Chapter 1 The Silent Cathedral

In the heart of the city-state, at the highest point of Frost, the Silent Cathedral stood quietly atop the mountain. The gloomy weather added an air of silent oppression to the already solemn and dark building. Its towering spires rose through the mist like thorns and blades, overlooking the entire city.

A tall figure, easily noticeable in the crowd, strolled across the square in front of the cathedral, looking around at the scenery like an ordinary tourist.

Before long, an old gentleman in a dark brown coat, with a refined and gentle demeanor, emerged from the crowd and walked straight towards the tall figure.

Vanna saw Maurice approaching from the crowd and discreetly moved to a relatively secluded spot.

"There's nothing unusual around the Cathedral Square," Vanna said softly, leaning against a lamppost, her eyes fixed on the cathedral entrance not far away.

"Same goes for City Hall, at least on the surface. None of the people here show any signs of mental or cognitive contamination," Maurice said, wiping his monocle. "However, I did discover something."

"Something?"

"Some people near the square were discussing the authorities' recent exploration of the sewers. If I'm not mistaken, they were talking about the Second Waterway," Maurice said. "In their conversation, they mentioned Gatekeeper Agatha—the Gatekeeper is personally leading the team."

"Gatekeeper Agatha?" Vanna's expression changed slightly. "But the Captain said..."

"The real Agatha should be trapped in a mirrored Frost City right now," Maurice said in a low voice. "The one leading the team... is likely a counterfeit."

Vanna took a light breath, then suddenly looked up towards the Silent Cathedral.

The towering, solemn building stood against the gloomy sky, its towering spires standing silently in the mist.

Her expression turned grave. "...There are no abnormalities at the cathedral, so there are only two possibilities. Either the counterfeit has fooled the cathedral's eyes, or..."

"Or the Frost Church is no longer trustworthy, or at least there's a big problem within the cathedral," Maurice nodded gently. "Either way, the Frost Church has clearly lost control of the situation—we should leave here. This must be reported to Mr. Duncan immediately."

Vanna nodded silently and walked with Maurice towards the exit of the square. Before leaving, she looked up one last time at the open space opposite the Silent Cathedral.

That was where City Hall was located, the Queen's Palace once known as "Winter Court" stood there—fog was rising on the mountain. In the thickening mist, Vanna saw the building standing silently beneath the sky like the Silent Cathedral, its spires soaring, towers standing tall, a row of towers like thorns and blades in the mist, silently overlooking the city.

Vanna suddenly stopped.

Maurice turned around immediately. "Vanna? What did you see?"

Vanna stared intently at the hazy mist.

In the swirling mist, City Hall returned to its original appearance: a palatial building with various arched domes. The majestic, atmospheric gray-white main building was surrounded by long halls and undulating arches that extended to both sides like wings.

There were no gloomy black spires, nor a forest of towers.

"Vanna? What's wrong?" Maurice's voice sounded again from the side.

"I just saw another cathedral—right where City Hall is," Vanna said suddenly in a low voice, her expression particularly solemn. "Even though it was only for a moment, I'm sure I wasn't mistaken!"

"Another cathedral?" Maurice was taken aback. He instinctively looked across the square, but all he saw was the seemingly normal City Hall.

But he didn't doubt Vanna's judgment.

"This isn't a good sign," the old scholar said in a low voice, raising his hand to press down on his top hat. "It seems you were the only one who saw that just now. This may be because your spiritual vision as a clergy member far exceeds that of ordinary people—that vision appeared directly around the cathedral. This is evidence that the encroachment is getting more serious."

Vanna remained silent. She just frowned, her gaze cast towards the city area at the foot of the mountain. After a long time, she slowly opened her mouth: "Fog is rising. It's everywhere."

Fog was rising. Initially, it was in the central area of the Frost City-State, then the fog began to spread throughout the entire city. From the beginning, there were only wisps of thin mist, but the fog quickly thickened. Within a few hours, the entire city was shrouded in a haze.

"There's so much fog outside!"

Shirley was lying on the windowsill of the second-floor bedroom, craning her neck to look at the scene on the street, her face filled with surprise.

