Deep Sea Embers

Now, everything is quiet.

Whether it is the voices coming from the mind, or the environment perceived through various "nodes", whether it is Nina's gentle instructions, or the calm reports of Vanna and Morris, they have all disappeared from this world as the stars come together. Above - the world itself, also returns to nothingness.

This small shelter built by the ancient kings finally disappeared silently among the stars of the new world after running continuously for ten thousand years.

Now, in this primordial sea of ​​chaotic information formed from the debris of many worlds, only the last ship is still sailing on its final journey.

The Lost Home is sailing behind the creation of the world. Under the "hull" is the "crack" that once stretched over the entire boundless sea for ten thousand years. The world has never imagined that the back of this "crack" is related to Its front is actually a completely different scene——

Zhou Ming stood beside the steering wheel of the Lost Home. Now that the world has been destroyed, he no longer had to worry that his observations would destroy the boundless sea. Therefore, he opened his eyes - looking through the almost burned-out hull, deck and ship. Looking down at the crack in the shell, he saw the pitch-black crack extending almost infinitely into the distance. It did not emit any light, and even seemed to be actively absorbing all light, presenting an almost "sense of infinite falling". It is extremely dark, and although the details cannot be seen clearly in the depth of the darkness, it vaguely reveals a "sunken" feeling, as if... there is a vast space inside it.

And the black sun hangs high above that pitch-black rift. In the vast depths of chaos and darkness, the glorious and magnificent sun disk is still changing in and out according to the rules, releasing a strong and clear navigation signal - even now. The Lost Home No. no longer needs it to continue navigation.

Zhou Ming turned his head again and looked at the puppet that was still beside him.

Alice is no longer sitting on the barrel, because even the barrel was burned by the starlight flames a few minutes ago. She is now standing on the last small piece of deck next to Zhou Ming - Lei Nuo Lazee stood beside the doll.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhou Ming suddenly asked.

"I didn't think about anything!" Alice said happily immediately, but then scratched her head again, as if she felt something was wrong. After thinking about it briefly, she added with a smile, "It feels very interesting - it turns out that the world This is what the back side looks like.”

"Aren't you afraid?" Although he already knew the answer, Zhou Ming still asked curiously.

"I'm not afraid," the doll shook his head as expected, "Although I don't know why I'm not afraid..."

Zhou Ming smiled and looked up at Lei Nora: "What about you?"

"I was thinking... when the world was destroyed, it turned out to be so quiet," Le Nora said slowly with a calm expression. "Ever since I was very young, I have always heard and seen those things coming from the deep sea. The things passed over, those twisted and torn scenes and the roaring and low roar of chaos once brought me great fear. I once thought that the end of the world would be like that. Amidst the huge fear and earth-shaking changes, everything was torn apart in mourning. into pieces.

"But the fact is that the end of the world is so quiet, everything disappears. At the last moment, the world does not make any sound, whether it is the roar of the brave or the wailing of the coward... none, it is so quiet that it even feels unreal. , makes me think that the world is still there, and if I 'go down' from here, I will still see the endless blue sea and the sunshine shining on the sea."

Zhou Ming didn't speak, but Le Nora exhaled softly after being quiet for a few seconds: "It's time for me to leave."

"Leave now?" Zhou Ming raised his eyebrows, "There is no place to go now."

"I know, but I want to get the Drifting House out of here now," Leigh Nora laughed. "I have already seen the doomsday scenery. In the new world, I still hope to continue my journey."

"...I understand," Zhou Ming nodded slightly and smiled at the "Frost Queen", "Then I wish you a safe journey - I will always be there for you on the Lost Home. There is always a door left in the house, even in the new world.”

"Thank you," Le Nora smiled and took half a step back, "Then we'll see you in the new world."

She left the only remaining bridge on the ship, passed through the broken stairs and the deck with only a few afterimages left, and walked into the "Door of the Homeless" that still stood quietly in nothingness. After a moment, there was A stream of light appeared at the edge of the fire of the Lost Home, and flashed in the light of the stars...//Lei Nora.? ? ? ==\u003e^……%￥Migrated to new data*\u0026*%￥Save completed.

Then, the deck on the bridge once again shrank and collapsed, and the remaining parts of the Homeless were further disintegrated in the starlight flames. In a gradually lowering roar, the phantom of the mast completely disappeared, followed by the phantom connected to the helm. structure.

