Ashes Of Deep Sea
/ Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 386 – Chapter 386 Chapter 390 Long
Chapter 386: Chapter 390: Long-Awaited Reunion Chapter 386: Chapter 390: Long-Awaited Reunion For a long time, Lawrence felt as if he were trapped in a “lucid dream” – he was more aware than anyone of what was happening to him, of the mental illness that was afflicting his spirit.
He knew Martha was no longer there, knew that the figure he interacted with day and night was just an illusion. He knew all of this – whether it was on a subconscious level or a conscious one, he was painfully aware.
But compared to other captains of a similar age and experience, his mental state was actually quite good. On the vast Endless Sea, there was no shortage of captains with twisted spirits and damaged minds. Even with the division of burden offered by ship priests, the profession of challenging the sea was bound to bear a mental corruption far beyond that of ordinary crew members. Each captain had completed numerous sea voyages in a continuous struggle against their deteriorating minds, to the point where they often described their profession with a saying:
“We're not sailing on the edge of The Abyss; our lives are steered straight into it.”
It was precisely because of his years of mental hardship that Lawrence had an exceptionally keen awareness of “Martha.” Right at this moment, he keenly perceived that the figure before him was definitely not the same “thing” he had seen in his past hallucinations.
He couldn't help but recall the “Martha” that had appeared on the white oak deck before, when the first mate Gus had seen the figure of “Martha” – had the Transformation started then?
Had everything finally crossed some critical point? Had the things from his imagination… finally arrived in reality? Or was some unspeakable force reading his mind, creating this physically present “entity” before his eyes? Was this a gift filled with malice, or a trap laden with mockery?
“Martha…” Lawrence finally opened his mouth, feeling his throat a little dry, his voice hoarse, “are you in front of me?”
“As you see,” the female adventurer laughed, “want to touch me? I even have body heat.”
“…You are a tangible entity,” Lawrence took a light breath, restraining the impulse to step forward, “but… why? Has the hallucination from my mind here been Transformed into some kind of substance? Is this… the power of this sea area?”
“At least you're partly right,” Martha gently shook her head, “it's true that this 'sea area' has shaped both me and the Black Oak, but I don't come from the hallucination in your mind – I've been wandering here for many years, Lawrence – I and this ship have been here for many years past, as part of a vast number of 'Replications,' wandering aimlessly.”
Lawrence was slightly taken aback: “Replications?”
“Replications – a powerful force from the deep sea has caused all this. I don't know what it is exactly, but it has been entrenched here for many, many years, creating countless Replications. Do you remember the 'Sea Swallow' that you just destroyed? And that Dagger Island…”
“They're all 'Replications'?!” Lawrence's eyes widened as he suddenly realized that the vortex he was caught in seemed even more strange and terrifying than he had imagined, “Wait, then that Frost City-State we encountered before…”
“That too, everything here is,” Martha said calmly, “That force has already permeated the entire Endless Sea. Anything that lingers in this sea area long enough cannot escape its 'Replication.' There are countless hollow copies wandering the deep sea – what you encountered is just a small fraction.”
Lawrence seemed to fall into a stupor. After a long while, he suddenly snapped out of it and incredulously looked at the “wife” before him: “But… you look different, you can even converse with me, and this ship was just fighting side by side with the White Oak…”
Martha said nothing, just watching Lawrence silently with a calm and meaningful smile.
He stopped talking and gradually came to his senses; looking down at his own body, which was still transparent and ghostly as a Spectral Body, and the quiet green flames burning upon it.
The appearance of the Black Oak had come after the White Oak completed its Transformation amidst the fire of spirits.
“You realize now, Lawrence,” Martha said softly, “that it takes a force even more powerful to contend with a mighty power – even this sea domain cannot affect the spoils of the Exiled Fleet – both you and I are 'His' spoils.”
Lawrence listened in a daze, his face gradually expressing bewilderment, then his expression shifted as he realized something discordant about the last few sentences spoken – that wasn't something Martha, who had parted from him decades ago forever, should know!
