Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 763 - Chapter 763 Chapter 760 Reunion After a Long Separation

Chapter 763: Chapter 760 “Reunion After a Long Separation Chapter 763: Chapter 760 “Reunion After a Long Separation The years had eroded the words, and the misplacement inside and outside the boundary had twisted the carrier of those words into something else–an old and ragged shroud that now only faintly revealed chaotic inscriptions like “Karan,” “boundary,” “Leviathan,” and even distinguishing these few words required a full display of observation and imagination.

Anomaly 077 stared blankly at the shroud before him–it had been brought over from the Sea Song’s storeroom on the captain’s order. Since he had lost his peace and become a member of the Sea Song, this shroud had always been kept in the ship’s containment room.

“I haven’t looked at it carefully in a long time… no, it seems I’ve never really looked at it,” Anomaly 077 muttered softly, his withered fingers slowly caressing what seemed like dirt on the surface of the shroud, but were actually the traces of blotchy text, “I’ve never noticed these words before…”

“It’s quite normal, had it not been for a deliberate search, most people would consider these marks as insignificant dirt even if they saw them,” Lawrence commented indifferently, “Would anyone have connected these stains on a tattered cloth with Captain Karan’s log? Especially when only such faint traces remain… all useful information has been rubbed away.”

“Yes, only such faint traces remain…” the sailor said dejectedly, “This can hardly be called the captain’s log; these sporadic letters are completely useless… It was supposed to be a thick book, not this ‘tattered cloth’…”

“This may have something to do with your return from beyond the boundary to the Endless Sea, that ‘Six Nautical Miles threshold’ seems to irrevocably change the nature of certain things,” Lawrence said, “It turned you into Anomaly 077, and Captain Karan’s log into the shroud on your body–but either way, these are crucial clues, and ‘he’ needs these clues.”

The “sailor” stood silently next to the shroud, suddenly becoming very quiet. He seemed to be struggling intensely with his thoughts and hesitated for a long time before slowly nodding his head.

“Alright, take me there, ‘he’ has been waiting for a long time.”

Lawrence immediately exhaled softly and then stepped back half a step to the side, and at almost the same time, a phantom green flame appeared where he had just stood–

The flame soared into the air, in the blink of an eye adopting the substance of flowing water from its nearly transparent, spectral form. The captain’s power crossed distant spans, using Lawrence as a beacon to project into the room. Subsequently, the center of the fire began to swirl inward, then undulate and expand, a terrifying skeletal giant bird burst forth from the fiery vortex!

The “sailor” took a half step back at the sight of the turning flames and the skeletal giant bird circling near the ceiling, then turned his head to look at Lawrence: “Is this thing really okay?”

“This is when you start having doubts?” Lawrence immediately glared, “Don’t tell me you don’t want to go now– if ‘he’ has to come from the other side to drag you, it won’t be this nice!”

The “sailor” immediately shrank his neck, looking conflicted as he stepped toward the fiery gateway, but stopped halfway: “Does this thing hurt?”

Lawrence wordlessly walked over, standing behind the “sailor.”

The “sailor” shuddered all over as if all the goosebumps that had rotted away over two centuries had come back to life: “No, no, no, I’ll go in, I’ll go in myself…”

While speaking, he stepped towards the revolving flames, then hesitated, closing his eyes and stretching out a hand to touch the fiery vortex, quickly retracting it: “Ah fuck, it’s kind of hot… Captain, maybe we should think of something else…”

Lawrence kicked him: “You talk too much!”

The “sailor’s” brief cry of alarm was swallowed up by the roaring flames.

“Fuel up, let’s go!” The skeletal giant bird circling near the ceiling screeched and then followed through the flaming gateway–but a second later, it emerged from the gate again, grabbed the shroud that was placed to the side with its talons, and dove back through the portal.

Lawrence sighed softly.

But just as he was about to walk away, the roaring, expanding gateway of flames suddenly crackled open again, and Ai Yi who had just left came back through.

The skeletal giant bird approached Lawrence, who stood staring in disbelief as it flapped its wings, emitting a hoarse, unpleasant voice: “Order some fries, order some fries, order some fries…”

Lawrence almost stumbled back in shock from the “messenger,” managing to step back two paces to stabilize himself before realizing he had forgotten the important “sacrifice” and “medium” required to summon the messenger, and broke out in a cold sweat: “I… wasn’t prepared…”

The skeletal giant bird cocked its head, staring with flame-covered hollow eye sockets at Lawrence, who tensed as the bird kept its gaze fixed on him. In that brief few seconds, Lawrence’s mind was a carousel of the many classic cases related to summoning and sacrifice that circulated among the captains of the Endless Sea–

A Wizard accidently offered the wrong sacrifice while attempting to summon a Spirit World Shadow and was slapped to death against the wall by its powerful backlash; Heretics who used insufficient sacrifices in their bid to summon demons were slapped to death against the wall by the furious demons; Saints of the Truth who inadvertently triggered a curse to summon evil spirits while studying ancient artifacts had to put down the out-of-control spirits against the wall because they hadn’t prepared any sacrifices…

Lawrence wasn’t sure about the temperament of the captain’s peculiar messenger named “Ai Yi,” but he quickly guessed that he would probably have a hard time slapping this bird to death against the wall.

