Deep Sea Embers

After crossing the critical line of six nautical miles, the world around the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star entered a strange... "state".

The sea and fog disappeared, and the strange shimmer in the sky evenly covered the entire world outside the ship's side - all "demarcations" seemed to have failed, and everything that was originally distinct seemed to become one in the blink of an eye. The texture is uniform and there is no distinction between top and bottom... "background color", and the two ghost ships seem to be flying in this uniform background color, "floating" out of thin air.

"...This is different from the situation recorded by the church," Fanna looked at the scene outside the ship and spoke subconsciously, "According to the records, even if it crosses the six-nautical-mile critical line, there is still sea and sky... I remember that Lu Miss Cressia also mentioned this."

Duncan thought thoughtfully, raised his head and silently glanced at the "sailor" who was holding the steering wheel tightly and looked nervous. After a moment, he broke the silence: "Perhaps this is what should happen when Anomaly 077 takes effect normally - we We are sailing in a special 'channel' that protects us from the turbulence of time beyond the critical line."

"How long will we sail in this 'channel'?" Alice on the side asked curiously.

Duncan thought for a moment and shook his head: "Even I don't know that."

So Alice turned her curious eyes to the sailor at the helm.

Anomaly 077, who was already nervous, suddenly became even more nervous when he noticed the clear gaze cast by the doll. He shrank his neck and said, "Don't look at me, I don't know either - I just drive the boat..."

As he spoke, he tried to make a serious face, grabbed the steering wheel and adjusted his position slightly, but in fact he didn't know where to "drive", he just shook the steering wheel in place to show that he was very busy - anyway Under such an evil situation, the specific "course" of the ship obviously has nothing to do with the rudder...

Duncan saw through it without saying anything. He sensed the status of the Lost Home and confirmed that everything was normal. After that, he no longer paid attention to the situation on the sailors' side. Instead, he looked up at the Brilliant Star floating near the Lost Home and called in his heart. : "Lucy, how's the situation over there?"

"Everything is normal on the ship - except for the fact that the Rabbi was so scared that he hid in the box and couldn't get out," Lucretia's voice immediately responded, "it kept shouting that we were 'crashing'... towards the end of the world. 'Crashed.' I'm kind of concerned about that."

"Crashing towards the end of the world?" Duncan frowned when he heard this, thinking quickly about the meaning of the crazy rabbit's words. Then he looked to the other side, looking across the deck and looking at the seemingly outskirts of the ship. The ultimate nihilistic, uniform "grey".

"What it refers to...may be the 'outer barrier'," Duncan said softly in thought, "or something beyond that barrier."

"What's beyond the barrier?" Lucretia's voice sounded a little confused.

"...Embers, the chaotic and unknown embers of the old world that have not been used as shelters," Duncan said slowly, recalling the conversation with Le Nora not long ago in his mind, recalling that person The Frost Queen mentioned the extremely pure and frightening "nihility" beyond the end of the world, and he suddenly realized something, "...For fish, the gaseous world is indeed unreasonable nothingness and doomsday. "

On the bridge of the Brilliant Star, Lucretia seemed to understand something as she listened to her father's words. Then she turned her head and looked at the gently trembling box on the ground near the rudder - Rabbi Half of his ears were hanging out from the mouth of the box, shivering.

Miss Witch frowned: "...As someone who brings terror to others, how can you be so afraid of this?"

"Rabbi... Rabbi doesn't bring horrible nightmares, Rabbi is... he is the horror book..." Rabbi muttered in the box, as if to encourage himself, but he was half-sent. The tone of her voice changed, "It's really scary, Mistress! We are falling, falling so fast! Can't you feel it - getting colder, darker, and narrower, like never before?" Dive headfirst into a thin tube at the bottom of the abyss. You are about to suffocate, about to freeze, about to be squeezed to death. Just imagine, imagine that scene..."

Lucretia walked over expressionlessly, kicked open the lid of the box, picked up the rabbit with one hand, swung it around and slapped it against the wall next to it.

The doll rabbit was slapped against the wall with a "pia" sound, and finally there was no movement.

"You are the only one with rich vocabulary and association ability, right?" Lucretia looked at the rabbit doll that had been flattened and slid down the wall little by little, and subconsciously rubbed the goosebumps on her arms, " Don’t describe those associations again—suppress your thoughts if you have them, otherwise I won’t just slap you on the wall next time.”

