Agou took two unsteady steps and finally stopped. Puffs of dark smoke rose from the cracks in his bones. The bones all over his body were shaking as if in spasm, and in his bloodshot eye sockets, the light was flickering.
Such an obvious and abnormal reaction of course startled Shirley, who immediately stopped, shaking Agou's huge head while anxiously calling his name. After calling it seven or eight times, Agou finally came to his senses, looked up slowly, and made a hoarse and low voice in his throat: "Why do I suddenly feel a little... unable to walk..."
"Are you okay?" Duncan came over at this time. He frowned as he looked at the Deep Hound, who was obviously in a bad condition. He asked with some concern, "Are you feeling unwell?"
"I... don't feel unwell."
Agou's head was shaking, as if he was about to fall asleep at any moment. "I just felt very weak, and... I really didn't want to get close to that pile of things."
"Don't want to get close?" Duncan turned around and took a look at the strange thing that looked like a mountain of mud and was still slowly wriggling in the firelight.
Is this strange pile of "mud" having an effect on Agou? Some kind of instinctive suppression
Agou's abnormal reaction attracted everyone's attention and immediately made Duncan think. The first thing he thought of was whether Agou's unique "perception" that far exceeded that of humans had observed something invisible again.
But judging from Agou's reaction, it didn't seem that it "saw" anything unusual.
"The Abyss Hounds are more or less considered to be a relatively powerful group among the Abyss Demons.
It's rare that you become like this when facing the pressure of a powerful individual," Fanna squatted down and touched the bone fragment on Agou's body without any concern, then looked back, "Besides, that thing didn't give off any pressure at all...
"The two words 'how much' can be removed," Shirley muttered beside her, "Agou was already very powerful..."
"Not great, I'm not great at all," Ah Gou shook his head quickly, "Isn't this place a bit too weird, why don't we come back next time?"
"It's impossible to come back next time. This ghost ship may not wait here for us to explore again and again," Duncan shook his head, "but your current condition is indeed not suitable for moving forward."
Agou is being affected by some inexplicable force. If he continues to let it get close to that pile of things, it is very likely to have unpredictable consequences. The best way now is to let it and Shirley return to the Lost Homeland temporarily.
Duncan waved to the side, and Ai flew over immediately, circling in the air while shouting: "Who's calling the ship... This is a trap! Abandon ship and escape!"
"Take Shirley and Agou back to the Lost Homeland first," Duncan ignored the bird's noise and pointed at Agou, who was lying on the ground, and Shirley, who looked worried. After a brief thought, he pointed at Nina and said, "Take Nina back as well."
"Ah?" Nina didn't react for a moment. "Why should I go back too? I'm in good shape now!"
"That thing just now tried to copy you. Although you 'beat it' and broke it, I don't know if the big guys at the end will have any other reactions after you get close to them," Duncan explained simply. "In this situation, it doesn't hurt to think carefully."
Nina listened carefully and nodded obediently: "Oh, okay, I'll go back then."
Duncan had originally prepared a lot of persuasive words. After all, Nina was a curious girl and had been looking forward to this kind of adventure. However, he did not expect that she would agree so readily. This surprised him a little, but he soon smiled and shook his head.
She is still so sensible.
The flames of the Death Bird roared through the cabin, carrying Shirley, Agou and Nina out of the Obsidian.
But this space did not fall into darkness because of Ai's departure - the bonfires that Duncan lit using the dry and stagnant mud as firewood still illuminated this gloomy and strange place.
The strange substance at the end of the cabin was still quietly moving, as if it was half asleep and half awake.
The Buddha is dormant in his sleep.
But when Duncan cast his eyes on the pile of matter again, a clear "plop" sound was immediately heard from inside the thing.
"The kids are gone," Duncan breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the pile of dark matter. "Now it's time for the adults to solve this problem."
His steps were without hesitation, and as he approached step by step, the pile of wriggling matter that seemed to be in a dormant state before immediately reacted - the wriggling of its edges became more and more obvious, the expansion and contraction of the surface became more and more frequent, and the pulsating sound coming from its interior became faster and louder.
