Chapter 176 Early

Inside the room with the blue door,

Duncan and his party remained silent, as did the twisted biological mass clinging to the door panel.

After an unknown amount of time, Duncan suddenly broke the silence, "Is there anything else you need our help with?"

"I don't seem to have any regrets," Kristoff's voice came, "nor can I think of anything to ask – kind people, what can you do for a soul who has been dead for many years?"

"What about your family?" Vanna couldn't help but ask from the side.

"Family..." Kristoff hesitated, as if some memories had just appeared within his twisted "body", "Oh, yes, family... my wife and daughter, they live in Frostwind, at the end of Hearth Street."

Kristoff murmured softly, his voice getting lower and lower, as if he were about to fall asleep. But suddenly, he awoke with a start, his voice clearer, "Ah, if you have the chance, please go and see them for me, even if it's just to pass on a message. Though they should already know what happened on the Obsidian."

"Is there any particular message you want us to convey?" Vanna asked.

This time, Kristoff thought for a long time. Just when Vanna thought he was about to fall asleep again, the mass of wriggling biological tissue suddenly emitted a sound, "I can't think of anything. I can't even remember what they look like anymore… Just tell them good morning and that I left with no regrets and no pain. That's all."

"We will convey it if they still live at that address," Duncan nodded gently, his gaze falling on Kristoff's slightly wriggling and contracting body.

It wasn't an illusion. The activity of the biological mass was gradually weakening. Kristoff's consciousness seemed to be leaving his body bit by bit, and a faint grayish-white color was spreading along the edges of the mass.

All these changes were perhaps related to the heart deep within the Obsidian ceasing to beat.

The time to leave had come.

"We should go," Duncan said calmly.

"It's about time..."

Kristoff's voice became even lower and more muffled, but it was still clear enough, "Then I wish you a smooth voyage ahead – just leave me here. A captain should be with his ship."

"...Actually, before we leave, we will sink this ship," Duncan hesitated for two or three seconds, but decided to tell the truth about what would happen next, "Captain Kristoff, you should be able to guess that the Obsidian has been contaminated. We can't let this ship continue to drift on the Endless Sea – it's a threat to ordinary sailors."

Kristoff was silent for a moment, then whispered, "Thank you, kind person."

Duncan looked at the captain for a few seconds, nodded silently, and prepared to step away.

But just as he was about to cross the threshold, Kristoff's voice suddenly entered his ears, "Among you, are there any followers of Bartok, the God of Death?"

"...I'm sorry, no."

Vanna shook her head, "Why do you ask?"

"Ah, I just hoped that a follower of the God of Death could help me with a sending-off prayer – after experiencing all this, my soul is already impure, and I probably won't be able to pass through Bartok's Gate of Life and Death. If there were a sending-off prayer, perhaps my soul could dissipate more quickly… But if not, then so be it. Things are always difficult, aren't they?"

Vanna and Morris exchanged glances, the latter hesitating briefly before speaking, "We are clerics of the Storm Goddess and the God of Wisdom. We will pray for you after we leave – although that may not be of much use to a follower of the God of Death."

"I don't know much about Bartok, the God of Death, but if what you're saying is the last wish of a follower of a death god..." Duncan said, stepping forward to grasp the hand clinging to the door panel, "I hope your wish is fulfilled."

"...Thank you, kind people."

The wriggling mass of flesh finally fell silent. Its wriggling gradually slowed, and the grayish-white color representing death had spread everywhere – he was not completely dead yet, but the last bit of life was not enough to support him to continue talking.

Duncan silently nodded to the captain of the Obsidian and stepped through the doorway.

The group left the captain's cabin of the Obsidian, passed through the upside-down corridor, passed through the triple-nested doors, and returned to the deck of the ghost ship.

The sun was setting.

Accompanied by the sound of flapping wings, the undead bird, wrapped in flames, flew from the direction of the Vanishing Sail, circling above Duncan and the others.

An eerie green flame rose from the Obsidian and turned into a shooting star, returning to the nearby Vanishing Sail.

