Along with the old but resonant voice, Duncan heard a tinkling sound coming from the hut, as if someone got up in a hurry and bumped into debris, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching, and a rickety figure. An old man with a slim body, sparse white hair, wearing a gray coat, and wrinkles on his face appeared near the door.
This man called "Old Ghost" stood in his administrator's cabin, bent over, and his slightly cloudy eyes swept outside. I don't know if he saw clearly the figures of the people standing outside the door. Then he hurriedly lowered his head and muttered: "The Queen is here to inspect... I didn't even prepare properly... Those assistants are becoming more and more unreliable, and the people who deliver orders..."
"Old ghost!" Nemo had to interrupt the old man's murmurings with a loud voice, "The Queen is not coming! The Queen is not coming back! There are guests today - distinguished guests arranged by Captain Tirian. Stop nagging, they are coming look at you."
As he spoke, Nemo turned his head and said to Duncan with an apology on his face: "Sorry - as you can see, he is a bit nervous and often suddenly recalls things from decades ago. But don't Look at this, as long as he is dealing with pipes and valves, he will wake up immediately."
"Awake? I'm awake!" Just as he was talking, the "old ghost" suddenly turned his eyes, as if he suddenly understood again. He looked at Duncan and the others, and muttered, "Guest, A strange face can still come in here... Have you checked the token? There is also a secret code."
"It's been checked, of course it's been checked," Nemo said immediately, while giving Duncan a careful look. "These are all distinguished guests, so just treat it as... you just treat it as if Captain Tirian is here in person."
"Oh, then come in, although I don't have anything to see here," the old ghost muttered, stepping aside, "They are all antique things, if you don't mind."
Vanna turned to look at Morris, who always stared at the "old ghost".
After a moment, Morris shook his head and said in a low voice: "It's not easy to judge - he himself is not in a normal state of mind and his memory is intermittent."
Duncan heard Morris's soft report, and his expression did not change. He just followed the nagging old man and walked into the abandoned manager's lounge.
The lounge was not big, and was brightly lit by a gas lamp. It was filled with all kinds of things as expected. Except for a bed in the corner, almost everything that could be seen with the naked eye was occupied. Bent and deformed shelves and boxes on the floor were filled to the brim with various mechanical parts, spare valve sets, and work tools.
Even if a skilled acrobat comes over, he will have to leave with a level 10 disability.
"It's a mess," Alice looked at the messy scene in the room and couldn't help but mutter, "I really want to clean it up..."
"Ah, I'm extremely sorry!" The old ghost who was walking among the piles of debris immediately turned around and bowed, "Your Majesty, I have been neglecting my management recently and this place is a bit chaotic..."
Alice was stunned for a moment: "Huh?"
Duncan's eyes also changed slightly in an instant, but just when he looked at the old ghost and wanted to say something, the old man suddenly fell into a trance again. He stood up and muttered to himself: "Strange, where do I put the kettle?" Come on...how can you not even drink when the guests are here..."
Duncan and the others looked at each other.
"There's no need to look for your kettle. A few guests just want to know some information from you," Nemo said at this time, "About the current situation of the Second Waterway and your own situation, they are here to investigate."
"Investigation?" The old ghost stopped immediately and turned around with a very serious expression. "General Tirian still needs to investigate his troops? Is there a traitor? Is it in our area? Or is it in the central city? I will I feel like they’ve been talking a lot lately..."
"There are no traitors, but there may be other lurkers who are threatened by some kind of extraordinary pollution." Vanna took a step forward at this time, but she almost tripped over the debris on the ground - this chaotic cabin had no impact on her 1.9-meter tall body. It’s really a challenging place in terms of height. “You’ve been talking to other areas lately.
Have you contacted anyone? Is anyone acting abnormally? "
"Abnormal? Not to this extent, but the connectors in the central city have been saying recently that there are gurgling sounds in the abandoned pipes there, as if someone is about to activate the second waterway," the old ghost said. Waving his hand, "You have all seen the situation of the Second Waterway. The things the Queen built at that time were strong, but after all, they have been abandoned for so many years. There are many areas below that are inaccessible, and sometimes the underground river will seep through. It's normal to make some weird noises when you go into the crevices of rocks...
