Chapter 162: Chapter 166: Captain Hou Ru Enters the Dream
Over this period of time, Duncan had written down the known pieces of intelligence one by one on paper, drawing lines between them according to their degree of connection. Interspersed among these clues were Nina and Sherry’s memories of the great fire and their respective “dreamscapes,” which had clearly become altered.
After laying out all the clues, Duncan then started a new line at the end of this chart. He furrowed his brow, deep in thought, and during his deliberation jotted down a few sentences—
First, in this world, everything but subspace can be “polluted.”
Second, the reality of this world is built on an unstable foundation: space is unstable, time is unstable, and even reality itself may not be as unshakeable as people perceive it to be.
Third, the power of subspace has invaded Plunder! The apparitions in the church of the Sixth District are proof—The Sun Shard from eleven years ago might not have been the crucial link in this whole affair after all. From a dimensional standpoint… subspace is more likely to have caused the current abnormalities in Plunder!
Duncan set down his steel pen, looking at the three points he had written down—these were not clues, but “premises” and “conclusions” deeply related to the current state of Plunder.
His gaze fell on the first point, the briefest one, which happened to be the foundation of everything. The “inspiration” for this had come from a phrase he had inadvertently overheard while opening an account at the City-State bank.
He reflected thoughtfully for a moment, then picked up a pen beside him and drew a line from this point to one of the clues above—the church in the Sixth District that was in a state of spatial-temporal lock.
Pollution began at the church, manifesting as spatial-temporal chaos and the overlay of different “world lines.” Its level of pollution was quite high, so high that it seemed to have even affected the Storm Goddess’s monitoring of reality… So how was this pollution achieved? Was it really just the church itself that was polluted?
He remembered the words he said when bidding farewell to Sherry—this matter should be made a bigger deal, but ordinary citizens reporting it would hardly suffice.
Lost in thought, a slight smile crossed Duncan’s face. He then turned his head to look at the pigeon strutting back and forth on the windowsill.
The pigeon suddenly stopped in its tracks, staring straight at Duncan: “There’s a murderous aura!”
Duncan ignored it completely, snapping his fingers.
A tuft of ghostly-green flame burst forth from the compass on Ai Yi’s chest. The compass opened, and the needle spun. The boundary between reality and illusion blurred in an instant. Duncan’s surroundings flickered, and he was already in the state of walking within the Spirit Realm, that familiar space of dark chaos and the billion points of starlight swelled into view.
He stood quietly in the depths of darkness, took a gentle breath, and calmed himself down. Then, following a subtle sense, he moved towards a dot of starlight not far away.
He approached that starlight, and without actually touching it, clearly perceived the young Judge’s mind—opposite this cluster of starlight was Fenna’s spirit.
Compared to the first time he’d found this point of starlight, Duncan could feel that the connection between himself and Fenna had strengthened considerably. Their last visit to the antique shop had reinforced their bond, and these strengthened connections were now going to be useful.
Duncan turned his head to look at the darkness beside him, where the spectral form of Ai Yi was idly spinning in the air. Noticing its “master’s” gaze, the bird immediately came closer: “Who’s calling the fleet?”
“Do you remember how we connected with Sherry’s mind last time?”
Ai Yi thought for a moment, tilting its head: “I’ll need a raise!”
“It will indeed be more difficult this time. After all, the other party is a devout saint, likely to have a firmer will than Sherry, and it might even attract the attention of the Storm Goddess,” Duncan nodded slightly, but still stretched out his finger and inched closer to the starlight. “However, now that my connection with Fenna is strengthened, if we only engage in a shallow communication without causing any harm, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“After all, this is just a fervent ship captain’s righteous complaint.”
The next second, his fingertip touched the starlight.
Layers and layers of illusory ocean sounds seemed to come from the far and boundless distance, yet vanished in a moment. Duncan didn’t even have time to notice the existence of those ocean sounds before he felt contact with a mind.
…
Fenna rubbed her eyes, lowered her head, and saw that she was holding a thick file in her hands. She raised her head again and found herself sitting in her room, facing her vanity. In the mirror of the vanity, her reflection showed a slightly tired face.
A moment of disorientation rose from the bottom of her heart, but she quickly shook her head, recalling what she had been doing.
She continued her investigation into the heretical worship documents of the Plunder City-State before 1889—after leaving the archives, she had borrowed some of the documents she hadn’t managed to examine in detail from the old priest in charge and brought them back to her home.
