Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 687 - Chapter 687 Chapter 684 Lost in the Night

Chapter 687: Chapter 684: Lost in the Night Chapter 687: Chapter 684: Lost in the Night Once again, the sun extinguished before Duncan and the others.

It happened suddenly, accompanied by a strange low rumble. The sun, which was about to set beyond the horizon, suddenly lost all its brilliance and turned into a terrifying black hole. Meanwhile, the two Rune Circles surrounding the sun still seemed to be basked in sunlight, forming two glaring bright edges around the black hole–limited light spread from the edges of the extinguished sun, leaving a layer of chaotic, dim glow between the sky and the sea, making the sky look even more terrifying and eerie.

As the sun extinguished, the distant Endless Sea had already fallen into darkness. Only the “Luminous Geometric Body” near Light Breeze Harbor continued to emit its usual “sunlight,” maintaining basic illumination within a limited area of the sea–these rays spreading over the sea’s surface became the only comfort under the eerie “night curtain.”

Sherry was completely stunned, staring at the distance and unable to utter a second sentence. However, Nina had already recovered and patted her friend on the shoulder, “Don’t panic, it certainly wasn’t caused by something you said…”

“Of course, I know that!” Sherry almost jumped up, then immediately turned her gaze to Duncan nearby, “Captain, what do we do?”

“Light Breeze Harbor is still there; the Pilgrimage Arks too…” Duncan did not respond to Sherry, but first looked towards Light Breeze Harbor. Under the light of the Luminous Geometric Body, he carefully discerned the distant sea scene–he could clearly see the coastline of Light Breeze Harbor and the silhouette of the Storm Cathedral docked near the City-State, while the other three Pilgrimage Arks, due to the angle, were not entirely visible, but it was quite obvious that they too remained in place.

“…this is the ‘sun extinguishment’…” Rune murmured to himself, recovering from his initial shock, “It’s really happening…”

Banster stared intently at the terrifying black hole hovering over the sea surface, his voice low and somber, “The Spirit Realm’s aura is stirring, but the Creation of the World has not appeared prematurely.”

Duncan looked towards the cardinals, “I remember you mentioned, during the last ‘sun extinguishment,’ the four Pilgrimage Arks did not notice it?”

“Yes,” Rune nodded, “According to your explanation, at that time we stayed with the entire world during those ‘missing’ 12 hours, effectively ‘skipping’ the event of the sun extinguishment–if it wasn’t for later reports from Light Breeze Harbor, Frost, and Prand, we’d never have known what occurred.”

Duncan slowly nodded, his gaze still fixed on the distant city, “But now you’ve seen it, your Pilgrimage Arks are here too, everyone has seen it.”

“What could be the underlying principle behind this?” Rune pondered instinctively, looking at the giant Luminous Geometric Body on the nearby sea surface, gradually coming to a realization, “Is it because the four Pilgrimage Arks are now also within the protective range of ‘that thing’?”

“It probably has something to do with that peculiar Luminous Geometric Body–Prand, Frost, and Light Breeze Harbor, each city-state that remained ‘existent’ during the sun extinguishment has its unique characteristics, with Light Breeze Harbor’s main feature being it always bathes in this strange ‘sunlight’,” Duncan nodded, “But now is not the time to discuss that, you should better check on the condition of the four arks–also, Lucy, can you make contact with the city now?”

“The Brilliant Starship has a radio, and we’ve already contacted Light Breeze Harbor,” Lucy immediately nodded, “The City-State has already sounded the emergency alarms, law enforcement and the knowledge guards are beginning to maintain order; for now, there should be no need for worry.”

“Order is not a concern, but panic is definitely inevitable–and this time, it will be different from the last,” Fenna couldn’t help but mutter, “especially since shortly after the last sun extinguishment, it was followed by the ‘Outbreak of the Dream of the Nameless’…”.

Her words silenced the deck, everyone wearing an expression of subtlety, seriousness, or unease under the dim Sky Light, exchanging glances.

The four cardinals quickly sprang into action, promptly contacting their respective Pilgrimage Arks and checking on the conditions onboard, remotely instructing the priests remaining on the Arks to maintain order, monitor, and gather intelligence, while also ordering each Ark to dispatch some priests to enter Light Breeze Harbor to help control the city’s security and to calm the residents’ nerves.

