Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 380 Confronting the Madman

Agatha was walking on the deserted streets, and the familiar city-state scenery in the past seemed to be filled with a quiet and eerie atmosphere everywhere. Between the shadows of the surrounding buildings and behind the closed doors and windows, there seemed to be a pair of prying eyes hidden. Eye.

She is looking for the exit of this "foreign land", or the culprit who caused her to be trapped here.

Every place that seems inconsistent may be a crack interlaced with the real world, but so far she has not found such a crack in this weird "Frost City".

The only thing she can be sure of is that she has already touched the shadow that has always shrouded the city-state—whether it is by accident or by the black hands behind the scenes, she has successfully crossed the layer that has been covering her. A "barrier" of sight.

This place, which is paradoxical to Frost, must be the source of the frequent strange situations in the city-state during this period of time.

The sound of wheels rolling over the stone road came from a distance, and the faint sound of car bells and the sound of doors opening and closing floated into my ears.

Agatha looked up to the direction from which the sound came, but she could only see the empty streets—but at a further distance, she could indeed see some shadows like carriages and horses flashing past the intersection. It seemed that the figures of pedestrians hurried through those intersections.

There are "people" in this city, but most of the time, only some distant phantoms can be seen. The voices of residents can be heard here, but it is often impossible to accurately locate the source of the sound.

It's like a bizarre, distorted dream.

Agatha's figure crossed another intersection, then stopped in the shadow of the building.

Blind exploration is just a waste of energy and time, she needs to carefully judge the surrounding situation.

She closed her eyes and allowed her perception to spread around, carefully screening all kinds of information in the environment - sounds, smells, wind direction, and... the temperature of living people.

After a while, Agatha looked up in a certain direction and took steps towards that direction—she still had her eyes closed, but she avoided all obstacles on the road as accurately as if she could see her surroundings clearly. Walking through alleys, passing intersections and trails, I didn't know how long I walked before stopping in front of a building on the corner of the street.

Agatha opened her eyes and saw a small restaurant in front of her. The restaurant was brightly lit and there were lively voices coming from inside.

The voice is very real, and there is a breath of a living person in it.

Agatha collected herself and stepped forward to push open the door of the restaurant.

The crisp bell rang, the door opened, and the scene inside the restaurant came rushing into Agatha's eyes—at this moment, she was in a daze, and even suspected that she had escaped from that weird "foreign land" and returned to the normal reality in the world.

The restaurant is brightly lit, and you can see diners and service staff bustling between tables and counters everywhere. The clerk in charge of reception is busy behind the counter, and the crisp sound of knives and forks colliding with cups and plates can be heard next to your ears. There are also people talking about the weather, work and prices. The dead and cold atmosphere accumulated on the street outside seems to be swept away by this lively "earthly scenery".

However, in the next second, Agatha discovered the obvious inconsistency here—even though the diners were eating at the table, the glasses and plates in front of them were empty, even though the clerk was busy behind the counter. , but he just walked around in place, wiping the same cup in his hand repeatedly.

Everyone is like a puppet with a pre-set program, just repeating the life actions that a normal person should have, but...they imitated it vividly.

Agatha frowned. After discovering the truth, the atmosphere here became more eerie than the empty street outside, but she didn't turn around and leave, instead she stepped into the store.

The weirder the place, the more it means that I have found the right direction.

Following Agatha's first step, the lively conversation in the restaurant suddenly stopped.

All the diners who were talking closed their mouths at the same time, but they still had the various expressions on their faces when they were chatting just now, and they still maintained the gesture of eating in their hands-in the huge space, after the voices disappeared, only a piece of food remained. The monotonous sound of cups and plates clashing with knives and forks.

Agatha took the second step, and all the sounds of cups, plates, and knives and forks disappeared—everyone in the restaurant stopped, as if their energy was suddenly cut off, and they stood still at the square tables. beside.

Agatha took the third step forward, and everyone in the restaurant put down their knives and forks. They stood up like zombies, turned their heads expressionlessly, and dozens of gazes fell on her blankly.

