Chapter 1 Lucretia

Lucretia wasn't sure how to respond to her brother, who was calling her in the middle of the night using a secret technique, a magic orb that spanned thousands of miles, just to play this kind of joke.

But soon, the "Sea Witch" vaguely sensed something was wrong.

Her rigid brother wouldn't normally do this kind of thing, and unlike her, who was always alone, her brother had an entire fleet to take care of – plus, the room behind him, which was clearly not on the Sea Mist, looked a little… familiar?

Through the crystal ball, Tirian noticed the change in Lucretia's expression.

He had made a special trip back to the home port to bring the crystal ball to the Vanishing.

"You won't believe this," the pirate captain said, taking a breath and smiling as he took two steps to the side, allowing the scene in the cabin to be exposed directly in front of the crystal ball and lens group. "I'm in my room – 'my room.'"

Lucretia listened to his deliberate emphasis, looked at the picture presented in the crystal ball, and was first puzzled, then thoughtful, and finally her eyes were filled with shock and nervousness. No longer as calm as she had been at the beginning, she suddenly stood up, "You…"

"As you can see," Tirian returned to the crystal ball and spread his hands with a wry smile, "A lot of unexpected things happened in the middle, and the final result is… I'm here."

Lucretia stood dumbfounded in front of the crystal ball, silent for a full six or seven seconds, then frowned and slowly sat back in her chair.

"I'll take good care of the Sea Mist Fleet," she said calmly, "and your seventy-one bank accounts in Cold Harbor, Mocha, Mormenzo, and Zharbstro, and eighty-seven treasure troves in the northern seas."

The "avatar" occupied by her spirit-realm walk couldn't be used as a "return beacon" for Aey to use as a marker.

Lucretia fell silent, seeming to hesitate about something, and after a long time, she blurted out, "…How is Father doing?"

Just like the previous test – after the predecessor established a return beacon, Aey could use something similar to "instant transmission" to cross vast stretches of time and space in the blink of an eye and directly reach the location of each beacon.

"How do you know…" The great pirate looked at his sister in the crystal ball with an almost horrified expression, but in the next second he reacted, "You left a mark on the Sea Mist?"

A moment later, Tirian returned to the screen, with a plate in front of him containing freshly baked apple pie.

"I'm… better than you think," Tirian tried to choose his words carefully so that his answer would not be affected by the weird things he had experienced on the Vanishing. "He really regained his humanity – and the predecessor became an even more peaceful person than we remember. He talked to me a lot, about the Sea Mist Fleet, about the Frigid Sea, about you and me, and he told me some… things related to the Subspace, of course, only some vague descriptions."

"I was a little worried at first, but if he was really in trouble, he wouldn't be in the mood to joke with me," Lucretia still said calmly, "So, what exactly happened? Why are you on the Vanishing? Father…"

Lucretia took a light breath, and Tirian could clearly see the tremor in her pupils.

It was really hard to imagine that the original owner of this body could maintain his last bit of intelligence with willpower in the last second of his dying breath.

Physiologically, his body had long lost the function of breathing, but he could still feel the air flowing into his chest and exhaling slowly and forcefully.

"Frost…," Duncan raised his eyes and glanced at the city area in the distance, which was illuminated by lights, then shook his head, slowly approached the coast, found a calm pool of water, and, with the light cast by the World Scar, looked at the reflection of the face he now used.

Tirian spread his hands, "Need you ask? He's on the ship."

"You found my secret port – maybe it's really like you said, my methods of hiding things have never been very clever," Tirian sighed again, "Something happened on the Frost side… something is stirring beneath the deep sea, which has attracted Father's attention, and now he has come here to investigate in person and has taken the initiative to contact me."

"I don't need such a stupid method," Lucretia said calmly, "Your methods of hiding things have never been very clever – did you ever manage to save any of the snacks you hid when you were little?"

Aey had returned from the Vanishing.