The flat toy rabbit lying on the ground fluffed up again with a "pop-pop" sound. It climbed up crookedly and said "oh" before walking back to the box not far away.

But as soon as he got halfway there, he was dragged back by Lucrecia by his ears.

"Stop being lazy and find something to do," Miss Witch said in an unquestionable tone, "Take a few tin men and go to the stern dividing line to keep an eye on it. The spiritual part of the ship seems to be unstable here... Don't let those soulless shadows run out from inside, I don't have the extra energy to deal with this kind of trouble now. Go ahead."

"Oh, okay, mistress..." Rabbi agreed with his head hanging down, and walked out of the bridge on his short legs.

After the rabbit left, Luni walked over from the side and said, "Were you a little too harsh on Rabbi just now... He was just a little scared."

"It's too scared - I need to find something to distract it," Lucretia exhaled softly and waved her hand and said, "It is a shadow from the depths of the spiritual world. It can feel There are many 'changes' that humans cannot feel. The place where there is nothing in my eyes is probably very 'lively' in its perception..."

Speaking of this, she suddenly paused and looked at the clockwork doll in front of her with some confusion: "But then again...don't you feel it? When making your mimic soul, I also used The ‘ingredients’ of the spiritual world.”

Lu Ni was stunned for a moment, thought about it seriously, and shook her head: "I don't feel anything."

Lucretia's expression was slightly subtle, and she looked at Luni up and down. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she always felt that Luni had been playing with the living doll named "Alice" on the Lost Home. After they were together, their whole bodies revealed a clear and pure... "temperament", and this feeling was especially obvious after the two dolls learned to swap heads with each other...

But she secretly tested Lu Ni's intelligence last time, and there seemed to be no change - she didn't dare to mention this to her father yet.

"Mistress?" The clockwork doll noticed the eyes on him and tilted his head in confusion.

"...Nothing." Lucretia waved her hand and temporarily put aside some strange associations in her head. At this moment, she suddenly saw something out of the corner of her eye.

Outside the porthole, in the uniform and pure "gray-white background", some lines and shadows discernible to the naked eye appeared.

"What is that?" Luni also saw the abstract lines that appeared on the "outer wall of the passage", and her eyes widened in surprise.

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, those abstract "outlines" that seemed to be separated from a specific individual suddenly changed in the gray background color——

The black lines trembled, quickly shrinking and twisting into an orderly outline. The shadow suddenly expanded and became the color filling the outline. A ship - a flat ship that seemed to be "printed" on the outer wall of the channel, Suddenly emerged from the gray background, and gradually entered the route of the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star.

This scene is like a wanderer who suddenly "breaks in" in the passage, and the abstract and distorted ship silhouette quickly acquires a logical meaning after entering the "line of sight" of the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star..." form".

Lucretia was stunned for a moment, and then came to the porthole like a gust of wind, staring at the ship that suddenly appeared in the passage.

She suddenly recognized the vague markings on the ship.

"It's the Sea Song!"

That is the Song of the Sea - the Song of the Sea that is sailing on a long journey, wandering in the broken flow of time.

It drifted from a broken time stream, and in this short "intersection window", it entered the route of the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star.

There was a sudden silence on the stern deck of the Lost Home.

Everyone involuntarily raised their heads, looking at the ship floating in the "mid-air" outside the ship's side, at its increasingly clear flag, and the increasingly obvious name on the ship - the Sea Song was sailing on its own. In the flow of time, it seemed not to notice the approaching Brilliant Star at all, as if the time misalignment between the two parties blocked its "sight". It passed over the side of the Brilliant Star from a distance that was almost a collision. , and then came to the side of the Lost Home.

It adjusted its posture there, and then... sent out a series of light signals.

Anomaly 077 suddenly tightly grasped the steering wheel in his hand.

He opened his eyes wide and stared at the flashing lights on the side of the Sea Song. He silently counted the intervals and lights of the lights, as if counting his long-lost heartbeat——

"Short light-dark-short light-dark-long light..."

He did not continue to count. While the light signal of the Sea Song was still flashing, he had already closed his eyes, and then he seemed to use all his strength to pull his broken gong voice——

"Captain! The ship ahead asks about our purpose!"

The hoarse voice of the sailor echoed on the Lost Home.

Duncan exhaled softly, his expression full of seriousness and solemnity.

“The lights respond,” he whispered, “to salute them.”