Chapter 208

Chapter 208: A Single Exchange After a Century Apart

Over the vast Boundless Sea, two warships that each carried the curse sailed straight toward one another. Around the two great ships, the sea had been stirred into restless turmoil by invisible forces, and even the sky within a wide range had changed.

Around the Sea Mist, the cold fog spread outward. Floes of ice of all sizes began to appear out of thin air on the surface, even forming ice fields that covered several nautical miles. They slowly turned like a whirlpool. The sea that had been fairly calm now rose in heavy, surging waves, each one stronger than the last, with chaotic cold winds howling between them.

The Vanished, wrapped layer upon layer in ghostly green flame, cut through all these extreme weather signs like a blazing spear. It drove straight toward the Ironclad Warship at the center of the ice field.

The Sea Mist also sped up. Every engine howled like a dying beast. The rudder turned on its own with no one at the helm. The steam whistle of the Cathedral carried on the ship never stopped. That sacred sound now rang out like a Death Knell.

Undying sailors stood on the deck, at the gun positions, and behind every porthole. They watched, eyes wide open, as the warship under their feet charged straight toward the burning ghost ship.

On the bridge, Tyrian could already faintly see the figure on the high stern of the Vanished.

He saw that tall man gripping the wheel, standing on the ship like a reef in a storm. The man looked at Tyrian with a cold, gaze.

He looked so much like the figure in Tyrian’s memory.

Then, as expected, the two ships “collided”.

The imagined destructive impact and breaking apart did not come.

In the next minute, the crew members of the Sea Mist were lucky enough to witness the same kind of terrifying, strange “spectacle” that the White Oak had once encountered. The burning ghost ship rolled over them like a mountain. Ghostly flames surged higher and higher. In those flames, the boundaries of all things blurred.

The Sea Mist turned into a spirit form. The crew members also turned into spirit forms. It looked as if one phantom had crashed straight into another.

First Mate Aiden stared in horror. He saw the bow and masts of the Vanished rush straight toward him, then pass right through him without leaving a scratch. For a brief moment, he broke into one of the Vanished’s cabins. He saw ancient pillars and burning consecrated lanterns roar past, so close they almost brushed his ears.

At the very end, he saw the high deck at the stern of the Vanished, and the tall figure standing behind the wheel.

Tyrian instinctively stepped back half a pace. But in the next second, he straightened his back again, as if his father’s teachings from childhood still rang in his ears.

“Do not back down. Do not bow to the wind and waves.”

So he lifted his head and faced the storm in front of him—faced the father who had been taken away by Subspace and then returned to the Mortal Realm.

Now they stood face to face at an extremely close distance. The stern structure of the Vanished pushed right into the bridge. Duncan stood only a few steps away from the captain’s chair of the Sea Mist.

For a moment, it felt as if the whole world went quiet.

A low, majestic voice reached everyone’s ears: “I am very busy.”

Tyrian’s eyes widened in shock. He snapped his head toward the source of the voice.

But the brief meeting had already ended. The two phantoms, both sailing at full speed, overlapped for only a very short instant. The Vanished’s ghostly hull swept past the Sea Mist like a gust of wind. By the time Tyrian came back to himself, he found that he and his crew had already returned to solid, physical form.

He ran to a viewing window on the other side and saw the Vanished racing full speed toward Pland, leaving the Sea Mist far behind.

The Ironclad Warship slowly came to a stop on the sea. The invisible force that had driven the ship faded. Control returned once more to the hands of the helmsman.

The badly damaged engine system was finally shut down under the sailors’ efforts, but it was clear it would not be easy to start it again.

“…What just happened?” Aiden scratched his bald head. The strong First Mate looked stunned. “That ship… just left like that? Weren’t we supposed to fight to the death?”

A sailor spoke, still shaken: “…It didn’t seem like it wanted to fight us to the death from the start. It barely even slowed down. It just came over and rolled right over us once…”

“Too scary. I even feel like my heart started beating again just now…”

The noise of the crew reached Tyrian’s ears, but he had no mood to listen.

Right now, only one short sentence kept echoing in his mind.

“I am very busy.”

His father had said it. There had been almost no emotion in the voice. It could not be called a greeting between family at all. It was as cold as if Duncan were facing a stranger. But it was, without a doubt, a sentence that humans could understand, clear and rational.

It was not the mad roaring that belonged only to Subspace.

“Captain,” First Mate Aiden came over, looking uneasily at the silent Tyrian. “What do we… do next?”

Tyrian woke from his thoughts and lifted his head. “Can the ship still move?”

