Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 772 - Chapter 772 Chapter 769 Visitor in the Mist

Chapter 772: Chapter 769: Visitor in the Mist Chapter 772: Chapter 769: Visitor in the Mist After rushing to the window, Zhou Ming finally confirmed that what he was seeing was not an illusion–there truly were words on the window! And they were written in the universal language of the City-State, from outside no less!

The words were hazy, quivering slightly on the glass in an eerie manner, as if they were not written on the solid and stable surface of the glass but were reflections in an illusory mist. Zhou Ming stared at those letters for a half an eternity before he could finally make out the content from those blurry and mirror-reversed words–

“I’m outside, you’re inside.”

Zhou Ming was instantly stupefied–he felt as if he had just seen a meaningless statement.

An entity had gone to the trouble of leaving a message outside his “protective cocoon” for such a statement?

Instinctively, he found it somewhat laughable, but then he furrowed his brow, a vague thought arising in his mind.

Zhou Ming slowly straightened up from the window, gazing out at the grey-white fog, his brow knit in thought.

What exactly was outside his “apartment”? He had begun to form a vague guess about this place, even if he couldn’t pin down the details just yet. He had come to grasp a certain pattern here, or perhaps… a certain rule underlying the most fundamental logic of this world.

The constraints of “information” bore tremendous significance; the expression of “information” was the cornerstone of order, and on this foundation, “symbolism” was endowed with a real and effective… “function” in this world.

With an epiphany dawning in his heart, Zhou Ming looked up again at the line of text, his eyes shifting subtly. He hazily guessed–that was not a phrase meant for “communication” with him.

It was an “anchor point.” Something… some entity that understood and knew how to use the “truth” had “anchored” itself outside of this room.

Suddenly, Zhou Ming’s brow furrowed. He vividly recalled something: the knocking that had come from that black fog when he last returned here!

The next second, as if his very thoughts had indeed leveraged reality, a sound abruptly arose by his ear–thump, thump, thump.

Zhou Ming looked sharply toward the apartment door, but he quickly realized that the sound wasn’t coming from the direction of the door. The sound was coming from the side: someone was knocking on the window.

He looked towards where the sound was coming from and saw that the grey-white fog still enveloped the outside, with apparently nothing in the mist beyond the transparent glass–only the ceaseless knocking echoed on the surface, as if an invisible visitor were standing outside, waiting…

Waiting for the “cottage’s” owner to become aware of them.

For some reason, Zhou Ming thought of those “fish.”

He leaned forward to the window again, placing his hand on the glass where the knocking sound originated. He tried to sense and listen–the knocking kept going, and gradually, he could indeed feel vibrations transmitting through his palm.

He looked up, his gaze fixed on the swirling dense fog as though he were silently facing off with the “visitor” in the mist through the clear glass. He envisioned a guest, a guest who “could possibly appear here” in all the possibilities and logical branches.

At the end of this order, in a place that had almost detached from all worldly things, almost like the foundation of the world itself, who would be knocking at his window?

A vague shadow appeared in the fog, and almost at the instant the shadow materialized, Zhou Ming finally perceived, through the dense curtain, a familiar essence. That essence originated from his flame, a flame that had been released a long time ago, that he once thought had dissipated.

This flame allowed his recognition to instantly take form, collapsing the “visitor in the mist” into an entity.

The nebulous grey-white fog outside the window suddenly collapsed, transforming in a Planck instant into a room that was bright with lights and grand in style, looking completely at odds with the apartment scene on this side of the window. There stood a beautiful lady on the other side of the window–her eyes wide in astonishment, seemingly stunned by the remarkable transformation before her.

“Alice…” Zhou Ming instinctively blurted out at the sight of the silver-haired figure, but then he quickly realized, “No, Lei Nora–is it really you?!”

The final truth completed a directed collapse, and the scene outside the window finally stabilized completely.

Outside was the Frost Queen Lei Nora; she was the “visitor in the mist.” Now she remained fixated on Zhou Ming–strictly speaking, on an indescribable entity that loomed in a vast and incomprehensible chaos.

Her eyes reflected the endless, remote starlight that now shone through the “glass” into her room, rendering a part of the bedroom that once belonged to Alice’s Mansion with a faint starry glow as if it could plunge into the starry sky at any moment.

Suddenly, Lei Nora’s expression became animated again. It seemed she finally broke free from the influence of the starlight and “regained” her sensibility under Zhou Ming’s gaze. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but only vague syllables came through the window–

“…I see… a light…”

Zhou Ming frowned, then instinctively nudged the window, trying to hear what the other side was saying.

