Deep Sea Embers

No one does not expect good news, but unfortunately, as Crete said to Duncan - at the end of time, there will be no good news.

This little sanctuary, built out of the ashes, is heading towards its final collapse at an ever-increasing speed. This is no one’s fault, nor is it a local failure or man-made destruction - it is the end of all things. , because the end time has come.

Lu En and Helena listened quietly to everything Duncan told them, including what the joint exploration team saw and heard in the border waters, the clues found on the Holy Land Island, including Duncan's contact with the Holy Lord Netherworld, and even That "take over the world" plan.

Duncan did not hide this last thing. He did not mind that the two popes in front of him knew the "other choice" of the world - and in contrast, he did not hide the final outcome of the "future of fire". There is no concealment of the end of all things that the preacher of the end, who has gone to the end, has revealed to himself.

Luen and Helena were silent for a long time, until Duncan told them everything, they still didn't speak for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, Lu En sighed softly: "Some things are better not known."

"Ignorance is the privilege of ordinary people, but you don't have it," Duncan said lightly. "After knowing these many truths, what do you want to say?"

Helena thought carefully for a moment, raised her head and said slowly: "Although the end of the world is inevitable, it is not that there is no other way to go, is it?"

She paused and stared at Duncan steadily, her eyes as deep and blue as the sea seemed to reflect a distant wave: "You actually have another plan, don't you?"

Fanna on the side opened her eyes slightly - when the Pope spoke under the crown, she seemed to hear the faint and distant sound of the waves, but the sound of the waves seemed particularly illusory, as if it was just a goddess inadvertently casting her voice. a glance.

She suddenly reacted and immediately turned to Duncan: "Captain, this is..."

Duncan waved his hand, interrupting Vanna's next words, and then he calmly met the eyes of the "Pope of the Deep Sea" in front of him: "Hello."

The "female pope" didn't seem to hear it. She didn't respond to the greeting, but still stared at Duncan steadily. The waves in her eyes seemed to be turbulent. Then she repeated it again: "You actually have another person." A plan, right?"

Her voice was mixed with slight tremors and echoes, as if there were many murmurs that were indistinguishable to human ears overlapping everything. The air in the living room seemed damp and cold at some point, with a salty smell unique to the sea breeze.

Shirley and Agou felt the change in their breath and suddenly seemed a little uneasy.

Duncan didn't seem surprised. He exhaled softly and replied calmly: "...make a new one."

The "female pope" just frowned slightly and did not respond.

"The sanctuary of the Boundless Sea is beyond repair. No amount of internal repairs can save it. It can only survive for a short period of time. Starting the Age of Fire is another form of survival, and there is no way back. Once you choose this path, Route, the entire civilization is actually equivalent to being sealed in a tomb..."

Duncan spoke unhurriedly, but his eyes never left the "female pope's" eyes. Then he waved down one hand and made a cutting gesture.

"Since the plan to continue the old world will either come to an end or be unreliable, we have only one way to go... instead of continuing the old world, we will build a new one."

The "Female Pope" blinked and finally broke the silence. Along with the gentle sound of the waves, her voice seemed to tremble directly in everyone's mind: "Another shelter?"

"Another world." Duncan said calmly.

Then he paused for a moment. During this moment, the entire living room was silent - so much so that even the crackling sound in the fireplace not far away became the loudest sound here.

"The shelter is a narrow closed system, all disaster redundancies are very limited, all resources can only be circulated internally, and there is only one crucial support system - there is only one sun, and there is only one boundless sea. Even the number of city-states was limited at the beginning of creation, and all of them were encapsulated by that eternal curtain...

"It turns out that such a system is too fragile in the face of a major collapse-level disaster. Just like a building is about to collapse, those hiding in the house have no chance to repair the entire system from the inside, but can only watch. He watched the entire shelter gradually collapse. No matter how long the shelter lasted or how many years the civilization inside developed, this result was destined.

"Because the upper limit of the development of civilization in the sanctuary is the 'shell' - the eternal curtain."

