Deep Sea Embers

After hearing Leigh Nora mention that an "indescribable mass" rushed out of the light cocoon and caused her "drift house" to temporarily lose control, the expression on Zhou Ming's face became subtle for a moment - he was slightly After thinking for a while, I thought that thing might be the bag of "miscellaneous items" I threw out.

He originally planned to use that thing as a "medium" to establish communication with the visitors outside the door.

But now it seems that this exchange was a bit rough.

Fortunately, Le Nora didn't seem to be in too much trouble due to this accident - and she didn't notice the subtle silence of the "thousand-faced starlight" in front of her.

Zhou Ming quickly took advantage of this moment to change the subject: "What happened after a brief period of losing control? You said you 'overdone'... What does that mean?"

Le Nora didn't seem to suspect anything. After hearing this, she just frowned slightly and fell into thinking. After a moment, she recalled and said: "After the drifting house briefly lost control, I fell into the deepest part of this fog, and then at an invisible...' border 'It stopped nearby. I don't know how to describe that boundary to you... It's not really physical, there's nothing visible, but the fog stops abruptly there, beyond that boundary, It’s vast tracts of… nothingness.”

She stopped slowly, as if she felt that her description was still not accurate enough, and frowned in distress. Zhou Ming noticed this immediately, and the expression on his face gradually became serious: "Nothingness?"

"Yes, nothingness is not darkness, nor is it 'nothing' in the general sense... I don't know if it is accurate to say this - even if it is a 'nothing place', there is at least one 'place' , but there... it's beyond the scope of my rational explanation," Le Nora thought hard, even recalling and describing the scene she saw seemed to be a very difficult thing, "You Do you know the world in the eyes of people who are congenitally blind? They are people who have never seen the slightest light and have even lost their visual structure. Many people think that the world in their eyes is dark, but in fact, the world in their 'eyes' It is the ultimate 'emptiness'..."

She paused, couldn't help but open her hands to gesture, and continued: "They can't see 'darkness', because strictly speaking, 'darkness' is also a part of vision. They have never seen any colors or shapes. Even words like 'darkness' are abstract and incomprehensible concepts to them, so from a visual perspective, what they 'see' is not black, but 'empty', colors never exist, outlines never exist , the entire world does not exist from a visual perspective.

“And beyond that border, that’s what I felt.

"I felt that I should have 'seen' something in front of me, but it was beyond my understanding and perception, so that I could not retain any 'image' in my mind. I felt that there was some kind of voice in my ears, but no matter it was at that time Whether it was the feeling or the recollection afterwards, there was only a blank in my mind - I stood at the invisible end, and I clearly realized that there was a 'border', and there should be an 'opposite' to the border, but it... didn't."

Leigh Nora waved her hand, as if even now, recalling the weird and terrifying feeling at that time still made her a little uncomfortable.

"There is no 'opposite'..." Zhou Mingze slowly frowned after hearing the other party's abstract and incomprehensible description. He thought and guessed about that scene, and gradually came to associate it, "It's like a picture without ' The paper on the back?"

Leigh Nora's eyes widened in surprise, and then she saw the "starlight entity" in front of her suddenly raised her limbs. In the focus of thousands of eyes and starlight, a... structure was gradually taking shape. .

Zhou Ming tore off a piece of white paper, twisted it, and connected it end to end.

"Knowledge" poured into Leigh Nora's mind, and at this moment, she understood the structure of the Möbius strip.

The vast "emptiness" opened its door to her.

"That's what it feels like!" She suddenly woke up from her confusion and stared at the structure floating in the chaos and under the focus of thousands of eyes with wide eyes. "It's this thing! A boundary without 'opposite', a There is no 'back' of paper! A limit, a literal 'end'!"

The structure quietly dissipated.

Zhou Ming loosened the connection of the Möbius strip. When the paper tape fell on the table, he thought to himself: "Is this the external barrier?..."

Of course he knew that the shelter barrier built by the "gods" should not be that simple. The Möbius strip is just a "model" that is easy to understand here - the two cannot be equal, but from what Le Nora described Judging from the "boundary scene", they must have something in common.

Leigh Nora cast a confused and curious look.

"You have reached the real end of the world - you may even have crossed the place where the ancient kings stayed." Zhou Ming looked at the "Frost Queen", his tone was a little uneasy, "You have seen... the boundary The scene outside, but it is beyond your understanding..."