Healthy, with normal senses, and the predecessor self-destructed shortly after leaving the coffin – he hadn't had time to do much testing at the time, but now that he recalled it, that body hadn't given him any "establish beacon" feedback.

Duncan turned to look at the gate of flame floating in mid-air, and three figures gradually appeared in the light and shadow of the fire.

Lucretia: "…?"

"Belazov… may your soul rest in peace." Duncan looked at the reflection in the pool of water and said goodbye to the former owner of this body for the last time, then looked up into the distance.

Just as he was thinking about this, a burst of crackling flames suddenly interrupted his thoughts, and then a door of ghostly green flames appeared out of thin air on the shore beside him.

Lucretia frowned, "So, he's seen me, face to face."

Tirian opened his mouth, as if he wanted to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Then he got up and left the crystal ball. From the voices outside the picture, Lucretia could only hear a few vague sentences.

Lucretia didn't speak again, he seemed to be lost in thought.

Tirian's face stiffened, then he sighed helplessly, "I thought those treasure troves were chosen to be quite secretive, after all, nothing has happened for so long…"

For less than a second, he even really wondered if his brother's predecessor had been corrupted by the Subspace, and if the person sitting in front of the crystal ball was a madman.

It seemed that someone had come to the room to deliver something.

After an unknown amount of time, she broke the silence again, "What is Father… doing now?"

"This appearance will really get me pinned down by the sheriff and the guardians as soon as I show up."

"There are other people on the ship?" Lucretia asked in surprise.

Duncan waved his hand, and the pigeon instantly turned into a stream of fiery light and disappeared into the night sky in the blink of an eye.

Lucretia's exclamation instantly came from the crystal ball, "You have apple pie over there?!"

"Anyone who owns a fleet as large as the Sea Mist, even if you put the treasure in the city center, it's still an 'untouchable pirate treasure.' The ship now has hot water and fresh supplies from Pland," Tirian said casually. "I know it's hard to imagine, in fact, Father even mentioned that he plans to install a steam core on the ship so that the hot water supply can be 24 hours a day, and he can also add generator sets…"

"I wasn't trying to talk about it," Tirian shrugged. "I just curiously asked him how the lower deck was locked – and then he told me that the entire lower structure of the Vanishing was soaking in the Subspace, and the door was locked mainly to prevent people from falling in."

"He even talked to you about the Subspace?!" The corner of Lucretia's mouth twitched obviously. "Isn't he still not back to normal?"

"Is it one of the characteristics of the duplicate…" Duncan muttered thoughtfully, "Because it's a broken mortal body, it can't bear the power?"

This was the "helper" he brought from the Vanishing.

As he spoke, he spread his hands, "The good news is that it seems Father won't mind my modifications to the Sea Mist now."

"Amazement, nervousness, a feeling of disbelief, and the excitement of opening your eyes, right?" Tirian smiled wryly, "I understand your feelings, I've experienced these feelings once too."

A desolate night wind blew across the coast, and a fleeting glimmer of ghostly green fire suddenly streaked across the sky, plunging into a deserted corner far away in the port before anyone noticed it.

This time, the person who jumped up from in front of the crystal ball was Tirian.

While confirming this point, he also recalled the temporary body he had occupied when he first came to Frost.

"I don't know, he went back to the captain's room. The others on the ship said he was going to use some ordinary methods to investigate Frost City – I didn't ask for details."

A tall, burly figure, whose entire body had been burned beyond recognition, walked out of the flames with a terrifying appearance.

Aey was standing on a piece of rubble in the distance, raising its wings and cooing loudly.

Through the connection established in the depths of his spirit, he could confirm that its predecessor had instantly arrived on the Vanishing.

Duncan lowered his head and glanced at the shell he was currently using.

"…I can't win against you," Tirian waved his hand, bypassing this slightly awkward topic. "Looks like you're not worried about his danger."

Reflected in the pool of water was a burly and terrifying image, full of majesty, but also enough to make people run to report to the police at first sight.

Feeling the cold night wind blowing, Duncan took a deep breath on the land of Frost.