Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 767 - Chapter 767 764 chapter Sailing into the Night

Chapter 767: 764 chapter Sailing into the Night Chapter 767: 764 chapter Sailing into the Night The night continued on the twenty-second day after the sun had set. Messages from afar began to report many disturbing situations.

In the distant Cold Harbor, a massive shadow briefly appeared above the sea–it towered like a sea cliff, resembling a weightless fog. Silently, the shadow drifted from the nearby sea region into the sky, closing in like a curtain beside the City-State. Almost no one saw the shadow appear until a night watch priest suddenly felt a gaze from the sky during a hallucination, and all the churches rang their bells simultaneously, startling the shadow back into the night.

In the warm Moco, the entire Lower City District was once soaked in a strange mist tinged with crimson and rot. Several blocks’ lighting failed almost simultaneously, and the crimson, rotten mist even briefly seeped into the churches and the night Shelter. When the Truth Confidant of the City-State finally dispersed the fog that had risen from the night, the fog-covered district reported several disappearances–including two technicians checking the steam hubs.

The Palman Islands reported that a fleet suddenly appeared nearby and approached the City-State in the night–The City-State issued a no-landing order and directed the fleet to temporarily dock at a nearby gathering point. However, the fleet seemed unaware of the “prolonged night,” as they bewilderedly inquired about the night and insisted it was a “normal day” with “warm and bright sunlight shining on the deck,” even questioning if the City-State’s people were insane.

As the eerie fleet ignored orders and insisted on approaching the City-State, the local City-State navy had to fire upon all the unidentified ships emerging from the night–the radio filled with screams of terror, desperate curses, and calls until the burning wreckage spread across the sea.

No one knew what the City-State navy had destroyed in the night, nor did they know what kind of “sunlight” the fleet that approached from the night was bathed in.

It was now the twenty-second day of the night, and the worldly order was still barely maintained, as the shaky “peace” gradually succumbed in this prolonged night.

In the Lower City District of Prand, a gas lamp outside Duncan’s antique shop emitted a dim yellow light. The lamp posts, lined up like sentinels on the deserted streets, flickered with subtle, hard-to-detect ghostly green flames.

Duncan sat in a chair next to the display window, wiping a brass ornament while casually flipping through an old book.

It was one of Morice’s collections, a magnum opus left by the famous “mad poet” Puman.

On the opened page, inscribed in beautiful script–

“We shall have a long voyage…”

Duncan wasn’t particularly interested in the world’s poetry, but in times when the entire City-State fell silent, it somewhat helped pass the time.

It had been a long time since there had been any customers–every item in the antique shop had doubled in “history,” and foreseeably, this situation would continue for a while.

But just then, the sound of the door being pushed open interrupted Duncan’s daydream–the bell rang crisply, and he looked up towards the shop entrance to see a man and a woman emerge from the night, carrying a hint of restraint and tension.

“…Quite rare,” Duncan glanced casually at the two, confirming they were just ordinary humans, and couldn’t help but be a bit surprised. “People are still out strolling at this hour?”

The young man immediately became a bit nervous, tugging at his coat while surveying the surroundings and quickly responding, “We saw that the door was still open… most shops are locked up…”

“We work in the steam pump room and the power plant,” the young woman quickly added, as if afraid of being misunderstood, explaining their “legitimacy” for being out at this moment. “We have passes.”

“Oh,” Duncan said casually, setting down the brass ornament and with slight amusement, glancing at the two nervous young people. “Don’t be so stiff, I’m not going to check your passes… Are you here to buy something?”

“We’d like to buy a pair of porcelain plates, the kind for decorating a fireplace,” the young man promptly replied, then added, “…not too expensive.”

They really were here to shop.

Duncan raised an eyebrow, stood up, and walked over to the adjacent shelf, talking as he went, “This is an antique shop, nothing’s cheap–of course, business is slow now, I can give you a discount, the original price of over four thousand is reduced to twenty-six…”

He suddenly turned his head, curiously watching the couple: “But I’m just curious, why buy these now? I mean, why choose this time?”

The two customers exchanged glances, and the young woman smiled shyly, “We’re getting married.”

Duncan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“We’re decorating our new home,” the young man continued, “We want to get some decorative items… Most stores are closed, but we heard you were still open, so we thought we’d try our luck…”

“…A long and dark night, and here I meet a couple getting married,” Duncan spoke softly, finding several beautiful decorative porcelain plates on the shelf, almost talking to himself, “Why not wait until daylight?”

