Ashes Of Deep Sea-Chapter 347 - 351 Lockdown
Chapter 347: Chapter 351 Lockdown
Chapter 347 -351 Lockdown
“`
For the protectors of Frost, tonight was destined to be a sleepless one.
The ominous clouds that shrouded Dagger Island still gathered overhead, the eerie remains of the “Sea Swallow” still lingered outside the port, and at this critical moment, the Mist Fleet, wrapped in countless terrifying legends, had approached the City-State.
The cursed undead fleet had completed its assembly, silently stationed at the edge of the coastal waters, their intentions unknown, their next moves a mystery to all.
Navy Commodore Lister had only rested for less than an hour at midnight before he reappeared in his command office, where he met with several other tightly furrowed commanders and an urgent secretary who had just rushed over from the city hall.
The secretary, a man in his early thirties dressed in a tailored blue coat and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, immediately stood up from his chair when he saw Lister, a fine sweat on his forehead, “Colonel, the Governor wants to know the latest and most accurate intelligence—is there any possibility that the Mist Fleet will launch an attack?”
“If the Governor only wants that answer, then yes, it has been possible every day for the past half-century,” Lister took out his invigorating essential oil, his spirits lifted by its potent effect, and glanced at the secretary, “The Mist Fleet isn’t new today— it has always been there. Frost and that ‘Ironclad Commander’ have never had any peace agreement.”
The mood of the commander-in-chief was obviously not the best, and the secretary realized his question was meaningless, so he immediately changed his approach, “How much are we prepared?”
“All shore defenses are now in battle configuration. General Gailton’s fleet is forming an interception line on the north and northwest flanks of the Mist Fleet; they have ample fuel and ammunition ready—even though we’ve just lost a heroic and valiant Navy Commodore due to the Sea Swallow incident, the Frost Navy is still fully prepared to defend the City-State,” said Lister with a serious expression, “For more detailed intelligence, my superior should have already reported to the city hall.”
As he spoke, he let his gaze pass over the urgent secretary and land on several of his subordinates nearby: “What’s the situation with the Mist Fleet now? Any abnormal movements?”
One of the commanders immediately stood up, “Yes, sir, there is something off. You should come and look at this.”
Upon hearing this, Lister’s brow wrinkled slightly, and he quickly walked to the long table in the center of the room, where he approached a piece of freshly delivered intelligence.
“What is this?”
Looking at the document covered with marks and symbols, the port commander was somewhat taken aback.
“It’s a light signal,” spoke the subordinate who had spoken earlier, “coming from the Sea Mist.”
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Lister looked stunned, the effects of the essential oil seemingly faltering, as he observed the dizzying array of pause markers and scattered annotations, he felt somewhat lightheaded and dizzy, mumbling after a long while, “What the hell… Is the Mist Fleet using some kind of new light signal? Or are they transmitting messages through a classical code?”
He suddenly looked up, gazing at his subordinates, “Where is the military advisor?”
“They are in the next room studying these, along with several signalmen and cryptologists who were just summoned, and a few experts on classical naval history and the study of undead phenomena are on the way.”
Lister pressed his lips together tightly, then fixed his gaze on the chaotic symbols for a few more seconds before lifting his head and looking at the secretary, who stood there with a worried expression.
“Nobody is going to sleep tonight.”
“I think so too, Colonel.”
…
Duncan had slept well the night before.
Although his original body didn’t need much sleep, appropriate rest helped maintain his energy and lessen the burden of controlling multiple bodies at once—although, for him, this burden wasn’t much of an issue.
Yet he liked to maintain the routine of a normal human.
The snow outside had stopped, at least for the moment, and the clear sky above the city wouldn’t last for long. The anomaly 001 was slowly climbing toward the high point of the sky from the edge of the city, and at the edge of that brilliant orb of the sun, the faint golden glow of the double runes was resplendent.
A small segment of the rune ring was missing, visible to the naked eye.
Duncan stood at the window, staring at the slightly incomplete sun rune ring for a few seconds, then withdrew his gaze and rotated his shoulders.
