Hearing Duncan's instructions, Agatha immediately thought of the "corpse" that had been used as a temporary vessel for descent.

She nodded gently, offering no objection. "Yes, I will consider that method."

Duncan hummed in acknowledgement, then looked with curiosity at Agatha, who was still visible in the flaming doorway, observing the vague and indistinct scenery behind her. He casually asked, "How are things on your end?"

"The Cathedral has stabilized. We are currently contacting all the churches in the city to confirm available manpower and tally the losses of the past few weeks," Agatha replied, her tone tinged with relief. "As you predicted, the city-state passed through the night peacefully. No shadows stirred in the darkness, not even in the asylum or the cemetery, which were the most likely to cause problems. This is a relief—if things continue like this, we'll have half as many things to worry about."

"I meant you," Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Won't such intense work cause problems for your current body?"

"I don't feel tired—perhaps becoming a corpse is a good thing for me now," Agatha said calmly. "Corpses don't get tired, and they don't need rest in the conventional sense. As long as I can still find peace in prayer and meditation, I'll be fine."

"You seem to be in the Cathedral's prayer room?"

"Yes, I'm in the Cathedral—this is Bishop Ivan's old room, it's very quiet," Agatha looked back at the familiar yet special room, a touch of melancholy in her voice. "Now, it's been left to me."

Duncan suddenly felt a strange sensation. He hesitated for a few seconds, then couldn't help but ask, "You're contacting me from inside the Cathedral like this... does Bartok mind?"

Agatha was stunned. "..."

Shirley and Agou next to him were also stunned.

"Captain, how do you always manage to think about things from such an unbelievable angle?" Shirley muttered softly. "And that sounds weird..."

Duncan glanced at the girl expressionlessly. "Don't interrupt adults. You're slacking off—you haven't written a single word since just now, have you?"

Shirley sighed immediately and continued her desperate struggle with her homework. Agatha, projected in the flames, finally snapped out of it and looked strangely at the statue of the God of Death not far away. After a long while, she turned back. "I hadn't thought about that at all..."

Then she paused and thoughtfully asked, "Vanna is by your side. Have you ever asked her this question? What did she say?"

Duncan thought about it and found it made sense. "I really haven't asked. I can ask her when I have time."

Agatha subconsciously opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

After a few awkward seconds of silence, she finally found another topic. "Also, I'm ready to check the situation inside the Boiling Gold Mine."

"The mine has returned to calm?" Duncan raised an eyebrow. "I remember you said it would take at least a few more days."

"It has mostly returned to calm. To be honest… there may still be some risk in exploring the depths now, but I don't plan to wait any longer," Agatha's expression became serious, and she looked determined. "I can feel something calling to me from those depths. This feeling has been getting stronger since this morning. If I wait any longer… I'm afraid I'll miss something very important."

Duncan nodded gently, and after a few seconds of silence, he suddenly said, "Before you leave, come find me at 44 Oak Street."

Agatha opened her eyes wide in surprise. "You're coming with me?"

"I'm also curious about what's left there."

"I understand. I'll find you before I leave."

Duncan nodded and waved his hand, dispelling the flames in mid-air. Then he breathed a sigh and looked down at the empty fishing rod in his hand.

"...Oh well, missing the catch is part of the fishing experience," he muttered, then turned his head to look at Shirley and Agou, who were squatting next to the wooden barrel. "I'm going back to my room. Agou, keep an eye on Shirley and make sure she at least finishes copying the first five pages of her vocabulary book—she can play however she wants after she finishes her homework."

Agou quickly stood up, nodding eagerly and wagging his bony tail. Only when Duncan's figure disappeared into the stairwell in the distance did the Gloomhound finally breathe a sigh of relief and return to the spot where he had been squatting. But before he lay down, he suddenly looked up at Shirley. "Don't get distracted, hurry up and write!"

