He regretted saying that the moment the words left his mouth – he was truly afraid that Vanna, that straightforward girl, would destroy her own eyes right then and there...

The young Inquisitor's reaction exceeded his expectations. He had imagined that his sudden appearance as the number one villain would provoke Vanna's intense hostility, but he hadn't expected her actions to be so decisive and swift. Almost instantly, she had identified key elements like dream invasion and the mirror medium, and countered them accordingly. This was completely different from when he invaded Shirley's dream.

She had even tried to avoid communicating with him, the invader, from beginning to end – an "emergency measure" to prevent the spread of mental contamination when a dream is invaded.

It proved that the difference between a trained high-level Inquisitor and a dog-raised, wild-path extraordinary being was not small. If Duncan's own power wasn't so strange, and the entire invasion wasn't based entirely on Vanna's own mind, any other, less skilled invader would have been thrown out by the Inquisitor in a single exchange.

Now, Vanna had calmed down, simply looking quietly at the ghost captain who had appeared in the center of her vision. She wasn't impulsive enough to destroy her own eyes, perhaps because she realized that the dream had been completely invaded, and ordinary expulsion methods would likely be ineffective.

She closed her eyes. Duncan still stood before her, in the darkness, only appearing more gloomy, his figure flickering between reality and illusion in the light of the spirit flames.

"What do you want," the young Inquisitor asked, her voice cold and hard like a piece of steel. "How did you invade my dream?"

Her attitude was full of hostility, but Duncan only found it amusing – the Inquisitor's current behavior was completely different from her polite and peaceful demeanor when she visited the antique shop.

He wondered what her reaction would be one day if she knew the truth about the antique shop.

"Just to tell you one thing," Duncan said directly, not bothering with pleasantries. "If you truly care about the safety of the city-state, you might as well go to the Sixth District and take a look at that small church."

After saying that, he closed his mouth, standing quietly in the midst of the flames, maintaining a mysterious and dignified aura.

Vanna was stunned by the ghost captain's reply.

In that instant, it was as if something had pierced a veil, uncovering a corner that had been hidden in her mind. The words "Sixth District" and "small church" were strongly imprinted in her mind, making her feel a burst of dizziness.

But compared to that momentary daze, the reality of Duncan's contamination of her dream touched her more intensely. She tried to pray to the goddess in her heart, but the goddess's power could not penetrate this illusion. She watched the "captain" in front of her with vigilance, unable to discern any discernible emotions from that gloomy figure.

After a few seconds, she finally bit her lip lightly, trying to remain calm as she said in a deep voice, "You invaded an Inquisitor's dream just for... this?"

"It's up to you to judge," Duncan said lightly. "I look forward to your discoveries there."

As he said this, he could feel the connection between himself and this dream rapidly becoming unstable.

A powerful repulsive force was at work.

He realized that Vanna was not as calm as she appeared on the surface – although she was ostensibly communicating with him, the young Inquisitor was relying on her willpower to resist him, the invader, every second. Her will was so firm that she had struggled to the point of waking up solely by relying on her will!

This made Duncan realize that the exchange had to end as soon as possible. After delivering the necessary information, he should leave a mysterious image and retreat gracefully.

He didn't plan to explain too much to her, let alone hope that he could clarify his friendly stance or establish any trust with Vanna with a few words – the opposing attributes between "Captain Duncan" and "the city-state Inquisitor" couldn't be resolved with mere words. Explaining too much would only make him seem suspicious, and might even divert Vanna's attention in unnecessary directions.

The spirit flames spreading in the darkness gradually subsided, and Duncan's figure began to slowly recede from Vanna's sight.

But in the last few seconds before the connection was about to be severed, Vanna couldn't help but ask, "What are you plotting against Pland?"

Duncan raised his head in the darkness. Suddenly, a strong sense of mischievousness arose in his heart.

He looked at the young Inquisitor through the dream, the corners of his mouth slowly turning up. In the ghostly green light of the spirit flames, Vanna heard the most outrageous and incomprehensible sentence she had ever heard since becoming an Inquisitor:

"Get some fries."