Under the gaze of the "female pope", Duncan slowly opened his hands, his expression extremely serious: "So, we need a world, a 'world' that is far larger than the shelter, and must be able to accommodate more people." The possibility must be to allow civilization to continue to develop to the limit, at least... Even when the end of the world comes again, it must be able to leave more fire, instead of everything falling into darkness after the sun goes out... "

The "Female Pope" looked at Duncan quietly. After a moment, she spoke softly: "Of course we know - but how can we do it? In the hot ashes of chaos after the Great Annihilation, a building like the boundless sea was supported. Such a shelter is already a miracle. Outside the shelter, order has long since disappeared. We have waited for a long time, but we have never seen the hope that the chaos will subside... This boundless sea is the only remaining thing that has the ability to 'Fragments' of order, and beyond this, there is no 'material' left to build a new habitat."

The gentle sound of the waves seemed to be overlaid with some disturbing roars and noises. Helena's eyes gradually showed a trace of chaos at some point. There seemed to be something growing and squirming in her throat, and on her cheeks. On the skin, dark purple fine scales like some kind of sea creature quietly appeared.

But she still sat upright on the sofa, seeming to be waiting for Duncan's answer.

Everyone else, including Maurice and Lucretia, consciously kept their mouths shut, and no one dared to interrupt at this time.

"So, the key is 'order', the 'order' that can support the operation of the entire world - the reason why the lifespan of the shelter is limited is also because of the imperfection of order."

Duncan looked at the "female pope", as if he was looking at another distant existence through her deep eyes, and then he breathed out softly: "...just as I thought during this time."

He raised his hand and pointed at himself.

"I have order here, complete 'order'."

You can hear a needle drop in the living room.

Suddenly there was a warm touch coming from his hand - Duncan turned around and saw Nina grabbing his palm, with a somewhat uneasy expression on her face.

Duncan laughed and reached out to press Nina's hair: "Don't worry."

Nina took a breath and nodded vigorously - and in her field of vision, the smile on Uncle Duncan's face was gradually becoming blurry.

That smile gradually disappeared among the countless stars.

As brilliant and bright as a galaxy - the giant made of starlight slowly stood up in everyone's field of vision. The eternal stars, gas clouds and star-making clouds seemed to flow and cover everything in sight. The giant still stood From the living room, it seems that it is enough to fill the whole world and hold up the entire world.

She bent down in the direction of "Helena", and the stagnant ancient stars seemed to expand, contract and tremble in the illusion. It seemed that they might expand and release violently every second, turning into starlight that swallowed everything.

"The order of the entire universe - a complete and healthy 'order' that has never been touched by that apocalypse," Duncan said slowly, his voice trembling among the stars, "It is only a moment, but from the data level, It is complete.”

Duncan felt his body and his thoughts flowing among the magnificent stars. For the first time, he realized his "breathing", his "breathing" on the scale of the stars.

Then he immediately resisted the urge to continue breathing.

He knew that the "change" in him was accelerating again.

Since leaving Holy Land Island, his "change" has been accelerating - at first, he could only know what he looked like from other people's careless glances at him, and then he glimpsed part of the truth from the King of Pale Giants. Afterwards, through conscious control, he could detect the starlight on his body in the mirror. Not long ago, he saw the changes in himself in his "bachelor apartment", and now...

He had to be very careful in order to remain "human".

Time is running out for this sanctuary.

He doesn't have much time either.

Duncan looked into the eyes of the "Female Pope" and saw a distant creature - entrenched on a gray-white reef, huddled in a palace-like nest, and had been dead for a long time.

Countless "heirs" who were also dead surrounded her palace.

The long-dead creature looked up and met Duncan's eyes with her many eyes.

Her voice came to Duncan's ears through Helena's mouth: "...It's so beautiful..."

"There are two questions now," Duncan spoke. He controlled himself and gradually collapsed the starlight into "Duncan". "First, only 'data' cannot build a new world. I need raw materials. A lot of raw materials... and I don't know how this process should be completed. I only have a vague and general impression, which tells me that what I need is not in this endless sea... it is too small, it is not enough.

"Secondly, I don't know how to create a new world while preserving everything in this sanctuary - it may disappear in the light of the birth of the new world."