“`
He descended to the first floor.
Alice had already prepared breakfast. Simple toast, fried eggs, and a vegetable wrap might not be lavish, but it was clear that the doll Miss’s skills were gradually improving. Fenna and Morris were eating at the dining table and stood up when they saw Duncan appear.
“You keep eating; don’t mind me,” Duncan waved them off.
The breakfast was nice, but sadly the body he currently inhabited wasn’t blessed to enjoy it.
Although it was also a “temporary shell,” the body he was using in Frost differed significantly from the one at the Prand Antique Shop. The body in Prand was also taken over after death, but thanks to minor damage and timely possession, its current state was practically no different from a living person. In contrast, the body in Frost… had lost most of its inner functions.
This was more like a corpse driven by mysterious forces. By nature, it was even closer to “dead body” than the Undead under Terrian’s command.
Duncan himself couldn’t clarify the principles involved, but with the world full of bizarre occurrences, he had long been open-minded.
Oddness be odd, after all, his very existence in this world was the greatest oddity.
“There’s a fresh newspaper by the sofa,” Morris spoke up from the dining table. “You might want to have a look; it contains news that could interest you.”
“Oh?” Duncan walked over to the sofa and saw the morning paper that had just been delivered—still faintly smelling of ink. The newspapers were neatly stacked, and as he picked them up and settled on the sofa, he casually flipped them open and quickly located the news Morris had mentioned.
Alice toddled over and peeked from behind the sofa, curiously looking at the newspaper in Duncan’s hands, “What does the title say—”
“Click.”
A round head then rolled onto Duncan’s newspaper and from there, onto his arm.
As the head turned over, Alice faced up towards Duncan, her eyes blinking innocently, “Help… help… help…”
“Can’t you remember?” Duncan sighed, almost resignedly picking up Alice’s head and straightening out the golden wig and silver hair beneath, secured with a string hoop, then lifting the beautiful head to press it back onto the neck of the Gothic doll. “Even a dog can read the newspaper; can’t you even understand the headline?”
Alice, while frantically righting her head, muttered sheepishly, “Actually, I only don’t understand four or five words…”
Duncan immediately glared at her, “The headline is only eight words long!”
The illiterate doll: “…Heh heh.”
“It’s a warning notice from the City Hall,” Duncan sighed, feeling mentally exhausted by the earnestness of this simpleton, and began pointing to the words on the paper, reading each aloud for Alice, “Advising citizens, reduce outings—the content below is telling the residents of Frost to stay away from the coastal areas, reduce gatherings on public roads, be prepared to cooperate with law enforcement officers or guardians for inspections, and that the curfew level has been raised. Now, apart from church personnel and those holding special industry night passes, no one may leave their homes at night.”
Alice, curious, moved beside Duncan to sit near him, leaning in to look at the paper while following his finger with her head. After going through it once, she looked up inquisitively, “What does that mean?”
“It means the pressure from Terrian is effective,” Duncan stated flatly. “Unless something unexpected occurs, Frost’s external traffic will be locked down, which frees us from worrying about the pollution spreading from this City-State. The hidden cultists of Oblivion within will also be unable to communicate with the outside. Furthermore, my ‘anonymous tip’ seems to have stirred the church; more strict curfews and traffic bans mean a tighter heretic hunt—more Oblivion cultists will slip up.”
“So… does that solve the issue?” Alice’s eyes widened in surprise. “Will all the bad people be caught?”
“As if it would be that easy,” Duncan shrugged. “Catching a few cultists is just the start. But as more and more are apprehended, the way they construct their connections to the Deep Sea might be revealed. Only then can we consider the problem truly dug out.”
While speaking, he folded the newspaper neatly and placed it aside.
He had skimmed through the rest of the content, and there was nothing else of interest on it.
“So… what do we do now?” Alice asked from the side.
“Now that the Frost authorities are occupied, we’ll also take a stroll,” Duncan stood up and looked towards the dining area. “After we finish eating, we’ll head out—we have a ‘contact’ under Terrian to greet.”
