Deep Sea Embers

After bringing all the newly added luggage to the living room, Heidi came to the dining table and looked at Morris sitting opposite the dining table in a daze.

She hasn't seen her father for a long time - although she can still contact him occasionally, even with such intermittent contact, the last time seems to have been a long time ago.

Her father suddenly returned home like this, which seemed a bit unreal to her, like a dream. Morris sat at the dining table, eating the freshly fried sausages and bread slowly, chewing each bite carefully for a long time. After a while, he raised his head and looked at his wife sitting next to him and his daughter across the table, with a smile on his face: "I haven't eaten food at home for a long time."

"There is not enough to eat, but after finishing this meal, we have to go out," the wife next to me said with a smile, just like those days long ago,

The couple discussed going for a walk in the park after lunch, "We are going to the nearest shelter to report - the neighborhood is becoming more and more uneasy, and those muddled people are becoming less and less human."

"They have lost their sense of themselves, and the world is gradually forgetting what it is like to be human, and the result is that," Morris said calmly, "The cornerstones and anchors laid by the gods are rapidly failing. Those who have not woken up will deviate more and more from 'normal' as time goes by, but in their own 'feelings', nothing has ever changed. "

Heidi had a trace of sadness on her face: "Is it hopeless?"

"Don't worry about them, Heidi," the father across the table just smiled and shook his head, "It's all temporary and everything will get better. The captain is thinking of a way - I returned to the city-state early, which is also part of his grand plan. ring."

"It seems that you have experienced a lot of things outside," Heidi hesitated and couldn't help but said, "Have everyone else come back too? Vanna is back too?"

'Yes, Vanna is back too. Except for the captain, Alice, and the pigeon, the other 'crew' have returned." Morris nodded slowly, "Vanna has already gone to the cathedral, and then she She will go to the city hall. After arranging things there, she will take the initiative to contact you. Nina and Shirley have also gone home. We have agreed on a contact time and contact method. Sailor and Agatha also have their own arrangements and tasks. "

Heidi had a hint of curiosity on her face: "—

Can you tell me about your journey? "

"Of course - the world is running out of time, but there is still enough to tell a magnificent story."

In the mist that filled the city, the figures of the two girls ran all the way through the streets of the lower city. They passed through the intersections where suspicious dark red masses were piled up, and walked from building to building like living creatures with countless eyes blinking. Walking between the buildings with undulating walls, avoiding the blind and unaware shadows wandering on the streets, low and chaotic murmurs and occasional noisy noises came from the fog, as if chasing uninvited guests. around them.

"This is worse than what the female pope said!" Shirley felt that the atmosphere around her was creepy. In order to be brave, she transformed herself into a terrifying demon form. At this moment, she was carefully walking on twelve long skeletal joints. Stepping over the beating piles on the ground, "She only said that the city is full of people who have lost themselves, but she didn't say this kind of 'losing themselves'!" "

"The situation is changing gradually - we have been drifting on the sea for such a long time after leaving the lighthouse, and the situation in the city must be deteriorating," Nina followed Shirley and couldn't help but look up as she spoke. Glancing at my friend who was in a terrifying form at the moment, he said, "Then again, are you scared? You are much scarier than that shadow just now."

"What's scary? I call this a teacher's spirit, not a scary one!" Shirley retorted immediately, then propped up her body and looked around with some emotion, "But then again, in this situation, There is an advantage - I can run around the city openly and openly, and they will act as if they haven't seen me. Even if some "sane" people see it, they will only regard it as part of the distortion, no. Someone will come up to me screaming and give me a shot.

"You'd better be careful. If there is another priest patrolling the city with the same behavior as Miss Fanna, and he sees a deep demon like you, he will directly come up and strike with a sword.

"Then just make him look like sunshine," Shirley carelessly raised a skeletal joint and tapped Nina on the shoulder, "let him know why the world is ending and there are still two sunny beauties in the city. girl

Nina didn't want to deal with her friend who had an unusual brain circuit.

The ringing sound of “ding ding bell” came from the fog, interrupting the communication between the two girls. They looked up at the same time and looked in the direction of the sound.

I saw a steam bus with a bright yellow shell appearing on the street. There were more than a dozen pairs of messy hands and feet growing under the heavy body. The bus was crawling on hands and feet on the mist-filled street, spitting out bursts of smoke from the rear. In a burst of white mist, it stopped at a nearby platform, tearing open the middle section of the carriage, revealing countless sharp teeth.

