Chapter 690

Chapter 690.

This time, the Sun went out when it was close to dusk, so not long after the sky lit up again, the sunlight slowly faded away from the surface of the sea.

Vision 001’s magnificent double rune rings slowly sank into the ocean. As the last streak of afterglow vanished from the sky, the veil of night descended. In the districts that the glowing geometric body could not shine on directly, the cold radiance from the World’s Wound and the darkness of night covered everything as usual.

The city grew quiet. The gas lamps on the streets gave off a slightly murky glow under the veil of night. Patrol squads of guardians walked through the streets and alleys, their figures stretching into long shadows at each intersection. The Sun going out felt like a dream that was not quite real, and it was slowly melting into the night.

But Duncan could feel that this “nightmare” had not really faded the way it seemed on the surface. A heavy air still lingered over the city. In these silent neighborhoods, tension and unease grew in the veil of night like thick, sticky sludge.

“Every household has turned on all their lights. The air is tense everywhere,” Shirley lay at the living room window, muttering as she watched the street outside. “I definitely don’t want to go out on the street right now… I feel like I can’t even breathe.”

Dog beside her shook his head and wobbled his neck: “There are at least twice as many guards outside today. If you go out on the street now, the night watch guards will pin you down the moment they see you. You still want to breathe? Then the Captain will have to go to the station and fish us out again. At that point you really won’t be able to breathe…”

Vanna leaned against the window. She lowered her head and glanced at Shirley, who was sprawled on the sill: “I didn’t expect you to be so sensitive to ‘atmosphere’.”

“I know this feeling very well. The gas lamps in the Lower City always lit up later than in other districts. When the veil of night was about to fall, many people couldn’t afford electric lights at home. That tense mood would show up as the sky grew darker. Only when the gas lamps lit up would the whole street let out a long breath, like ‘whooosh’. Then we knew we could sleep in peace.”

“But tonight, even with the whole city lit up, a lot of people are destined to stay awake,” Duncan walked over. He pressed one hand lightly on Shirley’s hair and used the other to rub Dog’s head. “After the Sun has gone out a second time, even the most optimistic people can’t help worrying about one thing – whether the Sun will still rise tomorrow.”

Shirley tilted her head to the side. Then she suddenly jerked up and stared at Duncan in horror: “…Huh!? It really won’t rise tomorrow?!”

Duncan’s face looked odd: “…How would I know? It’s not up to me.”

“Oh.” Shirley scratched her hair. “That’s true…”

At that moment Lucretia walked over from the side: “There’s news from the Observatory. The signal released by the glowing orb has completely stopped. They’re getting ready to send a small team into the glowing orb to check whether that ‘stone sphere’ has changed.”

Duncan raised his eyebrows: “Night work?”

“For the sea where the glowing geometric body is, it is always daytime,” Lucretia spread her hands. “sunlight can calm the power of anomalies on the Boundless Sea. Research around the glowing geometric body has always run in shifts, twenty-four hours a day.”

Duncan nodded. Then he suddenly turned his head in thought and looked toward Alice, who was not far away helping Lunie wind her spring.

The doll noticed his gaze. She raised her head and gave him a harmless, bright smile.

After the Sun lit up again, the error-report signals in Alice’s “eyes” had disappeared. She had gone back to her daily self as if nothing had happened.

But now Duncan felt curious. If he brought her to that stone sphere at this moment, what would happen? This doll, who was in theory a “creation” of the Abyssal Deep Patron, might see something in front of a fragment of Vision 001, which was also made by the Abyssal Deep Patron, that an ordinary person could not see.

In fact, Duncan had once taken Alice to see the glowing geometric body before. But back then, no one realized she and Vision 001 actually shared an almost “same source” connection, so he had not tested anything in that direction. Alice herself had not paid special attention to the glowing geometric body either.

This time, he wanted to run a more deliberate “test”.

“Lucy, I need you to arrange something for me,” Duncan turned his head to Lucretia. “I want to take Alice to see that stone sphere.”

Lucretia froze for a moment, but she quickly understood what Duncan meant and nodded at once: “Understood.”

Duncan grunted in reply, then looked to his side at the empty air.

A streak of ghost-green flame rose out of nowhere where his gaze fell, and a fat pigeon burning with spirit flame flapped its wings and appeared in front of him: “teleportation successful! teleportation successful!”

“We should bring that unlucky ‘Truth Keeper’ over as well,” Duncan said casually. “Go to Lawrence. The White Oak can serve as your beacon. You know the way, right?”

AI tilted his head. After thinking for a moment, he flapped his wings hard: “Air wife! Imaginary wife! Air wife! Imaginary wife!”

“…Lawrence’s wife isn’t imaginary anymore. Don’t say that in front of Martha. She’ll stew you,” Duncan’s eye twitched as he glared at the pigeon, who seemed to get fatter by the day. “On second thought, you can leave a bit later. After that, send Ted Riel straight to the stone sphere. I happen to want to talk to him.”

