easy mark?”
“This time I didn’t suffer a loss! It was that Mr. Duncan who lost out,” Morris immediately said, “The dagger I bought was twenty percent cheaper than the market price…”
Heidi was shaking her head in resignation but suddenly froze when she heard the name her father mentioned: “The owner of that antique shop is named Duncan?”
“Ah, yes, he’s Duncan Strain,” Morris said nonchalantly, “There’s always been rumors that he’s a drunkard and a gambler, but I realized they were just malicious when I actually met him. The man is genuinely witty, humorous, and knowledgeable… Hm? What’s with that look? Is there something wrong with that name?”
Heidi opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then said: “Sigh, I’ve been dealing with a very tricky ‘case’ recently, which happens to involve this name; just hearing it makes me a bit jittery.”
“It’s a very common name, plenty of people have the same name,” Morris nodded in agreement but then seemed a bit concerned, “What kind of case is it?”
“It’s not your field of expertise, so don’t ask. It’s definitely not the same person,” Heidi waved her hand, “A fearsome Ghost Ship captain and the owner of an antique shop in the Lower City District—could they possibly be the same person?”
“That’s absolutely impossible,” Morris exhaled in relief as he listened; he knew his daughter often helped the city hall and even the church as a consultant in handling dangerous cases, sometimes even those related to Transcendents. Naturally, he got a bit anxious in this regard, but now he relaxed and turned his gaze to the crystal pendant on the table, “So, do you still want this pendant or not…”
“I want it! Of course, I want it!” Heidi snatched the pendant from the table, “It’s rare that you remember to bring me a gift, even if it’s just a promotional item…”
Morris pondered and then seriously made a suggestion: “…Actually, you could pretend that I spent over three thousand solaras to buy you this pendant, and the dagger was the freebie.”
Heidi placed the pendant around her neck, giving Morris a look: “If you really spent over three thousand solaras on this, I’d have to drag you to my treatment room, even if I had to tie you up!”
(Book recommendation time~ A friendly recommendation for ‘My Stand-in Is Steve.’ To be honest, Minecraft fan fiction is quite rare, so here’s a shoutout. If you have time, please give it some support~)