Chapter 819 Warmth and Coldness

The journey to the death node seemed to be coming to an end. In the extremely uniform gray-white background outside the ship, some extremely difficult-to-detect black lines began to appear faintly. A physical structure appeared in the distance and slowly expanded in front of the Lost Homeland and the Brilliant Star.

But for some reason, this scene that had been seen more than once gave Duncan a feeling of being particularly... lonely and long.

He stood quietly at the bow of the Lost Homeland, waiting for the moment when the jump stopped. Footsteps came from behind him. Without looking back, he knew who was approaching.

"Lucy," Duncan whispered, "we're almost there."

"I know," Lucrecia came to Duncan's side and looked at the slowly changing scenery in the distance with her father, "The last node, right, and then it's back to where the goddess of storms sleeps... Every journey has an end."

"I'm sorry, I have to go alone again," Duncan sighed softly. Although he knew that he was just occupying an "avatar", he still had many complicated emotions in his heart in front of Lucrecia. He couldn't tell how many of those emotions came from "Duncan Abnomal", "I promised you before..."

He didn't finish his words before he was Lucrecia suddenly interrupted: "You have fulfilled your promise and took me with you when you went to the end of the world."

The sea witch said, turning her head and looking at Duncan with a calm gaze, her expression seemed particularly serious, but after two or three seconds, she suddenly laughed again: "What do you think will happen? Should I cry like an ignorant little girl and hold you back from doing important things? Or should I scold you in anger at this time, letting you embark on such an important journey with regret and frustration? In the end, the hope of the whole world will be buried in my bad mood at this moment?"

Looking at the "witch" who was smiling in front of him, Duncan suddenly felt that he didn't know what to say, and could only smile helplessly and spread his hands.

"I'm not a child anymore, father," Lucrecia took a slow breath, with a serene smile on her face, and looked into Duncan's eyes seriously, "No matter what I do, I can't stop your next decision, and I can't find a better, feasible alternative to solve the problem for you. The most appropriate choice is to keep smiling at this moment... This is what you taught me."

"...I don't remember." Duncan said very honestly.

"Every time you say goodbye, you must smile," Lucrecia whispered with memories, "so that if you can't meet again, then at least when you remember each other, the last scene in your mind is a bright smile."

Duncan didn't speak. He didn't ask at this moment what it was like when Lucrecia and Tirian said goodbye to the captain of the Lost Homeland for the last time a century ago when the Lost Homeland decided to sail to the Eternal Curtain.

And Lucrecia suddenly raised her hand after a moment of silence and looked at Duncan steadily.

"What?" Duncan looked at each other with some confusion.

"High five." Lucrecia said.

Duncan frowned subconsciously: "High five?"

"Promise me you will come back, then high five."

The sea witch said calmly, she looked up and looked at the tall figure standing on the bow, the slowly moving black lines gradually expanded in the background color in the distance, and her father's figure seemed to gradually melt into the changing light and shadow. In a trance, she seemed to see the afternoon when even the sun had faded. On the dock, her father stood in front of the gangplank leading to the Lost Hometown, looking at her like a speechless sculpture.

"High five, promise me and my brother that you will come back safely." That's what she said at that time.

She was still very young at that time, she was not a "sea witch" at that time, she could not remember whether she had a smile on her face at that time - most likely not, because she was far from being as mature and...hard as she is today.

In the yellowed memory, the tall figure finally turned away in silence.

The warm touch and the sound of "pop" awakened Lucrecia from the faded memory - she saw her father smiling and covering her palm with his broad palm.

Just like what her father did every time she and her brother went out when they were young.

Then, the floating black light and shadow in the distance suddenly expanded, occupying the entire field of vision outside the Lost Homeland and the Brilliant Star. The gray-white background channel collapsed silently, accompanied by a distorted and distorted voice that entered everyone's mind: "... jump... stop."

A colorless vast wilderness composed entirely of black, white and gray with different gradients appeared in the eyes of Lucrecia and Duncan - there was no coastline, no sea, there was only a wilderness here, black and white wild grass grew wildly on the wilderness, undulating in the wind, but without making any sound, like dead waves.

The Lost Homeland and the Brilliant Star sailed on the undulating grass waves, silently sliding through this dead wilderness shrouded by the eternal night.

...

The night seemed to have become eternal, and the sun would never rise again.

