On the ferry, Hastur, as an honored guest personally acknowledged by Nast, enjoyed treatment different from ordinary passengers.
Nast's second mate, Bird Mastan, known as the Viscount of Terror, personally accompanied him. Officially, it was to take care of the captain's guest, but in reality it was to make sure Hastur didn't run away.
Hastur had no intention of escaping. He simply held Ariella in his arms while thinking about the battle between Nast and Ince Zangwill.
He estimated that the King of the Five Seas would not be able to keep Ince Zangwill, especially inside the spirit world. Too many powerful mysterious creatures were hidden there, and with the uniqueness of 008, it would be easy to attract them and throw the battle into chaos.
The normal outcome would be that Ince Zangwill would leave heavily injured while Nast would return without achieving anything.
"Is there anything different about the followers of the stars?" Seeing that Hastur had remained silent, Bird Mastan took the initiative to start a conversation.
Hastur looked up at the sky. After a moment, he said, "The stars are always watching everything."
Bird Mastan's body trembled slightly. After thinking about it, he decided not to continue the topic and instead asked, "You don't seem afraid of our captain at all."
"Because the stars are watching everything."
"..." The conversation was impossible to continue. Bird Mastan silently closed his mouth.
After more than ten minutes, the spirit world was torn open, and Nast appeared, piloting the Black Emperor. This immediately triggered a wave of cheering.
Nast ignored them and walked straight to Hastur, inviting him to talk in a room. As for the other passengers, they survived as captives.
Inside the room, Nast took out a bottle of aged wine and poured a glass for both himself and Hastur.
"Out at sea, we've long grown unaccustomed to the taste of black tea."
"This wine is quite good."
"Compared to the elven wine dug out from the depths of the seabed and tempered by time, it's still lacking."
The two exchanged a few casual words. After Hastur finished his first glass, Nast's gaze gradually sharpened.
"What method did you use to conceal my spying?"
"The protection of the stars."
"Are you really a follower of the stars?"
"They all say I am."
"You're very confident. Much calmer than that archbishop."
"He already escaped, didn't he?"
"You knew I couldn't keep him?"
"I could guess the result. The Sealed Artifact in his hand isn't simple. People in the Church call it 008."
Nast's pupils shrank slightly.
Number 008 meant it was a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact. Something of that level indeed had the ability to influence an angel. Earlier, Ince Zangwill hadn't been completely lying to him.
"You seem to know a lot about this Sealed Artifact."
"I've witnessed its terrifying side. It always likes to write a series of coincidental scripts."
Writing scripts... Nast quickly made some associations, but gained no real conclusions.
"You don't seem to have a reason to let me go."
Hastur voiced the doubt that puzzled him the most. The King of the Five Seas' attitude had surprised him. Not only had he not targeted him, he had even treated him as an honored guest.
The second mate who spoke earlier also seemed extremely wary of the followers of the stars, almost fearful.
"Someone spread the word to treat the followers of the stars well."
"Who?"
"A mysterious young man who appeared out of nowhere. He's very young, only slightly older than you. Right now, he's the true uncrowned king of the entire sea."
While speaking, Nast carefully observed Hastur's subtle expressions.
Although Hastur hid his emotions well, Nast still caught the fleeting change in his eyes.
They knew each other. It seemed that the mysterious young man was also a follower of the stars.
"An uncrowned king... Has the sea become this lively now?"
"Aren't you curious about that mysterious young man's identity?"
"Excessive curiosity often brings destruction."
Was he reminding him not to investigate the followers of the stars?
Were all followers of the stars this troublesome?
No wonder the Churches of the Seven Gods and various evil god organizations were searching for them. This level of attention was almost unprecedented in the Beyonder world.
....
At night, Hastur stayed alone in a fairly luxurious single room.
Holding Ariella, he sat on the bed, gently stroking her small head while thinking about what Nast had said earlier that day.
He hadn't expected that the reason Nast treated him so well today was because of the High-Dimensional Overseer.
"Treat the followers of the stars well." These words had spread across the seas starting from the High-Dimensional Overseer.
