Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 103 The Sea of ​​Stasis
The Raven-class tactical assault transport aircraft traversed the thick clouds at speeds far exceeding those of conventional aircraft.

The fuselage is made of the latest stealth composite material, and is completely black, like a ghost lurking in the deep sea, silently tearing through the airflow in front of it and rapidly advancing towards the "Sea of ​​Stagnation".

Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was as oppressive as solidified lead.

Unlike the tension and solemnity of previous missions, this time, the air was filled with a sense of tragic heroism and determination.

Everyone knew that what they were about to face was no longer the known "nightmare," but a terrifying existence that might be directly linked to the origin of the world.

This is a war with no way out, and it may also be their burial ground.

Mo Fei didn't liven up the atmosphere as usual; he just sat quietly in the corner, wiping his two high-frequency battle axes, which were already polished to a shine, over and over again with a soft velvet cloth.

His movements were so focused, so devout, as if he were not wiping a cold weapon for killing, but a ritual object to be used in a sacred ceremony.

Lancer also put down his thick, brick-like technical book. His eyes, hidden behind heavy glasses, were fixed on the tactical tablet in front of him.

On the tablet, simulations and deductions were being performed repeatedly with extremely high efficiency on the shattered star map captured by "Hermes" at the last moment.

Although every simulation pointed to a hopeless "unknown," he still did not give up.

An Mu leaned against the cold bulkhead with his eyes closed, his arms crossed over his chest. His face was expressionless, but the slight trembling of his knuckles from the effort betrayed his inner turmoil.

He is about to lead his team to challenge a taboo entity that even the top brass of the Investigation Bureau avoids discussing.

He didn't know what awaited them.

Lu Yueqi hugged the old sextant tightly, her petite body swaying slightly from the slight jolt of the instrument.

She pressed the cold sextant tightly against her chest, and she could clearly feel a faint, comforting energy fluctuation emanating from within it.

That energy fluctuation resonated in a strange way with the bloodline memories deep within her soul.

She didn't know if she could actually help, but she knew she couldn't back down any longer.

Bai Yu sat quietly beside her, like a silent sculpture in the darkness.

He immersed all his senses into the sea of ​​his soul.

After being nourished by the sextant, that sea of ​​souls has regained a sense of the depth and vastness that belong to the "ocean".

In that deep ocean, he could clearly sense the existence of another "self".

Black Words floated silently in the center of that sea of ​​souls.

His handsome, devilish face was unusually expressionless.

Those pure black eyes seemed to pierce through layers of spatial barriers, gazing into that forbidden zone filled with the unknown and danger.

"My dearest Xiaobaiyu, are you really sure?" After a long while, his elegant and playful voice slowly echoed in the depths of Baiyu's consciousness, "That's not some vulgar amusement park, nor is it some ghost ship where cheap tragedies are staged."

"That is a door to 'truth'."

"And the truth is often more cruel and more...desperate than lies."

“I know,” Bai Yu said firmly, “but we have no other choice.”

"Ha... What a laughable answer full of 'heroism'." Hei Yan let out a light laugh full of disdain. "However, I like it."

He slowly stretched out his hand, and a huge ancient book composed of extinguished starlight and nothingness slowly emerged in his palm.

"Since you're so eager to see that so-called 'truth'..."

"Then let me compose a magnificent... finale for your grand farewell performance."

Just then, a sudden, urgent alarm sounded in the cockpit of the transport plane!

"Warning! Warning! We are about to enter a high-dimensional energy interference zone! All communication devices are about to lose contact! The external armor of the machine is being corroded by unknown energy! The power of the anti-gravity engine is rapidly decreasing!"

"We've arrived." An Mu suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of resolute farewell flashing in his sharp gaze.

He looked out through the porthole.

What came into view was a bizarre and suffocating scene.

They seemed to have stumbled into a gray world forgotten by God.

The sky was no longer azure, but rather a grayish-white, like an old photograph.

Below, what should have been a boundless, turbulent sea now resembled a huge, frozen gray pane of glass, without even a ripple.

Countless surging waves were frozen in time at the moment just before they were about to crash onto the shore. The countless white sprays that splashed up resembled exquisite ice sculptures, reflecting an eerie light that sent chills down the spine under the grayish-white sky.

Even the raindrops falling from the sky seemed to be frozen in place, suspended in mid-air like a string of broken pearls.

Time and space were forcibly frozen by a terrifying force from a higher dimension.

This is the Sea of ​​Stagnation.

A death zone where even time itself seems to have chosen to forget.

"All personnel, prepare for airdrop!"

Anmu's voice was clearly heard by everyone through the cabin's public address system.

The heavy hatch slowly opened amidst a piercing creak of hydraulic levers starting.

A chilling gray current, so cold it seemed to freeze one's soul, rushed in.

Without the slightest hesitation, the five figures leaped from the violently shaking transport plane like five black meteorites, plummeting towards the still gray beach below!
……

The moment their feet touched solid ground, a strong sense of unease and oppression overwhelmed the five of them like a tidal wave.

There was no sound at all.

There was no sound of wind, no sound of waves, and even the sound of their own footsteps seemed to be swallowed up by this gray space.

The whole world is like a silent film, exuding a deathly stillness.

