Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night for the protectors of the frost.
The dark clouds covering Dagger Island were still gathering overhead, and the wreckage of the mysteriously returning "Sea Petrel" was still lingering on the sea outside the port. At this critical juncture, the Sea Fog Fleet, which was surrounded by countless terrifying legends, arrived near the city-state again.
The cursed undead fleet has assembled and is silently staying on the edge of the sea. No one knows why they are here, and no one knows what they are going to do next.
Lister, the chief commander of the port defense, took only a short rest for less than an hour at midnight before appearing in the command office again. Here he met several other commanders with the same frown on their faces, as well as a confidential secretary who had just rushed over from the city hall.
The secretary, who looked to be in his early thirties and was wearing a blue slim-fitting jacket and gold-rimmed glasses, stood up from his chair as soon as he saw Lister, with a hint of sweat on his forehead: "Colonel, the consul wants to know the latest and most accurate information - is there any possibility that the Sea Fog Fleet will launch an attack?"
"If the Archon only wants this answer, then yes, it has happened every day for the past half century." Lister took out the refreshing essential oil and relied on the strong medicinal effect of the essential oil to boost his spirits. At the same time, he glanced at the confidential secretary, "The Sea Mist Fleet did not exist today - it has always been there. There has never been any peace agreement between Frost and that 'Vice Admiral Steel'."
The commander-in-chief was obviously in a bad mood, and the confidential secretary realized that his question was meaningless, so he immediately changed the question: "How prepared are we?"
"All coastal defense guns are in combat configuration. The fleet led by General Galton is building an interception zone on the northern and northwest flanks of the Sea Mist Fleet. They have sufficient fuel and ammunition. Although we just lost a brave and combative rear admiral due to the Sea Petrel incident, the Frost Navy is still fully prepared to protect the city-state," Lister said solemnly. "My superiors should have reported more detailed intelligence to the City Hall."
As he spoke, he looked past the confidential secretary in front of him and fell on several subordinates not far away: "What's the current situation of the Sea Fog Fleet? Are there any unusual movements?"
A commander immediately stood up and said, "Yes, sir, something is wrong. You should come and take a look at this."
When Liszt heard this, his brows slightly frowned. He quickly walked to the long table in the middle of the room and came to a piece of information that had just been delivered there.
"What is this?"
Looking at the document filled with markings and symbols in front of him, the port commander was a little stunned.
"It's a light signal," said the junior commander who had spoken earlier, "a light signal from the Sea Mist."
Liszt's expression was a little dull, and the effect of the refreshing essential oil seemed to be ineffective. He looked at the dazzling pause marks and the messy annotations next to them, and felt a little dizzy. After a long time, he muttered: "What the hell... The Sea Fog Fleet seems to be using a very new light signal? Or is it using some kind of classical code to transmit information?"
He suddenly raised his head and looked at his subordinates: "Where is the military advisor?"
"They are studying these things in the next room. There are also several signal scientists and cryptographers who have just been called in. In addition, several experts in classical naval history and the phenomenon of the undead are on the way."
Liszt pursed his lips and stared at the messy symbols for a few seconds before looking up at the confidential secretary who had a sad face.
"No one can sleep tonight."
"I think so, Colonel."
Duncan slept well last night.
Although his original body does not need much sleep most of the time, proper rest still helps him maintain sufficient energy and reduce the burden of controlling multiple bodies at the same time - although for him, this burden does not actually have much impact.
But he likes to maintain this normal human routine.
The snow outside the window has stopped, at least temporarily. A clear sky that will last for who knows how long is now hanging over the city. Vision 001 is coming from the edge of the city.
It gradually climbed up to the highest point in the sky, and at the edge of the glorious sun, the faint golden glow of the double runes seemed to be shining brightly.
The small missing section of the rune ring is still there and visible to the naked eye.
Duncan stood in front of the window, staring at the sun rune ring with a small piece missing for a few seconds, then looked away and moved his shoulders.
He came to the first floor.
