Deep Sea Embers

It is late at night, but for the Homeless Ship sailing at the end of the world, the sky above her head is always a layer of hazy and chaotic gray, day or night - the sourceless skylight is eternally and evenly dispersed in the clouds and mists, as if there is no time at all. There will be no slight changes. 【6】【9】【s】【h】【u】【x】【.】【c】【o】【m】

The sailor was sitting on the stern deck in a daze, with a complicated expression on his bony face. He had maintained this posture for a long time, like a sculpture.

Duncan stood next to him, looking down at the mummy, and suddenly broke the silence: "Is it possible that you are still thinking about your 'last words'?"

"Not really," the sailor adjusted his posture unnaturally and muttered, "It's mainly because I suddenly don't know what to do in the future."

Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "In the future?"

"In my original plan, I should have disappeared from this world by this time," the sailor was silent for a few seconds and said calmly and slowly, "I never thought of continuing to live after completing this mission." I have never thought about any possibility in this regard - I have been wandering in this world for too many years, but now I suddenly find myself thinking about my future life." This incident made me a little at a loss.

Duncan looked at the other party seriously: "If you are not happy, I can 'fire' you - it only takes a moment, and you can get the 'long sleep' you want."

After hearing this sentence, the sailor's expression suddenly changed subtly, and he adjusted his posture unnaturally: "Ah, it's not like that.

An imperceptible smile appeared on Duncan's lips. He crossed his arms and looked at the sea shrouded in mist: "After all, do you really want to 'sleep' so much now?"

The sailor was silent for a longer time this time, as if he had never seriously thought about this issue until now and suddenly fell into deep thought on this matter.

After an unknown amount of time, the mummy suddenly moved, and a hoarse voice came hesitantly: "This world to me -

Still as cold as ice. "

"But the new world will get warmer," Duncan said lightly. "There, maybe you can no longer be a corpse, or maybe, the corpse can still feel the warmth."

The sailor raised his head, with a hint of surprise in his eyes: "New world?"

'Have you forgotten what you said? What I want to do will definitely come true - there will be a new world in the future. You said this yourself." Duncan lowered his head and looked calmly into the sailor's eyes. "Are you still so convinced now? "

After a moment of silence, the sailor nodded:

"I believe it, all the time."

"Very good, then let's wait and see with our own eyes," Duncan laughed, "I think it will be a very good place - and the story of the Sea Song, many things should be told by the people involved. Meaning, if you want it to last into the future, do it yourself."

The sailor kept a slightly sluggish posture and listened to the captain's words. After a long time, the deep and deep wrinkles on the face of the corpse suddenly relaxed, and he smiled, although the smile was still ugly and terrifying: " OK, I figured it out."

He slowly stood up and looked at the still cold world. The wrinkles on his face were more relaxed than before: "I want to see the 'new world', Captain - I really don't want to die."

"Okay," Duncan breathed out, smiled and stepped forward to pat the other party's shoulder, "Then I won't die."

It is late at night, and in seven hours, it will be the time when the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star are scheduled to set sail.

The crew members gathered on the deck after a night's rest, and Alice came to the bridge at the stern again - Miss Doll stood in front of the dark steering wheel with a tight face, more serious than ever.

The Brilliant Star was parked quietly next to the Lost Home, waiting to set off.

"Relax," Duncan stood next to Alice and said to the doll in a gentle tone, "You have already tried it once, and the ship is ready. Just do it the same way as last time."

"Yeah!" Alice nodded a little stiffly, took half a step forward with a decisive expression, and stretched out her hand to the particularly heavy-looking steering wheel. Before the puppet's fingers touched the steering wheel, Duncan and Vanna coincidentally agreed. He turned around and looked once again at the depths of the archipelago, looking at the misty sea - in the center of the sea surrounded by the archipelago, a gentle sound of waves came as if it was real and illusory, as if to say goodbye.

Duncan nodded slightly in that direction and said softly in a voice that only he could hear: "Goodbye, I will see you again."

The next second, the puppet's finger touched the steering wheel of the Lost Home - and the execution permission of Pilot Three began to take over the entire ship.