“What if the sun doesn’t rise?” the young man suddenly asked.

Duncan turned back, gazing steadily into his eyes.

“Now, we don’t know what the future holds… Our wedding was supposed to be held two weeks ago, but it got postponed until now, and we both feel… we shouldn’t delay any further.”

“The wedding will be small, won’t violate the current night curfew, and the church’s priest agreed to give us a small ‘witness’ at our home if the sun doesn’t rise again…”

The young woman said, but seemed to falter after mentioning “if the sun doesn’t rise again,” unsure how to proceed, and awkwardly smiled.

It was clear that they were not good with words–yet in that slightly restrained smile, everything they wanted to express no longer needed to be described through words.

Life must go on–panic and complaints won’t wake the sun.

“Pick a favorite,” Duncan suddenly smiled, turning to point at those beautiful dishes shimmering under the electric light on the shelves, “all come with a solid wood stand.”

The two young people chose for a while and finally selected a pair of light green and gold-decorated porcelain dishes characteristic of the southern Elves, and they waited for Duncan to wrap the items in thick paper, after which the young girl shyly smiled and asked, “How much?”

“It’s on the house,” Duncan casually said.

The two young people’s eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s a wedding gift for you–the night is still long, I hope this gift brings you good luck.”

The young man hesitated slightly, “But…”

“Don’t waste time, your passes aren’t valid all day,” Duncan said with a smile as he walked towards the shop door, “Don’t worry, I’ve already received your ‘compensation.'”

The young man puzzled, “You’ve already received…?”

Duncan opened the antique shop’s grand door, and in the night, the bright street lights illuminated the path leading into the depths of the night. Smiling, he pointed to the brightly lit avenue, “A good mood.”

The guests left, and the antique shop returned once again to silence. Duncan stood at the door for a moment and finally exhaled softly, retracting his gaze from the street.

The docks of Light Breeze Harbor were basking in the pale golden “sunlight.”

Homeloss’s towering masts creaked softly, and the semi-transparent Spiritual Body sails around the masts gradually came into clear view, and as the sails filled with wind, the large sail exploration ship tilted slightly at an angle and began to move away from the dock.

Nearby, the sounds of the propellers starting on the Brilliant Starship coupled with the crashing waves, the Witch of the Sea’s flagship also slowly moved away from the dock.

Standing next to Duncan on the ship’s stern deck, Alice suddenly noticed a smile appearing on the captain’s face.

“Why are you smiling?” the automaton asked curiously, “Is there something happy?”

Duncan turned his head and glanced at Light Breeze Harbor being left behind by Homeloss, seeing the City-State with its thousands of lights and the sparse, dim sunlight spread from the direction of the coastline, covering the island–and as the distance grew, all the light gradually dimmed, replaced by the pervasive, boundless dusk covering the entire Endless Sea, as if to swallow the entire City-State within the night’s growth.

However, for a long time, that weak light still stubbornly shone in the dimness, the remnants of the sun left by the Cretan Dynasty, the City-State era’s thousands of lights, they gradually merged together, seemingly uniting against this endless night.

After a while, Duncan answered the automaton’s question, “There are some happy things.”

“Oh…” Alice responded confusedly, then looked somewhat reluctantly toward the City-State, “Will we come back?”

Duncan hesitated for a moment, seeming to have many answers to explain the upcoming voyage and plans, as well as many possibilities for the future, but in the end, he nodded affirmatively, “…We’ll come back.”

The automaton was pleased.

A smile appeared on Duncan’s face, then he sighed softly, releasing his grip on the dark, heavy wheel.

They had left Light Breeze Harbor, and next, Homeloss and the Brilliant Starship would head to the eastern border’s “Assembly Point” to rendezvous with the Deep Sea Church’s border fleet, and then, they would head towards the Eternal Veil, moving towards that “Six Nautical Miles threshold.”

They planned to follow the route previously sailed by Sea Song, to seek the truth beyond the border.

For Duncan, this would be a crucial step in “observing this Shelter from the outside.”

But before that, Duncan still needed to verify some things.

He turned his head to look at the gaunt, hunched figure trying to minimize his presence at the edge of the command deck.

“Sailor.”

The entity known as 077 suddenly jolted, “Uh… Uh?!”

“Come here,” Duncan smiled slightly as he stepped back half a step, looking at 077, raising his hand to point to Homeloss’s wheel, “Take hold of it.”