By the last ten meters, it had completely turned into a clear heartbeat
Thump, thump, thump—the sound of clear and powerful heartbeats continued to come, echoing clearly in this open and dim cabin!
But apart from the continuous heartbeat and the increasingly intense wriggling on the surface, this pile of things did not have any other reaction.
Until Duncan came to it, it just maintained this "vibrant" state.
“Goddess...what on earth is this blasphemous thing...?”
Vanna frowned tightly and said with disgust.
When she got close enough, she could see more clearly the shape of the substance - it did not have the outline of any living organism at all, and its surface seemed like flowing mud, but from time to time some suspicious bumps and depressions appeared in the mud, looking like half-melted internal organs or suddenly expanded blood vessels and nerve bundles. While it kept making a heartbeat, it also showed characteristics that seemed to respond to external stimuli - these characteristics ultimately attributed to constant blind movement.
Since she became an inquisitor, Vanna had seen countless heresies and evils, but the level of blasphemy and evil in the thing before her still shocked her.
Even Alice beside her was a little confused. Miss Doll stared at the pile of things for a long time before she said, "It doesn't look like it can be used to cook..."
Vanna's eyes widened instantly as she looked at Alice - she was shocked again.
Morris fully demonstrated the carefulness and curiosity that a scholar should have. He seemed to ignore his psychological discomfort and resistance. He approached the pile of matter and studied it carefully for a long time. Then, he suddenly noticed something in the process of the pile of things expanding, shrinking and squirming: "It seems that there is something wrapped in it!"
"Inside?" Duncan was slightly startled, and then he noticed the clue found by Morris: at the edge of the mud, there seemed to be a small piece of something that looked like a piece of clothing.
Is this wriggling pile of mud actually just a layer of covering
After realizing this, Duncan immediately reached out and pointed at the pile of wriggling things.
The numerous bonfires burning around the cabin immediately spread out countless lines of fire, and almost in the blink of an eye, the spiritual flames gathered on the pile of "living mud".
The flames of the spirit body suddenly burned fiercely!
The flame was huge but precisely controlled. Duncan ordered the flame to only burn the black sludge without harming other substances inside. Under his conscious catalysis and control, the disgusting pile of wriggling things was burned to ashes in just a few seconds.
The things that were originally covered deep in this pile of matter finally appeared in front of everyone.
"This is… "
Morris looked at the scene in astonishment.
A human, a middle-aged man, was leaning against a pile of debris in the embers left by the burning spirit flames. His eyes were wide open, as if he was fighting for his life with some ferocious enemy before his death. However, he covered his mouth tightly with one hand, as if he was restraining a huge terror. His body was in a shocking state.
More than half of the body had been dissolved by something, turning into a terrifying decomposition structure.
Only a heart, exposed outside the open chest, was beating slowly and powerfully.
Plop... plop... plop...
The sound of a heartbeat that seemed to contain some strong will echoed throughout the cabin.
Duncan all the way
The heartbeat I heard when I got closer turned out to be coming from this heart.
But this human was obviously already dead, and his heartbeat did not mean any sign of life.
"A human?" Vanna frowned immediately, carefully looking at the middle-aged man who died in the deepest part of the Obsidian. "Is this also a replica created by the Obsidian?"
"The body structure is twisted and mutated, which is consistent with the characteristics of a replica, but it seems that something is wrong..." Morris muttered in a low voice, and carefully fiddled with the remaining limbs of the body with his walking stick. He observed the fragmented pieces of clothing, judging what they should look like when they were complete. "This clothing... looks like a uniform."
“It’s a uniform indeed.”
Duncan suddenly said that he seemed to have discovered something. As he spoke, he bent down, ignored the hideous wreckage, fumbled around the beating heart, and took something from a piece of cloth.
It was a small badge with the identity and name written on it.
"He is the captain of the Obsidian, Christo Barberi." Duncan glanced at the badge and said lightly.