Deep Sea Embers

The captain's quarters of the White Oak was temporarily transformed into a sanctuary.

The smell of incense floated in the room, and amulets depicting storm runes were hung on all the doors and windows. The priests set up bronze boundary monuments at the four corners of the room, and tied cloth strips soaked in holy oil on the top of the boundary monuments. Finally, a copy of the Tempest Book from the cathedral was brought into the room to serve as a "pillar" for the entire sanctuary.

After completing all the arrangements, Captain Lawrence and Judge Vanna entered the captain's cabin together.

"I hope you won't mind our 'renovation' of this place," Fanna said calmly, maintaining the restraint and courtesy that a high-level cleric should have. "Everything is for safety."

"Of course, everything is for safety - what I lack most right now is a sense of security." Captain Lawrence immediately nodded with understanding. He looked around at the sacred things in the room and breathed a sigh of relief, "With these things, ordinary things The twisted and polluted things will probably die if they come in and take just one look..."

"You can feel free to talk to me about the Lost Home here," Vanna nodded, "Let's start from the very beginning. Where were you and how did you see the ship?"

Captain Lawrence calmed down and began to recount the most terrifying day in his memory: "It was like this..."

Captain Lawrence spoke in great detail. In front of a professional judge, he even told exactly what he had eaten for breakfast that day and what time the sailors on the ship had their meals. For those who really couldn't remember clearly, he just read it. The captain's log and the sailors' diaries for the day.

Experienced captains all know this: before many abnormal phenomena occur, there are often seemingly ordinary signs. People at the time may have difficulty realizing the connection between these things, but professionals who review them afterwards can learn from them. Experience is summarized from those daily clues and used to warn future generations.

Every captain on the Infinite Sea has the habit of recording a voyage log - at the same time, reading one's own log is the only safe "reading method" on the Infinite Sea besides reading church classics.

After hearing the thrilling experience, Fanna's heroic brows wrinkled little by little.

The situation is more serious than imagined, and more bizarre than imagined.

She originally thought that Captain Lawrence's so-called "encounter" was just an encounter, or at most a passing by the ghost ship, so the terrible captain only took away the cargo on the ship without harming anyone. One person - but he didn't expect it to be a head-on collision.

The entire White Oak crashed into the cabin of the Lost Home, and the entire ship was swept from top to bottom by the green ghost flames.

According to Captain Lawrence, the White Oak had even begun to transform into the Lost Home from top to bottom at that time! He could clearly see his body transforming into a spiritual state!

The Holy Emblem beacon on the ship was shut down at the time, the ballast holy objects did not respond, and the protective materials added to the hull materials were ineffective. The priest could only protect himself. The entire ship was deep in the spiritual world and could not call for help from the outside world— - It can be said that the White Oak at that time was already the capture of the captain, and there was no possibility of a "lucky escape" at all.

Captain Lawrence can still stand here today entirely because the Lost Home gave up the prize without hesitation.

"Your Majesty the Inquisitor," after finally telling his story, Captain Lawrence couldn't help but said after seeing Vanna's lack of reaction for a long time, "Tell me, what did the Lost Home want to do at that time? It really just wanted to take her away. Abnormal 099?”

Fanna glanced at him: "Isn't this what you have always said?"

"I... I have always thought so, but now I am not sure," Lawrence sighed, "Especially since you just said that the ghost captain has recently extended his power to the city-state of Pland... I always feel that It won't be that simple."

"No one can guess what the ghost captain is thinking," Vanna shook her head. "Now all we can do is conduct the most thorough inspection of the White Oak to prevent this ship from carrying any 'intruders'. You and Your crew members will also suffer some injustice these days. Before the investigation is completed, you are not allowed to have contact with anyone except the church priests...including visits from family members."

Captain Lawrence lowered his head: "I can understand."

Then he paused and then asked: "So...about the theft of Anomaly 099..."

Vanna knew what the captain was worried about.

Weird and terrifying phenomena at sea are a threat that hangs over civilization, but before considering these long-term and vast threats, the captain is first and foremost an ordinary person who needs to support his family - he lost Anomaly 099, and this responsibility is placed on a It's too heavy on ordinary people's heads.

"Don't worry, the church will come forward to explain this matter to the city-state authorities and the Explorers Association," she said in a calm voice. "The appearance of the Lost Home is a force majeure, and the loss of Anomaly 099 is not your responsibility - even if you were responsible for escorting it at the time It’s a church ship, so I’m afraid the result will be the same.”

The expression on Captain Lawrence's face visibly relaxed.

There was still something unsaid in Fanna's mind: After all, things like "abnormality" are always on the verge of being sealed and out of control. Every year there are new anomalies that are out of control, and there are always city-state residents in strange places. Lost their lives under the influence of objects, and the church has been fighting against these out-of-control anomalies for thousands of years. In the face of this long-term and huge dynamic balance, the loss of an anomaly is not unimaginable - even if the abnormality is The number is within hundreds.

