Chapter 1 Eddie

Eddie boarded the small boat heading to the Sea Fog, those terrifying undead sailors scrutinizing him like a rare animal.

This made the Principal Secretary feel awkward all over, even a little creeped out.

"I didn't expect you to come alone," the bloated undead sailor said, with a touch of admiration in his tone. "Our captain said he would allow three people on board."

"Three people or one person makes no difference," Eddie shook his head. "If General Tirian allowed me to bring the whole team, of course, I would bring all the consultants and assistants. But he only allowed three... it's no different from going alone."

"You could bring two soldiers to boost your courage." An undead sailor next to him laughed, a hissing sound coming from his leaky throat.

"I don't need to boost my courage; soldiers can't help," Eddie shook his head, saying it with a straight face.

His attitude made the undead sailors feel rather bored. Someone muttered on the small boat, "...Pretentious officials."

After a moment, Tirian met the envoy from the city-state—a man in his thirties or forties wearing a suit, gold-rimmed glasses, his hair neatly combed, looking as if he had been drinking tea in the office just a moment ago.

Dressed to the nines, and coming alone.

This surprised the well-prepared sea pirate, even giving him a sense of awkwardness, like he had strength but nowhere to use it—he had thought that at least a military officer would be the first to board the Sea Fog.

But soon, he roughly guessed the intention of the Frost authorities' arrangement: the relationship between the Sea Fog Fleet and the city-state was already tense enough. The two sides had been confronting each other on a powder keg for fifty years. At this sensitive time, sending a few more officers to deal with each other would be meaningless—sending a clerk over could at least show a hint of friendliness.

This clerk seemed a little nervous.

On the deck of the Sea Fog, Tirian sized up the "city-state diplomat" in front of him. He could clearly distinguish the forced composure in the other's eyes and the chaotic rhythm in his breathing—this gentleman's composure was already very good, but unfortunately, it could only deal with ordinary people, not a captain who commanded an undead legion.

Tirian could even hear every heartbeat of this diplomat.

Eddie was also observing the sea pirate in front of him—observing the man who had once protected the city-state but had now become the source of terrifying legends in the hearts of almost all Frost people.

Tall, strong, silent, majestic, his single eye with a sense of scrutiny and overlooking, every gaze seemed like a trial.

In front of this sea pirate, even breathing seemed to become a very laborious task.

"General Tirian," Eddie tried to take two deep breaths, straightening his body, facing the sea pirate's scrutinizing gaze, "I would like to extend my greetings to you on behalf of the Frost City-State—I am very glad to be able to board this legendary warship."

"Half a century," Tirian calmly stared at the man in front of him who was a head shorter than himself. "Frost has finally plucked up the courage to talk to me?"

Eddie did not pay any attention to the provocative meaning in the other's words, and just continued to speak: "I have come with a mission—the entanglement between Frost and the Sea Fog Fleet does exist, but that is not what we are here to talk about today. You should know the trouble the city-state is facing now. We just want to know, what is the intention of the Sea Fog Fleet—General Tirian, what do you want, and what do you want to do?"

"General... put away that title, it doesn't please me," Tirian glanced at Eddie indifferently, and slowly walked towards the edge of the ship not far away. "As for what I want to do... isn't it obvious enough? I am blockading this city-state that is about to fall—to prevent your troubles from spreading and harming my 'trade partners' on the Frigid Sea."

"Trade partners?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with that title—they pay the price, and the Sea Fog Fleet protects their safety on the Frigid Sea," Tirian turned his head. "Don't you think this is a very good trade relationship?"

The corner of Eddie's mouth twitched slightly, but he quickly concealed the change. He glanced at the surrounding undead sailors before slowly walking to Tirian's side: "You mean... you just want to help Frost control this crisis?"

"A bit of a presumptuous understanding, but it's okay if you want to think that way," Tirian said casually. "I don't need you to do anything, just don't mess with me."

Eddie was silent for two seconds before finally speaking cautiously: "...Can I know why you want to help?"

Tirian rested both hands on the railing at the edge of the ship, not turning his head: "Is the reason important?"

"I need a reason; it can put my superiors and colleagues at ease."

"Ah, Mr. Eddie, so you actually need a reason to reassure people," Tirian laughed. He turned his head, staring into Eddie's eyes. "Then I'll tell you the reason—it's just my father's order."

Eddie was stunned.

After a moment, his expression became visibly horrified.

"Looks like you thought of it. Yes, my father's order. Just think of it as being sent from the subspace. He asked me to send troops to surround your poor little city-state—so go back and tell your superiors, the Sea Fog Fleet is carrying out the will from the subspace," Tirian's tone was quite cheerful. "Then they can have a baby-like sleep."

The joyful expression on the sea pirate's face was very obvious. Eddie finally reacted—or rather, thought he had reacted. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and raised his hand to wipe the fine sweat from his forehead: "Your joke is not funny at all, General Tirian... Captain, I understand what you mean. Since you don't want to explain more, I can not ask."

Tirian stared at the "Frost Ambassador" in front of him, and clicked his tongue after a moment.

No one believes the truth these days.

But he was still in a very good mood.

It was always a pleasant thing to watch this serious Frost senior official be frightened in front of him.

"You can leave, Mr. Eddie," he said politely. "There's no dinner prepared for you on the ship."

Eddie was obviously stunned for a moment: "Ah? Wait, I still..."

"You still have a lot of questions you want to ask, such as the Sea Fog Fleet's next plan, such as the matter of Dagger Island, such as the Queen and the Submerged Abyss Project back then, but unfortunately, I don't have much to say to Frost," Tirian said with a calm face. "You have achieved your goal, completed your mission, go back and tell your superiors that if there is anything else in the future, you can contact us directly by radio telegram, so you don't have to send someone—any open frequency, we can receive it."

