The Vanishing Sail left just as brazenly as it had arrived with unstoppable force.

Vanna watched the colossal vessel, almost majestic in its proportions, sail serenely through the heart of Pland City-State. Its spectral hull passed over the city's tightly packed roofs and towers, the ethereal shell gradually disappearing from her sight like a receding phantom. As the Vanishing Sail departed, the spectral flames that had blazed throughout Pland City-State began to fade and recede, as if having completed their mission and returning to nothingness.

All that remained was a clear sky, a city-state as it always had been, and a populace that had just experienced a nightmare.

The echoing sounds of the city-state resonated in the air, the clock towers of the city's churches chiming in accordance with their original historical trajectory. But these chimes, originally intended to resist the invasion of reality, now sounded like a farewell of sorts. The siren above the cathedral blared, its sharp, piercing sound startling Vanna.

She sensed a presence approaching. Turning around, she saw Bishop Valentine had somehow arrived at her side. The old bishop, who had once experienced death, gripped his long staff tightly, gazing up at the direction the Vanishing Sail had left, and said, as if to himself, "I feel like I've had a very, very long dream..."

"You should know that it wasn't a dream."

"I mean, I just dreamed about twenty rabbits in Shapoop dance dresses dancing around me in circles..."

Vanna was stunned for a moment. "Then you really were dreaming. It might have been during the spiritual recovery... Do you have to tell such a lame joke right now?"

"But this can quickly wake you up and get you back to work from a mess," the old bishop said calmly, his expression as if he hadn't been the one to tell the joke. Then he lowered his head, looking in the direction of the church square, "We have a lot to do next. This time, it wasn't just one White Oak that 'brushed shoulders' with the Vanishing Sail."

Vanna followed the old bishop's gaze and saw the guardians and city-state guards in the church square in a state of confusion. They looked at the restored city-state as if waking from a dream, their memories still stuck in the battle against the historical pollution invading reality. And some of these people, due to "waking up" earlier, even saw the scene of the Vanishing Sail leaving, which further exacerbated the confusion and tension.

Valentine's voice continued beside Vanna, "First, let the guard forces restore order, and then start investigating and sorting out the current situation of the entire city-state to confirm whether everyone has 'returned,' to confirm what is missing or added in the city-state, and..."

Valentine paused, looking at the young inquisitor beside him.

"And prepare to report the situation to the Storm Cathedral—Vanna, your most challenging paperwork is coming."

Vanna's breathing suddenly tightened.

A disaster had ended, but not everything was over. After everyone had survived... the real investigation seemed to have just begun.

The sun was shining.

The solemn and heavy door of the cathedral creaked open, and Heidi came to the church square with a somewhat dazed expression. She looked at the streets under the clear sky, which were as usual, but her mind was still filled with the previous torrential rain, and the terrifying scene of the rain turning into fiery rain.

How did things end?

She only remembered that a ghost ship rose from the sea of fire and cruised through the city-state, her consciousness drifting in a dimension between reality and illusion. Two completely opposite histories intersected in her vision, and then were divided in two by the voyage of the ghost ship, one part settling into reality, and the other being crushed into dust.

A slight burning sensation came from her chest. Heidi looked down and saw that the "gift" pendant that her father had brought back from the antique shop was glowing faintly. She reached out to touch it, but the pendant made a slight cracking sound the moment she touched it, and then, as if it had exhausted its power, it silently turned into dust, and even the rope connecting the pendant vanished.

Heidi was stunned for a moment, but soon the noisy sounds from all over the square interrupted her daze.

The guardians were restoring order, and the garrison troops from the city hall were also starting to call names and return to their teams under the command of officers at all levels. Some priests who were assisting in restoring order walked out of the church, conveying orders from Bishop Valentine and Inquisitor Vanna. At the same time, some people were talking about the silhouette of the ghost ship that had just left.

"...As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw that thing floating over my head, as if it was sailing in transparent seawater..."

"It was so scary! Those flames brushed against the spire of the cathedral! But it seemed to just leave like that..."

"That's the Vanishing Sail, no doubt! Don't you believe it, that's definitely the Vanishing Sail!"

A loud voice shouted in the square, as if swearing that the ghost ship that had passed through the city-state was the legendary natural disaster, the Vanishing Sail. Heidi looked in the direction of the voice and saw an old captain with gray hair speaking—she dealt with that captain every day and was very familiar with him.

