Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 773 - Chapter 773 Chapter 770 Visiting Frost Queen

Chapter 773: Chapter 770 Visiting Frost Queen Chapter 773: Chapter 770 Visiting Frost Queen The room fell into a momentary silence.

Zhou Ming didn’t speak, because he felt it was better not to at this time–it could easily become awkward.

The Frost Queen didn’t speak either–she was still sprawled on the floor.

So the two silent “individuals” faced off for a while, the Frost Queen continued to gnaw at the room’s floor, while Zhou Ming watched the back of the Frost Queen’s head. After about half a minute of this standoff, Zhou Ming finally felt he must say something–after all, staring at a lady gnawing on the floor was not exactly polite behavior.

So he bent down, very cautiously breaking the silence, “…Do you need help up?”

What reached her ears was human language.

Lei Nora felt the constant buzzing tremors and overlapping noises in her mind suddenly “collapse,” and all sounds transformed into human words that she could understand without trying to “listen” deliberately. She instantly reacted, springing up from the floor.

Then her head hit Zhou Ming’s chin–not even managing an “ouch” before she was prostrate again.

Zhou Ming, in turn, was seen stars from the sudden bump.

However, he quickly got a grip on himself, not minding the stars whirling in front of his eyes, and immediately reached out to support the “queen,” who had fallen back down, while awkwardly speaking, “Sorry, I was standing in the wrong place… Are you alright?”

Lei Nora felt a buzzing in her head, but she was more lucid than ever–she realized her reason had fully returned to her body, and a indescribable “cognition” had just reshaped itself in her perception. She understood those layers of chaotic noise, and saw another aspect of this “nest.”

She saw the floor, the tables and chairs, and various other oddly styled and unfamiliar decorations–many things that seemed like everyday items used by ordinary people floated in a boundless darkness filled with dim light. Deeper in the chaos, there seemed to be walls, like an illusory structure, and all these were constantly expanding and contracting in her vision, as if mimicking illusions.

The feeling this all gave her was like there was an unnameable, non-human existence living here, imitating “humans” in everything it did in its lair.

She also saw the “entity” that had spoken to her, which was still an infuriating cluster of starlight, but the starlight had collapsed into a human outline. She couldn’t make out the facial features within the starlight, but she could see the other’s “hand” supporting her arm, she could hear the starlight’s human voice–revealing a friendly and amiable attitude.

“I… I’m fine,” Lei Nora hesitated, even with the Frost Queen’s wisdom and composure, she felt a bit dazed after a series of unexpected circumstances. While trying to organize her thoughts, she attempted to communicate with this entity that seemed to be imitating humans, “Sorry for disturbing your peace, I was just… curious, and then got bound by this curiosity next to your lair… ‘palace’.”

Zhou Ming frowned, feeling that the Frost Queen’s way of speaking to him was a bit odd.

But he didn’t think too much of it because he was as bewildered as she–still seeing stars, he could only wave his hand, “It’s good that you’re fine, I really didn’t expect… you’re the first ‘human’ to visit this place.”

Lei Nora watched the actions of the human-shaped entity before her, curiosity surging in her mind. Finally, she couldn’t help but raise her hand and point to the spherical object that had been drifting near the entity’s head (if that cluster of starlight was indeed a head), “…What is this thing?”

Zhou Ming looked up, and after a moment of subtle silence, he finally tried to reach out to grab the small celestial body with a pale yellow atmosphere that had just separated from his body. At the moment his fingertips touched it, the small planet silently returned to his body.

“This is Venus,” he said, trying to control his expression and tone, “a… star.”

Lei Nora watched in amazement, couldn’t help but express her wonder, “…Incredible.”

“I find it incredible too,” Zhou Ming said sincerely, “Before you bumped into me, I never expected… this to happen.”

He looked down at his hands, seeing his arms as usual, but when he tried to clench his fists tightly and concentrate on drawing a starry sky in his mind, a faint starlight floated into his vision.

The change had accelerated once again…

Lei Nora couldn’t understand what the “stellar entity” was doing; she was just amazed that the entity truly had intelligence like a human, amazed that she was actually conversing with such an unbelievable being at the edge of this world. After confirming the entity’s friendliness, she grew bolder, “Have you… always lived here?”

Zhou Ming frowned, realizing the slight discord in Lei Nora’s tone and attitude that he had been vaguely feeling.

“You don’t recognize me?” he asked, somewhat surprised, looking at the “Frost Queen.”

“Recognize you?” Lei Nora replied, startled and with a puzzled look at the non-human entity before her, “Have we… met before?”

