Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 690 - Chapter 690 Chapter 687 Settling Down and Communicating

Chapter 690: Chapter 687: Settling Down and Communicating Chapter 690: Chapter 687: Settling Down and Communicating The sun’s extinguishing could cause the teleportation spell to malfunction and make people disappear from the real world?

After hearing Lucresia’s analysis, a wave of doubt rose in Duncan’s heart for a moment, but considering how many strange and inexplicable events had already occurred in this world, and the sun’s extinguishing being the most peculiar of all, nothing seemed surprising anymore–the most important thing now was to figure out where the “Truth Confidant” had gone.

Just then, Duncan furrowed his brow and appeared as though he heard something from afar, his expression suddenly becoming odd.

Alice, who was closest to him, noticed first, “Eh? Captain, what’s wrong?”

Duncan raised his head and looked at Lucresia and Morris, who were discussing how to proceed with the search for Ted’s whereabouts, with a subtly nuanced expression, “…Cough, no need to search.”

Lucresia & Morris, “Ah?”

“He’s fine,” Duncan waved his hand, “Ted Riel is now on the White Oak.”

The people in the living room exchanged puzzled glances, and after a few seconds of silence, it was Fenna who broke the silence, “…The White Oak? Lawrence’s ship? How did he end up there?!”

“It’s unclear; even Ted Riel himself can’t explain it,” Duncan sighed as he continued to keep in touch with Lawrence in his mind and spoke absentmindedly, “Just like the last time the sun went out, the White Oak was sailing on the sea–at that time, the sailors found Ted Riel drifting at the ‘Dark Boundary’ on the sea’s surface, and anomaly 077 pulled him aboard… Lawrence said that Ted’s mental state was very confused for a while, and he couldn’t even converse with people. Only now is he somewhat recovered; it seems he visited a very distant place. From those fragmented descriptions he gave…”

Duncan paused here, his expression slightly stern.

“It’s suspected to be Subspace.”

…

Ted Riel, wrapped in a thick blanket, sat in the brightly lit cabin. Someone handed him a cup of hot tea that was still a bit scalding. He held the cup and looked up to say thanks, “Thank you.”

The withered and frightening mummy stood in front of him, gesturing with its hand, “Just don’t knock me flying again next time–you know, if these old bones of mine break, I don’t know if they can be mended.”

Ted’s expression became suddenly animated, as if recalling some unpleasant experience. He awkwardly pulled at the corners of his mouth at this anomaly that was clearly out of control and yet moving about White Oak and working diligently like a regular crew member, and finally, he couldn’t help but ask, “You are anomaly 077–the Sailor?”

“Eh, you recognize me?” The mummy perked up upon hearing this, coming closer while speaking, “Ordinary people usually just scare at the sight of me, but you know my name and number?”

“…I am the Truth Confidant of Light Breeze Harbor,” Ted Riel looked indifferently at the mummy sitting down next to him, “I personally signed your Transition file years ago.”

The mummy, who had been halfway into sitting down, suddenly leaped up, staring at Ted Riel with wide eyes and trembling fiercely, “You… you… are you from the church?!”

“Calm down, ‘Mr. Mummy’,” Ted seemed to have anticipated such a reaction, speaking with a look of resignation, “I know you are currently a ‘runaway anomaly’ of special circumstances, don’t worry, I won’t forcibly contain you…”

He hadn’t finished speaking when the mummy “plopped” to the ground, seizing the edge of the blanket with its withered hands and wailing in a way that could make one’s skin crawl, “I’ve been waiting for someone from the church to come! Please seal me! A working rope would suffice! Worst case, give me a shroud and I’ll wrap myself up… Or maybe hit me harder than before…”

Ted never expected such a scene. The mummy’s howling convulsively and frantic actions left him flustered, as he hurriedly pulled on the blanket while retreating, “Stop, stop, stop… calm down… don’t pull… that’s not what I meant… we can talk, but you have to calm down first, resealing isn’t just something you say and it’s done…”

But the mummy clearly wasn’t listening to him, continuing to wail and carry on like the din of a steam core engine room, babbling about “resealing,” “needing a rope,” and “hanging from the mast,”–a cacophony of rational tearing and emotional contamination.

Honestly, after half a minute, Ted Riel even began to miss his “lovely” students–although they often looked at him with clear yet stupid eyes, at least the worst they would do in class was fall asleep.

That was much quieter than now.

However, fortunately, the noisy mummy’s commotion didn’t last too long–just when Ted Riel was starting to consider whether to take anomaly 077’s advice and beat him half to death, the cabin door was pushed open.