He stopped slowly.

The Möbius strip has no "end". For a "creature" staying on the surface of the ring, no matter how far it advances in the ring, it can never reach the "border" of the Möbius strip. It is even less possible to realize that there is an "invisible end" there, and thus feel confused and frightened by the "nothingness" seen in front of her eyes - and Le Nora, this reckless traveler, she was in a certain period in the past. In time, I became aware of the existence of that "end".

She experienced "dimensional ascension" - although she felt that she had only seen "nothingness" because she could not "recognize" the scene there, at that moment, she did briefly change from an individual trapped on the surface of the ring. Become a person... who stands outside the ring.

He tried his best to explain all this to Leigh Nora, the strange phenomena she had seen, and the nature of the "dimensional ascension" she had experienced in the past period of time.

"Knowledge" impacted Le Nora's mind, reshaping her cognition and essence.

But she accepted it all happily.

This was what she was looking for on her journey, and this was what she wanted right now.

She wants to witness more scenery and understand everything she sees.

"It's time for me to leave," she said suddenly standing up.

Zhou Ming looked at the Frost Queen with some surprise and seemed to not react at all.

"I want to go there and take a look again," Leigh Nora turned her head and stared at Zhou Ming with her eyes filled with starlight - those stars seemed to have been permanently reflected in her eyes, "I understand more, I There is a feeling...this time, I seem to be able to see something in that piece of 'nothingness', something...that I could not recognize before, but it does exist."

Zhou Ming was silent for a moment and slowly got up from the sofa.

“You think there’s ‘something’ in that void?”

"Yes," Le Nora nodded without hesitation, with a kind of conviction and determination that others could not understand, "I have seen them and heard them, but it was just like the breeze blowing over the stones. There are no traces left in my mind - just like my fingers can't distinguish colors, my eyes can't judge hot and cold, my reason is not enough to understand things beyond the 'end', but now... I believe things have changed, I can see to them, even just a little bit.”

Zhou Ming stared intently into the eyes of this "Frost Queen".

"You are making a very risky decision," he said suddenly. "You were almost swallowed by the 'end', and now you are going back again."

"Yes, this is very adventurous," Leigh Nora suddenly laughed, with joy and brightness, "Travel is always accompanied by adventure."

"...Like another 'Project Deep Dive'?"

"...Yes, it's like another 'deep dive plan'," Le Nora slowly put away her smile and nodded slightly, "my own deep dive plan."

She turned her head and looked away, took a deep breath, and after a moment of silence she said thoughtfully: "You see, I am really not suitable to be a 'queen'."

Zhou Ming didn't say anything, but slowly came to the window connected to the "Drift House".

After a while, he said: "I can't leave here - so don't forget to tell me what you saw."

Leigh Nora nodded happily: "Okay, I'll do your eyes."

She returned to the "crack" and prepared to return to her "drift house" - a new journey was waiting ahead, and she was ready.

Zhou Ming looked at the smug Frost Queen.

For a moment, he felt that it seemed a bit indecent to let the lady go out through the window again. As the beginning of another great journey, it seemed a bit undignified.

But soon he felt...there seemed to be nothing wrong with it.

The Queen, once trapped in a cage, can now travel any way she likes.

His guest left.

With a slight vibration, the window was closed again, and the scene outside the window was shrouded in thick fog in the blink of an eye - Zhou Ming didn't even have time to confirm how the "drift house" moved, and it had disappeared from him. in the field of vision.

He stood by the window in a daze, looking outside for a long time, then looking away, his eyes swept across the living room.

What just happened seemed to be just a dream - a mind that was permanently trapped in a hut had a dream that someone was visiting the home.

But when he came to the sofa, he saw the paper strip that had been twisted into a Möbius strip still lying quietly on the coffee table, and the edge of the paper strip was still slightly raised.

On the white paper next to it, a simple-looking lantern is sketched.

Someone did visit here.

Zhou Ming breathed a sigh of relief. He felt as if he felt a little more relaxed. Then he smiled, shook his head, and walked towards the door of the apartment.

Opening the door, the black mist that keeps expanding, contracting, and creeping remains the same...

Duncan opened his eyes in front of the Homeless Gate.