Zhou Ming raised his head and glanced at the "sunshine" in the distance, then lowered his gaze and looked at the last remaining image of the steering wheel in his hand - after a moment, he let go of his hand.

"Thank you for your hard work," he said softly to the ship.

He stepped towards the edge of the bridge, passing through the former stairs and decks in an almost transparent fragment of light and shadow, with Alice following closely behind him - they arrived in front of the captain's cabin door at the stern of the ship, and " Captain's Cabin" is now almost gone.

Even the "Gate of the Homeless" has become an almost transparent phantom, standing quietly where it once was. Through the transparent door, Zhou Ming can see the "Lost Home" on the "Homeless" The last remaining part——

The dark wooden goat's head was floating there, floating above a shadow that had once been a chart table. It was turning its head and looking at Alice and Zhou Ming who were standing not far away.

Zhou Ming walked toward the goat head. Behind him was the illusion of stars, and the final structure of the Homeless Ship collapsed and disappeared step by step in the illusion.

"That's almost it," he said to his first mate. "It's time for the Homeless to rest - Silantis is waiting for you too."

"Save a place for me on the Homeless Ship in the New World later." The goat head raised its neck, as if there was a smile on its hard wooden face, "You decide the specific form."

"Okay." Zhou Ming nodded.

The goat head exhaled softly. After a moment of silence, it narrowed its eyes and finally asked the original and final question again——

"Name?"

"Zhou Ming."

Brilliant starlight burst out from the depths of the remaining structure of the Lost Home, and the flames filled with starlight silently engulfed the phantom of Sasloka's spine and its head. In just an instant, the entire ship was in the starlight. It returned to nothingness, leaving only a few remaining points of light slowly drifting away.

Alice watched this scene with her eyes wide open. She raised her hand in the darkness, as if she wanted to touch the scattered light spots. When a glimmer of light fell on her fingertips, she seemed to realize it in hindsight. Juedi reacted, tried his best to smile, and waved his hands vigorously: "Goodbye, Mr. First Mate, goodbye-see you in the new world!"

Those light spots disappeared, and Miss Doll finally stopped waving her arms. She thought for a while in the darkness and looked up at Zhou Ming: "Captain, what's next? Isn't it... there's still a short way to go. Huh? I see the black sun is still ahead, how can we get there?"

Zhou Ming laughed, stretched out his hand to press Alice's hair, and raised his finger to point behind the doll.

Alice was stunned for a moment and turned around.

She saw a familiar ornate wooden box floating silently in the darkness.

"I kept it alone, and then I will leave it to you." Zhou Ming said next to him.

Alice finally reacted, and a happy smile appeared on her face.

She floated to the wooden box, bent down and stroked the box, gently stroking its surface as if greeting an old friend: "Hello... we are leaving again!"

Zhou Ming laughed, lifted his legs and walked into the wooden box, followed closely by Alice - the wooden box of the doll was not too big, like a small canoe, but it was enough to accommodate two people standing .

Alice grabbed the lid of the wooden box floating aside, but then she hesitated a little and glanced at Zhou Ming unconfidently: "Captain, can you really paddle across? There is no water here..."

Zhou Ming just smiled, his eyes swept across the nothingness and darkness around him, and the darkness rippled in this exile dimension that was obscured by the Creation of the World.

"That's it," he said to the puppet.

Alice blinked and tried to move the lid of the box in the surrounding darkness - the wooden box moved.

She suddenly became happy and began to wave the lid of the wooden box in her hand, rowing vigorously in the darkness - just like the first day, just like she was chasing the distant ship "Homeless" in the waves of the boundless sea, the wooden box was in the dark Gradually accelerating, carrying the doll and her captain, they sailed toward the distant sunshine.

Time seemed to have lost its meaning, and the distance in space seemed to have lost its meaning. The wooden box was like a small canoe, sailing all the way over the dark cracks toward the distant sunshine. Alice didn't know how long she had rowed. She only knew the captain. He was always with himself, and the sun in the distance seemed to always be at the same distance - but suddenly, the sunlight came very close, and the distant sun became a blur as far as the eye could see. The sea of ​​flames stretched out in all directions, and just below the wooden box, the huge jet of flames surged like an amazing storm-yet silent and cold.

Alice stopped what she was doing. She looked down and turned to look at Zhou Ming, with a big smile on her face: "We're here!"

Zhou Ming was quiet for a long time. After a long time, he breathed softly: "Yes, we are here."

