Chapter 14 Scholars' Routine

Boom!

A thunderous roar exploded in the depths of his consciousness, and Morris almost instantly lost control of his own state—even in the protected state of isolating the main consciousness and solidifying the mind, he was still swept away by the spreading shock, and tottered in the face of the subsequent, tidal wave of information!

In an instant, the "psychological perspective" that stood behind and to the side of his body began to rotate, and his vision no longer saw the words in his mind. He only felt endless mist swirling and rising, and the sentences he had just read seemed like swarms of bees out of control, impacting and gnawing at his memory, tearing at his personality. For a moment, he even forgot his own name, and all that remained in his mind was the title he had seen in the last second—the Gloom Saint.

But at the next moment, this feeling of dizziness was suddenly stopped by something. Morris felt that his consciousness was forcibly dragged back to the real world by an incomparably powerful force, and in the process of being "dragged back," he saw many arrays of flashing lights in the thick fog, and in the middle of those lights, there was a largest red light source surrounded.

This scene was like a glance from the god of wisdom, Lahm, but in the next second, those array lights quickly dissipated, turning into huge waves surging towards him.

Then, the giant waves turned into a cloud of collapsing white dust, fine white ashes like the ashes of saints, falling on him.

After that, the white dust burned in mid-air, turning into a rain of fire, condensing countless dazzling red streams of flame, surging as if to burn him to ashes!

But just before the red flames fell on him, Morris saw that all the fire was suddenly stained with a layer of ghostly green—the surging, exploding fire instantly became gentle, and fell beside him bit by bit. A piece of flame touched his shoulder, and he immediately felt someone pat him heavily. The next second, he suddenly opened his eyes and realized that he had returned to his body.

The effects of consciousness isolation and mental solidification were forcibly ended, and he returned to this world from the brink of madness once again.

The moment his consciousness recovered, Morris resisted the urge to "take another look" and forcefully closed the black leather book in his hand.

He moved quickly, but even so, the book flipped violently for a few pages before it closed. In the fleeting afterimage, some trembling words imprinted themselves on Morris's vision with an extremely strong impression—it was a sentence, a sentence carrying the intense obsession of a dying person:

"We shall eventually return to that purest and most holy origin."

The black leather book was completely closed. Morris was panting heavily, the words he had seen at the last moment still lingering in his mind.

Vanna immediately noticed the abnormality and approached in two steps:

"How are you?"

"...The daily life of a scholar, dealing with deadly knowledge and surviving," Morris said, catching his breath, and held out his hand to Vanna.

"I'm fine, I'm still me—help me up."

As soon as he stood up, he asked:

"How much time has passed?"

"A few seconds," Vanna nodded, "I just saw you open the book and glance at it a few times, and you suddenly closed it. At the same time, your spirituality was constantly fluctuating, and indistinguishable shadows began to appear in the surrounding fog."

"A few seconds..." Morris twitched the corner of his mouth, but his mind recalled the strange scenes he had seen when he was pulled back from the edge of losing control.

In the next second, a low, majestic voice appeared in his mind:

"Morris, what's going on on your end?"

Morris was startled and quickly straightened his expression, responding in his heart:

"I was reading a blasphemous book seized from the Annihilation cultists and was accidentally contaminated—Captain, was it you who pulled me back at the end?"

"Yes," Duncan responded, "I suddenly sensed that your mind was under attack, so I used the 'mark' left on you to check the situation. You said you seized a blasphemous book? What exactly happened? Are you still with Vanna? Where are you now?"

"Vanna is with me, and we are still active in the upper city. We discovered that Annihilation cultists are using the fog as cover to enter the real world and are controlling some of the counterfeits to attack the city-state—we just found and eliminated one of the controllers," Morris responded immediately, then organized his thoughts and continued, "The situation is very strange. After the cultist died, his corpse showed signs of fusing with elemental matter. It seems to be some kind of extreme 'transformation' result. He was carrying a black, nameless book with him, and the contents of the book..."

Morris suddenly stopped, his tone becoming particularly cautious as he carefully controlled his thoughts:

"The contents of the book are disturbing. It is the original text of those hieroglyphic records copied by the 'Crow' before. I only had time to read a small part of it before I was contaminated. I'm sorry, I can only report this much now—I can't recall the details inside."