But she, the judge, could not say such words.

"In addition..." At this moment, Captain Lawrence suddenly and hesitantly broke the silence, "I would like to know what is so special about Anomaly 099?"

Speaking of this, he paused and quickly added: "Of course, I got a piece of information when I took on the escort mission, but it mainly involved the sealing method of Anomaly 099 and the emergency response method after the initial loss of control. It did not involve The origin and background of this abnormal object and the situation after it completely lost control... You know, after all, it is an abnormality within a hundred people. The more ordinary people around it know about it, the more likely it is to lose control. This rule I Still understand.

"But now Anomaly 099 has been abducted by the Lost Home. According to regulations, it should be considered completely out of control, so..."

"It's okay to tell you," Vanna nodded before Captain Lawrence finished speaking, "Anomaly 099 has escaped the control of civilized society. According to regulations, its relevant information will be disclosed to the Adventurers Association and the extraordinary teams in various city-states. Announce it in order to capture and re-seal it in the future. As a member of the Adventurers Association and the last contact with Anomaly 099, you should know this information. "

Speaking of this, she stopped and thought for a moment, and then slowly said while sorting out the information she knew: "Anomaly 099, a doll coffin, looks like a gorgeous wooden box like a coffin, and there is a sleeping person inside. The doll has silver hair and a purple skirt, and its body shape is similar to that of an ordinary human being;

"This anomaly was first discovered in the cold northern sea. The doll inside it looks very similar to the Frost Queen Leigh Nora who was beheaded and executed by the rebels half a century ago, but there is no evidence to prove that there is a real connection between the two. ;

"This abnormality has no tendency to think and has no consciousness, but it is very likely that it is driven by instinct to actively perceive the outside world and exert influence on the outside world;

"You should know the sealing method of Anomaly 099 very well, so I won't repeat it. As for its dangers...

"First of all, the puppet coffin has a tendency to 'settlement'. Once it stays in a certain area for a long time, it will regard that area as its own territory, and it will be difficult to move it later, and it will settle in its own area. The ground gradually expands its influence, and at the same time its seal strength will weaken sharply, becoming more and more likely to get out of control - this is also a common feature of quite a few anomalies. Therefore, Anomaly 099 needs to frequently move the seal location to prevent its excessive growth.

"Secondly, when the puppet coffin is out of control, all humanoid units within a certain range around it, including humans, elves, Senjin and Jiplos, will be used as test targets. This range can be as short as a hundred meters. It can be as long as nearly a kilometer, and will grow with the "settlement" time of Anomaly 099. The specific test standards are not yet clear. What is known is that the selected target will immediately lose its freedom of movement as if it is controlled by a puppet string, and unconsciously move towards it. The puppet kneels and bows its head in the direction of the coffin, just like the people of the city worshiping the queen. Once this action is completed... the victim will be beheaded immediately.

"The decapitation cannot be avoided, protected, or saved. It is meaningless to apply any blessing or armor to the victim. The only condition for its effectiveness is to be 'selected by the puppet'. The victim will become decapitated directly after the action is completed. state, and after the beheading is completed, the doll will be temporarily quiet for four to six hours, and then start looking for the next target until no one survives within the range, or the coffin is re-sealed.

"The puppet's coffin has the characteristics of movement when it is out of control. It is extremely fast and powerful, and will escape capture in various incredible ways. In addition, the coffin itself is extremely strong, so the harm it will cause after it loses control will be further increased. big.

"Among the several incidents where the puppet coffin went out of control, only one saint survived, but that saint happened to have the blood of the northern frost city-state, so it is impossible to determine whether it was the saint's power that resisted the curse, or whether it was because of his The bloodline just meets the conditions for the 'pardon' of the doll coffin."

Listening to the young judge's calm and indifferent story, Captain Lawrence felt his hair stand on end.

His first thought was: It’s really hard to make money for the city-state authorities!

No wonder the reward for escorting anomalies 099 is almost five times that of escorting ordinary anomalies - this kind of fatal damage that completely ignores protection and dodge, and only requires "the puppet is targeting you" to be effective, is placed in a situation where there is no way to escape. On an ocean-going ship, there is simply a terrifying thing that is destined to kill everyone if it loses control!

Only a group of captains from the Explorers Association who specialize in "extreme survival" would take on this kind of job.

At the same time, he heard Judge Fanna's voice continue to come: "... Regarding the weird and terrifying ability of the puppet coffin, the church specially gave its ability a special name when setting up files for Anomaly 099. Named after the instrument used by the rebels to execute the Frost Queen a century ago:

"Alice's Guillotine."