A huge illusion descended from the sky. Under the chaotic skylight, the fragmented projection of the New Hope arrived. The rapidly spreading shadow enveloped the Homeless Ship, the Brilliant Star and a large area of ​​​​the surrounding sea area. Then, a The illusory and distorted voice seems to have penetrated the distant time and echoed deep in everyone's mind:

"The jump engine is started, and the New Hope will set sail. May we meet again at a distant destination. The hope of the future awaits us all.

The sounds filled with interference and distortion gradually dissipated, and the entire fog-shrouded sea gradually dissipated. Outside the sides of the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star, the entire world quickly lost all colors and details, and turned into that again. A familiar, monotonous and uniform "grey"

Only the ancient shadow of the New Hope still floats above the two ships, like a sheltering figure spreading its wings.

Alice held the steering wheel tightly and stared at the distant front with wide eyes - countless "silk threads" connected her, connected to the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star, as well as the projection of the New Hope, her The mind has temporarily left the body of this puppet, and turned into the will and guidance of navigation.

The route ahead is clear and we are navigating to the node at the end of the world.

At the same time, the long night is still covering the boundless sea - under the long night, the new "order" established for survival has begun to operate.

A brilliant "sunshine" is slowly moving on the sea. The heavy tugboat drags the heavy sun fragments and sails on the long route between city-states. The pale golden light is centered on the tugboat and spreads out for tens of kilometers. , and in that place filled with pale golden light, there are countless large and small cargo ships.

The fleets that navigate between city-states set sail with the moving sunshine, and the powerful steam core drives them across the endless night. The captains will transport important supplies to cities that urgently need them, and send them together, There is also sunshine that represents hope - they will stay in a city for three to five days. When the sunshine disk disperses the darkness and distortion of the city, and when the guardians of the city-state can breathe, the fleet will set off again, fully loaded with passengers. New cargo, heading to the next destination with the sunshine.

Across the entire boundless sea, there are more and more fleets transporting sunlight and supplies.

The alliance of city-states in the north has begun to operate as planned, and in the central sea, the new "Sunshine Route" centered on Plande has completed its first ocean-going material transportation under night. In Phaeron, the White Oak served as the pilot ship, leading the tugboat dragging the sun fragments to break through the blockade of night and reconnecting the isolated cities. In the distant Breeze Port, several teams formed by the church personally The fleet has sailed into the night - they will go to Moko and Lensa to break through the blockade in the night.

The sun is flowing in the long night, and fleets of ships are sailing in this sinking world, just like the pioneers who explored the dark islands in ancient times, holding axes and torches in the wild forests, constantly fighting against each other. The spreading and deepening darkness, as this giant named "civilization" gradually entered its decline, tried everything to maintain the flow of blood in the giant's body.

Taran Ayre stood on the tallest tower of Breeze Harbor, looking at the pale golden light that was fading away on the sea with some ecstasy. He saw a huge luminous geometric body like a crystal cast by light, which was holding a heavy bow. The boat was dragged towards the night, and in the fading sunlight, countless small and large boat shadows were vaguely visible.

That is the first cargo fleet to set off from Qingfeng Port. They will travel through this long night in the next seven days, under the protection of the sun, to deliver supplies to Moko, and then set off from there to try to go further away. The central sea area of ​​​​and enter the "Sunshine Route" established by Plande to achieve "docking" with the transportation lines there.

If all goes well, the central sea and the southern sea will be reconnected after that. Now, Qingfeng Harbor has sunk into the night,

The "sunshine" that has always shrouded the city-state in the past year has left. The Breeze Harbor, which was once protected by the sun, has truly faced this long night for the first time. Now darkness has fallen in all the neighborhoods, and the gas lamps are The lights lit up in the night, outlines of the city in Taran El's view.

The sound of footsteps came from behind, and Taran El didn't look back, already knowing who was coming.

"To be honest, I'm a little sad, Ted, do you know this feeling?" He said casually, "In the past almost a whole year, I have spent most of my time studying that sun fragment, and it almost became There's a part of Breeze Harbor that a lot of people, including me, never thought that thing would leave."

"It is now more than just a 'research sample'. After Vision 001 fell, it has become part of the lifeline of many city-states." Ted Leal, the Keeper of Truth, came to the edge of the terrace and talked with Taran They looked at the city below that fell into night, "I received an order from the academy, 'Survival will become the first mission of all city-states and everyone in the future, and everything else must make way for it."

Taran El listened silently and said nothing. After a long time, he sighed and broke the silence: "Let's go for a walk on the pier together.