‘Want a ride? Want a ride? Go to the museum! shouted the Steam Bus to Shirley and Nina, "Reopening between curfews, with a dazzling exhibition of paintings and textiles!" "

Nina looked at this scene blankly, while Shirley next to her was stunned for a moment and then waved her hands vigorously at the swaying bus: "No! I have too many legs to get on the bus!"

"Okay, okay, bye, bye, I'm going to the next stop!"

The steam bus with a bright yellow shell shouted happily, and the "door" with countless sharp teeth in the middle of the carriage closed again. Then it spit out a burst of steam, lifted up a dozen pairs of hands and feet under the carriage, and crawled away quickly. At the end of the road.

Shirley and Nina looked at each other.

Agou's figure emerged from the shadow between the two of them and said in a muffled voice: "The deep sea now may be a little more normal than here."

Nina said nothing more, but took another step toward the home in her memory.

She and Shirley ignored all the weird shadows and sounds. After a while, the extremely familiar small shop in the lower town finally appeared in the sight of the two girls.

Among the surrounding buildings that have been covered with all kinds of weird shadows and accumulations, and have almost been transformed into some kind of "living things", the small antique shop still maintains its appearance a long time ago, like a A reassuring safe house with a warm and bright light shining in the glass showcase.

Nina walked forward quickly and pushed open the unlocked door - the bell at the door rang loudly, and everything was just as she remembered.

"Uncle Duncan! Shirley and I are home!" she shouted into the quiet antique store.

But there was no response from the store. "Uncle Duncan, we're home!" Nina shouted again.

This time, she finally heard the response - but she couldn't tell whether the voice came from the bottom of her heart or from somewhere in the store: "I'm behind the counter."

Nina paused and subconsciously looked up at the counter next to the stairs.

She saw a thin and hunched figure, as if blending with the surrounding shadows, sitting quietly behind the old and mottled wooden counter.

Shirley returned to her human appearance and walked into the store with Nina. They walked through the shelves that seemed to have not been cleaned for many days and came to the counter.

Uncle Duncan Nina stepped forward cautiously. She saw "Uncle Duncan" behind the counter slightly turning his eyes.

Apart from that, there was no other action, which made her a little worried, "Are you okay?"

"I have cut off most of the contact with this incarnation," Duncan's voice sounded in Nina's heart, "but I have retained the last vision for the time being. I can sit here and watch you and Shirley get home safely. Nothing happened along the way? "

Nina stood there with some disbelief, the look in her eyes was a little complicated, but gradually, the warm smile reappeared on her face,

"No," she said with a smile, standing directly in front of the counter so that Uncle Duncan, who was still at the end of the world, could see her more clearly, "there are a lot of changes in the city, but nothing dangerous - Morris The teacher has arrived home safely, and everyone else is fine. Shirley and I just came from the shopping street, and many people there have already taken refuge. "

‘That’s good, the range I can see now is very small, and I’ve always been curious about what’s going on outside the door. "

"How is the situation over there?" Shirley came over from the side and couldn't help but ask, "Have you and Alice found what you were looking for?"

"We have found it, and now we are preparing to leave here and head to the last stop."

"Last stop?" Nina and Shirley said in unison.

"Yes," Duncan said slowly, "Soon, you will be able to see the Lost Home again - at that time, it will become the most eye-catching light in the sky."

The uniform gray-white background closed up outside the ship's side. A slight vibration was heard from the hull of the Lost Home, and then everything calmed down -

——In the seemingly ultimate "stillness", the ship embarked on its final voyage.

Duncan stood on the bridge at the stern of the ship, and Alice stood beside him. The latter was holding the cabin wheel tightly and controlling the direction of the jump.

"We will return to the border first, but we will not enter the Infinite Sea - the Homeless Ship will 'lift off' in the Eternal Veil, and we will cross the entire world from a very high place until we reach the Creation of the World -

Duncan raised his head and looked into the distance, as if looking through the gray-white transition channel, looking at the end of time and all things.

“Then, that ‘blink of an eye’ moment comes. "

"Lifting into the sky? Creation of the world?!" Nina's startled voice sounded in his heart, "Is this—also possible?"

Then Shirley's exclamation came over: "Can the Lost Home still fly?"

Duncan laughed, the corners of his mouth curled up.

"It's okay - the sea of ​​clouds is also the sea."