At the archives, she and the old priest had noticed the peculiar absence of documents from 1885, but in the end, they had been unable to find those vanished records. This unusual incident aroused her alertness, and as a Judge tasked with investigating heretical events, this would be among the main focuses of her continued investigation.
She arranged for the clerical priests to consult the archives in other parts of the City-State, to retrieve corresponding years’ security reports from the municipal hall, and to dispatch guardian squads to visit and surveil those places where unorthodox worship incidents had occurred in the past. She considered consulting with Bishop Valentin to see if further guidance could be obtained from the Storm Goddess…
Fenna had a rough plan for follow-up actions in her mind, but before any of these actions could be initiated, she needed to first complete a compilation of all unorthodox worship incidents between the years 1886 and 1889.
She glanced outside and saw the Creation of the World hanging high in the night sky, its pale glow scattering across the City-State.
She lowered her head again and noticed that she had only gone through half of the thick archive documents. Perhaps the prolonged reading had caused eye fatigue, making the text appear somewhat blurry.
Wait, that’s not right!
Fenna suddenly realized something, then swiftly closed the document in her hands and turned to look out the window.
It was midnight, the time when the influence of the Creation of the World was strongest—reading at this time was extremely dangerous. Even the specially trained librarians would avoid reading any text during the midnight hour, let alone her, who was now facing a highly dangerous historical document borrowed from the archive!
A professional clergy would not make such a mistake… This was not reality, but her own Dreamscape, one that was being influenced!
Fenna’s eyes sharpened as she realized the invasion of her Dreamscape. She began to search for the trace of the intruder in her surroundings, and the very next second, she saw the existence of the invader—
Right in front of her, on the dressing table and within the oval mirror framed by patterns, stood a sullen and majestic figure, silently in the dark, with ethereal green flames quietly burning at the edges of the mirror.
The figure watched Fenna calmly through the mirror and, upon seeing her lift her head, revealed a faint smile, as a deep voice came from the mirror, “Good night, Fenna, we meet for the first time—but I have been watching you for a long time. You may call me…”
“Captain Duncan!” Before the voice from the mirror had finished, Fenna had already reacted, and then the experienced Judge leaped backward two meters, while kicking the round stool in her way. As soon she landed, she immediately focused her mind and drew her great sword out of thin air, swinging it down in a leaping slash!
Duncan: “…?!”
With a loud bang, the entire dressing table shattered, the mirror directly smashed into a shower of glass shards by the tremendous force, Duncan’s phantom becoming scattered shards of light before Fenna’s eyes.
The tiny glass shards clattered to the floor, and Fenna clutching her great sword tightly, looked around sharply like a lioness ready for battle. Meanwhile, she began to pray softly and tried to use the mental control techniques she’d trained with daily to break free from the tainted Dreamscape and forcibly awaken herself.
However, just as she felt she was about to reach the reality, that deep and majestic voice echoed once again—resounding heavily in her ears:
“Your reaction surprises me.”
Fenna’s eyes widened as she looked in the direction of the voice, only to see the dressing mirror shards scattered throughout the room.
In each shard, the ethereal flames began to rise quietly, and within each one stood Captain Duncan, silently in the dark.
This legendary terror, the moving disaster of the Endless Sea, watched Fenna, who was on full alert, with a hint of reluctance.
“Relax, child, I just want to discuss a matter with you,” the voices of thousands of Captain Duncan vibrated through Fenna’s will, “It regards Plunder…”
“Is it the mirrors…” the young Judge muttered to herself suddenly.
Duncan: “Hmm?”
But Fenna did not answer; instead, she suddenly tilted the tip of her great sword diagonally against the ground and then fiercely punched the blade!
A loud explosion burst forth, the powerful impact transformed into controlled sound waves that echoed wildly in the room. The next second, every smooth, reflective surface in the room turned to dust, leaving not a single piece of mirror behind!
The room fell silent as Fenna gently exhaled, slowly straightening her posture.
She saw Captain Duncan standing quietly in front of her.
No matter how she blinked or moved her gaze, Captain Duncan stood silently in the center of her vision, looking into her eyes.
“Your guess is not quite accurate; it’s not the mirrors, but anything that reflects like a mirror,” the spectral captain’s somber and authoritative voice directly entered her mind, “Now, I am in your lens.”