Alice did not ask why the captain was quiet for so long. She seemed to understand everything. After the captain answered, she carefully put the lid of the wooden box aside and raised her head to look into Zhou Ming's eyes.

The bright smile gradually turned into a peaceful smile.

"Captain, see you in the new world."

"Well, see you in the new world."

"Don't forget my little pan~"

"certainly--"

The doll disappeared contentedly into the light of the stars.

Zhou Ming stood quietly above the sea of ​​fire under the black sun. After an unknown amount of time, he turned his head and looked over his shoulder.

In the diffuse starlight, Ai's figure disappeared and appeared.

It tilted its head, as if it was observing its owner curiously - when their eyes met, it suddenly flapped its wings and made a strange and sharp sound, as if it was being disturbed: "To a new world, to a new world" To the new world! The new UR is up for a limited time, and the probability of Duncan-Zhou Ming is increased! To the new world!

Zhou Ming frowned in confusion.

This pigeon usually speaks abstractly, but he can still understand it to a certain extent. But this time it is a bit too abstract... What is this bird doing?

However, just when he was about to say something, Ai Yi's figure quickly dimmed in the starlight. It flapped its wings for the last time, and its mung bean eyes that usually didn't look very smart seemed to suddenly have something. After thinking, it turned its head and seemed to look at its owner seriously.

"goodbye--"

Then, the pigeons are pigeons.

Zhou Ming looked at this scene with some confusion. After a long time, he shook his head helplessly and muttered to himself: "I thought at least this guy could stay with me until the end."

No one responded to his soliloquy.

Including the blazing "sun" beneath his feet.

The Black Sun was "dead", Zhou Ming discovered this when Alice paddled the wooden box closer to the sea of ​​​​fire.

Zhou Ming didn’t know when it stopped thinking. Perhaps it was the moment when the Lost Home entered the backside of World Creation, or perhaps when Alice paddled the wooden box to the sea of ​​​​fire. The black sun remained silent during this process. He stopped thinking quietly, without saying goodbye or leaving a single word.

There is only one corpse here that is still burning according to a specific pattern, maintaining a flash like a beacon that can still illuminate the route after the end.

This flame is the last "gift" Black Sun left to Zhou Ming.

"...You really can rest assured of my promise."

Zhou Ming smiled helplessly and shook his head. His figure slowly descended on the sea of ​​fire until he was engulfed by the flames, until he felt that he had stepped on a solid surface.

And the flame that once belonged to the Black Sun but now has no owner is still burning beside him, as if waiting... to "take over".

Zhou Ming narrowed his eyes slightly and looked around at the sea of ​​​​fire. Suddenly...a word appeared in his mind.

The usurper of fire.

Thus, the final usurpation of fire began.

At a certain moment, the remaining flames of the black sun were transformed into the carrier of starlight. This dazzling "celestial body" composed of distorted information and confused beliefs was soaked in starlight, as if it was ignited for the second time. The ground exploded, and it turned into a strong flash of light, illuminating everything here in an infinitesimal moment.

The fierce "illumination" reflected the starlight into the cracks in the creation of the world - this was also an infinitely short moment.

After this moment, time finally truly lost its meaning.

The Black Sun, the last remnant of the old world, the last fragment left to this moment after the collision of thousands of worlds, was completely decomposed in the starlight.

The Great Annihilation is complete.

…

Everything disappeared in the reverberation of the Great Annihilation Hollow, time and space turned into nothingness, and the nearly eternal, but infinitely short "moment"... began.

There is only one consciousness, floating in nothingness, walking in this eternal moment.

He started thinking and calculating.

The first parameter of the mathematical machine was generated, and an infinite amount of time passed before the second parameter was carefully determined—a process that was too long to measure and too short to be detected on a time scale.

He is still thinking and calculating.

In the infinitely long and infinitely short "time", he assigns initial values ​​to everything.

On the scale of calculable and uncalculable information, he begins to arrange the places that deserve the promises for those who deserve them.

He is still thinking and calculating.

It begins to determine the node at which all things run. In this mathematical machine that has not yet started, what is before the node belongs to "design", and what after the node belongs to "possible future".

This process took another infinitesimal moment.

…

transfer.

Since old world-assignment-completed.

Redirected.

To a new world - the model has been injected.

And so the first second of eternity passed.

Zhou Ming Duncan opened his eyes.

The darkness of nothingness reflected in his eyes.

…

He said--

"Let there be light."