Why did she know about the Homeloss? Why did she know that the White Oak was Captain Duncan's “spoils”?
“You've read my mind!” Lawrence suddenly widened his eyes, his muscles tensing instinctively, “You're not the real Martha!”
However, the figure standing not far away just smiled, as if completely unaffected by Lawrence's reaction, that calmness the same as decades earlier: “If what you want is a 100% accurate and 'pure' Martha, I'm sorry, Lawrence, I indeed am not her – but 'she' is part of me, Martha's soul is inside me, and another part of me, comes from your consciousness and memories… This Endless Sea is like a mirror, continuously reflecting all that floats across its surface, including consciousness and memory.
“I didn't read your mind, it's your consciousness that naturally projected a part of me – can't you accept that?”
Lawrence opened his mouth and, after several changes of expression, finally twisted his mouth into a bitter smile and spread his hands, “I don't know; I never even thought about how I should respond after truly facing you… I don't know how to accept this… 'form' of you. I still haven't figured out what kind of existence you really are.”
He lifted his head, the old captain who had never wavered in the face of countless strange and terrifying events on the Endless Sea now seemed somewhat bewildered and at a loss.
He had never shown his weakness to anyone–except in front of his own wife.
Martha quietly watched the no-longer-young Lawrence and after a long while, she smiled helplessly, “You're still the same as before, always needing my help at crucial moments.”
She walked over, raised her hand, and placed her hands, warm with the touch of the living, onto Lawrence's shoulders.
“You need to be firm in yourself, and in your clear judgment…”
Lawrence frowned slightly, a bit puzzled.
“Mr. Sailor, could you please step out for a moment?” Martha then turned her head to look at the exceptionally well-behaved Subject 077, “The master of the Exiled Fleet will appreciate your cooperation.”
The mummified corpse in sailor's garb was immediately startled into action, turning and leaving the bridge without a word.
Lawrence, as if suddenly realizing something, hurriedly spoke up, “Wait…”
But the door to the bridge had already closed.
Subject 077 quickly ran out into the corridor outside the door, where he could only faintly hear Captain Lawrence's last shout from inside:
“Martha–I'm already over sixty years old!”
He couldn't bear to listen to what happened next.
Moments later, a creaking sound of a turning door hinge reached his ears, and Subject 077 shrank his neck and cautiously turned his head to look, seeing the female adventurer standing at the door with a relaxed and cheerful smile on her face.
Then, Lawrence came out grimacing, and upon seeing Subject 077 at the door, he immediately threw a warning glance his way–then quickly covered his head, grimacing even more.
Subject 077 instantly averted his gaze, trying to lower his own presence as if he were a true corpse.
Clearly, he had taken a hard beating.
“Can you accept it now?” Martha turned around, smiling at Lawrence.
Lawrence held the swollen spot on his head; he didn't know why his almost spiritual body could still be beaten so fiercely by Martha; all he knew was that such detail was no longer important, “I can accept it, I can accept it…”
Drifting on the Endless Sea still required a carefree attitude towards everything.
After all, it seemed that if he couldn't let go, Martha would help him “let go”–the female adventurer's bold temperament was just like many years before, but he was already a man past fifty…
“So now, we should consider the serious matters,” Martha said with a smile, her arms crossed as she leaned against the door, “Staying trapped here is not a solution.”
Hearing this, Lawrence immediately set aside the myriad thoughts in his heart, his expression turning serious as well, “Martha, I wanted to ask you just now, what is the state of this sea area? Do you know how to leave this place?”
“…I'd love to answer you, but I'm sorry,” Martha was silent for two seconds and then spoke with an apologetic tone, “Although I've wandered here for many years, in the end, I'm just one of the many forgeries trapped here with this ship. But there is one thing I can be certain of… this entire sea area is centered around the 'Frost City-State.' If there really is a fissure here that intersects with the real world, it must definitely be in Frost.”
Chapter end
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