Agatha looked at the counter in front of her, and the clerk who had been wiping the same cup finally stopped, but unlike the zombie-like hollow "diners" around, this clerk slowly raised his head and looked at Agatha had a faint smile on her face.

There was even something friendly about that smile.

"Hello, Miss Gatekeeper," the clerk said. He was a young man with short blond hair and a pretty good appearance. He was wearing a white shirt and a black jacket. Guest, "It's a pleasure to have you here as a guest. What do you think of this delightful city?"

"It seems that you are the culprit of all this." Agatha calmly stared at the blonde "clerk" in front of her. "It's easier to find you than I thought."

"It may not be as easy as you think," the blond young man laughed. "Do you want something? Poisoned dirty water? Or bread made from clay? Or...an empty bowl? We have plenty here."

Agatha didn't intend to answer at all, just raised her cane and waved it in the air.

The blond young man behind the counter was instantly wrapped in layers of pale flames that appeared out of thin air, and that skin was burned to ashes by the gatekeeper's "cremation" ability almost within a few breaths, leaving only gray ashes floating in the wind. Dropped on the counter.

However, the expression on Agatha's face did not change at all, because before the flame ignited, she sensed that the young man no longer had the breath of a living person in his body.

A strange viscous material wriggling sound came from the side. Agatha turned her head and saw a "diner" standing stiffly at a table not far away suddenly trembling all over. The next second, that person's body was like wax. Melting like a bird, the black muddy substance surged and deformed on its body surface. Within a few breaths, the diner transformed into a blond young man in a white shirt and black jacket.

"What an unfriendly way of greeting," the blond young man flicked the dust off his clothes, and looked at Agatha helplessly, "Miss Gatekeeper, don't you think this can solve me—do you think I Would you rashly expose your own body to such a dangerous place?"

"I know you're not here," Agatha said blankly, "but at least it will stop you from making noise for a while."

"Well, well, it seems that you are not interested in chatting—you are a boring woman. In comparison, that Professor Myerson's performance at the last moment is much more interesting," the blond young man shrugged, "But it doesn't matter, as long as you can stay here honestly for a while, I don't mind you being a boring prisoner."

The moment she heard the words "Professor Myerson", Agatha's expression changed slightly. She thought of the disappearing Dagger Island, and what happened on the island just before the disappearance mentioned in the report. A series of explosions——and then, she noticed the intelligence revealed in the last few words of the other party.

"What do you mean by the last few words?" She stared at the blond young man in front of her and said in a cold tone.

"It's nothing, I just invite you to stay here for a while." The blond young man smiled happily, "You don't have to worry about the situation 'above'—soon, another you will return there, and she will be just like you Gather the guards, and then compile a report based on the actual situation of the sewage treatment center...

"Don't worry, she will report the truth, including the pollution of the processing center and the replacement of personnel. Then, she will return to the cathedral to report on her duties as you usually do, and talk to that Bishop Ivan. Then, she will inspect the city-state , continue to deal with the various problems facing the city, continue to carry out those investigations that you failed to complete... nothing will be delayed."

Agatha's face finally turned completely cold, and she stared at the blond young man in front of her: "You even made a 'fake' of the gatekeeper?!"

"Is it difficult?" The blond young man slowly suppressed the smile on his face, looked at Agatha with a slight sarcasm and said, "Of course, she doesn't have your strength, but other than that, she has nothing. Flaws, even more perfect than any previous replicas - do you know how perfect it is? She... doesn't even know that she is a fake."

Agatha's complexion was frosty, and the knuckles holding the cane were slightly pale: "Fakes can't be fooled by the cathedral—there are countless pairs of alert eyes."

"Countless pairs of sharp eyes—the eyes of ordinary people, you must have overestimated your colleagues," the blond young man met Agatha's cold gaze, and said calmly, "And when it comes to fakes... Do you really think there's any difference between you and others, and the 'fakes' you're talking about?"

He laughed again, and slowly raised his hands, as if a preaching saint was revealing the truth of the world: "Miss Gatekeeper, there have been no fakes from the beginning, or...we are all fakes, this is the truth .”

(End of this chapter)