So he nervously swallowed, beginning to regret his careless move–although, in theory, everyone was a follower of Captain Duncan, who knew whether this inhuman-looking “messenger” would even have a concept of “colleagues”…

Then he saw the skeleton giant bird in front of him suddenly retract its head, turn around, fly into that flame door, and complain as it flew, “What a lousy shift, no overtime pay, what a lousy shift, no overtime pay…”

And then the terrifying messenger disappeared into the room along with the door.

Lawrence: “…?”

…

Duncan looked at Exception 077, who was almost thrown out of the portal by Ai Yi, then turned to glance at the pigeon spirit that seemed still puffed up with anger, pacing around on the coffee table, and felt a bit puzzled: “What’s wrong with this pigeon now?”

Alice scratched her head: “Dunno, it seems to be in a bad mood…”

“… Never mind, get it something to eat, it should cheer up again.”

With an offhand wave, Duncan casually gave the order, then refocused his attention on Exception 077, who was holding his waist and shakily standing up.

“Long time no see, ‘Sailor’.”

The exception known as ‘Sailor,’ who was sluggishly getting up, seemingly trying to avoid eye contact with anyone else in the living room, visibly shuddered when he heard the captain addressing him. It looked like he couldn’t avoid it any longer and finally stood up straight, warily looking around in the midst of his nervousness.

“Uh… Long time no see, Captain, long time no see, everyone, long time no see…”

He circled around, greeting everyone in the living room, just like he used to do in front of Captain Duncan, but suddenly he stopped.

Helena was standing not far away.

The Female Pope, who presided over the Deep Sea Church, quietly watched this mummified figure, her expression turning to a frown as she tried hard to recall the appearance of the Sea Song’s first mate who she had personally met not so long ago. However, no matter how she tried, she seemed unable to connect the loyal and determined first mate with the hunched over, frightening-faced “Exception 077” in front of her.

After observing for a while, Helena broke the silence: “I can’t recognize you.”

“Yes, it’s been more than two hundred years since we last met–or perhaps even longer,” the mummy cracked a smile, uttering a hoarse and unpleasant sound. He took a couple of steps towards Helena, seemingly in an attempt to bow, but just raised his hand and then dropped it, “… I can’t remember that gesture.”

“You’re the first mate of the Sea Song?” Helena asked–though the question seemed unnecessary.

“Yes, that’s how I remember it,” said the ‘Sailor’, pointing to his head, “But those messy impressions buzz around here, I can’t remember many details. I only remember that before we set sail, Captain Karan and I received your personal blessing on the Ark, you anointed our wrists with ointment… The sun hadn’t completely set yet.”

Helena hesitated for a few seconds: “… Yes, that was not long ago.”

“To me, it’s been a very long time,” muttered the ‘Sailor’, glancing back at Duncan, “I’ve told you all I know, the parts I haven’t mentioned, Captain Lawrence must have reported to you, right?”

Duncan nodded, walked over to the low table, and reached for the dirty, tattered “cloth”–seemingly unfazed by its repulsive texture: “Is this the ‘shroud’ Lawrence mentioned?”

Several gazes in the living room focused on the cloth in Duncan’s hands, Helena couldn’t help but step forward, the ‘Sailor’ nodded: “Yes, that’s it… Captain Karan’s handwriting is still on it, although I don’t know why it turned out like this, but it should be the ship’s log of the Sea Song… Before Captain Karan dissipated, she left it to me, one of the few things I remember very clearly.”

Duncan examined the “writing” on the tattered piece of cloth, slowly frowning: “… It’s completely illegible now.”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid it had already become like this by the time I got back to the Endless Sea,” the ‘Sailor’ shook his head, “That boundary… It prevents us from bringing secrets from beyond the world back home.”

Duncan listened silently, pondering quietly, and everyone in the living room unconsciously quieted down, with only the ticking of the clock echoing in the stillness.

After a long while, Duncan suddenly raised his head: “Do you mind if I run some ‘extreme’ tests on it?”