The dream collapsed with a bang, and the connection was completely severed.

In the empty, chaotic dark space, Duncan took a half step back, watching the star of light that was flickering unsteadily before him.

Ai, in her bone-pigeon form, flew over in the darkness, flapping her wings and landing on his shoulder.

"No matter what she's going to be thinking about next, at least one thing is certain," Duncan glanced at Ai, murmuring to himself as if he were talking to himself, "the Sixth District, the small church, these two key pieces of information have entered the sights of Pland's Storm Cathedral... No matter what the reason, they will definitely launch the highest-intensity investigation there."

Duncan's thinking was simple and effective – he just needed to lift the lid on that small church in the Sixth District, to attract the attention of the Deep Sea Church. As for what Vanna and the priests behind her would think about other things later, that didn't matter at all.

The biggest mobile disaster on the boundless sea directly reports to the Inquisitor in a dream that there is heresy corrupting the city-state. This matter is enough for that group of priests to think about until they die, but before they think about it to death, they will definitely put all their effort into that small church – by then, whatever secrets are hidden in the church will be dug out by them.

Of course, during this investigation, Vanna may also waste some energy because of the existence of the *Forsaken Ship*, but these are minor issues.

Finally, thinking of the stunt he pulled near the end of the dream, a smile appeared on Duncan's face.

"Get some fries?" Ai, who was on his shoulder, noticed the smile and tilted her head. "Finely chopped into sauce?"

"...Your language is becoming more and more fragmented," Duncan frowned. "But getting some fries tomorrow morning is a good idea, and it's a good opportunity to teach Alice how to make some normal food."

...

Vanna suddenly opened her eyes.

There was no light in the room, only the pale, cold light of the World Scar shining through the window into the bedroom. In the dim light, the furnishings in the bedroom seemed to be covered with mottled light and shadows.

Her heart was beating violently, her head felt as if it had been stuffed with hot iron bars, and the dull pain from severe mental exhaustion and high tension was constantly throbbing between her temples. Her nightgown was already soaked with sweat, and it was now clinging coldly to her skin, making her feel particularly uncomfortable.

But these slight discomforts were nothing compared to that contaminated and invaded dream.

Vanna sat up in bed, looking around very cautiously, then slowly blinked her eyes, closed them again, and opened them slowly.

Each time, her heart would beat violently twice – she was testing whether she had really gotten rid of the ghost captain's "phantom," but she was worried that the other party's figure would appear directly in her field of vision in the next second.

It wasn't until she was sure that she had gotten rid of the invasion, that she was sure that this was the real world, that she finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

She had been an Inquisitor for so many years, and she rarely felt so nervous.

Vanna left the bed and came to the dressing table not far away.

The dressing table stood here intact, and there was only her figure in the mirror.

She stood in front of the mirror for several seconds, as if to confirm every detail in the mirror, then shook her head vigorously, opened the drawer of the dressing table, and took out a small dagger depicting storm and wave runes from it.

Holding the sacred artifact, she cut her skin, letting blood soak the runes, and then prayed to the Storm Goddess.

In the brief prayer, she heard the soft sound of waves in her ears. The goddess's blessing was as always, soothing her restless heart.

After re-establishing contact with the goddess, Vanna finally relaxed – then she simply and neatly changed out of her sweat-soaked pajamas, put on her going-out clothes as quickly as possible, grabbed the greatsword that was placed near the bed, and pushed the door to leave the room.

A moment later, a private car driven by a steam core broke the silence of the upper city center. Under the bright gas streetlights, Vanna drove straight to the Cathedral.

She had to tell Bishop Valentine what happened today as soon as possible, along with the strange things she had discovered in the archives before – the complexity of the matter had far exceeded expectations. This was no longer an incident that could be solved simply by relying on an Inquisitor.

If necessary, Pland might even need to contact the Storm Cathedral that was patrolling the boundless sea.

Vanna's eyes were firm, her breathing was steady, and her thoughts were clear.

But suddenly, a hint of hesitation floated into her heart.

She recalled the bizarre scene near the end of the dream.

Get some fries... What did that mean?!

Chapter 167 High-Level Report