Accompanying the eerie green flames illuminating the ship's cabin, the distant sound of ocean waves outside gradually resembled a dream, ethereal and hazy. The secrets from the endless deep sea, from that dark and frigid place, seeped into everyone's minds like chilling shadows.

The only refuge for mortals on the boundless sea is built upon the remains of unspeakable behemoths—withered tentacles hang from the bottom of city-states, and pale, horrifying eyes gaze into the endless abyss.

All living beings are the offspring of the Hidden Saint Lord, and the flesh and blood of the ancient gods constitute all things in the world. What happened in Frost was not an invasion, but an awakening of the ancient gods from their own creations. The Four Gods are not necessarily stable entities of order; they also possess the possibility of falling and losing control. Similar out-of-control processes may have occurred more than once in this world. The mortal realm is now protected by the Four Gods, perhaps simply because only they remain conscious.

The cataclysm that occurred in Frost will not be the last. As the situation of the Hidden Saint Lord further deteriorates, and as the flaws in the Creation Blueprint continue to magnify over time, similar awakenings are very likely to occur all over the world.

Erroneous replicas of the ancient gods will crawl out of the deep sea, out of the depths of city-states, and even out of the bodies of every mortal!

In a calm and steady tone, Duncan informed his followers of everything he knew in the deep sea and what he had deduced from the available information!

Subsequently, a long silence fell in the cabin!

Even Alice, with her solid head, and Shirley, carefree as she was, became quiet and realized the seriousness of the problem!

After a long while, Vanna finally broke the silence. He took a deep breath, his expression of melancholy seemingly condensed into a cloud. "If I hadn't heard you say all this yourself, I would have taken every word of this information as the mad ravings of an End Times preacher."

"Even the most insane End Times preacher probably couldn't fabricate something of this magnitude," Morris said slowly.

He reached for his pipe, but found that the tobacco inside had gone out at some point, and smiled wryly as he put it back down.

"Ah, yes, End Times preachers. One of the craziest things in this world is that some of those sub-dimensional cultists can remain sane."

Tirian frowned, and after a long silence, finally couldn't help but look up: "Father, is this information all true?"

As soon as he said it, he felt he had asked a stupid question, but this stupid question was so necessary at this moment. Everyone sitting at the long table probably had this thought in mind!

"At least, it is what I saw and heard," Duncan said lightly.

"Of course, one-sided information can be misleading. Even the most obvious clues can have multiple interpretations!"

"Also, the Queen of Frost may not be telling the whole truth, and even if she is, she is capable of making mistakes."

"We can only deduce the most probable truth based on the information we currently have!"

"The most probable truth at this stage?"

Tirian repeated the sentence in a low voice, then asked, "Did the Queen mention any omens if other city-states experience a similar situation to Frost, where an ancient god awakens?"

"No," Duncan shook his head.

"She also couldn't confirm what the mechanism of this awakening is. Perhaps the only way is to enter the Hidden Deep Sea and directly confirm the state of the Hidden Saint Lord's main body."

As soon as the words fell, several pairs of eyes instantly fell on A'gou, who was cowering in the corner!

"Don't look at me." A'gou jumped up almost instantly, its huge head shaking wildly.

"It's not feasible. I can't get close to the Saint Lord, and I can't bring people in."

"But you can open a passage to the Hidden Deep Sea."

"You can even take Shirley through the passage to escape."

Duncan looked seriously at the only Hidden Demon present. "You also said that Hidden Hounds are a type of demon born near the Saint Lord. Your old home is next to the Saint Lord."

"That was a shallow passage, only able to pass through the outermost edge of the Hidden Deep Sea."

"Specifically for escaping."

Seeing everyone staring at him, A'gou hesitated for two seconds before spilling all these secrets.

For many years, these secrets had been his and Shirley's trump cards for survival.

"The Hidden Deep Sea is a more complex and bizarre place than you imagine."

"It's not a whole, and the various regions are not continuously connected!"

"You can see from the shallow layers to the deep layers, but without a suitable method, you won't reach your destination in ten thousand years. In there, distance is an illusion, and movement is a mirage."

"I've been banished from the Hidden Deep Sea. Although the specific principle is unclear, perhaps it's because I developed a heart. I haven't been able to open a passage to the Saint Lord for many years. And on the other hand, I'm not very popular with the folks over there now. Even just passing through the safe areas of the shallow layers will attract countless demons to attack."

"And even putting aside these factors, I can't just bring people in there."

