Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 514

Chapter 514: Chapter 515: After the Sun Reignites Chapter 514: Chapter 515: After the Sun Reignites The sun had been reignited.

After being extinguished for a full twelve hours, the dark sphere that had hung and stilled in the sky once again became the “sun” that brought warmth and light to the world, resuming its movement.

In Prandel, in Frost, in Light Breeze Harbor, everyone who had witnessed the sun's extinguishment saw the spectacle of Anomaly 001 returning to its original state.

However, the panic caused by the sun's extinguishment was not so easily abated–residents of the City-States remained anxious; scholars and priests looked at the reignited sun with the same confusion and nervousness they had felt when it went out; city managers were still trying to confirm the situations of other cities; everyone was eager to know–what had exactly happened?

Dancing colored paper scraps, like a gust of wind, swept across the deck, through the windows, and fell into the captain's cabin, where Lucrecia's figure condensed from the paper scraps. She stepped towards her Crystal Ball and activated it, waiting anxiously for a reply from the opposite side.

As soon as Tirian's figure appeared, she spoke quickly, “I see the sun has been reignited on my end. How about you?”

“Of course, it's the same here. At least for now, it seems we are seeing the same sun,” Tirian replied, his eyes weary but his spirit still fair, “It might take a while before the atmosphere in the City-State calms down. Right now, everyone is worried whether the sky above us will fall into darkness again…”
“… The sun is a symbol of safety, sheltering our daylight for ten thousand years without change. In other words, as soon as it goes out once, everyone's most basic and stable sense of 'safety' takes a heavy blow,” Lucrecia sighed, voicing her thoughts, “No one is not worried about this, myself included.”

“Did you collect any useful information during the sun's extinguishment?” asked Tirian, “You have various kinds of devices over there…”
Lucrecia immediately nodded: “Yes, after the sun went out, a group of observation devices I set up on the Brilliant Starship received strange signals emanating from within that 'Luminous Geometric Body.' I'll sort out the data and send you a copy later, so you can see if the scholars at Cold Harbor have any clues. Later I also need to make another trip to Light Breeze Harbor to check if the monitoring devices set up by the Academy of Truth throughout the city have found anything…”
“Alright, I'll await your news.”

Lucrecia made a sound of agreement, then hesitated for a few seconds before speaking tentatively, “How is father doing? He was at sea when the sun went out…”
“I've been in constant contact with him. Homeloss is doing fine, maybe even better than the situation in the cities,” Tirian took a breath, “I'll contact him again later. Don't worry, if I notice anything amiss… I'll tell you right away.”

Lucrecia nodded lightly and, after saying goodbye to her brother, casually extinguished the Crystal Ball in front of her.

…
Onboard Homeloss, within the captain's cabin, Duncan's eyes gazed at the oval mirror that revealed the image of Captain Lawrence of the White Oak, who was reporting the latest situation:
“The seas around the White Oak have returned to normal, and that eerie phenomenon hasn't appeared again. It seems that everything is getting back on track with the sun's reignition…”
“How is the navigation?”

“The Stargazing Room can now see the 'starry sky' again,” Lawrence immediately confirmed, “However, the Subspace Lens will take a little time to readjust. For now, it seems the White Oak hasn't strayed too far off course.”

“Good, report any further developments to me promptly.”

The spectral flame at the edge of the mirror flickered and faded, with Lawrence's image slowly dissolving away. However, Duncan remained standing in front of the mirror that had returned to normal, his brow furrowed in contemplation.

The sun had been restored, and the situation was largely as he had expected–at least Anomaly 001 was indeed problematic, but this massive ancient “device” was not going to collapse completely in a short time. It was likely to persist for a while amidst constant malfunctions and repairs. Today's extinguishment was only temporary–but correspondingly, its reignition was temporary too.

More than the sun's brief extinguishment, what Duncan was genuinely concerned about at this moment were the other strange phenomena that had occurred after the sun went out.

The first peculiarity was that, aside from Prandel, Light Breeze Harbor, and Frost, communication with the other City-States had been interrupted.

If it had been a communication breakdown across the entire Endless Sea, it would not have been so troubling, but it was just three City-States that had avoided problems. If Prandel and Frost were special due to becoming “Anomalies,” what about Light Breeze Harbor?

The second strange phenomenon was even more perplexing than the “communication interruption”–what was that “boundary” observed by the White Oak?