“Not really. The engines are shut down now. It will take some time to fix them. And quite a few people were hurt in the battle just now… pretty serious injuries. The kind where they broke into pieces and we have to shovel them up for a long time.” Aiden shook his head. His shiny bald forehead glinted faintly. “But the strangest thing is, the people who took a direct hit from the Vanished’s guns are all fine. Main Guns One and Three are completely gone, but the people in the turrets fell down into the holes without a scratch…”

“People shaken by the shockwave were badly hurt, but the ones hit directly did not die?” Tyrian repeated in surprise, then frowned. “How could that be…”

“Maybe… your father did not go for the kill?” Aiden glanced at his captain and spoke carefully. “Judging from the Vanished’s bombardment, it seemed like it only wanted to make the Sea Mist stop…”

“That’s not…” Tyrian started on reflex, but then shut his mouth. After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head slightly. “Get the ship back under power as soon as you can. At the same time, send a message to Pland. Tell them we did our best to intercept, but the Vanished still headed toward the city-state… The rest, let the much larger City Navy handle. We have already done what we could.”

Aiden accepted the order at once and left. But not long after, he rushed back in a hurry.

“Captain! We can’t reach Pland!”

“Can’t reach them?” Tyrian’s brow tightened. “Is the signal environment still disturbed by the battle just now?”

“No. We can still receive signals from the offshore patrol points, but we cannot receive anything from Pland. Nothing at all.” Aiden spoke fast, his face full of confusion. “It’s like the whole of Pland has vanished from the radio. At this distance, that is impossible.

“And it’s not just the telegraph. The Psychic Call from the Cathedral has no response either!”

“The Psychic Call has no response?!” This time, Tyrian’s expression changed clearly. At the same time, he thought of the Vanished’s mad dash toward Pland at any cost. A strong unease finally rose in his heart. “When did communications cut off? Is anyone watching the telegraph station?”

“The last call was yesterday. We made the routine report to the harbor office in Pland. Everything was normal then.” Aiden thought back and spoke quickly. “Captain, what do we do? Do we still return?”

He paused here, looking a bit hesitant. “This… this is already beyond the original plan.”

Tyrian’s face stayed tense. He did not speak for several seconds. At last he let out a long breath.

“We go to Pland—once the Sea Mist is repaired enough to move, we set out.”

Aiden looked surprised, but after a brief moment of shock, the loyal First Mate straightened at once. “Yes, Captain!”

…

The churning sea around them slowly calmed. Only the sound of waves remained.

The deafening roar of the cannons still echoed in Duncan’s mind, making him unconsciously scratch his ear. He clearly had not yet adapted to that sudden encounter.

Goathead’s voice sounded in his ear: “Just now you headed straight for the Sea Mist at full speed. I thought you wanted to say a few words to Tyrian. After all… this counts as a very meaningful ‘reunion’.”

“That was what I planned at first,” Duncan answered casually. “I just changed my mind all of a sudden.”

“Why?”

“…After meeting him, I suddenly realized I didn’t know what to say,” Duncan said openly. Since he and Goathead had already had that ‘lay-it-all-out’ talk, he no longer spoke as carefully as before. “We are not close.”

“…All right, whatever you say,” Goathead had no objection. “But you should still think about how you plan to get along with your two ‘children’. Everyone here tends to live a long time. You will have to meet them sooner or later. A good family relationship has a huge impact on fate. Back in the day, there was someone who…”

“Shut up.” Duncan cut off the wandering topic with practiced ease. Then, as if he suddenly thought of something, his expression turned a bit strange. “Come to think of it, it’s a pity we were missing someone on the ship this time.”

Goathead hesitated. “Missing someone? You mean…”

“Alice wasn’t here. She is back in the city minding the shop,” Duncan said in a relaxed tone, even with a hint of amusement. “I suddenly remembered that Tyrian once served under the Frostholm Queen for a time. Alice is walking around with the Frostholm Queen’s face.

“Imagine if Alice had been on the ship just now. That would have been interesting. I bet Tyrian would spend days thinking it over after he went back…”

“…”

“Why did you go quiet? Aren’t you usually very talkative?”

“I am not in a position to comment on your family matters…” Goathead replied. “But after hearing you say that, I also think that scene would have been worth seeing… Why don’t we turn back and make another trip? This time we bring Miss Alice along…”

Of course, Duncan ignored that ridiculous suggestion. He stayed silent for two seconds, then suddenly said, “Didn’t see it before, but you really are in it for the laughs.”

“What does ‘in it for the laughs’ mean?”

Duncan did not answer. He simply lifted his head and looked toward a certain spot on the distant sea.

Just now, for an instant, he had clearly sensed the body he left in the city-state of Pland through the Vanished, and had even felt the flames spreading through the city.

It matched his earlier guess. Once the distance was close enough, the connection between the Vanished and Pland… grew stronger.