Eddie was startled, then immediately reacted, a hint of joy on his face: "Ah, okay, Captain Tirian, thank you very much for your understanding..."

Speaking of this, he paused, as if suddenly remembering something, and hurriedly said: "Ah, wait, there's one more question, the last question!"

Tirian raised his eyebrows: "Oh?"

"About... the mysterious light signal you sent to our reconnaissance boat before," Eddie's expression was a little embarrassed, while carefully considering his words. "We decrypted it for a long time after we went back..."

Tirian quietly stared at the envoy in front of him, until the other party's expression became more and more awkward under his gaze, he suddenly smiled.

"The sailors were negligent in maintenance; it was just a signal light failure."

Eddie: "…?"

Tirian finally laughed happily.

The expression on Eddie's face changed several times, his hand brushed over the buttons on his suit, but gradually, he also laughed, laughing along with Tirian.

Tirian suddenly stopped smiling.

He stretched out his hand and patted the shoulder of the "Frost Ambassador" in front of him hard.

"They sent a very good person here, Mr. Eddie—I almost wanted to invite you to stay on the ship for dinner."

"But I must return to the ship in time," Eddie also stopped laughing, slowly shaking his head. "Too many people are on edge; we can't continue to focus our energy on mutual vigilance and speculation."

Tirian didn't say anything, just nodded lightly, then stretched out his hand to the side, making a gesture of seeing him off.

Eddie also nodded slightly, then tidied up his suit and bow tie, preparing to walk towards the ladder on the other side of the deck.

But at this moment, the corner of his eye seemed to see something, and his footsteps stopped abruptly.

The Frost envoy came to the side of the ship in surprise, looking at the sea below: "...Captain Tirian, what is that?"

"Hmm?" Tirian frowned, also looking in the direction Eddie pointed in confusion.

He saw it—it was a shadow.

Under the sea, in a place where the depth could not be determined, a hazy shadow was passing through the wide area between the Sea Fog and several escort ships, moving away at a very fast speed.

The shadow was illusory and transparent, like the reflection of a ship in the water, but he couldn't see any structure on the ship. Tirian stared at the thing for a long time, but he only felt that it seemed like... the bottom of a ship.

As if there was a ship sailing upside down under the water.

Tirian raised his head, looking in the direction the shadow was sailing.

That was the direction where Dagger Island used to be.

Chapter 2 Extra

"...guards, but according to our current test results, everything is normal here."

"Yes," the manager showed a somewhat forced smile. "Every link here has an alarm device, specially designed to detect possible blasphemous pollution. There are also three on-site priests in the treatment center, and they will also test water samples every day..."

"On-site priests?" Agatha seemed to suddenly think of something, turning her head. "You just said there are several on-site priests here?"

"Three... three," perhaps Agatha's tone suddenly became a little scary, the manager immediately stuttered subconsciously. "Is there a problem?"

"There can only be two priests here—there are strict regulations on the number of on-site priests in municipal facilities at all levels, where did the third one come from?"

The manager's expression froze instantly, and then a layer of visible sweat appeared on his forehead, a look of nervousness and fear appearing in his eyes.

Seeing this, Agatha immediately raised her cane and placed it on the other's shoulder, forcibly suppressing the "fear" from his mind, and said with a serious expression: "Listen, you must remain calm next—go and bring all the on-site priests here, just say the Gatekeeper needs to know more about the situation, don't show any other emotions, understand?"

The manager's mood quickly calmed down a lot, but there was still some tension left. He hurriedly nodded: "Yes, under... understand... I'll go right now."

Agatha nodded, put away her cane, but when the other party was about to leave, she seemed to remember something again, and quickly said: "Wait, not only the on-site priests—call everyone here."

The manager turned his head and was stunned for a moment: "Everyone?"

"Everyone," Agatha repeated in a deep voice, then asked worriedly, "Since yesterday, has anyone left this treatment center?"

"No!" The manager replied immediately. "When the order was received, it was exactly fifteen minutes before the shift change, and everyone working here stayed."

"Very good, bring them all here—just say it's a necessary inspection, be more relaxed, don't arouse suspicion, go."

The somewhat balding manager turned and walked away quickly, calming his emotions as he walked. Agatha stood motionless by the buffer pool, until she watched the other party's figure disappear behind a door not far away, she raised her hand and gave a signal to the guardians around who had already noticed the movement here.

The black-clothed guardians nearby immediately began to act, arranging hidden runes in the open space around the buffer pool, scattering essential oils and crushed incense powder between the intersections and pipes, and standing in specific positions, pretending to still be inspecting the facilities.

While the guardians were acting, Agatha raised her cane and slowly drew a triangular outline of about two meters on a side around the area where she was standing, then stood in the center of the triangle, holding her cane with both hands, waiting calmly.

Not long after, footsteps came from the direction of the gate. The manager returned to the factory where the buffer pool was located, with a large group of people following him.

Among them, three clerics wearing robes of the Church of the Dead and wearing holy emblems were clearly visible.

More than a dozen treatment center employees came to Agatha in front of the manager, lined up in a loose formation, nervously greeting the "Gatekeeper" in front of them. The three on-site priests came from the side of the team, saluting and paying tribute to Agatha according to the internal etiquette and status of the clerics of the Church of the Dead.

Agatha ordered the three priests to stand apart, then her gaze slowly swept over all the faces.

She noticed the incongruity.