A'gou also leaned on the window. The ugly bone head squeezed side by side with Shirley, staring outside for a long time before suddenly blurting out a string of words: "The reason for the fog in the city area is usually due to the large temperature difference between day and night, and human activities cause water vapor to rise and dust to increase in the air. The water-containing air between buildings will form when it encounters a sudden drop in temperature..."

Shirley listened with a bewildered expression. "A'gou, what are you talking about?"

"A'gou is talking about the content of Chapter Two of *The Logic Behind Nature*. It's been reading this book for the past few days," Nina said, glancing over from her desk, where she was doing homework. "You should occasionally try reading simple books yourself. It's very helpful for mastering vocabulary—if that doesn't work, you can start with picture books."

Shirley thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "Are you mocking me for not knowing enough words and only being able to read picture books even after studying for so long?"

Nina's attention had already returned to her homework. "No, because you can only read picture books. Describing facts doesn't count as mockery..."

Shirley immediately glared, seemingly wanting to get angry, but then she was attracted by the even thicker fog outside the window, waving her hands repeatedly. "Hey, I'm not talking about this with you—come and see! There's so much fog outside! I've never seen such heavy fog in Prandt..."

"Prandt has a small temperature difference between day and night, and it's windy in the morning and evening, so it's not easy to get foggy in the first place," Nina said without looking up. "I'm not looking, I haven't finished my homework yet. The papers Mr. Maurice left are really difficult, and the multiple-choice questions are too confusing. I always feel like I've chosen the wrong answers..."

"Hey, if you come across options you can't figure out, just choose C for all of them," Shirley said casually, then her eyes flickered, as if a new idea had surfaced. "Nina, do you want to go out and play? Just nearby, not far—there's a dessert shop across the street. There probably won't be any customers in this weather, so you might be able to buy some cheap cakes..."

"I'm not going," Nina said casually. "If you want to go, go by yourself. If Uncle Duncan comes back, I won't complain..."

She was only halfway through her sentence when a strange, rustling sound suddenly rang out in the room, interrupting the conversation between the two girls.

"Did... did you hear something just now?" Shirley quickly jumped back from the window sill, looking around warily.

Nina also tensed up, and just as she subconsciously wanted to look around, she suddenly caught a glimpse of something strange on the surface of the test papers and books spread out in front of her.

The words were moving, the symbols were spinning, and the distinct black and white ink marks trembled as if they had come to life. At the edges of those shaking pen strokes, black shadows spread rapidly like ink bleeding, quickly filling the entire page.

Almost in an instant, all the books and papers that Nina had just read began to tremble violently, and overlapping whispers mingled with rustling sounds, echoing throughout the room!

"Ah! The book you're reading is possessed!" Shirley exclaimed in shock, and at the same time, she subconsciously raised the chain that connected her to A'gou. In the instant her exclamation fell, the evil being, drawn by the scent of knowledge and rising towards the real world, entered the room!

Black smoke spun wildly, and a physical form condensed and emerged from the smoke. Fragments of bone clattered to the floor and instantly transformed into a grotesque and terrifying demon—three Abyssal Hounds landed on the floor, emitting terrifying growls, their chaotic crimson eyes filled with madness and chaos!

Then, they saw A'gou, who was lying on the open space next to the window, seemingly a little dazed.

The Abyssal Hounds looked at each other—

Shirley even thought she saw a moment of confusion in the posture of those chaotic and unintelligent "native demons."

But this didn't affect her reaction in the slightest.

The black chain instantly rattled, Shirley raised her arm high, and the enormous force swung A'gou in a full circle like a flail, and the next second, he roared and smashed into the demon closest to the window!

"I'll beat you to death!"

With a loud bang, the two dog heads collided in a earth-shattering impact. The demons who had just crawled out of the Abyssal Deep Sea were obviously no match for A'gou, who had been practicing with Shirley in actual combat for many years—both in terms of the hardness of their skulls and their reactions.

The first Abyssal Demon was smashed to pieces in one encounter.

The second Abyssal Demon only had time to open its mouth, and before it could let out a roar, it suddenly felt a swift wave of high temperature approaching.

A flame came from the side, and Nina lifted her leg and delivered a 6000° flying kick.