A moment later, the Vanishing Sail slowly adjusted its position, and the port covers on one side of the ship were raised one after another, with dark muzzles protruding from the firing ports.

Cannons roared, and fiery meteors fell like rain. Reflected in the increasingly slanting and pale blood-colored sunset, the Obsidian was almost instantly enveloped in a raging, ghostly green flame, and in a series of spectacular burns and explosions, it quickly flooded, disintegrated, and sank.

The ghost ship, which had been completely eroded by extraordinary power, sank into the deep sea in a very short period, leaving only a few large and small whirlpools on the surface of the sea.

On the edge of the deck of the Vanishing Sail, Duncan faced the sunset, watching the direction in which the Obsidian sank, seeing the ghost ship off until the very last moment.

Only after the latter had completely sunk did he retract his gaze and look at Vanna and Morris, who were standing behind him.

"Sailing on the Endless Sea is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and those deep-sea captains are in the most dangerous position," Morris said with some emotion, "Almost half of the deep-sea captains don't have a good end – even if they retire alive and settle on land, they will not be able to easily integrate into the lives of ordinary people for various reasons. Most people will suffer from curses and mental abnormalities. Auditory and visual hallucinations and even disordered memories will plague them for the rest of their lives. My daughter, Heidi... often deals with this kind of thing."

Duncan did not respond to the old scholar's sigh.

After all, from the perspective of the world, this Vanishing Sail and he, "Captain Duncan"... are also one of the many examples of "not having a good end."

It's just that his "not having a good end" is too vigorous.

"How are Shirley and Agou doing?" Duncan suddenly asked.

"I went to see them just now."

Alice immediately raised her hand, "Agou said that he's fine now and is studying Nina's elementary school textbooks. Shirley said that Agou needs someone to take care of him, so she's dozing off next to Agou."

"...A Prowling Hound pursuing knowledge and its illiterate master," Duncan's mouth twitched, and he walked towards the cabin, "I'll go see how they are."

He went straight to the cabin shared by Shirley and Agou, knocked on the door, and found that the door was only half-closed. Pushing the door open, he saw the dog sitting on its hind legs in front of the desk, holding an elementary school vocabulary textbook with its front paws, reading it with relish.

And the illiterate Shirley sleeping soundly on the bed behind the dog.

Duncan's mouth twitched. Although he had just heard Alice say this, he couldn't help but feel a sense of weirdness when he actually saw this incongruous scene. Agou also heard the movement at the door and looked up, "Oh, Captain... Ah!"

"Aow cao!!!"

Before he could even finish his greeting, the Prowling Hound suddenly let out a piercing shriek, and the whole dog jumped up from the chair as if it had been electrified, almost hitting the roof!

With another crash, the black chain connecting Agou and Shirley instantly tightened, and Shirley, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, was directly sent flying into the air by Agou, slamming heavily into the wall next to her with a loud "thud."

"Agou, are you crazy!" Shirley was dizzy from the impact and jumped up as soon as she landed, pouncing on Agou, "What are you doing all of a sudden..."

She finally noticed Duncan standing at the door, and also noticed Agou's terrified appearance.

"Agou, are you okay?"

Shirley and Duncan spoke almost at the same time.

"I'm fine, I'm fine... No, no, something's wrong..." Agou didn't seem to have recovered yet, still trembling all over, his eyes darting around, seemingly wanting to look in Duncan's direction, but instinctively avoiding it. After hesitating for a long time, he finally said, "Captain, are you carrying something on you... in your left pocket..."

"Something?" Duncan was stunned, then realized what he meant and reached into his left pocket, pulling out a small metal box that he used to keep tobacco in.

Opening the metal box, a thumb-sized, dark-colored, strange "piece of meat" came into everyone's view.

"I, I, I..." Agou became even more nervous the moment he saw the thing, and darted into the corner, "Where... where... where did this come from?!"

"Deepest part of the Obsidian," Duncan frowned, "Why are you reacting like this? Can you sense something from this..."

"Abyssal Lord! The aura of the Abyssal Lord!" Agou was trembling so much that he seemed to be vibrating, "This is the Abyssal Lord's flesh and blood!"