Chapter 678

Chapter 678: The Road in the Mist

The four great Churches had gathered massive fleets along the borders of the civilized world, and they had been doing this for quite some time.

Because regular patrol fleets had been reduced, and a huge number of ships, personnel, and supplies were being redeployed toward the region near the Eternal Veil, such a large?scale mobilization could not be hidden from the border city?states. Long before today, Lucretia had already learned of these unusual moves from Sara Mell, yet until now, she and Duncan had never been able to figure out the Churches’ purpose—until now.

The truth that the gods were dead, the true function of the Pilgrimage Ark, and the fact that the gods had already entered the “corruption stage” ahead of time finally let Duncan guess the purpose of those fleets.

After a moment of silence, Helena finally spoke: “We are looking for Them. That was one of our goals, and it was our very first goal.”

Lucretia sprang to her feet, staring at the four popes across from her in disbelief: “You mean the gods are inside that thick fog of the Eternal Veil?! Right outside the border?!”

Banster, the old man in black robes, answered her, slowly shaking his head: “We are not sure. But we are certain that the first traces of rot seeped in from the Eternal Veil at the border. So for now, our plan is only to find the source of that presence. As for what we will see at that source… no one knows.”

Rune picked up the thread: “It might be the gods’ divine realm. It might just be some kind of junction that links Them to the mortal world. Or it might be…”

He stopped there and did not finish the rest.

After a brief silence, Duncan suddenly asked: “You said this was only one of your goals. What about the others? Besides searching for Them, what else do you intend to do?”

Helena answered: “Another goal is to figure out what has really happened to this world. Reports of the border collapsing are increasing by the day. Together with the recent ‘malfunctions’ of the Sun, all kinds of anomalies related to the Eternal Veil are becoming more and more frequent. It is obvious that the thick fog there may be hiding secrets closely tied to our world’s present state and its very foundations.”

Duncan could not help pressing her: “So you figure out what has happened to the world… and then what?” He had an instinctive feeling that Helena was not finished.

Helena said: “If possible, we will try to find a ‘new route’ that can pass all the way through the Veil, then take as many people as we can out before the worst happens. If the ‘collapse’ inside the Veil is already set in stone, then our only way out is to leave. There may be other worlds beyond the Veil—wider worlds.”

“Maybe those worlds will not be very habitable, maybe the world beyond the Veil will be even more dangerous than the Boundless Sea. But as long as we can still survive, no matter how harsh the environment, it can become a new cradle for civilization. As long as we stay alive, life will find a way out, even if that means a long and painful process of adaptation… or even mutation.”

As Helena’s voice fell, the hall fell silent. Duncan could feel Vanna, Morris, and the others beside him unconsciously holding their breath. After several seconds, he finally heard Vanna break the silence: “Has the situation already become that bad?”

Rune shook his head: “The worst part is that we do not even know how bad things can get. Without the warning from the Vanished, we would not even know that last time the Sun went completely dark for twelve hours. During those twelve hours, the four arks vanished from this world together with the other city?states. That only made us even more certain that we must face whatever is coming with the worst possible expectations.”

Duncan suddenly spoke in a flat voice. His tone was not loud, but his words fell coldly into everyone’s heart: “But ‘the world beyond the Veil’ is only a guess, a guess with no basis. Very likely, this is nothing more than your wishful effort.”

Helena’s expression did not change at all. She calmly and openly met Duncan’s gaze: “It is better than doing nothing. We are not acting because we are sure something will succeed, but because we have no other choice. There may be nothing beyond the Eternal Veil. It is even very possible that the Eternal Veil has no end at all, and we will never find that so?called new route. But we still have to do something…”

She stopped. Frem, who had barely spoken until now, broke the silence in a low voice: “Under an even worse scenario, we are even considering how to survive inside the Eternal Veil itself.”

Nina could not help crying out in shock: “Survive inside the Eternal Veil?!” She had kept quiet all this time, just sitting quietly beside her Uncle Duncan, because she felt this was not the kind of occasion where she could speak up as she pleased. But this time she really could not hold back: “Can anyone even live there? Can humans really survive and multiply in that fog?”