The old man's words would go off track from time to time, and Duncan had to speak up to bring the topic back: "The central city you are talking about...is that the area where the Boiling Gold Mine is located?"
"Boiling gold? Ah, yes, boiling gold, they are all there - the cathedral is also there, the Queen's Palace is also there, and the mine is also there. The mine is very deep, it must be hundreds of meters deep," the old ghost sat When he got to his bed, he suddenly patted his leg as he spoke, "Ah, by the way, the sound should be coming from some level of the mine. The second waterway over there is quite close to the mine... ..I just said, the contact person over there is too nervous and nagging..."
The old man began to talk to himself again, but this time Duncan did not interrupt - he was already lost in thought.
He recalled the circumstances when he first came to Frostbite and the first body he used here - a worker who lost his footing and fell to death in a boiling gold mine. He fell to the bottom of the mine and was finally taken away by searchers. What came up was a fake made of "elements".
And now, the old ghost mentioned that the "connectors" lurking in the central city had heard strange sounds coming from the pipes of the Second Waterway. It sounded like something was surging inside - the Second Waterway in the Central City. , very close to a certain level in the Boiling Gold Mine.
Considering that they were both "antiques" left over from the Queen's era half a century ago, Duncan even suspected that the two were more than "very close" related.
Maybe those channels are all interconnected!
He quickly wrote down this clue, and then asked: "Is there a way to go directly to the underground of the central city from here? How do you and the contact person usually meet?"
"From here? That won't work. There is a road in the middle that is completely black and has been polluted for a long time. The other roads have collapsed. You have to go from the ground, but the ground is now full of rebel minions. You have to be very careful... ..." The old ghost muttered, but suddenly he shouted again, "Queen's Guard! The rebels are coming, blow up the shaft quickly!"
The old man suddenly stood up from the bed and looked around nervously, as if the rebels would attack this place in the next second, but suddenly he stopped again and his eyes fell on Alice.
"Oh, I made a mistake. The queen is safe and sound..."
Alice suddenly panicked and waved her hands quickly: "I...I'm not the queen..."
Duncan looked deeply at the old man standing next to the bed, but the latter fell into a trance again. After a few seconds, he looked at Alice dully: "Girl, who are you?"
"Old ghost, you are really old and confused - this is not just a problem of smoking too many poisonous cigarettes, but also a problem with your eyesight!" At this moment, Nemo's voice suddenly sounded, interrupting the conversation. At a strange moment, the informant nodded to Duncan apologetically, "Sorry, although the old ghost is usually a bit talkative, but he seems to be particularly serious today. He may not have interacted with outsiders for a long time. See you. When you get a little excited, you will forget everything that happened back then."
"...It doesn't matter." Duncan said calmly, his eyes slowly looking away from the old man.
He didn't really care whether the old man really saw the shadow of the Frost Queen in the disguised Alice - was it a brief moment of clarity in his confused mind? Did you see through this disguise? Or is it simply memory confusion? None of this matters.
If this crazy old man really saw a little bit of the Frost Queen's phantom in Alice, and felt a moment of peace in his heart, that would be a good thing.
And at this moment, Nemo seemed to suddenly remember something and frowned: "Strange, why hasn't the crow come back yet?"
"Crow? He went to check the northern corridor," the old ghost said
He waved his hand and said, "That guy is a slow-moving person. He always has to hang out for a long time before coming back."
Nemo's frown didn't relax at all: "...No, no matter how long he delays, he should be back by now. The lights there often break down, and his lantern can't last so long... .Old ghost, when did he leave? "
"Two or three hours?" The old ghost thought for a while and seemed to become a little serious. "That way, it seems that I have been away for a long time."
"I have a bad feeling. The crow has been staying deep in the waterway for too long." Nemo's tone finally became serious and he looked up at Duncan and the others. "I have to go find him."
