Chapter 797 The Day when the Waves Calmed Down

After the mighty cargo fleet left, the dock area seemed much quieter than ever at night - all large loading and unloading equipment had been shut down, and irrelevant personnel had evacuated the operation area. Now, except for the necessary duty teams, , only the ubiquitous gas lamps lined both sides of the road, keeping vigil over the city.

Going down from the ramp on the south side of the pier and passing through a long set of steps, there is a coast covered with fine sand in front of you. On those days when the sun is still shining, there are always citizens taking a rest here.

But now there is only a dead beach and a sea that is dark in the night. The salty and cold sea breeze blows from the direction of the boundless darkness, as if mixed with suspicious whimpering, and the breaking waves hit the coast far away. The rocks here are filled with undulating foam from time to time, and the cold light of the creation of the world reflects the pale color of corpses.

Guards with stern faces guard all the roads leading to the coast. They hold lanterns and swords and watch vigilantly at the endless night outside the city-state.

"The coast has been blocked." A heavily armed knowledge guard blocked Taran El. He shined a lantern on the face of the great scholar and carefully confirmed the shape of the latter's facial features and the number of eyes. "It is very dangerous outside now." ...Your Majesty the Keeper of Secrets?”

The dutiful night watchman finally noticed the figure following Taran, and in the glow of the lantern, he was surprised to see the face of Ted Leal.

"Let's go for a walk on the coast," Ted Leal nodded slightly to the guardian, "and we'll be back in an hour."

"...You can pass, but this gentleman needs to show his qualifications," the knowledge guard hesitated, but still looked at Taran Ayer sternly, "You can't pass without the qualifications."

"I am Taran Ayre, a professor at the college. I have a second-level right of night passage." Taran Ayre hurriedly reached out to fumble in his arms and found the pass document that he had always kept on his body. "The access scope includes the coastal area... …”

The knowledge guard took Taran El's ID and checked it carefully. His tense expression relaxed a little. He took two steps back to indicate passage.

"Thank you," Ted Leal said to the watchman, stepping forward.

But when the two of them were about to pass the guard post, the guard couldn't help but speak: "...Your Excellency the Keeper of the Secret, and Professor Taran, the sun fragments have left, and the coast is now a blockade. Over there There is nothing, what are you going to do?”

"...Just think of it as confirming the changes in the coastal area after the sun fragments left," Taran El said as he slowly walked forward, "We will be back soon."

Taran El and Ted Leal passed the guard post and walked slowly forward on this dead beach. Neither of them spoke for a while.

"Now this place has become a closed area," Taran El broke the silence after an unknown amount of time. "The guards here are very responsible."

"They were carefully selected by me," Ted Leal said. "The coastal area is still a general blockade area. If it is in the Big Steam Core or a first-level containment area, even the Archon and I must show our IDs for verification. Only when you are upright can you pass.”

Taran El said "Yeah", and then fell silent again. He walked slowly like this, and it took an unknown amount of time before he spoke again: "They still have no news?"

"It's been a month since the Homeless and the Brilliant Star crossed the border. Now we can only confirm that they still 'exist'," Ted Leal said calmly, "Captain Duncan remains in Pland and the Incarnation of Frost. During the event, some information about the Homeless Ship will occasionally be transmitted from those two city-states, but in most cases, news related to the 'End of the World' is not allowed to spread between the city-states."

He paused and shook his head slightly: "Even I can only find out so much."

"...It's good to know that they are still 'alive'," Taran El said softly. "Knowing that they are still 'alive' and still operating on the border makes me feel better."

"Although it's not appropriate to say this," Ted Leal slowed down unknowingly, with a strange expression on his face, "but there are not one or two real ships in the two ships combined." Alive' guy."

Taran El rolled his eyes: "So I put quotation marks around the word 'alive', can't you hear it?"

Ted Reard immediately glared at the scholar: "...How can you possibly hear this?!"

Taran Ayre laughed. He took a deep breath in the cool night wind and seemed to feel a little relaxed. Then he raised his head and looked in a certain direction at the end of the coast.

It was once the place where the Deep Sea Church's patrol ark "Cathedral of Storms" docked, but now that majestic sea ark has left the city-state, and there is only an empty sea at the end of the sight, glowing with pale foam under the light of the Creation of the World.

"The Arks have also left," the great scholar sighed, "There is always the illusion that Qingfeng Port has been abandoned suddenly..."