Lawrence, still burning with a faint green flame, stepped through the door.

The previously howling anomaly 077 instantly quieted down, greeted the captain with a cheeky smile, and then disappeared from the room in the blink of an eye.

Ted gaped in astonishment at the direction where the “sailor” had vanished.

It took a while before he turned his head towards Lawrence, “I never imagined that the ‘sailor,’ which countless sailors dread, would look like this after losing control…”

Looking surprised, Lawrence asked, “Have you never seen Miss Alice?”

“…Well, Captain, you have a point,” Ted pondered for a moment, then waved his hand, “It seems that anything that comes into contact with Homeloss turns into… something inconceivable.”

“Yes, inconceivable, but at least it isn’t bad,” Lawrence smiled, walking over as he spoke, “Don’t mind that neurotic mummy, and don’t take seriously his request for resealing–he’s just being dramatic. True, he might have started off by trying to escape reality, but in fact, he’s quite comfortable on this ship; he’s just unwilling to admit it.”

“It sounds like you’ve become quite familiar with Anomaly 077?”

“A captain’s duty and fundamental quality requires me to know every person on my ship, including that guy,” explained Lawrence as he sat next to Ted, turning his head to check on the color of his “temporary passenger,” “How are you feeling, Mr. Truth Confidant?”

“I still hear some faint noise in my head occasionally, but it’s much better compared to before,” Ted exhaled, “Right now, the biggest problem is the clutter of memories wriggling in my brain–scenes that are real, false, distorted by a self-protective mechanism–I find it hard to discern which ones to trust… It feels like I’ve already traversed through that dark place for a century… yet you tell me that I’ve only been away from Light Breeze Harbor for a mere fifteen minutes?”

“Yes, just a few minutes, Mr. Truth Confidant,” Lawrence nodded, “When we hauled you up, you had only disappeared through the portal for but a short while–so now, we are very eager to know what exactly you experienced during that ‘short while.'”

“‘We’?” Ted Riel sharply caught a word the captain had mentioned.

“I’ve just talked to my ‘boss’, and he’s already aware of what has happened here–The ‘disappearance’ of a Truth Confidant caused some chaos in Light Breeze Harbor but thankfully, before the chaos could spread, the White Oak found you,” Lawrence continued, “You don’t have to worry much about the City-State; as long as Homeloss is near that city, there’s no safer place on the Endless Sea than Light Breeze Harbor. As for you here…”

The old captain paused, then after a moment of thought, he carried on, “We are still unsure of how much change this sun extinction has caused to the world; attempting to open a spatial Transition may be exceedingly risky, so just stay comfortably on this ship for now. Take this time to tell me what you saw in that ‘darkness’–‘he’s’ very much interested in it.”

Ted Riel’s expression gradually grew grave.

After pondering briefly, he looked into the eyes of the captain before him, “You must already know, my experiences are related to Subspace–this knowledge isn’t safe.”

Lawrence shrugged, “My boss is also involved with Subspace–his knowledge is even more dangerous than yours.”

Ted thought it over and decided the other man was right.

“…Alright, then where would be a good place to start?”

“Let’s begin with that inverted mansion floating in the darkness that you just deliriously mentioned…”

…

“Ted Riel is considered lucky; he survived Subspace and his recovery isn’t bad–right now he’s on the White Oak narrating those incredible experiences. Perhaps before long, we might receive astounding reports about Subspace.”

Duncan briefly concluded the communication with White Oak and redirected his attention to Light Breeze Harbor. He outlined the current situation relayed by Lawrence, then his gaze settled on Lucrezia.

“From what we currently understand, his experience is different from mine.”

“…After all, he ‘left’ for only fifteen minutes, while you’ve been in Subspace for a century,” Lucrezia’s face bore a complex expression, “Just fifteen minutes was enough to nearly shatter the sanity of a saint, almost tearing him into a Subspace rift… even though he was once able to resist until the end under the influence of Silantis…”

“Fortunately, the only loss on the White Oak was that Anomaly 077 got punched,” Duncan waved it off, quickly changing the subject, “Before more news arrives from there, let’s focus on the world post-sun extinction… Lucy, I want to know what the deal is with that strange ‘signal’?”

(Promotion time~ Title of the book: “Stellar Fate Destiny,” here’s the synopsis directly:

First hammer out a bunch of superluminal communication antennas, then rig up a couple of backup shipboard mainframes and interstellar travel modules… oh dear, what’s this coming again?”

Facing an onslaught of chaotic behemoths, Ampe scratched his head, allowing the spaceship to unfold on the spot, creating a base out of thin air.)