Chapter 1 What Did You Hear?

“Did you hear anything?” Shirley suddenly stopped, muttering suspiciously on a natural trail deep in the forest.

“I didn’t hear anything, but I smelled… that distinct ‘stench’,” A’gou stopped beside Shirley, a low, disgusted sound coming from its throat. “More than one, mixed with the turbidity of chaotic stupidity, and a pure, blind impulse to destroy…”

“Looks like those ‘old acquaintances’ are back,” Shirley grumbled. “They really are tireless. What is it about this ‘Dream of the Nameless’ that’s worth so much to them? Is that so-called ‘original blueprint’ really that attractive?”

A’gou didn’t speak, but lowered its body, carefully sensing the residual aura around them – the aura left by the Annihilation Cultists and the Abyssal Demons.

It found something familiar in those auras.

“That Annihilation Cultist named ‘Richard’ is among them,” it said suddenly, looking up.

“That guy dares to come back?” Shirley’s eyes widened in surprise. “Last time I smashed him up so badly, I thought he’d be lying in the real world for a while…”

A’gou shook its head. “It seems they all made thorough preparations when ‘entering the dream,’ possessing sufficient protection on the mental level. The damage they suffer in the dream doesn’t have much impact on reality… Which makes sense, considering they organized so many people to enter the Dream of the Nameless. They must already have a full understanding of how this place works.”

Shirley frowned. “Are we still far away?”

Shirley took a deep look in the direction of the Goat Head, then withdrew her gaze, looked at the strangely unfamiliar door in front of her, took a deep breath, and forcefully turned the handle.

As she spoke, she raised her head and looked in a certain direction deep in the forest. “These Annihilation Cultists are also looking for the ‘Echoing Wall’. We’ll follow them from a distance, and as long as we hide well, the initiative is in our hands.”

As she spoke, she pointed with the long-handled axe in her hand towards a certain direction in the forest: “Come with me, I’ll take you to the Echoing Wall.”

He frowned slightly, as if listening to sounds coming from afar, the expression on his face changing rapidly, from confusion to thoughtfulness.

Upon seeing the elven girl who seemed to appear out of nowhere, Shirin was stunned for a moment, and in those one or two seconds of her daze, the elven girl had already taken a step towards her.

The two fell into a brief silence across the mirror, clearly neither of them had any ideas.

“I wouldn’t recommend that, don’t forget the eerie ‘erosion’ phenomenon—it can happen suddenly and spread quickly,” Duncan said, shaking his head. “No corner here is safe. The only possible safe zone might be inside this so-called Echoing Wall. We have to find that ‘wall’.”

This "Goat Head" that appeared on the eerie Forsaken Frigate was like an "answering machine" in a half-dreaming state. Except for taking the initiative to speak when greeting, it rarely reacted unless Shirley spoke to it.

The Goat Head under the nautical chart slowly turned its head, silently tracking Shirley’s actions with its eyes, but still without uttering a word—the silent gaze seemed particularly eerie.

“Ah… okay.” Shirin was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted, calling out to the captain deep within her consciousness as she pulled Kang Qing to follow the other party’s footsteps.

“Just now, while you were talking to the Goat Head, I traversed all the mirrors on this Forsaken Frigate. The positions and scenes presented in all the mirrors are no different from the Forsaken Frigate in reality, except for this one… I was blocked by an eerie ‘barrier’.”

“I don’t know,” the suspicious Goat Head seemed to only ever repeat that sentence.

Shirley nodded. “I’m still with ‘A’gou’.”

However, all these things had lost their truth, like being randomly reorganized in the mind of a mentally deranged person, and then reproduced in a topsy-turvy dreamscape, making it impossible to see their original normal appearance!

Shirley glanced at the Goat Head.

After a while, Agatha took a deep breath and broke the silence, “Captain, I’ve made some discoveries here too.”

But no matter what, it didn’t seem to be trying to stop her.

That was not conducive to gathering information, so Shirin had to take the initiative to break the silence. After thinking about a topic, she asked, “By the way, what’s your name?”

The unfamiliar elven girl didn’t seem to notice Shirin’s momentary bewilderment, and didn’t even show any strange expressions towards Duncan, who was terrifyingly grotesque and hadn't had time to hide due to the suddenness of the event. She nodded very naturally to Kang Qing and Shirin, and said, “You and your companions are in an area where the erosion phenomenon is active. This place is dangerous—luckily you encountered me, a forest ranger.”

