Ashes Of Deep Sea-Chapter 366 - 370 Agatha Understood
Chapter 366: Chapter 370 Agatha Understood
Chapter 366: Chapter 370 Agatha Understood
With tension and curiosity, Agatha discreetly appraised the place.
It just looked like an ordinary residence; the furniture was mostly slightly old but had been cleaned thoroughly, and the air in the room was fresh—perhaps the windows had been opened not long before to let in the breeze. From the kitchen came the sound of water boiling, which seemed to be for tea.
This didn’t seem like an “arrival place”; it was entirely a civilian house.
Of course, Agatha knew from the start that this place was indeed just an ordinary house—up until a few days ago, it had been listed as a rental property on the Civic Help Center’s register. She just thought… given that an indescribable visitor had chosen this as their temporary dwelling, shouldn’t there be something special about it?
But she hadn’t found anything.
“Tea, or would you like some coffee?” Duncan approached Agatha and asked casually.
Agatha was startled, surprised at the sight of Duncan sitting opposite her. It took her a moment to realize what he meant, and she quickly waved her hands, “No… thank you, I’m not thirsty.”
“No need to be so formal; make yourself at home here,” Duncan smiled and sat down on the sofa across from Agatha, starting the conversation in an informal manner, “Let me think… If I’m not mistaken, you must be the gatekeeper of this City-State? It’s unlikely that an ordinary guardian would come to visit at this time.”
“Gatekeeper Agatha,” Agatha immediately nodded, trying to appear calm, “You knew I would come?”
“You were bound to come, or some other high-ranking member of the church,” Duncan said nonchalantly, “Annie would report my situation to the Tomb Guardian, and the Tomb Guardian would report to the church. I just needed to wait here to meet with the church hierarchy of this City-State.”
Agatha shifted her position slightly, regarding the large figure before her with a more solemn attitude, “I want to know… your real purpose. Who exactly are you, and why have you come to Frost?”
“Didn’t I say so?” Duncan raised his eyebrows, “To solve the problems that have emerged here—I thought I made that very clear in my whistleblower letter.”
Agatha opened her mouth, obviously finding it hard to accept such a simple answer. After a two or three second delay, she hesitantly spoke, “Really… is that all?”
“If you need a darker reason and a more complex conspiracy to feel justified, I can make one up for you now,” Duncan joked, “Which style do you prefer? Apocalypse or world domination?”
Agatha visibly tensed up.
“Cough, you’ve scared her,” Fenna suddenly coughed from behind Duncan, “This gatekeeper lady will take it seriously.”
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“Really?” Duncan looked back, puzzled, “I thought the joke was quite clear…”
“Based on my experience, she will,” Fenna sighed resignedly, “People in this line of work are always on edge; they can’t take a joke.”
Duncan didn’t know what to say for a moment, while Agatha looked at the exceptionally tall woman behind him with confusion. For some reason, since entering the room, she had felt as if the other’s gaze was intentionally or unintentionally falling on her, as if… observing something with interest.
But that wasn’t important, what mattered was that she had confirmed the superior being before her had only been joking with her—a bad and frightening joke.
“Please forgive my sensitivity,” Agatha said earnestly, “The anomalies in the City-State have become increasingly serious lately; everyone is on edge. I even began to wonder…”
She hesitated without finishing her sentence, but Duncan smoothly continued, “You suspected it was related to me? Don’t be nervous, it’s perfectly reasonable. After all, my appearance here was well-timed, and I encountered Heretics and ‘Replications’ upon my first visit.”
Agatha remained silent, just looking somewhat embarrassed.
“I want to know what progress your investigation has made,” Duncan continued, unconcerned by her reaction, “Any leads?”
Agatha hesitated, unsure whether to reveal too much of Frost’s internal intel to this mysterious “visitor,” but after a moment, she began cautiously, “After receiving your warning, we did catch some Heretics, but almost no useful intelligence—their minds, deeply symbiotic with the Profound Demons, are incredibly resilient, and they often choose suicide at the last moment. The few that were captured alive are just fringe figures, completely clueless about the full extent of their plans…
“Until now, all we can confirm is that the frequent replication phenomenon inside the city is indeed the Heretics’ doing, and that they’ve indeed constructed a secret and massive lair within Frost. But as for the precise location of this lair… we’re still completely clueless.”
Pausing for a moment, Agatha continued, “As for Dagger Island, which you mentioned in your letter… even more unsettling is that it has disappeared.”
“I know,” Duncan replied blandly.
“You already knew?” Agatha asked, somewhat surprised, “That information should still be under wraps…”
Duncan spoke evenly, “I have my own sources of information in the worldly realm; even without leaving the City-State, I’m aware of some occurrences out at sea.”
