Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 694

Chapter 694: Chapter 691: Abnormal Contact Chapter 694: Chapter 691: Abnormal Contact Ted Riel sat down next to Anomaly 077.

“Really won't have some?” Anomaly 077 grinned and shook the beer bottle in his hand, then pointed to a corner, “I still have one more bottle–this internal circulation stuff, miss it and it won't be easy to find again. From what I know, Light Breeze Harbor doesn't have this… Give it a try, if you're still soaked by the chill of Subspace, alcohol might help.”

“…Since you know so much about 'saints,' you should be aware that alcohol means nothing to me,” Ted Riel glanced at the mummified corpse and then shook his head, his gaze returning, “There's something I'm curious about.”

Anomaly 077 shrugged: “You can ask, but I might not answer.”

“…How do you, an 'anomaly' with a complete mind, view this world?” Ted Riel asked seriously, then, perhaps feeling his question was a bit abrupt, paused to ponder and added two more sentences, “I've dealt with many people and encountered the thoughts of many wise men left in books about the world. I understand the human perspective, but seeing you, I suddenly became curious about how a rational 'anomaly' like you sees the world…”
“Ah ha, coming up with such a philosophical question right off the bat, truly worthy of a Truth Confidant,” Anomaly 077 clicked his tongue, “But haven't you met Miss Alice? Why don't you ask her?”

Ted Riel fell silent for a moment: “…I feel like she has no opinions about the world.”

“…Ah ha, then it seems you indeed have met Miss Alice,” the “sailor” laughed cheerfully, and then took another swig of beer, letting the liquid trickle onto the deck as he looked up, “Your question about my view? Well, I think this world might as well be destroyed.”

Ted Riel frowned at these words instinctively.

“That's what you asked for, Mr. Confidant.” Noticing the change in Ted's expression, the “sailor” turned his head to look for a moment before his gaze returned to the sky, “And don't you think so? The sun has been extinguished twice; city-state-level calamities occur time and again; objects of desecration and exile keep awakening and returning. In my eyes, this world is full of cracks, shadows, voids, and dying noises… You noble and steadfast people–I mean no sarcasm–you spend all day trying to patch up this world, but think about it with that scholarly reasoning of yours… Can it still be mended?”

Ted Riel furrowed his brows but didn't respond. He hadn't expected that a mere casual inquiry out of curiosity would yield such an answer, and the sailor's attitude took him by surprise–the answers didn't seem casually given but rather like conclusions drawn from long and serious contemplation, as if this “anomaly” had been observing and thinking about this world for a very long time.

Anomaly 077 was indifferent to Ted's silence.

“This world is ending, Mr. Confidant. As a 'sailor,' I can smell the approaching Storm better than you can. Compared to a few hundred years ago, the world is now riddled with rifts, like an old house with countless gaping holes. The howling cold wind will destroy everything as soon as the next hole widens–your patching is meaningless. When the foundation crumbles, painting walls or pasting newspapers over holes are merely giving false peace to those inside the house–for a brief moment–Listen up, Mr. Confidant, prick up your ears and really listen…”

The “sailor” slowly moved closer and placed a hand near his ear, mimicking the act of listening intently, wearing a smile that wasn't quite a smile on his face.

“Did you hear it? That hollow and piercing noise… That's the wind from Subspace… It passes through those big and small pores, vibrating in ranges ordinary people can't hear. I've always been able to hear them… and now, you can too.”

Faint noise echoed around, as though resonating directly within the brain–deep yet weak, yet impossible to ignore its presence.

Ted Riel's eyes slightly widened, staring at the sailor with an intense, pressuring gaze.

“Ease up, Mr. Truth Confidant–dealing with Subspace is just like that, once touched, it clings to you for life,” the “sailor” seemed not to care about the gaze at all. He shifted to a more comfortable position, lazily leaning against a pile of ropes, “Though you miraculously got out of that place–I won't bother to wonder what kind of 'miracle' saved you, but clearly, Subspace has left a few marks on you… Compared to the poor sods who went mad after catching a mere glimpse of Subspace, this little effect is lucky.”

“…Is this also something a 'sailor' should know?”

“Yep.” The mummified remains nodded as if it was only natural, apparently unconcerned whether others believed him or not.

Ted Riel: “…”

But the sailor paid no heed to Ted's reaction, the ghastly remains simply adjusted its leaning posture again, lounging even more slackly amid the ropes. All the while, he idly swung a bottle of wine, mumbling to himself, “Think positively, the world is just like this. Whether you accept it or not, it's still one day, drink up while you can, survive day by day. I can't sleep my way back anymore, otherwise I would sleep straight through to the end of the world, but now, this is quite good, I'm just waiting with open eyes for the end of the world to come…”

At this point, the “sailor” slightly turned his head, looking at Ted Riel with a half-smile.

