Chapter 28 An Adult's Task

Ah-Gu wobbled unsteadily for a couple of steps before finally stopping. Streams of inky black smoke billowed from the gaps in its bones, and its entire skeletal frame trembled as if in convulsions. In its blood-red eye sockets, the light flickered erratically.

Such an obvious and abnormal reaction startled Shirley, who immediately stopped. She shook Ah-Gu's massive head, calling its name anxiously. After seven or eight calls, Ah-Gu finally regained its senses, slowly raising its head. A hoarse, low voice came from its throat: "Why do I suddenly feel a little… unable to walk…"

"Are you alright?" Duncan approached, frowning as he looked at the clearly unwell abyssal hound. There was a hint of concern in his tone. "Is anything bothering you?"

"I… I'm not feeling unwell," Ah-Gu's head swayed, as if it might fall asleep at any moment. "I just feel like I have no strength, and… I really don't want to get close to that pile of stuff."

"Really don't want to get close?" Duncan turned his head, glancing at the bizarre, slowly writhing mass that resembled a mountain of sludge in the firelight.

Was this pile of strange "mud" affecting Ah-Gu? Some kind of instinctive suppression?

Ah-Gu's unusual reaction caught everyone's attention, immediately prompting Duncan to think. His first thought was whether Ah-Gu's extraordinary "perception," far surpassing that of humans, had detected something invisible.

But judging from Ah-Gu's reaction, it didn't seem to have "seen" anything unusual.

"Abyssal hounds are, to some extent, a fairly powerful race among the abyssal demons," Vanna squatted down, unconcerned as she touched the bone fragments on Ah-Gu's body. Then, she looked back. "Besides, that thing isn't emitting any aura of pressure…"

"You can take out the 'to some extent'," Shirley muttered from the side. "Ah-Gu is very powerful to begin with…"

"I'm not powerful, not at all," Ah-Gu quickly shook its head. "Isn't this place a little too eerie? Should we come back another time?"

"Coming back another time is impossible. There's no guarantee this ghost ship will obediently wait here for us to explore it repeatedly," Duncan shook his head. "But your current condition is indeed not suitable for continuing forward."

Ah-Gu was being affected by some unknown force. Allowing it to get any closer to that pile of stuff could have unpredictable consequences. The best course of action now was to have it and Shirley return to the *Sea Wanderer* temporarily.

Duncan waved his hand to the side, and Iee immediately flew over, circling in the air while shouting, "Who's calling the ship… It's a trap! Abandon ship!"

"Take Shirley and Ah-Gu back to the *Sea Wanderer* first," Duncan ignored the bird's squawking, pointing at Ah-Gu, who was slumped on the ground, and Shirley, who looked worried beside it. After a moment's thought, he pointed at Nina. "Take Nina back as well."

"Huh?" Nina didn't react for a moment. "Why do I have to go back too? I'm feeling fine!"

"That thing tried to replicate you earlier. Although you 'interrupted' it, who knows if that big thing at the end will react differently after you get closer," Duncan explained simply. "It doesn't hurt to be thorough in this situation."

Nina listened carefully, then nodded obediently. "Ah, alright, I'll go back then."

Duncan had prepared quite a bit of persuasion, as Nina was a girl with a strong sense of curiosity and had been looking forward to this kind of adventure, but he hadn't expected her to agree so readily. He was slightly surprised, but soon smiled and shook his head.

She was still so sensible.

The spirit bird's flames whistled through the cabin, carrying Shirley, Ah-Gu, and Nina out of the *Obsidian*.

But the space didn't descend into darkness with Iee's departure – the piles of bonfires that Duncan had lit with the dry, solidified sludge still illuminated this grim and eerie place.

The bizarre substance coiled at the end of the cabin was still writhing quietly, as if half-asleep, as if hibernating in a dream.

But when Duncan turned his gaze back to the mass, a clear "thump" sound came from inside it once more.

"The children have left," Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and strode towards the dark substance. "Now it's time for the adults to take care of this trouble."