Zhou Ming was momentarily dazed before suddenly realizing–of course, Lei Nora had never seen him.

What she had seen was Duncan.

So he spread his palms open and summoned a flame before Lei Nora.

A pale green light burst forth from among the stars, and instantly, a connection with the flame was established–a resonance with the same flicker of flame Lei Nora had once touched.

“Now do you remember?” the cluster of starlight trembled, speaking in the human tongue.

Lei Nora stood frozen in place, her astonishment so great that it took her several seconds to snap out of it, after which she looked at Zhou Ming with her mouth agape, “You’re… the Captain?!”

“…That’s part of me,” Zhou Ming thought for a moment and explained to this “Your Majesty the Queen,” according to his own understanding, “Or rather, one of my appearances, a vessel.”

He paused, then couldn’t help but speak with emotion, “You are the first ‘human’ to see me here. Now you have come to understand truths beyond anyone’s comprehension.”

Astounding knowledge exploded in her mind, and Lei Nora experienced a sense of dizziness akin to the first time she laid eyes on that grand ‘Cocoon of Light.’ It was a tremor brought about by cognitive reshaping, the unveiling of truth!

But perhaps because she had already crossed that “Crack” and entered this ‘Cocoon,’ and had undergone the initial baptism, the dizziness this time lasted only a moment before she regained her normal thought processes and quickly understood everything–

A chaotic existence at the world’s end, a changing entity, a ‘spirit’ that had thrust its “tentacles” into the dimensions of reality, it had myriad interpretations but a single origin–this source slumbered at the end of time, and now, she, an impetuous traveler, had found this source.

“We haven’t seen each other in a long time,” Zhou Ming smiled, knowing that Lei Nora would be a little bewildered upon learning the truth. It seemed she was more confused than he had initially expected, which prompted him to take the initiative to speak, “Don’t just stand there, come sit down. Tell me what has happened to you since you ‘ran away,’ and how you found my ‘little abode,’ as well as what you’ve been scribbling on the outside.”

As he spoke, he walked toward the sofa.

“Don’t mind the simplicity here. My place has limited amenities after the end of the world, and certainly cannot compare to your past palace or your current opulent bedroom–and there’s not much to offer you here. But then again, you’re a ghost now, so you probably don’t need anything to eat, do you?”

“Uh… no need.”

Lei Nora replied absentmindedly, and virtually in a half-dazed state, she followed Zhou Ming to the sofa–her gait wavering as if she were walking on a constantly deforming floor, which piqued Zhou Ming’s curiosity, “Are you feeling dizzy?”

Lei Nora internally muttered: Everything here is floating in the undulating chaos, it’s not a place where people can stand at all; of course, walking on it would make one dizzy.

But in the presence of this ‘Thousand-Faced Starlight,’ she couldn’t exactly voice this outright and simply gritted her teeth and nodded, “A little, but it’s not a problem.”

“…Oh, then you really should sit down right away.”

Zhou Ming said, with a touch of awkwardness in his voice. He rubbed his nose, thinking that it wasn’t surprising–after all, the “Queen” had just slammed her head on the floor twice, and the latter hit was quite solid… it seemed she had taken a few hard knocks.

But he didn’t feel too guilty deep down–as he himself was still seeing stars.

After sitting down on the sofa, Lei Nora indeed felt a bit more grounded.

Even though this ‘sofa’ was shrouded in a layer of murky and suspicious mist, with its surface shimmering as though alive with constantly shifting ‘colors,’ at least when she sat down, that sensation of vertigo and falling, as if stepping into the chaos, was no more.

Zhou Ming also took a seat on an adjacent sofa, curiously looking at this long-unseen Frost Queen, “Alright, now tell me about what’s been happening to you.”

“…After I escaped from the place that originally confined me, I’ve been wandering through the crevices of space-time,” Lei Nora nodded, quickly organizing her thoughts before recounting her experiences after she had “fled her bedroom from Alice’s Mansion,” “It was a bizarre ‘journey,’ just like I said earlier, I even passed through the ripples of the Subspace–my ‘little abode,’ like a protective shell, carried me through those turbulent, fractured rivers outside reality’s dimensions…

“Many incredible things happened during my travels, which I can share with you later, but what you probably care about most right now is how I found this ‘place’…

“To put it simply, I was swept here by a sudden ‘turbulence,’ and after being trapped for quite some time, what initially guided me to your ‘palace’ was… a lamp.”

“…A lamp?!” Zhou Ming’s eyes widened instantly.

“Yes, a lamp, floating in the mist,” Lei Nora nodded solemnly, “a lantern used aboard a ship.”