"Agou, you're really pushing me, huh?" Shirley slumped her shoulders immediately. "My hand is sore…"

"I don't even have fingers and I can still write a diary—you at least have two hands and ten fingers," Agou shook his head, muttering as he lay down again. "Read more books, learn more words, Shirley, don't be impatient. The Captain is really doing this for your own good. Haven't you always wanted to have the same life as other children? I really can't give it to you, but the Captain wants to give it to you—for someone like him, there are too many ways to bestow favors, but he chooses to care about you and Nina like a human being. Do you know how…"

Shirley quickly waved her hands, begging for mercy halfway through. "Okay, okay, I know, I know, I'm not stupid—Agou, you're like an old mother…"

Agou grumbled a few more times, but didn't continue nagging Shirley. Instead, he lowered his head and continued to study the geometry textbook in front of him with great interest.

On the pages, words and symbols outlined the knowledge and experience of predecessors, and lines and formulas described the workings of this world. Agou's eye sockets, filled with scarlet light, focused intently on reading the chapters that condensed the wisdom of civilization. In his mind, which belonged to a Gloom Demon, geometric figures and mathematical formulas were constantly outlined along with the content of the textbook.

There was also a light source flashing red, and a series of flashing light spots arranged in a matrix, flashing between those geometric images and formulas.

The next second, Shirley seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up in Agou's direction. The latter almost instantly woke up from some kind of state, and the whole dog jumped several meters high. "Whoa, damn it!!"

Shirley was dragged into the air by the chain and then fell on the deck with a thud. After climbing up, dazed and confused, she immediately pounced on Agou's head and shook it vigorously. "What's wrong with you?! And what was that just now? I felt like your aura changed?!"

"I… I don't know!" Agou's head creaked as Shirley shook it. It took him a long time to break free, but he was still obviously confused. "I seemed to see something flash in front of my eyes, but I didn't have time to see what it was… but everything's fine now."

Ayi, who was pecking at French fries, tilted her head curiously and looked at Agou. "Remote server not responding, please check the network connection?"

Agou didn't react for a moment and subconsciously said, "Huh?"

Ayi just flapped her wings and walked away as if nothing had happened, muttering as she walked. "Want to recharge Q coins? Want to recharge a big monthly card? Want to recharge a season pass?"

"Ignore it, that bird's brain is even more muddled than Alice's," Shirley waved her hand and turned Agou's head to face her. Her face was obviously worried. "Are you okay? Did doing math problems all day burn out your brain?"

"I've never heard of a Gloom Demon burning out its brain…" Agou himself was starting to doubt it. "I don't even know if I have that organ."

"Of course you haven't heard of it. You're the only Gloom Demon in the world who uses his brain. Even if your compatriots really had brains, they wouldn't have the chance to burn them out… hey, don't move, let me check you out."

Shirley muttered and hurriedly checked Agou from top to bottom. Then, through the connection of the symbiotic chain, she carefully sensed the changes in herself and the other party on a spiritual level, but still found nothing wrong.

Everything was normal.

"I told you I was fine," Agou breathed a sigh of relief and casually said, "Maybe I attracted something while reading, and then when the other party was about to come out, they realized I was a 'fellow' and went back…"

He muttered and lay down again, pawing at the scratch paper in front of him.

Shirley panicked immediately. "Hey, are you still going to read?"

Agou was drawing auxiliary lines on the paper as he casually said, "I only have one big problem left, the last step. I just had an idea."

Shirley: "..."

She looked at Agou, who was writing and calculating, with great concern, preparing to pull the chain on her arm at any time if she saw anything wrong. But until the other party solved the big problem that looked like a heavenly book in her eyes, nothing happened.

Agou threw the pen on the deck and looked up at Shirley.

"See, I told you there was nothing wrong—" His tone was comforting, but soon, his gaze fell on the wooden barrel next to him.

"Shirley, you haven't finished your homework yet."

"Ah—"

Listening to the girl's prolonged wail, Agou just shook his head, then his gaze fell on the book he had just been reading.

It seems… that nothing really went wrong.

But he was sure that he really saw something—not a "compatriot" attracted by the book, but something else, more mysterious, more bizarre.

What… did I see?

(End of Chapter)