"This island... this entire island is part of the ancient god. Everything on the island... the stones, the soil, the things that look like trees, are all the same...
"The Annihilation Cultists who live on this island use the island's resources to build houses and ships, eat what grows in the soil, and perform rituals to summon demons... connecting themselves to the entire island...
"There are indeed no living people on the island. All of them were eaten by 'it'. This island... those stupid... stupid believers touched something deep inside the island, making it come alive..."
Shirley hugged her knees and sat on the ground at the edge of the square, recounting what she had just seen intermittently. She was still in shock and the fear was still deeply imprinted in her mind. The shock brought by the brief glimpse of the "truth" put a heavy pressure on her mind for a time. Although she was "pulled" out by the captain at the last moment, she still felt as if something was buzzing in her head, and there were many vague "memories" drilling in her consciousness.
Agou stayed beside Shirley, rubbing his hideous and horrifying skeleton body gently against her thighs, hoping to calm her frightened mind - it worked to some extent, and Shirley was recovering little by little.
Duncan sat next to Shirley, protecting her mind from the influence of the polluting knowledge. He asked curiously, "Did they touch something deep inside this island? What did they do?"
Shirley hesitated for a moment, searching through her messy memories - too much information had just flooded into her mind, information left in the "memories" of this "living island", and she had no time to distinguish, think, or even understand them - now, these chaotic memories gradually rolled out from the depths of her consciousness, and some useful fragments of them finally became clear.
"They... they dug too deep."
"Too deep?" Morris frowned immediately. "What are they digging for?"
"In the center of the island, there is a passage leading underground..." Shirley frowned tightly, and finally found some useful memory fragments, "It was when the sun went out...!"
"When the sun goes down?" Morris's eyes changed slightly in an instant. While repeating these words, he subconsciously exchanged glances with Vanna and the captain.
Shirley suddenly became excited. She matched the sound she "heard" with the messy picture she saw, and immediately spoke quickly: "Yes, that was the time! After the sun went out, there was still light on this holy island, and the cultists on the island remained in a 'wakeful' state... Then they seemed to have received some inspiration and began to dig in the center of the island... There was originally a cave there, and the deep was full of black rocks. They began to dig down frantically, and then found a secret room, but the secret room was sealed..."
Shirley paused, her tone somewhat uncertain: "They wanted to enter the secret room, but it seems that they didn't have time to destroy it, and they didn't even have time to touch the door before something went wrong..."
Amber came over. The young deep-sea priestess was very interested in what Shirley said. "So, the cultists on the island were killed because they triggered the defense mechanism of this 'living island'?"
Shirley blinked and was about to nod, but suddenly felt that she seemed to have forgotten something very important, and shook her head hesitantly.
"... No, they were not killed by the 'defense mechanism'..." She recalled slowly, and understood the "information" that was hovering in her mind bit by bit. After a few minutes of sorting and thinking, she finally understood the "truth", "They were killed by a... 'knowledge'..."
As soon as she finished speaking, before she could continue speaking, Morris next to her reacted instantly: "Don't say it!"
At almost the same time, Amber had instantly taken out the amulet of the Storm Goddess from her arms and pierced her palm with its tip. The leader of the Death Priest who had been silent all the way also took out the blessed urn. More than 20 Marines also used amulets and holy objects to provide themselves with emergency protection.
Morris instantly applied several layers of mental protection to himself, and then wrapped Lahem's amulet and colored stone bracelet around his wrist. He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded at Shirley: "You can talk now."
Shirley was shocked by the scene and asked subconsciously: "... Is it really like this?"
Vanna looked at Shirley seriously and nodded. "As for that, because this is a piece of 'knowledge' that instantly killed all the Annihilation Cultists on the entire island, although from your description, it is related to the rituals they have been performing for a long time, this 'knowledge' is still potentially dangerous."
Morris also added: "Normally, if an investigator accidentally obtains secret knowledge and survives, the safest and most professional operation is to transcribe the content on parchment using the 'secret language' blessed by the four gods. This method can reduce and filter out the pollution carried by the information - do you understand the 'secret language'?"