Alice had already prepared breakfast. The simple toast, fried eggs and vegetable rolls were not very rich, but it showed that Miss Doll's cooking skills were indeed improving. Vanna and Maurice were sitting at the dining table eating. When they saw Duncan appear, they stood up.
"Eat your food and don't worry about me." Duncan waved at them.
The breakfast was good, but unfortunately his current body couldn't enjoy it.
Although they were both "temporary bodies", the body he was currently using was actually completely different from the one in Pland's antique shop. Although Pland's body was also taken over after death, due to minor injuries and timely takeover, its current state was actually no different from that of a living person. However, his body in Frost... had lost most of its internal functions.
This is more like a corpse driven by a mysterious force. In nature, it is even closer to a "corpse" than the undead under Tirian.
Duncan himself couldn't explain the principle behind this, but there were so many strange things in this world that he had long since let it go.
It doesn’t matter if it’s weird, I am the biggest weirdo in the world anyway.
"There's a latest newspaper next to the sofa," Morris said from the dining table, "You can take a look. There's news that may interest you."
"Oh?" Duncan walked to the sofa and saw the morning paper that had just been delivered that morning - the newspaper still exuded a slight smell of ink, and several newspapers were neatly stacked. He picked up the newspapers, sat down on the sofa and flipped through them casually, and quickly found the news content mentioned by Morris.
Alice walked over and poked her head out from behind the sofa to look at the newspaper in Duncan's hand curiously: "What's the title on it-"
"Click."
A round head fell on Duncan's newspaper and rolled down the newspaper onto his arm.
Alice's head rolled over, and she was lying face to face with Duncan, blinking innocently: "Help...Help...Help..."
"Can you learn a lesson?" Duncan sighed, and picked up Alice's head almost resignedly. He adjusted the golden wig and the silver hair inside, and then raised his hand to press the beautiful head back to the neck of the Gothic doll. "Also, Agou can read a newspaper, but you can't even understand a headline?"
Alice frantically straightened her head and muttered embarrassedly, "In fact, there are only four or five words that I don't understand..."
Duncan glared at her immediately: "The title has eight words!"
Illiterate Doll: “…Hehe.
"It's a warning notice from the city hall," Duncan sighed. He felt that arguing with this fool was really exhausting, so he pointed at the words on the newspaper and read them to Alice one by one. "Citizens are warned to go out less often. The following content tells Frost residents not to go near the coastal area in the near future, to reduce gatherings on public roads, and to be ready to cooperate with inspections by sheriffs or guards at any time. The curfew level has been raised. Now, except for church members and people with special industry night passes, no one can leave their homes at night."
Alice walked around the sofa and sat down next to Duncan. She curiously leaned over to read the words on the newspaper and moved her head to follow Duncan's fingers. After reading it once, she raised her head curiously: "What does it mean?"
"It means that the pressure from Tirian is in place," Duncan said calmly, "If nothing unexpected happens, Frostbite's external traffic will be blocked. This way, we don't have to worry about the pollution of this city-state spilling out, and the Annihilation Cultists hiding in the city will no longer be able to contact the outside world. On the other hand, the report letter I sent over seems to have stimulated the cult.
On the social side, higher curfew levels and stricter travel bans mean more stringent heresy checks—more Oblivion cultists will be exposed.”
"And... the problem is solved?" Alice opened her eyes wide in surprise. "Will all the bad guys be caught?"
"How can it be that simple?" Duncan shrugged. "Catching a few Annihilation Cultists is just the beginning. But as more and more Annihilation Cultists are captured, the method they use to establish a connection with the deep sea may be exposed. Only then will the problem be truly revealed."
As he spoke, he folded the newspaper and put it aside.
He glanced over the rest of the content and found nothing worth paying attention to.
"So...what should we do next?" Alice asked from the side.
"Since the Frost authorities are busy, let's go out for a walk," Duncan stood up and looked towards the restaurant. "Let's go out after dinner - let's say hello to an 'informant' under Tyrian."