Chapter 1 The Fake

The counterfeit.

Nemo Wilkins' face was filled with unconcealable horror after learning from Duncan and the others about "counterfeits," the unknown number of them that had recently appeared in the city-state, and the possibility that their erosion and cognitive interference characteristics had already covered a large area.

Even the old ghost, whose mind was sometimes clear and sometimes muddled, felt the terror behind this bizarre phenomenon—he kept muttering about the Queen and the Queen's Guard, a look of anxiety on his face, before finally calming down after a long while.

After that, Nemo felt anger.

He couldn't accept that "Crow," who had followed him for many years, had died so inexplicably—even less could he accept that a replica of the latter had been created and was now lying in front of him. This was clearly an insult to the dead.

"There are shadows of the Annihilation Cultists behind this matter. The city's guardians should have already begun a large-scale search, and I estimate there will be some progress soon," Duncan said, noticing the change in Nemo's emotions. "However, even finding those Annihilation Cultists probably won't fundamentally solve the problem—the source is hidden behind those cultists."

"Hidden behind those cultists?" Nemo suddenly woke up from his anger, as if he had suddenly thought of something. "Behind them... Could this matter involve divine beings?"

Vanna responded from the side, "Replicas are constantly涌out from the depths of the sea. Even the Frost Queen fifty years ago couldn't resolve this crisis—do you think a group of cultists could pull something like this off?"

"There are clues indicating that this matter involves the Gloom Saint Master," Morris continued, "whose power, even a part of his body, may have appeared in the real world—but don't ask about the specifics."

Too much exposure to information pointing to gods isn't a good thing for ordinary people.

Nemo heard a faint warning in the old scholar's tone, and he immediately sobered up, nodding vigorously, "I understand... I won't ask."

He didn't want to be strangled in a dream by a tentacle of the Gloom Saint Master just because he heard something he shouldn't have.

Vanna bent down to examine the "Crow's" corpse on the ground.

The counterfeit was lifelike. At least on the surface, it still maintained almost the exact same appearance as the original. Only at its edges was a turbid black "sludge" seeping out little by little, indicating that the disintegration process had only just begun.

This was also the first time Duncan had seen the process of a counterfeit disintegrating from complete to broken down from a bystander's perspective, and this information was invaluable to him.

He reached out and rummaged through the pockets of "Crow's" coat—the paper with the mysterious "Hieroglyphic Narrative" text was in this pocket.

The pocket was empty, and the inside was also gradually disintegrating.

Vanna reached out, and the moisture in the air quickly condensed into an ice blade. A dagger appeared in her hand, and she used this temporarily formed dagger to cut open the clothes near "Crow's" chest, discovering that the inner layer of the clothes was strangely絮状, with intertwined fibers and clumps blurred together, fused with the deeper flesh and skin structure.

"The paper wasn't copied... the inside of the replica shows a typical disordered state... no blood..." Duncan muttered to himself, then reached out again to touch the black sludge material that was slowly squirming on the ground, only to see it suddenly contract, retreating to the side as if it were alive. "...These things haven't solidified yet, but the蠕动speed is slowing down."

He slowly stood up and sighed softly. "There's nothing more to examine. Let's purify it to eliminate future troubles. Vanna, you guys step back a bit."

As soon as Vanna heard this, she quickly took several steps back, pulling the still clueless Alice back with her, along with old Mr. Morris.

Nemo and the old ghost followed suit—though they had no idea why Vanna and the others were suddenly so nervous.

Then they found out.

A cluster of ghostly green flames suddenly appeared at Duncan's feet. Immediately afterward, the flames pounced on the "counterfeit" not far away like a predator who had smelled its prey—the flames soared into the air, and the crackling sound of transcendent firewood burning rang out continuously. The bizarre black sludge corpse was almost instantly burned to ashes, and at the same time, the gas lamps on the surrounding walls, as well as the lanterns carried by the old ghost and Nemo, seemed to be染上with a layer of ghostly green!

The whole process lasted less than a few seconds, but Nemo was already covered in a layer of cold sweat—when the flames soared into the air, immense fear permeated his mind and body. He even felt that his soul was about to resonate and spontaneously combust in front of the flames, so that when the flames disappeared, he even felt a sense of relief as if he had survived a disaster.