Shirley thought about it and shook her head honestly: "...Okay, I don't understand."
Morris spread his hands and said, "It doesn't matter. You can talk now."
Shirley scratched her cheek. With this interruption, her tense nerves relaxed a little more than before. So after sorting out her thoughts, she repeated the words she had just "heard" -
"Humans are a type of highly differentiated Abyssal Demon. Abyssal Demons are the original molds that were contained in the Abyssal Deep Sea because they could not be infused with humanity and wisdom."
The square was quiet for a few seconds.
Alice was the first to break the silence. She blinked and looked at Shirley: "...that's it?"
"That's it," Shirley nodded, "Just one sentence... But after those cultists knew the 'truth', they turned into these... disgusting and scary states in almost the blink of an eye."
Shirley spoke half-understandingly, and Alice listened half-understandingly, but beside them, Duncan's face gradually showed an expression of thought and understanding.
He stood up slowly, muttering as he thought: "This is more than just one sentence... This sentence explains a lot of things."
Amber lowered her head and traced the holy emblem of Gemona on her chest with her hands: "Goddess, have mercy..."
Morris's mouth twitched. "... Humans are a kind of deep demons. This statement seems a bit too extreme even in the theory of the Annihilation Sect."
"This is not the first time we have encountered such 'extreme' intelligence, ever since we first obtained the Book of Blasphemy." Vanna shook her head with a strange expression, then looked up at the Marines sent from the Tide and the Restless.
Surprised, thoughtful, confused—but no one seemed to be shaken.
This is a force that specializes in handling border affairs - strong will and a stable mental state are essential qualities. Considering the actual situation in the border waters, "maintaining a mentality in the face of incredible information and knowledge" is probably engraved in these people's bones.
"No wonder those 'humanoids' floating on the sea exude the breath of the Deep Demon..." Amber suddenly said thoughtfully, "I have heard the rumor that 'the Lord of the Deep created all living things in the Third Long Night', but I never thought that I could understand the connection between 'humans' and 'Deep Demons' from this perspective... But if this is true, it can explain the 'summoning' ability of those Annihilation Cultists, and the symbiosis between them and the Deep Demons..."
As she said this, her eyes involuntarily glanced at Agou who was lying beside Shirley's legs.
Agou instantly noticed Amber's gaze and immediately raised his head: "Don't look at me. Shirley and I are different from those cultists - and I am also different from my brainless relatives. Let me tell you, I am at least at the level of a high school graduate, and maybe even half a step to a city-state university..."
Shirley was stunned by Agou's last two words: "...Agou, what are you talking about?"
Ah Gou muttered quietly: "I don't know either. The captain taught me..."
Amber opened her mouth with a subtle expression: "Even though I've heard about it before, I wouldn't believe that there really is a deep demon with a 'heart' in this world until I see it with my own eyes... Sorry, I didn't mean anything else."
Agou muttered: "You'd better not have it, I'm hanging out with the captain..."
Duncan ignored Agou's mumbling. After confirming that Shirley's condition had stabilized, he broke the silence: "We can discuss the connection between humans and demons later. Now we should think about the follow-up actions."
As he spoke, he turned around and looked towards a certain direction inland of the island that Shirley had just pointed to.
"Shirley, do you remember exactly where they 'dig'?"
"Yeah," Shirley nodded immediately, "I remember this part very clearly. I even recognize the road."
"Then our next target is the 'secret room' dug out by the cultists," Duncan said, but his eyes soon fell on Amber and the other marines. "But now there is a question - do you still want to continue to go deeper? The next area may not be as peaceful as the port area."
"... Captain, we are not canaries that need protection." Amber's expression became serious. "We have been dealing with 'weird things' on the border, including many dangerous and strange ones like this island. We have our own experience and methods."
Looking at the other person's serious expression, Duncan was silent for a few seconds, and finally nodded slowly.
"Okay, let's go deeper."