Duncan's voice was silent for two seconds, then sounded again:

"Alright, safety first, don't continue to recall what you saw. Take the book with you and report to me in person later."

Morris breathed a slight sigh of relief:

"Yes, Captain."

Just then, Vanna "spoke" from the side:

"Captain, how is the situation on your side?"

"Alice and I are in the Second Waterway—it's very quiet here."

Deep underground near the central city, at an intersection in the Second Waterway, Duncan looked up at the empty corridor in the distance.

A thin layer of mist was floating above the corridor, close to the dark ceiling. The mist seemed to appear out of thin air in this space and was becoming thicker as time went by—but compared to the city-state's surface, which was completely shrouded in thick fog, the mist here was not serious.

"I'm waiting for the kindling to be in place."

Through the connection of the "mark," he said to Vanna in his mind.

"Kindling?" Vanna's voice sounded a little puzzled.

"The lairs of those Annihilation cultists are not in the real world—Mirror Frost is their stronghold," Duncan said slowly, "Whether it's the Sea Fog Fleet or the Frost Navy, including the city-state guards and the guardians of the church, the 'invasions' they are eliminating in the real world are only slowing down the process of the mirror rising. Only by taking action from the mirror side can we truly solve this problem. Agatha has already gone with the kindling—she will find the lairs of those heretics, and then I will help her ignite that place."

Vanna's response was clearly delayed for a few seconds:

"Then... is there anything we can do?"

"Just continue hunting in the fog, eliminate all the counterfeits you see, and find all the controllers behind them. Hunt down as many as you can," Duncan said, "Slowing down the invasion is meaningful. You are buying time for Agatha and reducing the pressure she faces."

Vanna responded immediately:

"Yes, I understand!"

A few seconds later, her voice came again:

"Also... there may be a counterfeit 'Gatekeeper' operating in the city-state now, and the church seems to have no response. Do you think..."

Her voice sounded hesitant.

Duncan already knew about the counterfeit, even more clearly than Vanna did.

After all, he had already established contact with the real Agatha.

"Don't worry about that 'Agatha'," he responded after a moment of silence, "And don't go after her—but if you encounter her, you can provide help as needed."

Vanna was clearly stunned for a few seconds, and then her tone was filled with astonishment:

"Provide help?! Help that 'counterfeit'?"

"Don't forget, not all counterfeits are controlled by Annihilation cultists. The most outstanding of them have their own will," Duncan's tone was still calm, "The Gatekeeper will not easily become a puppet of heretics. Of course, you will need to judge the specific situation for yourselves at that time."

"Yes, I understand, Captain."

This time, Vanna's response carried a strange solemnity.

It was as if her sense of mission as an inquisitor resonated in that moment with the "Gatekeeper."

The connection with his followers was over.

Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, then raised his hand, a small flame igniting on his fingertip.

He stared at the flame and then spoke softly:

"Agatha, do you really think 'she' will be as you expect?"

A cold and hoarse voice rang from the flame:

"Yes."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because I believe in myself."

"But that's just a copy of you," Duncan said calmly, "There will be slight differences between you, and this difference may lead her to make different decisions than you would."

"But you didn't order your followers to eliminate that 'hidden danger'," Agatha said, "You also believe in my judgment."

Duncan was silent for a few seconds before sighing softly.

"There was once a human named Brown Scott who proved his humanity to me, and that humanity is still in effect on the 'counterfeit'—so this time, I don't mind believing it once more."

"If... I mean, what if, what if my judgment is also wrong? Your trust will be misplaced..."

"It's okay, it's all small matters."

Small matters...?

In the cold, damp sewer corridor, Agatha lowered her head and looked at the small flame that was still burning quietly in her palm.

The faint heat emanating from the flame seemed to be the only warmth she could feel in this world—outside the light, she felt the whole world was as cold as a tomb.

The "Captain's" voice came again:

"Agatha, how is the situation on your end?"

"I'm still moving forward, almost there. I can feel it, it's very close."

"I mean your situation. Your voice sounds a little different than before."

Agatha stopped.

She lowered her head, and what she saw was her scarred body and wounds that had stopped bleeding.

"It's okay," she said softly, her voice as cold as a tomb, "It's all small matters."