“As for you, Mr. Truth Confidant, you still have your own tasks to do. It's time to go back–back to your position, to continue patching up this teetering, dilapidated house. Although it seems futile, perhaps… it is through this 'futile' perseverance that the world keeps moving day by day, until a road suddenly appears at the end of the void… At that time, all the desperate struggles will have their meaning.”

The low, chaotic noise once more spread from the depths of the brain, the aftereffects of Subspace causing Ted Riel to feel a sense of dizziness. He felt like something was wrong with his perception, but before he could understand what was happening, a crackling noise suddenly came from the nearby deck, interrupting his train of thought.

He looked towards the sound and saw a clump of faint green flames rising on the deck. Then, the flames burst into a fiery blaze, forming a rotating portal of fire, and a skeletal bird ablaze emerged from the gate, circling overhead.

Ted was momentarily stunned, about to say something, when his vision blurred, and he found himself swept into the gate by the burning beast.

The fiery portal roared out, and calm returned to the deck, as if what had happened was nothing but an illusion.

The sailor leaned against the pile of ropes, holding a bottle and dazedly staring into space, while a writhing shadow abruptly appeared in the air not far from him.

The shadow swiftly condensed, solidified, and began to take on form and color. Within moments, the shadow transformed into an old man wearing a white, tattered long robe, his face crisscrossed with wrinkles.

The old man's frame was thin, slightly hunched as if he had been a traveler journeying through an endlessly long voyage, standing in the cold brilliance of the Creation of the World. Shadows, faint and indistinct, stretched forward from beneath his feet, casting themselves over the abnormal silhouette.

After a moment of silence, the old man in the worn robe turned his head back, looking deeply in the direction Ted Riel had gone, and murmured softly, “… empty …”

The next second, his figure abruptly disappeared into the wind, like a phantom left by an errant moment in time, vanishing without a trace in the next.

The sailor jolted, slightly confused as he raised his head. He sat up from the pile of ropes, first subconsciously bringing the bottle in his hand to his lips for a sip, but then frowned, “How come this water has no taste…”

The next second, his gaze finally fell upon the bottle in his hand.

“… Fuck!!!”

The grey-white stone sphere, covered with circular mountain-like lines, hovered quietly above the sea. The small research platform located at the stone sphere's waist bathed in the pale golden “sunshine”, while several elf scholars clad in researcher robes stood tensely at the edge of the platform, their expressions a mix of fear and anxiety, watching the figure at the front of the platform.

Alice stood there, lifting her head curiously to observe the bizarre large object in front of her.

Duncan pressed her head back toward her neck, “Stop messing around–be careful not to fall into the sea!”

“Oh…” Alice shrank her neck, steadying her head with both hands as she blinked her eyes at the “stone sphere” in front of her. After studying it for quite some time, she finally blurted out, “I can't make anything out…”

“Didn't you hear or see any 'extra information' after getting close to the stone sphere?” Duncan furrowed his brow, looking at the puppet before him, “What about the surrounding 'sunlight'? After entering inside this luminous body, did you hear or see anything?”

Alice squinted her eyes, scanning the surroundings–a curtain of crystalline golden radiance floating above the sea. The light reflected beautifully in the doll lady's violet eyes, resembling ripples on water.

After looking around for a while, she turned her head to Duncan and said, “… no information.”

Duncan was somewhat disappointed, “No information?”

Alice nodded affirmatively, once more earnestly confirming the content that “appeared” before her eyes while she gazed at those golden rays, and nodded, “Yes, just 'no information'.”

Duncan sighed regretfully, “Well, it seems…”

He suddenly stopped, feeling as if something was off.

“Are you saying you saw the words 'no information', or are you saying you didn't see anything at all?”

Alice declared confidently, “I saw it, it's everywhere 'no information'…”

Duncan: “…”

He suddenly realized the necessity of asking a few more questions when communicating with this simpleton–the thought patterns of this puppet, who could fathom?!

But just as he was about to continue, a crackling sound from the nearby air interrupted his conversation with Alice.

A phosphorescent green flame rose, and a revolving door of fire appeared instantly in the air.

“Ai Yi is bringing someone back,” Duncan waved to Alice, turning his head toward the direction where the gate had opened. But in the next second, his expression subtly changed, “Wait, the gate is off…”

Before he could finish speaking, the door of flames burst open, and a familiar figure fell out from the gate–brushing by the edge of the platform and plummeting straight into the sea below.

Mixed in was Ted Riel's brief cry of alarm.

A skeletal bird of flame followed swiftly after, flying grandly in circles through the air before landing on the platform. It then leaned its head down to peer below, emitting a shrill cry, “Dumbfounded, huh? I can fly!”

Duncan stared dumbfounded at the scene, while Alice carefully approached the edge of the platform to glance down, then patted her chest in fear, “You really can fall into the sea, huh…”

Duncan slowly turned his head, glancing at Ai Yi, then shifted his gaze toward the direction where Ted Riel had fallen.

… How had that unfortunate “Truth Confidant” managed to offend this bird?

Chapter end

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