Standing next to the big bonfire of the Firebringer Ark, Frame once again looked back in the direction from which the Ark fleet came, looking back at the boundaries of the civilized world, but he still could only see the endless darkness and the creation of the world. The cold and pale light shines on the mirror-like sea, as if the entire world has always been like this from the infinite past to the infinite future.

He withdrew his gaze and continued to pray under the light of the big bonfire.

The cold wind from the northern sea howled in his ears, accompanied by the low noise from the operation of the giant steam engines deep in the Ark. Occasionally, he could hear a shattering loud noise or a thunderous continuous roar from the distance - —That was the terrifying sound made when the ice was crushed by the giant ice-breaking mechanism in front of the Ark.

The Fire Carrier Ark is sailing further north. It has already crossed a series of "extreme northern city-states" including Frost, and has now officially entered the permanently frozen sea area that was previously regarded as the "end of civilization."

Here, endless layers of ice have replaced the sea, seeming to extend to the end of the world in the darkness. The hazy and undulating mist entrenches deep in the ice sheet, rising up and connecting to the sky. In the skylight shed by the creation of the world, all of this They all glowed with a strange and uniform silver glow, and even... looked quite "bright".

After an unknown amount of time, Frame finally opened his eyes from prayer. He frowned slightly and sensed something, while a vague phantom split from the shadows beside him, got up and walked towards the magnificent bonfire in front of him. .

As the historical clone disappeared into the flames, he nodded slightly, raised his hand to summon a fire-protecting attendant who had been waiting aside, and gave instructions in a low voice.

The attendant took the order and left. After a while, a low mechanical roar came from the depths of the Firebringer Ark. This extremely huge engineering creation slowly and carefully adjusted its course, and at the same time reset the operation of the ice-breaking mechanism ahead. Way, continue to drive deeper into the ice sheet.

The distant sound of ice breaking was mixed with some disturbing sharp noises.

A priestess wearing a black robe and a veil appeared next to the big bonfire and quickly came behind Frame: "His Majesty the Pope, a drive shaft of the ice-breaking mechanism has broken."

"...Can it still be used?"

"The power has dropped by 30%, but it is still usable," the priestess said quickly, "but the Mechanic Priest warned that the breakage of the first drive shaft will trigger a chain reaction soon, and other drive shafts may be damaged in the next five years. If a problem occurs within seven days, the ice-breaking mechanism will be disabled.”

"It doesn't matter, it can still be used for the time being. It was originally a temporary addition to the ark... After all, this 'ship' was not designed to sail on the ice sea from the beginning," Frame said, slowly Shaking his head, "Don't worry, we're almost there."

The priestess turned her head and looked at the big burning bonfire in front of the Pope.

“Is the ‘direction’ guided by the Lord right here?”

"Yes," Frame nodded slightly, "The Lord told me in the vision of fire that this is the focus of the historical line in the real dimension, and the most important documents and archives must be sent here. This is where to leave The key to 'traces'. Unfortunately, the Lord's voice is very vague, and I can't fully understand what the 'traces' He refers to are, but there is only one thing that is certain...this is very important."

The priestess did not ask any more questions, but lowered her head and prayed devoutly in front of the big bonfire - she did not expect to hear any response from the flames, because since a long time ago, the only vague whispers of the Lord were Only the Pope can hear it, but "prayer" has become a part of the lifestyle of ordinary priests like her, and she is used to doing it even if there is no response.

The wind on the ice sea is biting and cold, and the chill that can almost freeze the blood can no longer be blocked by thick clothes or magic. But unknowingly, the priests on this ark have also begun to adapt to the cold here. The priests and sailors who had temporarily recovered due to low temperatures have gradually recovered recently, which is somewhat of a good thing.

The prayer ended, and the priestess opened her eyes. The cold wind poured into her flesh and blood, freezing her blood flow and heartbeat, but she still gained a little relief from the prayer.

"I will notify the mechanics on the ship and ask them to extend the remaining life of the ice-breaking mechanism as much as possible and try to keep those hydraulic hammers until they reach the 'focus'. But if the ice-breaking mechanism really can't hold on... we can only use explosives. , we have a lot of explosives in reserve.”

"Yeah." Frame nodded slightly.

The priestess bowed slightly and backed away, preparing to leave, but before leaving, she still looked up at the big bonfire and couldn't help but murmured softly——

"This fire is so cold."