Chapter 370

Chapter 370: Agatha Understood.

Nervous and curious, Agatha quietly looked around the place.

It looked like a completely ordinary home. Most of the furniture seemed a bit old, but everything was tidy and clean. The air in the room was fresh, as if the windows had been opened not long ago to let the wind through. From the direction of the kitchen came the sound of water heating, like a kettle coming to a boil.

This did not look like a “descent site” at all. It was simply a normal residence.

Of course, Agatha knew from the start that this had originally been just an ordinary house. Until a few days ago, it had still been listed on the citizen Help Center’s register as a property for rent. She had only thought that… since an indescribable Visitor had chosen to make this his temporary residence, shouldn’t there be something special about it?

But she had not found anything.

“Tea? Or some coffee?” Duncan came over to Agatha’s side and asked casually.

Agatha jolted back to herself. She stared in surprise at Duncan, now sitting opposite her, and only after a heartbeat understood what he meant. She hurriedly waved her hand: “No… thank you, I’m not thirsty.”

“No need to be so tense. Just treat this like your own home,” Duncan smiled as he sat down on the sofa across from her, speaking in a relaxed tone. “Let me think… If I’m not mistaken, you should be this city?state’s Gatekeeper? At a time like this, someone who comes knocking on the door is unlikely to be an ordinary Guardian.”

“Gatekeeper Agatha,” Agatha nodded at once, trying her best to look calm. “You knew I would come?”

“You were sure to come. If not you, then some other high?ranking member of the Church,” Duncan said lightly. “Annie will tell the Gravekeeper about me, and the Gravekeeper will report the situation to the Church. All I had to do was wait here to meet the upper ranks of this city?state’s Church.”

Agatha adjusted her posture a little and studied the burly figure before her with a more solemn gaze, as if trying to divine the truth: “I want to know… your real purpose. Who are you, really, and why have you come to Frostholm?”

“Didn’t I say already?” Duncan raised his eyebrows. “I came to solve the problems happening here. I thought I made that quite clear in the denunciation letter.”

Agatha opened her mouth, clearly still having trouble accepting such a simple answer. After two or three seconds, she spoke, hesitant: “Is it really… just that?”

“If you need a darker motive and a more complicated conspiracy before this feels reasonable, I can make one up on the spot,” Duncan said offhandedly. “What style do you like? world?ending Doomsday, or a monarch descending to conquer the world?”

Agatha’s body visibly tensed.

“Ahem, you scared her,” Vanna suddenly coughed twice behind Duncan. “This Gatekeeper will take you seriously.”

“Will she?” Duncan turned his head a little, puzzled. “I thought the joke was obvious…”

“In my experience, yes,” Vanna sighed helplessly. “In this line of work, people’s nerves are always tight. They can’t take jokes.”

For a moment Duncan did not know what to say. Agatha, meanwhile, looked in confusion at the extremely tall woman. Ever since she had entered the house, she had felt that woman’s eyes fall on her, intentionally or not, as if… as if Vanna was watching something with interest.

But that was not important. What mattered was that she had confirmed the Higher Being before her had only been joking with her—cruelly and in a very frightening way.

“Please forgive my sensitivity,” Agatha said sincerely. “Recently the Anomalies in the city?state have been growing more and more severe. Everyone’s nerves are on edge. I even, at one point, suspected…”

She hesitated and did not finish, but Duncan smoothly took over: “At one point you even suspected me? Don’t be so tense, that’s reasonable. My timing was a little too perfect, and the first time I came here I ended up dealing with Annihilators and ‘replicas’.”

Agatha did not answer. She only looked a bit embarrassed.

“I want to know how far your investigation has gone,” Duncan went on, not minding her reaction. “Any leads?”

Agatha hesitated, unsure whether she should reveal too much of Frostholm’s internal information to this Visitor of mysterious origin. After a moment, choosing her words, she spoke: “After we received your warning, we did capture some Annihilators, but we gained almost no useful information. Those heretics who formed deep symbiotic pacts with Deep Sea Demons have extremely strong minds and usually choose self?destruction at the last moment. The few we took alive are all peripheral figures who know nothing about the full plan…

“Even now, all we can confirm is that the frequent replica phenomena in the city are indeed the work of those heretics, and that they have built a hidden and vast nest somewhere in Frostholm. As for the exact location of that nest… we still have no clue.”

She paused, then went on: “As for Dagger Island, which you mentioned in that letter… what is even more troubling is that it has already vanished.”

“I know,” Duncan said calmly.

“You already knew?” Agatha asked in surprise. “That news should still be sealed…”

“I have my own channels for information in the mortal world,” Duncan answered in the same light tone. “Even without leaving the city?state, I know some of what happens on the open sea.”