Meanwhile, Duncan and his group moved to the central deck area, where they found the somewhat chaotic bishop group.

These bishops, who had been scheduled to leave the meeting early, had just garnered an unforgettable memory in the past few minutes–they had barely adapted to the bizarre environment aboard Homeloss, to the various ‘living entities’ and suspicious ‘rules’ on the ship, and had just relaxed a little while enjoying some snacks on the deck to relax their nerves after the conference when–pop!–the sun was extinguished.

No one had even informed them.

Thanks to the emergency “training” they had received before boarding and the “common sense teachings” after boarding, at least half of the bishops, upon seeing the sun extinguishment, subconsciously wondered whether this could also be considered a “natural phenomenon” observabl…

At the semi-permanent floating island research station next to the Luminous Geometric Body, Ted Riel stood with several scholars in the observation deck at the top of the facility, solemnly watching over a radio device–the radio was broadcasting the latest situation inside the City-State.

The extinguishing of the sun had caused a brief city-wide panic, but thereafter, the sheriff’s troops and protectors quickly regained control of the order. Currently, all major districts within the city had entered a state of martial law, main roads were blocked, shelters were all open, gas lamps were lit early, and the sound of the academy’s bell floated above the city.

No Transcendent contamination had been detected entering the city areas, nor had there been reports of personnel suffering from mental contamination or undergoing mental transformations.

The good news was that Light Breeze Harbor was not facing the “sundown” phenomenon for the first time; people were no longer as unprepared as before, which had led to many unnecessary losses amidst the chaos.

The bad news was that after the last “sundown”, the terrifying event of The Dream of the Nameless had occurred, and its lingering terror still haunted the City-State. Although the order in the city had already stabilized quickly, the panic and fear in people’s hearts were still growing silently–everyone was worried about what might happen after this sundown.

Ted Riel knew that this widespread budding fear was the most troublesome thing, as it was uncontrollable and could not be ignored. It would develop like an undercurrent until the crisis ended or evolved into another significant problem.

But there was more than one problem.

Ted Riel frowned, his gaze moving toward a machine at the end of the room.

A recorder was operating with a squeaky creak, its precise gears and linkages driving a steel needle to move rapidly left and right on the track, and a long strip of paper was continuously being expelled, its black lines trembling, sketching messages humans could not understand.

The transmission cycle was twelve seconds, repeated three times, then paused for thirty seconds before reappearing.

Connected to the recorder was a complex optical device located in front of the observation window at the end of the room.

“The luminescent body’s light signals are still continuing, and there was a noticeable increase at the moment of the sundown–it’s now exceeded the highest value ever recorded,” a scholar said beside Ted Riel. “Also, a spare device set up at the upper observation post just received a very faint signal. The content is consistent with what we received here–the spare device was aimed towards the now-extinguished sun.”

“…This is clearly a complete system, the sun, and the Luminous Geometric Body that fell to the mortal world. There’s still some form of connection between them,” another scholar could not help but say, “even though it seems they have separated…”

“No progress in deciphering yet. It would be helpful if some new information appeared in these signals, at least for cross-referencing.”

“News just came from the city’s tall tower; it’s been confirmed that the sun is no longer moving, it’s hovering near the sea level; it has not continued to descend in the past half an hour…”

“No one went to the tower to observe the sun again, did they?!”

“No, it was recorded automatically by instruments, data indirectly read by personnel–since the incident last time, the academy has strictly forbidden observation of the sun under these circumstances…”

Ted Riel listened to this discussion, his brow deeply furled, silent. After a long time of contemplation, he suddenly lifted his head. “I need to return to the City-State.”

“…Indeed, you need to go back to maintain order,” a scholar immediately said, “Leave this place to us. Whatever happens, the observation station will continue to operate; we will not miss any data.”

Ted Riel looked at these highly esteemed and trustworthy scholars, nodded silently, then opened his “Book of Miracles,” which recorded many spells and pieces of knowledge.

He turned to the part of the book that documented “Doors,” tapping his finger on the page.

A phantom door emerged from the book and swiftly formed in the air in front of him, silently opening.

He took a breath and stepped towards the door.

A boundless darkness and chaos engulfed his senses–

He did not arrive at Light Breeze Harbor.