"The Hidden Demons can only pass through the passage with their symbiotic contractors. I can only take Shirley, I can't take anyone else!"

A'gou rattled off a long string of explanations, then cautiously observed the reactions of the people around him, especially Duncan's, and added, shrinking its neck, "I'm not making excuses, Captain, you heard it too, there are indeed many difficulties!"

Duncan, however, was not annoyed by the heap of difficulties A'gou had rattled off. He just thought about it seriously for a while, then said thoughtfully, "You mean, the space of the Hidden Deep Sea is discontinuous?"

"Roughly that's how you can understand it." A'gou thought for a moment, then nodded.

"I can't explain it specifically. I'm currently studying Professor Brown Door's 'Three Conjectures of Asymmetrical Space-Time.' Maybe I can explain it more clearly to you after I finish studying it."

Duncan didn't pay attention to the second half of A'gou's sentence. He just continued to think and asked another question, "But I remember you mentioning before that during those years when the *Shixiang Hao* (Lost Home) was completely out of control, it had smashed through the entire Hidden Deep Sea."

A'gou's expression (although its expression was abstract) changed instantly, and its entire skeleton froze with a creak!

Duncan thought the other party didn't remember, and casually added some details: "You said it fell from the real world into the sub-dimension and rose from the sub-dimension, traveling through the realms like a repeated oscillation, and each time it would smash through the entire Spirit Realm and the Hidden Deep Sea."

"In this process, didn't it essentially break through the spatial discontinuities in the Hidden Deep Sea?"

This time, not only A'gou's expression was abstract, but the expressions of everyone in the entire cabin became wonderful. A sense of surprise enveloped everyone, including Lucrezia on the other side of the crystal ball.

"Cap, Captain..."

A'gou's gravelly voice finally made a sound. Every bone chip in its body was trembling. "Don't talk about such scary things! You don't really plan to... to smash it again!"

"Father, please be careful." Lucrezia, who had been silent and seemed quite distant, couldn't help but break the silence. She looked at Duncan on this side of the crystal ball with a tense face, as if afraid that her father would turn back into that bloodless and tearless terrifying god in the next second.

"Returning the *Shixiang Hao* (Lost Home) to an out-of-control state to smash open the gate of the Hidden Deep Sea is never a good idea, even as a research project!"

"This is a bit too radical!"

Duncan didn't expect that he would elicit such a big reaction from the others just by mentioning this bold idea, so he shook his head, "Don't worry, I won't do such an extreme test. I have always been a cautious person."

Everyone obviously breathed a sigh of relief!

But then Duncan changed the subject and added, "But even from a cautious point of view, this old incident has given me an idea... Some of the properties of the *Shixiang Hao* (Lost Home) can ignore the spatial discontinuities in the Hidden Deep Sea. I will do some research on this basis to see if I can open the door to that place safely."

Everyone's hearts suddenly rose again!

But at least this time, no one raised strong objections like just now. Only Morris and Lucrezia, as scholars, once again emphasized the need for safety and caution. Looking at their attitude, it was clear that they were still worried that the captain would really have a whim one day and drive the *Shixiang Hao* (Lost Home) towards the Hidden Deep Sea!

Fortunately... Duncan quickly switched to the next topic!

"Besides the state of the Hidden Saint Lord, I am more concerned about another thing." He rubbed his chin, thinking as he spoke, "Those End Times preachers, strictly speaking, those End Times preachers who possess reason and whose style of doing things is completely opposite to that of cultists!"

He turned his head and looked at Tirian!

"You mentioned to Vanna that three End Times preachers visited the *Shixiang Hao* (Lost Home) and had a long conversation with me all night?"

Tirian immediately bowed slightly, his expression seeming a little embarrassed: "Yes, Father. At that time, I couldn't confirm your state, so I discussed some old things about you with Miss Vanna."

"It doesn't matter." Duncan waved his hand. "I don't remember many things from those years, so it's a good thing that you remember."

He emphasized again, without showing any signs, his amnesia due to the influence of the sub-dimension, and at the same time confirmed the changes in Tirian and Lucrezia's expressions, before continuing: "What I want to say is that I have a feeling that we will deal with those rational End Times preachers again sooner or later."

Morris subconsciously asked, "Why do you judge that way?"

"Because they seem dedicated to participating in and influencing far-reaching historical events."

Duncan adjusted his posture and said slowly, "And the commotion caused by the *Shixiang Hao* (Lost Home) is getting bigger and bigger!"