“I don’t know,” the Goat Head said slowly.

Shirley immediately looked towards the direction of the captain’s cabin, listening to Agatha’s account of the situation, her eyes gradually becoming serious.

Shirley paid close attention to the gaze behind her, sensing the changes in the aura within the captain’s cabin—but the suspicious Goat Head had no reaction to Agatha’s appearance, as if it couldn’t see her.

“Kang Qing and Duncan encountered another ‘A’gou’ in the forest,” Shirley responded to Agatha’s greeting, then said directly.

...

“Should I go in?”

A chaotic and overlapping space, as if countless abstract lines were repeatedly rendered and superimposed, appeared behind the door.

Shirin’s eyes widened.

“Haven’t left for a while,” Duncan cautiously judged. “The aura of the Abyssal Demons is dissipating rapidly, but it’s hard to say how far away from here they are now—Shirin, we have to be careful, that ‘Richard’ is also here, I know him, the same trick won’t work a second time.”

At almost the same moment that Duncan’s voice fell, Shirin heard footsteps suddenly appearing in the distance—the sound was unannounced, as if someone had appeared out of thin air in the distance. Shirin instantly tensed up, then, gripping the chain tightly in one hand, she suddenly turned her head towards the direction from which the sound came.

An elven girl with a tall figure appeared in Shirin’s sight.

“Did you not receive the order to evacuate? Why are you still active outside the wall?”

Hearing the other party’s voice, Shirin opened her mouth. The sudden change made her a little caught off guard, but she quickly reacted, and the acting skills and observation skills she had learned since childhood came into play. “Ah, I… got lost. I was just about to go to the Echoing Wall.”

After a moment of contemplation, he stepped towards the door.

The elven girl holding a strange weapon walked in front, rarely speaking on the way.

Kang Qing’s expression suddenly became strange. She carefully confirmed the surrounding environment, turned her head, and said seriously to Kang Qing, “How about we just find a place to hide here? And wait for dawn in the real world—anyway, this forest is so big, those cultists shouldn’t backtrack.”

After a slight hesitation, Shirley got up from the chair and walked towards the ancient oval mirror not far away.

However, Shirley was now more or less able to ignore the strangeness of the suspicious Goat Head. She circled around to the back of the mirror and reached out to knock on the mirror surface.

She wore a set of uniquely styled light armor, which looked like some kind of hunting outfit suitable for activities in the forest, and was reinforced in key positions. She had a head of pale golden hair like sunlight, with slightly glowing blue threads woven between the strands—and in her hand, she held a uniquely shaped weapon, like a combination of a spear and a poleaxe…

Agatha opened her mouth, her expression a little surprised for a moment, then she immediately reacted: “Then what about Sister Lucretia…”

“I don’t know,” the Goat Head said slowly.

Agatha in the mirror raised her hand and silently pointed to the door at the deepest part of the captain’s cabin—the wooden door leading to the captain’s bedroom.

The elven girl suddenly stopped, turned her head, and looked very seriously into Shirin’s eyes. After two or three seconds, she whispered, “I’m called A’gou—I hope you can remember my name.”

The Goat Head under the table had no reaction to Shirley’s sudden pause—after Kang Qing stopped speaking, it also fell silent, neither questioning nor showing any initiative to express itself.

Under the nautical chart, the white Goat Head wooden sculpture moved again with creaks and groans, a pair of deep, clear, pitch-black eyes tracking Shirley’s movements.

Kang Qing grabbed the handle of the room door, but he didn’t push it open directly. Instead, he turned his head and stared at the Goat Head under the table—after staring at each other for a while, he said in a deep voice, “What’s inside this?”

Almost as soon as Duncan finished speaking, Shirin heard footsteps suddenly appearing in the distance—the sound was unannounced, as if someone had appeared out of thin air in the distance. Shirin instantly tensed up, then, gripping the chain tightly in one hand, she suddenly turned her head towards the direction from which the sound came.

Shirley subconsciously lowered her voice: “What did you find?”

Agatha’s figure almost immediately appeared in the mirror.

“Kang Qing and Duncan encountered another ‘A’gou’ in the forest,” Shirley responded to Agatha’s greeting, then said directly.

…

“What would happen if I go in?”

A chaotic and overlapping space, as if countless abstract lines were repeatedly rendered and superimposed, appeared behind the door.

Shirin’s eyes widened.