“The physical rules here… are completely ‘locked in’.” Lan Ce cleared his throat, looking at the now malfunctioning detector in his hand. “Time, space, energy flow… everything is forcibly fixed in a static state by a force we can’t understand. We’re like… like a group of insects that have accidentally wandered into amber.” “Will we still be able to get out?” Lu Yueqi’s voice rang out softly. She looked at the transport plane that had come from, now a black dot permanently fixed in the sky.

"I don't know." Lan Ce shook his head, a frustrated, bitter smile on his face.

"Can you sense the location of the 'door'?" An Mu turned his gaze to the girl who was tightly hugging the sextant.

Lu Yueqi closed her eyes, trying hard to sense the faint fluctuations coming from the sextant.

After a long while, she slowly opened her eyes and pointed to the horizon where the coastline was shrouded in gray mist.

“Over there…” her voice was weak, “but the signal is very weak and… very unstable. It’s like… like a radio signal that keeps jumping between two different channels, and I can’t pinpoint its exact location.”

"That's enough." An Mu nodded. "Everyone, maintain combat formation and advance towards the target area!"

The five of them began to slowly advance along the gray coastline into the unknown depths of the mist.

Their feet sank into the grey sand, which was so hard that it seemed to have lost all its moisture and turned into millions of tiny grey crystals.

Soon, they discovered some "still" wreckage ahead.

It was an old wooden sailboat that was mostly rotten.

It was frozen in time at the very moment before it was about to be completely swallowed up by a row of waves as huge as mountains.

On the deck of the ship, they could even clearly see several desiccated skeletons dressed in tattered sailor suits.

Some of them were gaping, making a silent scream gesture; others were clinging tightly to the mast beside them, their faces filled with fear and despair.

They are like a group of meticulously sculpted wax figures, forever displayed in this natural museum full of death and tragedy.

"Are these... victims who strayed into this place hundreds of years ago?" Mo Fei's voice was somewhat hoarse.

“Perhaps longer.” A hint of seriousness flashed in Bai Yu’s eyes. “Here, time has lost all meaning.”

They bypassed the ominous "ghost ship" and continued deeper into the mist.

The closer they got to the mist, the brighter the golden light emanating from the sextant in Lu Yueqi's hand became, and the more intense the energy fluctuations emanating from within it grew.

They seem to be getting closer and closer to that ultimate goal.

However, just as they were about to step into the gray mist, Bai Yu suddenly stopped.

"Wait." His voice was low and full of vigilance.

"What's wrong?" An Mu immediately stopped in his tracks.

Bai Yu did not answer immediately.

He fixed his gaze on the calm, gray-glass-like surface of the sea before him.

"Look there."

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

On the gray sea that had been frozen in time, a tiny ripple, almost unnoticed by everyone, began to spread slowly without warning.

The ripple was so abrupt and incongruous in this still world, like an inappropriate ink dot appearing on a blank sheet of paper covered with straight lines.

Everyone immediately went on high alert.

In this death zone where even time has been completely frozen, anything that can "move" represents an unpredictable and immense danger!

The ripple did not disappear.

Instead, it expanded rapidly at a rate visible to the naked eye!

In just a few seconds, it transformed from an insignificant speck of ink into a tiny vortex with a diameter of over three meters that was slowly rotating!
At the center of the vortex was a bottomless abyss of darkness, like a terrifying entrance to an unknown dimension, emanating an unsettling allure.

Just as the vortex was fully formed, Bai Yu's body jolted violently!
He could clearly feel that the "Eye of the Vortex" mark on the back of his right hand, which had been dormant, was now resonating with the vortex above the sea in a very faint way!

A strangely familiar chaotic aura from the "Gate of Rift" flashed by from the depths of the vortex!
"It's it!" A glint of light flashed in Bai Yu's eyes!
Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately took a step forward, attempting to get closer to the vortex and use his own power to analyze its chaotic energy composition!
"Baiyu! Don't go over there! It's dangerous!" Anmu's shout rang out behind him!
However, it's too late.

Just before Bai Yu's foot was about to step onto the sea surface, the slowly rotating vortex seemed to be stimulated by something, and without warning, it burst out with an enormous and irresistible suction force!
The suction was so targeted that it ignored everything around it and precisely locked its greedy "tentacles" onto Bai Yu!
Bai Yu's body flew uncontrollably toward the vortex!
"Old Bai!" Mo Fei roared.

His massive body lunged toward Bai Yu like a cannonball, trying to pull him back before he was completely swallowed by the vortex!

However, his hand was ultimately a step too slow.

Just before his fingertips were about to touch Bai Yu's clothes, Bai Yu's entire body was completely swallowed up by the vortex radiating endless darkness!

In the last moment before consciousness was completely engulfed by that cold darkness.

A mechanical train whistle mingled with a muffled electronic female voice that flashed past his ear.

"...Next stop...buzz..."

"...Passengers who need to get off...please prepare in advance..."

Immediately afterwards, Bai Yu's consciousness was completely plunged into endless darkness.

After swallowing Bai Yu, the vortex, like a satiated monster, slowly shrank after a silent twisting motion and finally disappeared completely.

The sea surface returned to its stillness, like gray glass.

It was as if everything that had happened before was just an unreal illusion.

On the beach, only An Mu, Mo Fei, Lan Ce, and Lu Yueqi remained, standing there blankly.

Their faces were filled with shock, anger, and bewilderment...

"Baiyu..."

Lu Yueqi's trembling and desperate cries echoed for a long time in this eternally still and silent world.

(End of this chapter)