His steps were unwavering. As he approached, the writhing substance, which had seemed to be in a dormant state, immediately reacted – its edges writhed more noticeably, its surface expanded and contracted more frequently, and the throbbing sound from within grew faster and louder.

When he was ten meters away, it had completely transformed into a distinct heartbeat.

Thump, thump, thump—a clear and powerful heartbeat echoed continuously, reverberating clearly in the open, dimly lit cabin!

But aside from this continuous heartbeat and the increasingly intense writhing on the surface, the mass showed no other reaction.

Even when Duncan stood before it, it merely maintained this "vigorous" state.

"Goddess… what is this blasphemous thing…" Vanna frowned deeply, unable to hide her disgust.

Having gotten close enough, she could see the substance's form more clearly – it completely lacked the contours of any living being. Its surface resembled flowing sludge, but occasionally, suspicious bumps and bulges would appear in the mud, looking like half-melted organs or suddenly swelling blood vessels and nerve bundles. While continuously emitting a heartbeat, it also exhibited characteristics that seemed to react to external stimuli – yet these characteristics ultimately devolved into constant, aimless writhing.

Since becoming an inquisitor, Vanna had seen countless heresies and evils, but the blasphemous and bizarre nature of the thing before her still shocked her greatly.

Even Alice was a little dazed. The doll lady stared at the mass for a long time before finally uttering, "Looks like it can't be cooked…"

Vanna's eyes widened as she looked at Alice – she was shocked once again.

Morris, on the other hand, fully displayed the carefulness and curiosity expected of a scholar. Seeming to ignore the psychological discomfort and aversion, he approached the mass and studied it carefully for a long time. Then, he suddenly noticed something during the thing's expanding and contracting writhing. "It seems like there's something wrapped inside!"

"Inside?" Duncan was slightly taken aback. He immediately noticed the clue Morris had found: on the edge of the sludge, there seemed to be a small piece of something resembling fabric.

Was this constantly writhing mud merely a covering?

Realizing this, Duncan immediately reached out his hand, pointing at the writhing thing.

The countless bonfires burning around the cabin instantly spread out numerous lines of fire. In the blink of an eye, streams of spirit flames converged on the "living sludge."

The spirit flames blazed instantly!

The fire was grand, yet precisely controlled. Duncan commanded the flames to only burn away the black sludge, without harming the other substances inside – under his conscious catalysis and manipulation, the disgusting writhing thing was burned away in just a few seconds.

What had been hidden deep within this mass was finally revealed to everyone.

"This is…" Morris looked at the scene before him in some bewilderment.

A human, a middle-aged man, was leaning against a pile of rubble in the embers left behind by the spirit flames. His eyes were wide with anger, as if he had been fighting a fierce enemy to the death before his demise, yet he was also clutching his mouth tightly with one hand, as if restraining a great terror. His body was in a shocking state –

A large portion of it had been dissolved by something, transforming into a horrifying, decomposed structure.

Only a heart, exposed outside the open chest cavity, was beating slowly and powerfully.

Thump… thump… thump…

The sound of the heartbeat, as if containing some strong will, echoed throughout the cabin.

So, the heartbeat that Duncan had heard all along was coming from this heart.

But this human had clearly died long ago. His heartbeat didn't signify any vitality.

"A human?" Vanna immediately frowned, cautiously examining the middle-aged man who had died in the deepest part of the *Obsidian*. "Is this also a replica created by the *Obsidian*?"

"The body structure is twisted and mutated, which fits the characteristics of a replica, but something seems off…" Morris murmured in a low voice, cautiously poking at the remaining limb structure of the corpse with his cane. He observed the tattered pieces of clothing, judging what they would have looked like when intact. "This clothing… looks like a uniform."

"It is indeed a uniform."

Duncan suddenly spoke, seemingly having discovered something. As he spoke, he bent down, ignoring the gruesome and terrifying remains, and groped near the beating heart, taking something from a piece of torn cloth.

It was a small name tag, bearing a name and identification.

"He was the captain of the *Obsidian*, Kristoff Barbeli," Duncan said quietly, glancing at the name tag.