The window opened.

Zhou Ming stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the window until after a while, he finally realized what had happened–the window had opened!

After such an extended period, and with the room shrouded in thick fog for so long, the window… had it opened so effortlessly?!

He was stunned for a long time before finally coming to his senses, his gaze falling on the “Frost Queen” opposite him.

Lei Nora witnessed the curtain, filled with flowing light, suddenly opening before her eyes–during this “borderland drift,” the most astonishing and inconceivable event had occurred.

At the end of time and space, an “intellectual” entity, potentially even a “human-like” being, entered her field of vision.

Despite her utter inability to discern any definite form amidst the massive and chaotic starlight, unable to comprehend anything in that maddening nest with reason, she almost instantly realized that the “entity” possessed intelligence–it had responded to her calling, opened a corner of its abode, and now, a “limb” was extending from that cluster of starlight, slowly descending towards her, with millions of eyes twinkling at the tip of the limb, emitting a hoarse and grating noise–

“It’s really you,” Zhou Ming said in disbelief, giving the “Her Majesty the Queen” another once-over, “Wait a minute, I’m a bit confused; let me get this straight… How did you get here? After severing ties with Alice’s Mansion, you’ve just been… borderland drifting? Was that also you knocking outside last time?”

The trembling among the stars drove one to madness, the piercing noise reshaped Lei Nora’s rationale over and over. She furrowed her brows, watching that “limb” swaying before her eyes, the numerous mouths at its end screaming at her. But gradually… she found herself beginning to understand.

She began to comprehend the whispers of the stars–they were inquiring about her intentions.

“I am on a journey,” she said subconsciously, “I drifted in the Spirit Realm, then fell into the ripples of Subspace… At the end of everything, I got trapped in this fog, but a beam of light guided me, so I followed the light here and saw this magnificent ‘palace’…”

She looked up, stepped back twice, and observed the gigantic structure that stood as if in eternal time–it was like an awe-inspiring “cocoon,” floating at this place that seemed to be the end of the world, unknowable for how many ages it had floated. And now, the surface of the “cocoon” had opened a gap, an ancient and astounding presence was speaking to her from this opening, every syllable, every vibration, as if containing truths enough to drive one mad a thousand times over.

But she felt herself gradually stabilizing, even able to withstand the onslaught of these truths, her thoughts rapidly solidifying.

Lei Nora was surprised by the changes occurring within her–she hadn’t expected to recover her “reason” after such a reckless “contact.”

She didn’t realize that her voice was also mingling with layered tremors, the brilliant starlight already branded into her vision.

“You fell into Subspace?” Zhou Ming asked, furrowing his brow in surprise. Although Lei Nora seemed strange as she responded, he didn’t think much of it but subconsciously examined her to check for signs of Subspace contamination, “…why is everyone practicing Subspace butterfly nowadays…”

Lei Nora felt somewhat dazed as the stars once again trembled within her soul. This time, she couldn’t understand the meaning of these tremors, but she found… she was gradually perceiving a stable “entity” out of the throbbing mass of starlight and that “limb.”

It seemed a person was standing within that majestic “nest.”

She frowned slightly, tilting her head: “Are you inviting me in?”

Zhou Ming was taken aback–when had he made an invitation?

However, he quickly brushed aside this confusion.

Of course, he didn’t mind having a visitor–in fact, he had been looking forward to it for some time, as he had always been all alone in this closed “cage.” Wasn’t it good to have a guest?

He just felt a bit awkward.

Looking down at the windowsill, he laughed awkwardly, “Then you’ll have to climb in through the window… I don’t know how to get you in through the front door…”

The ancient and amazing presence confirmed the invitation–now it stepped aside, the crevice in the nest wide open before her, the glow of truth and knowledge now available to her.

Lei Nora approached the radiance without hesitation.

Zhou Ming watched as the guest clambered through the window without the slightest objection. He was deeply moved by the “Her Majesty the Queen’s” brisk approach–only someone daring enough to initiate the “Deep Dive Project” decades ago could show such determination. Her execution was indeed stronger than most.

Still, he couldn’t help but warn her from the side, “Hey, be careful there, don’t fall…”

Lei Nora passed through the window.

Her perception of reality collapsed and reshaped.

Her Majesty the Queen landed firmly on the floor–

“Ouch!”