“Not right now,” Frem said calmly, shaking his head. “At least with the current form of mortal life, and with what we currently understand about the rules of the Eternal Veil, human society still cannot survive and multiply in that fog. And by ‘human society’ here, I also mean elves and Senkin.”

Nina opened her mouth: “Then…”

Helena spoke softly: “That is what I mentioned just now. We may need a long and painful process of adaptation, or even mutation. We may need to become something that is no longer ‘us’ in order to survive in the world that comes after. Perhaps we will become like those eerie shadows that appear in the mist, or like those murmuring noises in the wind…”

Duncan asked again: “And if that still is not enough? The chaos of the Eternal Veil may be something that can never be ‘adapted’ to. If both the new route plan and the adaptation plan fail…”

Banster spoke calmly: “Then we will go to the Spirit Realm. If the Spirit Realm still does not work, then we will launch a full assault on the Abyssal Deep Sea. Since there are people in this world who can summon demons into the Mortal Realm, we can also go to the worlds of those demons. If they can survive in the Abyssal Deep, in the Deep Sea, then so can we. And if even that does not work, then we still have Subspace.”

This time even Shirley could not hold back: “S?Subspace?”

Banster nodded slightly: “No one can survive Subspace. Every mortal who has seen it dissolves into eternal madness and distortion. But if we really reach the final moment, Subspace can still be a choice. Any choice, even the worst choice, is better than calmly and meekly walking toward Doomsday.”

Shirley and Nina both fell silent, a stunned look on their faces.

Duncan wore a thoughtful expression. He fixed his gaze on the four figures across the table for a long time before finally speaking softly: “Is this the ‘revelation’ you received?”

Helena spoke slowly: “This is not a revelation. These are ‘instructions’ we received through one chaotic, faint exchange after another.” She raised her hand and traced on her chest the sigil of storm and the Deep Sea. “They told us to stay alive—to live on at any cost, by any means.”

Duncan did not speak for a moment.

He fell into thought, and was somewhat shaken.

He had to admit that these people, who always seemed late to every ‘incident’ and even a bit slow and powerless, had actually done far more than he had imagined.

Compared to the Elder Gods and the Vanished, they truly did not have much power. But they were trying to do things that even the Vanished and the Elder Gods could not do.

After that silence had dragged on for an unknown time, he finally broke it: “I want to know what progress you have made so far.”

Helena hesitated for a few seconds, then sighed softly: “Unfortunately, our progress is still limited. We have set up several forward bases at the critical line six nautical miles inside the Eternal Veil and can barely hold our ground there, but that is all. To this day, no one has been able to break the ‘record’ left by the Vanished back then.”

Duncan shook his head, his tone quite calm: “the Vanished got into ‘trouble’ as soon as it returned from beyond six nautical miles inside the Veil. Strictly speaking, that was not really a successful ‘exploration record’.”

The four popes’ expressions all turned a bit strange. Clearly, none of them felt it was suitable to continue that topic.

Duncan did not mind. He merely adjusted his posture, quickly sorted out his thoughts, and then changed the subject: “Since your progress on that front has already stalled, I happen to have some ‘intel’ that might be useful. You will probably be interested.”

Helena spoke without thinking: “Intel?”

Duncan nodded and said unhurriedly: “A couple of days ago, my daughter and I ‘captured’ a ship. It was a large vessel built by the Annihilators, the ‘base’ they used in the previous Lightwind Harbor incident to invade the dreamscape. It was covered in traces of bloody rituals and profane constructs… but that is not the main point.

“The point is that a ship like that clearly cannot dock and resupply at any normal city?state. So guess where its home port is.”

Helena, Rune, and the others looked at each other, but they almost immediately reacted. Rune was the first to speak: “Wait, you mean… the border?!”

“Yes. They are hiding inside that fog.” Duncan did not keep them in suspense and instead nodded with a serious expression. “It is one of the Annihilators’ nests, and it may even be their largest nest and ‘headquarters’. They call it the ‘Holy Land’. Right now I still cannot be sure what shape this so?called Holy Land is in, and I do not know whether it lies on the ‘near side’ or the ‘far side’ of the six?nautical?mile line. But even if it is on the relatively stable near side, a ‘Veil colony’ that has been hidden inside the Eternal Veil for so long, and can even operate steadily as a large resupply port, should be of great research value to us.”