Deep Sea Embers

Maurice made full use of his speaking skills and confirmed many questions to Garoni in a quiet conversation.

During the conversation, he and Duncan gradually confirmed the status of the female apprentice.

All memories of Brown Scott's shipwreck six years ago and the death of her mentor after that had completely disappeared from Garoni's mind.

No, it is not only the memory that disappears, but also the entire cognitive system that goes with it. The death of a person triggers a series of chain reactions, including ripples in the social circle, the handling of the aftermath of the death, and a long period of time. The memories and emotional ups and downs over time, as well as the changes in details left in this house during the past six years, cannot be solved by simply deleting and replacing a memory.

However, in Garoni's knowledge, the incident of "Brown Scott died in a shipwreck six years ago" never happened, and the series of subsequent reactions triggered by this incident did not leave the slightest trace. She only She felt that she had lived in this house for granted for six years, and had been calmly waiting for her teacher to come back - and now, her teacher had come back and was resting in the room upstairs.

The sharp whistle of the kettle suddenly sounded, interrupting the conversation in the living room. Garoni immediately got up and walked to the kitchen: "Sorry, I'll turn off the fire."

Taking advantage of the moment when the Sen'jin lady left, Duncan looked up at Morris on the sofa opposite: "Her cognition is involved."

"We should check the whole building," murmured Maurice. "He must have left something while he was still conscious - he had written me a second letter not long ago, when it was clear that he Found some truth."

"...Let Galoni rest for a while." Duncan said softly.

The old stairs creaked, and dim electric lights illuminated the corridor on the second floor. Morris and Duncan climbed up the stairs and began to look for the folklorist who had "returned to the world."

"Brown, it's me," Morris said. "If you are inside, open the door - no matter what your current condition is, don't worry, we can solve the trouble you encounter."

Morris blinked, then shook his head vigorously, as if to get rid of the complicated thoughts in his mind. He walked towards the depths of the room, carefully avoiding the "mud" groups scattered on the floor. Stopped at a table.

Duncan stared at the door quietly, feeling that the situation was not unexpected.

There was a piece of paper, pressed against the edge of a mass of solidified mud, with the outline of an arm vaguely visible.

Finally, he sighed softly: "Let me do it, Maurice, we may still be a step too late."

The muscles in Morris's face tensed.

Duncan said casually, and at this moment, something suddenly entered his sight.

A room almost completely shrouded in darkness appeared in front of them.

"Thank you," Morris said as he pointed to the sofa next to him, "Garoni, please sit down here first. Sit down and let me tell you something."

"Replicas of the deep sea...it seems that they will eventually become like this." At this moment, Duncan's voice interrupted Morris's daze, "We are a step too late after all. It's a pity."

Still no response from the room.

"...He wrote two letters. At least at that time, he still had some sense," Morris said softly, "He must have noticed something abnormal about himself...

Duncan didn't use any fancy means, he just stepped forward and bumped it, and the wooden door, which was not very strong, was hit with a loud bang and the lock was broken, leaving it wide open.

Morris didn't speak, just raised his hand and knocked lightly on the light yellow door.

"Now we can check carefully - Garoni is not lying. Her teacher should be in the bedroom on the second floor now."

The table was also covered in mud, and the largest mass of mud was accumulated between the table and the bed.

The structure of the second floor of the house is not unusual. A straight corridor connects each room, and the doors of most of the rooms are unlocked - Duncan and Morrie

Si quickly confirmed the situation of most of the rooms and stopped in front of the door of the last room on the left side of the corridor.

This is the only locked place on the entire second floor.

Frankly speaking, from the beginning, he suspected that his "old friend" had really returned to the world. He knew that there must be some kind of out-of-control supernatural phenomenon behind this incident, and it might even be related to the curse of the deep sea.

But... even though he had vaguely expected it before opening the door, he still felt a huge impact after actually seeing this scene.

"This is..." The old scholar opened his eyes wide and carefully pulled out the piece of paper while exclaiming in a low voice, "Mr. Duncan, look at this!"

Morris nodded, and during this conversation, Garoni returned from the kitchen - she was carrying a large tray with warming ginger tea and some biscuits. This lady with stone-black skin Putting the things on the coffee table, he looked up at the two guests: "You've been waiting for a long time. Let's drink some ginger tea to warm yourself up."

Duncan didn't know what to say for a moment, and he said after a long time: "Why did you use this trick on your daughter?"

There were no lights on in the room, and the window facing the street seemed to be blocked by something, so that the light from the street lights outside could not shine into the room. Only the light from the corridor illuminated a small area at the door, and under the light Where the light cannot shine, you can vaguely see something shadowy covering the roof and floor.

Some kind of gray-black, mud-like substance was scattered throughout the room, covering the floor, contaminating the walls, and even firmly adhering to the roof. There was also half-melted "mud" coming from the dirty roof. It hangs down from the dirt and hangs in mid-air, looking like a curved and swollen blood vessel, or some kind of weird stalactite hanging.

"Locked from the outside?" Duncan felt a vague sense of disobedience, and then recalled something, "Garoni said just now that she would deliver meals to the teacher's room every day..."

"Impossible, this door has not been opened for many days - a week or more," Morris said immediately. His eyes were slowly scanning the door in front of him, and there seemed to be a slight gleam in his eyes. , "There are no signs of damage to the door lock."

"...So, it's just Garoni's idea that she delivers food to her teacher's room every day, but her teacher actually hasn't opened this door since many days ago," Duncan said, slightly Looking back at the stairs leading to the second floor, "Cognitive interference continues."

In just a moment, Duncan was reminded of the scene he saw in the bilge of the Obsidian.

Morris looked into Garoni's eyes: "Lomondsov's set of inequalities."

Garoni suddenly opened her eyes, and a massive amount of knowledge, memory, and logical problems instantly covered all his thoughts. Before she could figure out the general outline of these "information storms," ​​a strong, self-protective force The weariness came to my mind.

She passed out silently, snoring fiercely and sleeping peacefully.

Duncan looked at this scene expressionlessly and was silent for two seconds before asking: "How long will she sleep?"

"Depending on IQ, Heidi slept for twelve hours, and Garoni should have slept for a little longer," Morris shrugged. "Folklorists are usually not very good at mathematics."

Duncan thought for a while and felt that there was no need to continue this topic, so he stood up and looked at the stairs leading to the second floor.

Morris stepped forward and tugged on the door handle, frowning slightly: "Locked - locked."

These weird and terrifying "mud" look exactly like the conditions in the Obsidian's bilge!

After the lights were turned on, everything in the room finally became clear.

"His sanity lasted at least until the moment he locked this room. After that, he could no longer control the development of the situation," Duncan also came to the desk and said thoughtfully while observing the solidified mud around him. , "These replicas from the deep sea seem to be... all different. Some have no sense at all, some even retain their original memories, and can survive for a period of time like ordinary people, and some... just Like the captain of the Obsidian,

Completely twisted into an alien shape, but still retaining a soul from beginning to end. "

Morris' expression stiffened for a moment. He seemed to want to say something, but his lips trembled twice and he still didn't say anything. He just stepped aside silently.

"Like some unstable experimental product?"

Duncan was the first to walk into the room. He raised his left hand, holding a ball of green spiritual flames in his palm, and fumbled for the light switch next to the door with his other hand.

"This is..." Morris, who followed him into the door, saw the scene inside the house and exclaimed in a low voice in shock.

Duncan immediately leaned over, and on the dirty paper, some unclear words came into his eyes——

"To investigators, here are the changes that occurred in my body during its final stages:"