Those channels were, of course, Tyrian. After all, Dagger Island had vanished right in front of the Sea Mist Fleet, so Tyrian would naturally report it to the Vanished at once.

But even having learned this shocking news at the first moment, Duncan could only be shocked along with everyone else. He too had no idea how such a large island could simply vanish into thin air.

According to what Tyrian had reported, the island had not sunk so much as seemed to melt directly into the sea. Before it disappeared there had been a series of massive explosions, as if the people on the island had activated something. But beyond that, there was no further information.

Information was scarce. The way it vanished was far too strange, and it left behind no trace or clue. Dagger Island had gone from one riddle to an even greater one. No one knew what had happened there, let alone where the island had gone.

“Do you know where Dagger Island went?” Agatha’s voice broke into Duncan’s thoughts. The city?state’s Gatekeeper raised her head and looked at him with sincere eyes. “Do you know what happened to it?”

Duncan thought for a moment. He felt that if he admitted he had pondered it for an entire night and still not figured it out, it might hurt his image. So he fell silent for a bit, then stretched out his hand and pointed toward the floor.

“Down?” Agatha froze for a second. “You mean Dagger Island really did sink into the sea… but the eyewitness reports said there were no whirlpools on the surface like when an island sinks…”

Duncan had no idea how to answer. He was just as curious how such a huge island could simply vanish!

So he simply kept his hand extended, still pointing at the floor.

“You don’t mean Dagger Island… You mean the clues are beneath our feet?” Agatha seemed to suddenly understand. Almost at once she recalled her most recent conversation with Bishop Ivan and remembered the matter of the “Second Waterway” deep underground!

City Hall and the Church had already searched the entire city?state. Strict curfews and repeated large?scale sweeps should, in theory, have been enough to root out many hidden cultists, yet the Annihilators they caught were always just a few marginal figures. Every place where people could hide—the First Waterway, the subway, service shafts—had already been searched, with no clues at all…

The city?state was only so big. If there were no traces of those heretics in any of the places above, then the Second Waterway was the only possibility left.

Those collapsed sections, those caves sunk in darkness, those shafts and pipes covered in corruption… They might indeed be unfit for living beings, but what if that group of Annihilators had really survived down there?

Of course, searching the Second Waterway had always been part of the plan. She had just never dared to confirm whether this search, which would demand such staggering resources, was truly worth it. Now, she had finally found the strongest support for that action—a friendly Quasi?Divine Being had plainly indicated that they had to look downward.

“So that’s it—I understand now. Our direction is correct,” Agatha suddenly stood up, her tone filled with sudden realization and joy. She looked at Duncan across from her. Her attitude became especially sincere and respectful, and she bowed deeply. “I understand now—thank you very much for your reminder!”

Duncan still kept his hand pointed at the floor, staring a little blankly at the bandaged woman who had suddenly become so excited.

[What did she just understand?]

“We will immediately start the next stage of the search. This time we will dig out those heretics’ nest by the roots,” Agatha said with full confidence, not noticing Duncan’s dazed look, and soon moved to take her leave. “Then I won’t waste your time any longer—excuse me for disturbing you this time, I will be going.”

“Uh… all right,” Duncan stood up half a beat late and said without thinking: “Take care on your way…”

Agatha thanked him, turned, and walked toward the door. Then she suddenly seemed to remember something and stopped.

Alice, who had been about to get up to see her off, almost bumped right into her.

Agatha’s gaze swept over Alice, but this time she did not pay much attention to the blonde woman with no heartbeat or breath. For a Quasi?Divine Being, it was perfectly normal for followers at his side to be a little unusual. It was nothing to be shocked about.

She turned her head back toward Duncan.

“Please rest assured. I will order the Church’s Guardians so that no one comes to disturb you,” Agatha said very seriously. “I hope you can live comfortably in Frostholm. If there is any new development, I will come in person.”

“Ah, that would be very good,” Duncan laughed, quite pleased. “I really don’t want anyone coming to bother me.”

Agatha nodded and turned toward the door again. She had only taken two steps when she once more seemed to remember something and stopped.

“One more thing. I almost forgot.” The Gatekeeper pressed her temple in some embarrassment and looked at Duncan as she spoke.

Duncan looked puzzled and said: “Oh?”

Agatha hesitated, then finally asked the question that had troubled her and many others for a long time: “About the ‘Secret Cipher’ you left at the end of that denunciation letter… what does it actually mean? Forgive our shallow wit. We have tried to decipher it for a long time and still cannot understand the riddle you left.”

Duncan was silent for a moment, then said: “…Ah?”