The source of the intelligence was, of course, Tyrion—after all, Homeloss had disappeared right in front of the Mist Fleet, and Tyrion naturally reported the situation to Homeloss at the earliest opportunity.
But even having received such shocking news firsthand, Duncan could only share in the shock—he also couldn’t figure out how such a large island had vanished into thin air.
According to what Tyrion conveyed, the island’s disappearance process was not sinking, but more like directly dissolving into the sea water, accompanied by a series of massive explosions before its disappearance—as if someone on the island had activated something—but beyond that, there was no further intelligence.
With scant information and a disappearance too bizarre to fathom, leaving no traces and clues behind, Homeloss transformed from one mystery into an even larger enigma; nobody knew what had actually taken place there, let alone where the island had gone.
“Do you know where Homeloss has gone?” Agatha’s voice interrupted Duncan’s contemplation. The City-State’s gatekeeper looked up with a sincere gaze, “Do you know what happened to it?”
Duncan thought for a moment, feeling that admitting he had also pondered all night without any clarity might affect his image, so he pondered for a while before pointing downward.
“Below?” Agatha was taken aback, “You mean, Homeloss really sank into the sea… but the eyewitness reports said there was no whirlpool phenomenon generated by a sinking island on the sea surface…”
What did Duncan know how to answer—he was still curious about how such a big island had just disappeared into thin air!
He continued to stretch out his hand, pointing downward.
“You’re not talking about Homeloss… Are you saying the clues are below?” It seemed Agatha had come to a realization, and almost instantly, she recalled her most recent conversation with Bishop Ivan, about the matters concerning the deep “secondary water channels”!
The city hall and the church had searched the entire City-State, and the strict curfew along with numerous widespread searches should theoretically flush out a large number of the lurking Heretics, but those who were caught were always just a few fringe figures… All the places that could hide people, like the first water channel, subways, and wells, had been searched—no clues at all…
The City-State was only so large; if the Heretics were not in the aforementioned locations, then that left only the possibility of the secondary water channel.
Those collapsed areas, those caves plunged into darkness, those shafts and pipelines covered with pollution—they might indeed be inhospitable for living, but what if those Erasure Cult members were actually surviving there?
Of course, searching the “secondary water channel” had been part of the plan all along, but she had never dared to confirm whether this inevitably resource-consuming search was truly worthwhile—and now, she finally found the strongest support for this operation: a friendly class-divine being had clearly indicated to search downward.
“I see—I understand now. We’re on the right path,” Agatha suddenly stood up, her tone filled with realization and joy. She looked at Duncan across from her, her attitude becoming extremely sincere and respectful, and she gave a deep bow, “I get it now—thank you very much for the hint!”
Duncan maintained the gesture of pointing downward, somewhat dazedly watching the suddenly excited woman wrapped in bandages.
What did she understand?
“We’ll start the next phase of the search immediately, and this time we’ll surely eradicate the Heretics’ nests,” Agatha didn’t notice Duncan’s momentary stupefaction; she spoke with full confidence and was quick to make her exit, “I won’t take up more of your time—forgive my disturbance, I’ll be on my way.”
“Uh… okay,” Duncan stood up belatedly, replying somewhat absent-mindedly, “Take care…”
Agatha thanked him and turned towards the door, but then as if she recalled something, she suddenly stopped.
Alice, who was about to rise to see the guest off, nearly bumped into her.
Agatha’s gaze swept over Alice, but this time she did not pay much attention to the lifeless golden-haired girl beside the class-divine being—having some peculiar followers around such a being was quite normal, hardly something to fuss over.
She turned her head back to Duncan.
“Rest assured, I will instruct the church’s guardians that no one will disturb you,” Agatha said with utmost seriousness, “I hope your stay in Frost is pleasant—if there is any new situation, I will come myself.”
“Ah, that would be excellent,” Duncan smiled, pleased with the assurance, “I would indeed prefer not to be disturbed.”
Agatha nodded, then turned again towards the door, but after just two steps, she seemed to suddenly remember something and stopped.
“There’s one more thing, I almost forgot,” the gatekeeper said somewhat awkwardly, touching her forehead as she looked at Duncan.
Duncan with confusion: “Oh?”
Agatha hesitated a moment before finally asking the question that had troubled her and many others for long, “Regarding the ‘secret numbers’ you left at the end of that ‘accusation letter’ last time… What exactly do they mean? Forgive our limited insight, but we have spent a long time trying to decipher and still cannot comprehend the puzzle you left.”
Duncan: “… Ah?”
(Recommendation time—a book from a friend in the group, titled “Cyber Cultivation for Five Thousand Years.” It combines future sci-fi and cyber monopolies, where a Taoist from five thousand years ago uses classical spirit cultivation methods to twist the future Cultivation World. Not your traditional literature or sage hero—a must-read, a salute to the heavens.)