Burning cloth bundles thrown into the sea would theoretically drift in the opposite direction of the ship's course due to the ship's motion, yet under the conditions of the sun's extinguishment, those cloth bundles halted after drifting a few hundred meters near some “boundary”…
And based on Lawrence's just-received report, this eerie phenomenon disappeared along with the sun's reignition–the desiccated “sailor” had conducted several tests to confirm this.

Duncan's eyebrows knitted tightly.

The phenomenon observed by the White Oak was, in terms of scale, quite small compared to the “loss of contact” with all the City-States upon the Endless Sea. That “boundary” was limited around a single ship, but the things hidden behind that phenomenon… seemed to go far beyond imagination.

Duncan faintly felt as if he had touched upon some extremely crucial “secret” in the Endless Sea, the “true face” of this entire world, seemingly hidden within those twelve hours after the sun extinguished.

At that moment, a call from a distance suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

Duncan immediately came back to his senses and his gaze swept over the mirror in front of him.

The next second, the ethereal and transparent Spectral Flame once again enveloped the mirror, rapidly turning the depths of the mirror pitch black; within it, the figure of Tirian emerged.

“Father, over there…”

“Everything's fine here, the sun has been restored, hasn't it?” Duncan interrupted without waiting for the other to finish, “How's the situation at Frost?”

“Everything is fine here in Frost,” Tirian immediately answered, “With you 'supervising' the cemetery, the pressure on both the church and city hall has been greatly reduced. The order in the city has been controlled, but it may take some time to calm the panic among the citizens. I will convene a meeting later to discuss how to explain the extinguishing of the sun to the general public…”

Duncan noticed that during the conversation, Tirian seemed to be surreptitiously sizing up this side, as if he was… carefully observing his own expression.

He immediately understood why.

“Don't worry, I am still myself, and I haven't been replaced by something from Subspace due to the brief extinguishing of the sun,” Duncan said with a laugh, speaking the absolute truth with a nonchalant face, “Don't believe me? Go to the cemetery and confirm it with my 'avatar' in person?”

“Ah, no, I didn't mean anything by that!” Tirian hurriedly explained, “It's just… Lucy is a bit worried about…”

“I know,” Duncan cut him off, nonchalantly waving his hand, “But you can rest assured, my mental health is very good–instead of worrying about me, let's talk about the situation in the city. Has communication with the other City-States been restored?”

“We can now receive signals from Cold Harbor, and communications with other distant City-States using Spiritual Energy have also been restored,” Tirian nodded, “I have arranged for people to inquire about the situations in each City-State, and we should soon…”

He stopped mid-sentence, his gaze shifting away as if someone had walked into the dome office and was reporting something to him.

Duncan did not speak and immediately withdrew his “gaze,” simultaneously concealing the connection between the mirrors–to avoid frightening the “ordinary people” on the other side.

A few minutes later, the flames on the edge of the mirror reignited, and Duncan heard Tirian's call once again, directing his gaze towards the mirror.

Tirian's figure reappeared on the mirror's surface, this time with an expression of unfading astonishment.

Duncan noticed the change in his expression and frowned slightly, “What happened?”

“We… just established contact with Cold Harbor and asked about their City-State's situation during the period when the sun was extinguished,” Tirian spoke with hesitation, as if weighing every word, “They were surprised–they had no clue about the extinguishing of the sun!”

Duncan's expression immediately tightened.

After about a dozen seconds, as if suddenly realizing something, he broke the silence with grave seriousness, “Clarify it for me–is it that Cold Harbor never observed the phenomenon of the sun extinguishing, or are you saying they did not experience those twelve hours at all?”

Tirian paused at this, swiftly grasping the implication of Duncan's words.

“Are you suggesting…”

“Go check again, see if there's any record of communication with Frost being disrupted at Cold Harbor. If in their eyes, the entire world has always been normal and communications with Frost have never been interrupted… then this matter is more complicated than we imagined.”

“Yes, I'll confirm it immediately,” Tirian said hastily, “And I will also check the other City-States one by one!”

Duncan nodded, waved his hand to dispel the flames around the mirror, but just as he was about to think deeply about the matter, a sudden cry of alarm from Captain Goat echoed from not too far away, “Captain! Something's not right! Come look at the sea chart!”

Sea chart?

Duncan felt puzzled, swiftly turning to approach the navigation table, his eyes sweeping over the eerie sea chart surrounded by mist.

The next second, he saw the reflection of the Homeloss on the sea chart and… the City-State marker that was slowly materializing next to it.

“Are we… near Light Breeze Harbor?”

Chapter end

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