"Captain Lawrence," Heidi walked over, greeting the old captain who was talking to several displaced civilians, "Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm fine, although I don't understand what happened," the old captain smiled when he saw Heidi, "It's good to see you're safe, Doctor—the rain and fire before were too scary!"

Heidi responded casually, and then asked, "You said that what left just now... was the Vanishing Sail?"

"Yeah, that must be," Lawrence nodded immediately, "I'm too familiar with it! I've seen this scene before!"

A citizen who had been sheltering in the cathedral before and was still a little shaken couldn't help but open his mouth when he saw this:

"You've seen it?"

"Of course, or why do you think I've been quarantined in the cathedral for so long?" Lawrence glared, then turned to Heidi, "I know you can talk to the upper echelons of the church, so I'll give you a suggestion: check what's missing in the city-state later. The Vanishing Sail usually takes something with it when it passes by—I have experience!"

Heidi listened in a daze, nodding in a daze. After a while, some memories that had happened not long ago, but seemed like a lifetime ago, suddenly emerged in her mind.

What about my father?

......

Maurice didn't feel very well. He was dizzy and his stomach was churning, as if he had drunk very strong wine. He wanted to vomit, but he didn't dare to.

Because he felt that the mops and buckets in front of him were staring at him, and Miss Alice next to him was also staring at him silently.

If he really vomited on the deck, he might get beaten—on this ship, any rope was older than him, and they probably didn't have the concept of respecting the elderly.

He thought he was probably seasick, or pigeonsick.

Maurice raised his head and saw that the pigeon named "Ayi" was patrolling the mountains of fries on the deck with its head held high. The pigeon had previously turned into a terrifying skeletal giant bird and brought him to this ghost ship when fiery rain suddenly fell outside the antique shop. Now it had returned to its seemingly harmless appearance, walking back and forth between piles of fries.

The girl named Shirley was sitting not far away, with a Netherhound with her. This looked like a combination of a summoner and a Nether creature, but they were both more well-behaved than the other—Shirley was sitting upright as if she was a well-mannered lady, not daring to breathe loudly, and the Nether creature, who she called "A Gou," didn't even know where he found a newspaper. He sat upright on a wooden barrel next to Shirley, struggling to read the newspaper with his claws—but he obviously couldn't read. The newspaper was even upside down.

And in the distance, one could see the towering masts, the veil-like transparent and ethereal sails, the vast sea, and the increasingly distant Pland City-State.

Recalling everything he had witnessed and experienced when he followed this ship through the city-state, Maurice still felt his heart pounding. The experience of being transformed into a spirit by ghostly flames and overlooking the burning land was a bit too exciting. If it had been many years ago, he might have thought it was a tense and interesting adventure, but now he was no longer a young man, and that experience might have been a little... too exciting for him.

Maurice took a light breath, feeling that the thoughts in his head were messy. He was thinking about whether he still had a chance to go back, and he was also worried about the situation of his family.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from the opposite side. It was the Netherhound—Maurice knew what a Netherhound was, but he never thought that a Netherhound would be as rational and polite as the one in front of him: "O-o-old, old, old, sir, y-y-y-you, you see me... d-d-d-do I l-l-l-look like a w-w-w-well-mannered, c-c-c-cultured d-d-d-dog?"

"Um... Frankly, I don't think a dog needs to show its manners by reading a newspaper, but you are a Nether creature, and the criteria for judging you can't be based on the dogs of the human world... Anyway, the smartest dog in the human world can't learn to sit on a wooden barrel and read a newspaper," Maurice was stunned for a moment, answering the other party's question with a strange expression, "Besides, there are two things. First, the newspaper in your paw is upside down. Second... are you a little stuttering?"

A Gou was stunned and quickly turned the newspaper over in his paws, answering at the same time: "I-I... I d-d-don't stutter. I-I-I'm j-j-just a l-l-l-little n-n-n-nervous..."

"A Gou, I don't think you need to be so nervous," Shirley suddenly muttered softly at this time, "And what newspaper are you reading—Mr. Duncan already knows that we are both illiterate."

As soon as she finished speaking, before A Gou had time to open his mouth, Alice, who was in a daze, suddenly raised her hand, "Me too!"

Shirley looked surprised, while Maurice silently lowered his head and rubbed his forehead.

The old scholar felt that he had arrived at an outrageous place... What was going on?