The pigeon became excited again: “Talk therapy, also known as talk cure~~”

Duncan: “…”

…

Ted Riel wore a warm, thick coat and slowly walked along the stern deck. The cold night wind blew from the sea, carrying a salty, fishy smell. The soft waves tapped against the hull again and again. In the darkness, the sound rose and fell, and his mood gradually calmed.

After the Sun lit up again, it set normally. Familiar dusk passed, and then the quiet veil of night arrived. At this moment, even the cold light of the World’s Wound felt a bit gentle.

“As someone who just finished doing the butterfly stroke in Subspace, your recovery isn’t bad.”

A hoarse, unpleasant voice came from the deck not far away. Ted followed the sound and saw a hideous mummified corpse in a sailor’s smock sitting on a coil of rope near the rail, smiling at him in the dark.

That smile was enough to give a person nightmares for a whole night.

Ted frowned and walked toward the mummified corpse. He leaned on the railing beside it.

“You don’t actually need that thick coat, Mr. Truth Keeper,” the “Sailor” glanced at the coat on Ted’s shoulders and spoke casually. “As far as I know, the Saints are built differently from normal people. A little soak in seawater shouldn’t be enough to make you feel cold… Or is the chill of Subspace still soaking into you?”

“…This is Captain Lawrence’s kindness,” Ted looked down at the coat on himself and answered. Then he frowned again. “I feel like… you know a lot about Saints.”

“I know a little,” the Sailor bared his teeth in a rough grin. “I know that whatever you used to be, after you receive divine blessings, you can’t be counted as completely ‘alive’ anymore. I know your skin can block blades. Your bones can shatter and then grow back. Even if your heart breaks apart, your blood still flows. You can survive for days without breathing. Even a ‘scholar’ like you, once promoted, fears neither heat nor cold, nor diseases, nor most poisons…”

He paused, then casually took a bottle of beer from beside him. As he swung it lightly, he kept speaking: “Strictly speaking, you Saints are a group of anomalies kept in an unsealed state. Ordinary anomalies go into runaway state once they are unsealed, but you… those divine blessings that were given to you are still controlling you.”

Listening to the mummified corpse ramble, Ted’s expression suddenly grew serious: “How do you know all this?”

“I’m a Sailor. Sailors should know many strange things, because we are the restless souls wandering on the Boundless Sea,” the Sailor stretched his cracked lips in another grin and raised the beer in his hand. “We wander when we’re alive, or wander after we’re dead. Wander long enough, and you learn things. There is nothing new on the Boundless Sea. Want a drink? Pure Storm Brew. Good wine made by the Deep Sea Church. I stole it from the captain’s private stash.”

“…You dared to steal from the captain?”

“Stealing wine from the captain’s stash is also a necessary part of being a Sailor. Getting hanged from the mast afterward is another part,” the mummified corpse laughed in his hoarse voice. He raised the bottle and poured it straight down his throat. A moment later, the beer leaked out through the holes in his ruined chest and a large tear at the side of his neck, dripping onto the deck. “Ahhh… good stuff.”

Ted did not care about the mummified corpse’s jokes. He still watched this anomaly number 077 with suspicion. In official records, it was marked as a “special runaway-state anomaly”. After a while, he suddenly asked, “You must have been a person once, right?”

“How would I know?” the Sailor shrugged without concern. “Under certain conditions, ‘people’ can become anomalies too. If you think I was, then sure, I was.”

Ted noticed that the Sailor was dodging the question, so he did not push further. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly changed the subject: “Where is this ship going?”

“Lunsa. The captain took a big job. We’re going there to pick up twelve sealed objects and transport them to another northern city-state.”

“…How many?!”

“Twelve.”

“…A large transport ship personally escorted by a Saint is only supposed to carry eight anomalies at a time. Have you never considered the strict containment rules for anomalies, or the possibility that they might conflict and interfere with one another?” Ted stared in shock. “Who signed the permit for you?!”

“The Deep Sea Church did. Why?” The Sailor gave Ted a glance. “Don’t make such a fuss. This is the Vanished Fleet’s dedicated transport service. We’re carrying twelve because Lunsa only has twelve sealed objects that meet the shipping conditions. As for sealed objects going into runaway state…”

The mummified corpse stopped, then raised a hand and pointed at himself. “I’m the only runaway-state anomaly on this ship. I’m on duty here twenty-four hours a day. Go ashore and I fight. Back on board I scrub the deck. When someone finishes doing the butterfly stroke in Subspace, I have to dive down and fish him out. If I had a second chance, I’d rather rot in the shroud and never wake up.

“Any anomaly that needs ‘transfer transport’ to strengthen its seal has at least some thinking ability. When they see me like this, every single one of them gets quiet as a quail once they’re on board. The ones that can move on their own even learned to help close the sealed vault door after the captain finishes his inspection…”

Ted: “…?”