Chapter 298: PTSD

Outside the hut, on the path leading to the morgue, the charred remains that barely retained a human outline still lay in place. Several church guardians were preparing to move the wreckage into wooden crates. Upon seeing the “gatekeeper” and the cemetery caretaker appear, they temporarily stopped their actions.

The gatekeeper, Agatha, pointed at the burnt remains, “What you saw yesterday should be him—of course, what remains here now is only a shell. The ‘visitor’ that once occupied this shell has indeed left.”

The old caretaker came to the side of the remains, looked down, and observed for a moment, then furrowed his brow slightly, “He is...”

“If I’m not mistaken, one of the four cultists disguised as priests last night,” Agatha said calmly, “This shell died due to the backlash of a symbiotic demon.”

The old caretaker remained silent with a serious expression, not knowing what he was pondering. Then two minutes later, he suddenly looked up and said, “The corpse you sent last night...”

Agatha nodded, raising her hand to point in another direction, “Over here, but its condition...is even more bizarre.”

Under the gatekeeper’s guidance, the old caretaker arrived at an empty space at the edge of the morgue, where processed “samples” and other key evidence to be sent back to the cathedral were stored.

The old caretaker stared in astonishment at what Agatha pointed out to him.

It was a collection of large and small...glass jars.

“You mean...this is the corpse you sent yesterday? The ‘restless one’ who chatted with me in the coffin for half the night?” The old man stared at the jars for a long time before finally turning his head to look at Agatha suspiciously, “Just a night before, he could even energetically knock on the coffin!”

“Yes, but when the guardians found these things, we could only use shovels to collect them and then put them in jars as much as possible. Their remaining outline and location can only prove that this is indeed the deceased we sent to the cemetery last night,” Agatha shook her head, “As you can see, a semi-solid...sludge, barely retaining traces of biological tissue. Even those remaining traces are rapidly turning into sludge-like substances as time goes by.”

She paused, pointing to one of the largest jars.

“There were a few bones in here originally, but now there is only this strange, viscous substance.”

The old caretaker frowned, staring intently at the bizarre material in the glass jars.

Those dark red, mixed with black and gray substances, resembled the mud at the bottom of the water.

If it wasn’t for knowing that the “gatekeeper” would not deceive him, he could not associate these things with the “restless one” who chatted in the coffin yesterday in any way.

“Alright, the dead have turned into sludge, and strange things always happen together,” the old caretaker finally sighed, “At this point, how should I explain all this to the deceased’s family? They will come to the cemetery to say goodbye to their loved ones. Am I supposed to tell them that a few Annihilators snuck in yesterday to cause trouble? That there was something like a subspace shadow visiting, so their family member somehow turned into a few jars of liquid?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that; their family won’t bother you,” Agatha said emotionlessly, shaking her head. “They have already completed the farewell ceremony in the neighboring Cemetery No. 4. The miner who died from the fall will be sent to the furnace as scheduled.”

The old caretaker blinked, his expression suddenly turning serious, “You deceived the deceased’s family with a different body?”

“We haven’t stooped that low,” Agatha replied lightly.

“I feel... there’s something watching over this city. The days ahead may not be peaceful.”

...

Duncan arrived at the dining room before evening.

Although he didn’t know when it started, the place seems to have unconsciously become a gathering place for the crew during their leisure time.

As soon as Duncan entered, he saw Morris correcting Nina’s homework while Nina was supervising Shirley, Dog, and Alice’s spelling at another nearby table.

Meanwhile, Vanna sat near the window, carefully reading a church book.

The atmosphere seemed quite good.

“A letter from your wife,” Duncan went straight to Morris and handed him a letter.

“From Mary?” Morris stopped correcting the homework, somewhat surprised as he looked at the letter handed over by the captain. He then took out a letter opener he carried with him, mumbling as he opened the envelope, “I said in the letter that there was no need to rush a reply.”

“Anyway, the ‘postage’ only costs a few fries,” Duncan said with a smile, “Take a look at what’s written inside. Maybe it’s urgent.”

Morris nodded, took out the letter paper, and glanced at it quickly before frowning involuntarily.

“What does the letter say?” Duncan asked curiously but added, “You don’t have to say if it’s private.”

“...Scott Brown’s second letter arrived, only three days apart from the first one,” Morris didn’t hide it but spoke with a strange tone, “His mental state in the letter is obviously not quite right. Mary was worried that the letter carried unclean things, so she burned the original but recounted the contents of the letter—Brown urged me nervously and anxiously not to approach Frost.”

“...It seems that your friend has noticed some truth,” Duncan said thoughtfully after listening, “Unfortunately, my investigation of Frost didn’t go smoothly, and I couldn’t find out about your friend.”

“Ah? You went to Frost to investigate?” Morris was suddenly surprised, unable to help but exclaim, “When did you go?”

“Just last night,” Duncan didn’t hide it, as they were all among his own people, “I borrowed a body. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out much information. It wasn’t this troublesome last time in Pland.”

As soon as his voice fell, there was a sudden plop from not far away.

Duncan and Morris both looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Vanna’s book had fallen to the floor.

The expression on Miss Inquisitor’s face was somewhat strange, causing Morris to grow worried from his end: “... Vanna, are you alright?”

“She’s fine,” Duncan waved his hand and answered for Vanna, “She just has a bit of PTSD.”