Duncan turned his head, looking at the few people who had almost hidden in the corner of the corridor on the other side, "It's burned... why are you hiding so far away? Just step back a couple of steps!"

"I have a psychological shadow about this thing," Vanna said bluntly.

Duncan: "..."

He stood awkwardly for a while, then touched the bandage near his nose and turned to walk deeper into the corridor. "Ahem, let's go, let's see what else is ahead."

The group stepped forward and followed Duncan. Nemo looked at the burly figure walking in the front with lingering fear. After a few steps, he turned to look at the old ghost beside him, "Do you think... Captain Trier might also be afraid of his father?"

The old ghost, however, seemed not to have heard him. He just walked with his head slightly raised, looking ahead in a daze. It wasn't until Nemo couldn't help but call him twice more that he suddenly muttered something nonsensical, "The Queen is ahead, hurry up, hurry up..."

Nemo looked at the old ghost's back, scratched his head, and couldn't help but mutter, "Okay, he's having another episode."

After an unknown amount of time, the team stopped again.

There was no road ahead.

A pile of collapsed boulders and semi-molten steel wreckage was piled together, completely blocking the road ahead—and it looked like it had been blocked for half a century.

"This is the end of this corridor," Nemo said, pointing to the collapsed area ahead. "This was blown up by the Queen's Guard during their retreat back then. The entire collapsed area is probably several hundred meters long, and it's impossible for anyone to pass through."

"So this is the end... but we haven't found anything along the way..." Vanna couldn't help but frown, looking back in the direction the team had come from. "We haven't even found any traces left by the 'counterfeit' moving."

Duncan didn't speak. He came to the collapsed ruins and carefully observed the stacked stones, cement, and steel, frowning without saying a word.

Alice couldn't help but come closer when she saw this, "What are you looking for?"

"Possible gaps or passages," Duncan said casually. "People can't get through, but sludge-like fluid can seep through very small holes."

"You suspect... that the counterfeit first seeped through this collapsed area in the form of a fluid ‘element,’ and then凝聚into a human shape and fell down on the other side of the corridor?" Morris quickly understood Duncan's meaning, but the image he conjured in his mind gave him goosebumps. "That sounds... really chilling."

Duncan didn't speak. He took two steps back and looked up again at the end of the corridor, which had been completely blocked.

There were indeed no traces here.

Along the way, there were no traces of anything abnormal.

How exactly did the counterfeit... appear in the corridor? Where exactly did "Crow" go before, and how did he get there?

On the vast and boundless ocean, a thin layer of mist rose.

A steamship with a beautiful white hull sailed through the fog. The bow cut through the fog floating on the surrounding sea, leaving layers of fine waves in its wake.

Captain Lawrence, wearing a thick coat, came to the deck and gazed blankly at the distant misty sea, as well as the vaguely undulating horizon and the silhouette of icebergs in the fog.

It was daytime, and the sun was high in the sky, but the sunlight neither dispelled the fog on the sea nor the chill in the sea breeze. He only felt that the chill gradually penetrated through his coat, as if it were drilling into his bones—it felt as if his whole body was gradually浸泡into the cold sea water.

"The temperature in the north... is really not friendly to an old man like me who was born and raised in the central seas."

Lawrence couldn't help but mutter.

His first mate, Gus, walked over from the side. He was a tall, thin middle-aged man with slightly curly brown short hair. After hearing the captain's mutter, he laughed and said, "The Cold Sea is always like this—there's more fog than anywhere else, and sometimes it's foggy even during the day. The air is filled with chill, and there are sudden snowfalls in the city-state... making it difficult for outsiders to adapt."

"I originally planned to stay in Frost for a few more days, but now it seems that after completing the necessary work, I should go back quickly. Staying in this place for too long will make me sick," Captain Lawrence shook his head. "The fog is getting thicker and thicker. I need to reconfirm the course in an hour."

The first mate immediately nodded. "Yes, Captain, I'll arrange it in a moment."

Lawrence嗯a sound, and then asked, "Has there been a response to the signal sent to Frost?"

"Not yet," the first mate replied. "But that's normal. The port work efficiency in the northern city-states has always been like this—let's wait until we get closer. They have to respond to our port application eventually."