Now that He had become the uncrowned king of the entire ocean, His words naturally carried immense weight. Even Nast, the King of the Five Seas, preferred avoiding trouble and instead treated Hastur as an honored guest.
Compared to the goodwill of the Mother Tree of Desire, Hastur found the High-Dimensional Overseer's style far more likable.
This was the correct way to express goodwill.
As for the Mother Tree of Desire, Hastur had already placed Her completely on his blacklist. Even Her followers were included among the people he targeted.
The Abraham family was divided into many branches, making it difficult to eradicate completely.
However, the branch where Morey Abraham belonged could be located through fate observation if he had the time.
For now, he would wait for news from Mr. A.
If he could control the yet-to-be-born offspring of an evil god, then he would truly possess a sharp blade that could walk through the night.
....
Backlund, Northern District.
Late at night, when the streets were quiet, a carriage carrying barrels of waste slowly approached a small alley near St. Samuel Cathedral.
Even when it encountered patrolling police officers along the way, it made no effort to hide.
Deep inside the alley stood a three-story house. When the carriage carrying the waste barrels arrived, three or four workers dressed in ordinary clothes came out and began unloading the barrels.
When they reached the final layer, there was a dark black coffin, faintly emitting a fragrance, the scent of dew extracted from moon flowers, something favored by the Evernight Goddess.
Since it was blasphemy, they might as well blaspheme to the end.
This was the genius idea of the mad Mr. A. He planned to hide the coffin here until the day of blasphemy arrived.
The workers carried the coffin into an underground chamber and then sealed the stone door tightly, forbidding anyone from entering, including Mr. A himself.
This was the Lord's will. Before the day of blasphemy arrived, no one could enter.
"I didn't expect tonight to go so smoothly. That saves us a lot of preparation."
"I heard there was suddenly a big explosion at the nursing home. It attracted everyone's attention."
"The nursing home? That place is really eerie."
Mr. A had just walked out of the underground chamber when he heard his subordinates discussing it. His face darkened.
"Forbidden! No discussion of any Beyonder matters. Remember, you are just ordinary workers living here, and I am your landlord. Nothing more!"
"Yes."
Mr. A didn't say anything harsher. Instead, he went to his private room, took out a miniature statue of the Lord from his pocket, and began praying silently.
The task assigned by the Lord had been completed.
Although this place was still some distance from St. Samuel Cathedral, it was already quite close.
If they got any closer, clergy would often patrol the area.
The power of Evernight was very obvious here, making him extremely uncomfortable.
If not for the Lord's grand plan, he would never stay in such a place, not even for a moment.
....
The nursing home had already turned into a sea of fire. The blazing red flames illuminated half the night sky, attracting countless onlookers nearby.
Many police officers set up a cordon to prevent civilians from entering.
Klein and Leonard stood inside the cordon with the others, frowning as they stared at the nursing home engulfed in flames.
When their four-person team had once handled the nursing home case, there had been a mentally deranged lunatic who claimed he could foresee the future.
Among the things he predicted was a prophecy that the nursing home would explode.
Now, the explosion had really happened.
That person had also predicted that a ghost ship would pass through a storm.
In delayed news coming back from the sea, there was indeed a mysterious young man who piloted a ghost ship through the Abyss of Storms and even caused a major figure of the Church of Storms to fall.
The incident of a meteor falling from the sky had also occurred not long ago.
The Church took this matter extremely seriously, which was why they had been sent again as a temporary team to deal with the situation.
According to police speculation, the cause of the explosion was a gas pipeline leak.
Hearing this explanation, Klein and Leonard exchanged glances.
Sometimes when dealing with major Beyonder incidents, they often used this very reason to explain everything to the outside world.
After a moment of silence, Leonard said, "Klein, there's something I forgot to tell you. After our last investigation of this nursing home, I had a dream that night. A very strange dream. In it, I saw that ghost ship breaking through the storm, and also a shadow whose appearance I couldn't see clearly."
Klein's heart suddenly trembled slightly. He had also had a strange dream.
In his dream, there was a dazzling starry sky.
He told Leonard about it. After comparing the timing, they realized both dreams had occurred during the period of their investigation at the nursing home.
This meant they had successfully attracted the attention of a mysterious existence.