Deep Sea Embers

Of course, the unsurprising expression on Fan Na's face didn't hide it from Heidi. The "psychiatrist" who often cooperates with the church immediately guessed what was going on from the judge's reaction.

After a little hesitation, she asked cautiously: "It seems... There is a big problem behind this incident?"

Fan Na nodded: "It's a big problem."

Heidi thought for a while, and said quickly while packing her medical kit: "I'm on vacation tomorrow, and it might be..."

"Ms. Heidi, you may have already established a connection with this incident," Vanna glanced at Heidi, "I'm sorry, but including me, everyone who appeared at the scene at that time had been exposed to some kind of cognition Under the pollution, the mental problems you found in these cultists have actually happened to each of us, but... thanks to the blessing of the goddess, our pollution is not deep, so we just 'woke up' at this time."

"...Damn it, I knew that this kind of thing would happen sooner or later in this line of work," Heidi finally stopped packing the medical kit, and she covered her forehead, "I should have listened to my father's advice and inherited He could pursue his career as an antique appraiser, or even follow his mother's advice and become a history teacher at a public school in the Crossroads... that would be much safer than dealing with cultists."

"Think about it, at least your current job is enough to allow you to maintain a decent life in the upper city," Fanna shook her head. In front of Heidi, who was about the same age and had known her for many years, her attitude seemed more approachable than in front of her subordinates. Many, "Let's talk about your findings, which may help the church and the city hall to grasp the situation."

"...It's actually very simple, an obvious violation," Heidi sighed, talking about the clues she dug out from the subconscious of those cultists, "On the night of the sacrificial ceremony, a sacrifice was placed on the totem of the sun. According to the clues we found at the scene, the 'sacrifice' who caused the loss of control was actually a 'corpse' that had been sacrificed, and he came back from the dead Got to the high platform, right?"

Fan Na nodded: "Of course, I remember it very clearly."

"Then here comes the question...Since this sacrifice has already been sacrificed once, why didn't any of the cultists at the scene recognize him? Ordinary cultists are nothing more than ordinary cultists, why didn't even the priest himself recognize him?" Didn't you recognize that the sacrifice in front of you was sacrificed by yourself not long ago?"

Fan Na slowly frowned: "...the heretics at the scene watched the sacrifice that was sacrificed not long ago reappear in front of them, but no one noticed the abnormality...their memories were tampered with, and their cognition distorted."

"Even we didn't realize this obvious inconsistency at the time, did we?" Heidi spread her hands with a wry smile, "In fact, I didn't even realize that I was ignoring this natural contradiction until an hour ago." Things, and until now, I also know from you that my own spirit has been affected."

Fan Na didn't speak for a while, she turned around and came to the cultist who was still in a dazed state.

The cultist, who was double hypnotized by a large dose of nerve drugs and powerful incense, just shook his head slightly, looking blankly at the tall lady in front of him.

Fan Na suddenly turned her head and asked, "These cult members hacked and killed each other after the ceremony went out of control, is it also because of cognitive confusion?"

"Yes, I 'saw' some flickering pictures in their memory," Heidi replied, "These pictures seemed to imprint them very strongly, making them believe that everyone else at the ceremony was killed by evil spirits or Similar things are occupied and controlled, and they don't think that they are killing their compatriots, but that they are expelling the evil spirits from the bodies of other compatriots..."

"This is mostly their soul instincts warning—heretics are also believers, after all, there is a dark sun behind them to 'bless' these people. When huge and weird dangers arise, these believers who receive the blessing are extremely Maybe they sensed something,” Fan Na analyzed based on experience, “their crazy hallucinations actually revealed the truth to some extent, but unfortunately, these untrained ordinary people didn’t know the meaning of these warnings at all, and instead fell into a collective frenzy state."

Heidi looked at Fan Na with a serious face, and after hesitating a few times, she finally spoke cautiously: "So... what is behind this matter? Is it more evil than that ancient sun?"

Fan Na thought for a while, then shook her head lightly: "It's better not to inquire about it, Heidi, you don't have a deep connection with this matter, but if you learn more about it, I'm afraid some inseparable connections will be established."

"Well, since even you, the judge, said so, it's more important for me to protect my own life," Heidi said while picking up the medical kit that had been packed, "I really want to give myself I'm on vacation... Don't worry, I'm not running away, there will be an exhibition in the Oceanographic Museum in two days, I'm quite interested."

Fan Na nodded: "Visiting the Maritime Museum is a good way to relax, and the blessings of the goddess are also filled in those exhibits."

Heidi smiled, picked up the medical kit and walked towards the door, but when she was about to open the door to go out, she stopped suddenly, and looked back at Fan Na worriedly: "I said... the pollution has really subsided Is it gone?"

"Don't worry, of course it's subsided," Fanna spread her hands helplessly, "We just caught up with some 'remnants', you have stayed in this quiet underground sanctuary for so long, the blessing of the goddess has long The impact is cleaned up."

"Then I can rest assured," Heidi breathed a sigh of relief, and pushed open the door, "Then see you next time, Judge Vanna."

Fan Na watched Ms. Heidi leave the room.

Beside her, the Sun Cultist who was dazed by the powerful incense and nerve potion also stared blankly at Fanna with half-opened eyes.

The potions made by modern civilization, the incense passed down from ancient times, the quiet environment of the sanctuary, and the "blessing" of the sun deeply rooted in the soul, these chaotic forces are entangled and gathered, and produce subtle emotions in the cult members. Influence.

Fanna's hazy figure was reflected in the eyes of the cultists.

He saw the judge standing in front of him, tall and firm.

He saw a vague phantom standing behind Fanna, it was a nearly transparent phantom, and there was still a dark green flame burning around the phantom.

This tall phantom stood quietly behind Fanna, with a blank expression on his face.

...

Duncan sat in the chart room expressionlessly, watching the puppet Alice busy in front of him.

She brought a large tray with bright tableware and a large bowl of steaming soup.

It smelled like fish soup.

Apparently, after getting more familiar with the environment on the Lost Home, the puppet lady came up with a new idea to "do something for the captain in her own way".

"Dinner?" Duncan looked at the doll curiously, and watched the other person put the tableware and fish soup in front of him, "Why did you suddenly think of making this?"

"I finished cleaning up the ingredients in the kitchen, and then I saw... fish in the bucket," Alice smiled proudly, "I can't help with many tasks on the ship, but cooking should always be done." Okay, I'll cook for you in the future."

"It's a good thing to have this kind of heart," Duncan didn't know how to evaluate this weird doll, but faced Alice's sincere smile, no one was embarrassed to refuse, he was just a little curious, "But as A puppet, can you cook?"

"I can learn it, it feels quite simple," Alice took it for granted, "Just ask Mr. Goat Head about the most basic things. He told me a lot about cooking before..."

Duncan glanced at the goat's head next to him blankly, and then at Alice.

A wood carving and a puppet of unknown material, the two can't make up a digestive system together, and they even get together to study cooking, one dares to teach, and the other really dares to listen?

He didn't know what mood he should be in, he just picked up the spoon and stirred the fish soup in the bowl, thinking that at least this thing smelled right, but the next second, his movements froze .

After a moment of silence, he reached out and fished out a long silver-white hair from the spoon.

"Your hair fell in." Duncan said blankly.

"Ah, I didn't drop my hair in it," Alice waved her hands immediately, "My head fell in... But don't worry, I fished it out right away without any help!"

Duncan: "...?"