"It's a holiday," Ted Leal said unceremoniously, "It's just hypocritical. Your symptoms can be cured by being locked up in the office for one night and grading student papers. I'm sure there will be no more illusions."

"I'm different from you," Taran El crossed his arms and raised his head slightly, "My students are all motivated young people, and their papers usually are written seriously by themselves..."

Ted Leal snorted coldly and ignored the great scholar.

But after being quiet for a long time, they suddenly broke the silence in unison: "It's good to criticize papers."

The two long-time friends were startled at the same time, looked at each other with a wry smile, and fell into silence again.

And beyond the coastline not far from them, the vast and boundless sea was as quiet as they were at the moment. The sea was endless, rising and falling, and the salty and cold sea breeze blew from the darkness, but the sea surface was still like a mirror. So calm.

The brilliance of the creation of the world shines on the sea, coating the entire world with a layer of pale luster that is even to the extreme.

Ted Leal suddenly frowned and glanced at the direction of the coastline with some confusion.

"What's wrong?" Taran El asked curiously, not knowing what was going on.

"I don't know, I just suddenly felt... something was missing," Ted Leal frowned slightly and muttered uncertainly, "Have you ever felt... something was missing? It should be some kind of sound, When the wind blows across the sea, there should be some sound coming, and there should be some kind of phenomenon, beating on the rocks..."

He stopped, turned around, and stared steadily at the calm, mirror-like sea in the distance, standing for a long time in the night.

He and Taran El gradually felt that nothing was wrong with everything.

…

Tirian frowned, standing on the shore and looking at the mirror-like flat and quiet sea in the distance. A sense of trance that kept emerging and then calmed down lingered in his mind, making it difficult for him to distinguish reality from reality for a short time. a feeling of.

He shook his head vigorously, trying to expel the cognitive confusion from his mind.

He felt that everything on the sea was normal, but he clearly "remembered" that it shouldn't be like this. After struggling with the contradiction between thinking and cognition for a long time, he couldn't help but break the silence: "...waves Disappeared."

Then he turned his head and looked at the tall figure standing next to him: "Father, is something a little wrong?"

Duncan didn't speak for a while, but Aiden, who was standing on the other side, looked at his captain in confusion: "Wave? Something's wrong? What are you talking about?"

Hearing Aiden's voice, Tirian felt dazed again. He raised his hand and knocked on his forehead. He looked at the sea in the distance with confused eyes. He felt that something "something" was quickly coming from his body. Dissipated in the cognition, it was a certain "natural phenomenon", something that should have existed in the world as a matter of course, but now... it is disappearing.

Then, he heard his father's voice reaching his ears——

"She forgot about the waves."

My father said this in a low and solemn tone.

The daze in his mind finally faded away. The moment he heard his father mention the word "wave", Tirian finally felt like he was awake again. The next second, the expression on his face changed from confusion to shock.

He stared at the sea in the distance with his eyes widened.

Even Aiden next to him seemed to suddenly wake up. This fierce-looking bald man looked towards the boundless sea, and there was even a look of panic on his face.

At this moment, all over the world, the calmness of the boundless sea became a mirror - the "waves" disappeared from this world.

"Father," Tirian finally reacted and suddenly turned his head to look at Duncan, "The Storm Goddess..."

"Rot," Duncan whispered, interrupting Tirian, "the inevitable result."

Tirian and Aiden stood stiffly.

"Don't worry, she is still there. Although the rot is deepening, the sea is still there, so she is still there." Duncan shook his head, and his voice woke Tirian up. "This is just a process of deepening rot." A 'peeling', and this kind of 'peeling' is not the first time in this world."

Tirian was stunned and subconsciously repeated: "Isn't this the first time?"

"Do you know how many intelligent races there are in this world?" Duncan suddenly asked.

"Of course three..." Tirian replied almost without thinking.

But the next second, the "Steel Lieutenant General" seemed to understand something. Although he didn't think of anything, he guessed the terrifying... "meaning" behind his father's question.

"Soon, you will also forget the sound of waves hitting the rocks, and the world will 'correct' all this. But before that, you can briefly remember its past 'existence.'" Duncan said softly, and then stretched out his hand. , patted Tirian hard on the shoulder.

"Don't mention the word 'wave' to anyone else, from now on it's an 'archetypal blasphemy.'"