The captain has arrived.

Almost as soon as the uninvited guest in the white robe finished speaking, a swirling green flame rose from the room, and a figure stepped out of the flames.

As soon as Shirley saw Duncan, she immediately jumped up: "Captain, Captain!" Suddenly there was a final preacher running over here! This one doesn't seem crazy, and he said he was going to talk to you......"

"I know," Duncan interrupted Shirley's babbling with his hand raised, his gaze already fixed on the uninvited guest, "I was wondering when you were going to show up in front of me—I didn't expect this to happen." ”

"You know I'm coming?" The white-robed old man asked casually, his expression calm despite the words of doubt and surprise.

"You're going to be here sooner or later, for 'twilight' has already begun, and the members of the Final Survey team who are still sane at this point should be happy to meet with me, and it just so happens that I want to talk to you too," Duncan said, looking around, "...... It's not a good place to talk, we can talk in another place. ”

As soon as his words fell, Shirley, Ah Dog, and Morriston, who was giving him all kinds of blessings, nodded in agreement......

The uninvited guest didn't seem to notice the reaction of the three of them, he just looked at Duncan: "That's fine, let's go to a place closer to the subspace, I'll feel a little more comfortable there." ”

Going somewhere closer to subspace? Duncan frowned slightly when he heard this, but after a moment of silence, he still nodded slowly: "Okay." ”

When Morris heard this, his eyes subconsciously widened slightly: "Captain, you are sure to bring ......"

"It's okay," Duncan waved his hand, "I'm in my own hands. Shirley, you go to the captain's quarters and bring my brass lantern. ”

Soon after, Duncan and the uninvited guest in the shabby white robes quietly walked through the cabin on the ground floor of the Lost Land, holding a brass lantern in hand—they had passed through the inverted cargo compartment and were now walking down the final corridor, at the end of which the staircase leading to the bilge was located.

The brass lantern emitted a faint green glow, the light dispelled the darkness around him, and only footsteps could be heard echoing in the empty bilge corridor, most of the time it was two people, but Duncan occasionally found that only his own footsteps sounded - the "Last Minister" didn't seem to be fully located in the current real world, sometimes he was like a weightless spirit, walking in the old wooden hallway without making a sound, sometimes his breath was close to dissipating, It's as if all of a sudden I went to an extremely distant place......

It was curious, but he politely didn't ask.

And when he was close to the last door, the "Last Minister" took the initiative to break the silence: "You don't really need this lamp—this lamp is for a mortal. ”

Duncan's footsteps suddenly stopped, and he was quiet for a moment before continuing to walk forward: "But this ship needs it." ”

“…… You are so kind. The last preacher whispered, as if with sincere praise in his tone.

"If it had been not so long ago, I could not have imagined that one day I would have come here with a Last Missionary—in such a state of peace," Duncan said casually, "and my first contact with you was not pleasant. ”

"Is it possible that I was the one who came into contact with you for the first time?" An inexplicable smile appeared on the white-robed Preacher and said calmly, "At least one of them. ”

Duncan turned his head and took a closer look at the other man's face by the light.

An old traveler in a white robe, leaning over his body, the lines on his face seemed to be engraved by the knife of time, his sunken eyes were glowing with a certain pale golden, metallic color, his expression was peaceful, his smile was indifferent, and only the years were flowing quietly in the depths of his eyes.

Duncan retracted his gaze, turned his head and continued to walk forward: "I don't know, I don't have an impression of your face - anyway, it doesn't matter if you are in the few people I caught on the boat in the first place, the important thing is that you are here to talk to me at this moment." ”

"Looks like you already know us well."

Duncan was noncommittal, he had reached for the last door and reached for the doorknob.

"We've arrived, the closest thing this ship is to subspace."

As he spoke, he pushed open the dark wooden door, and the bilge structure behind it came into view.

Unextinguishing lights illuminated the cabin, and the once-shattering bilge structure, repaired during the previous Lighthaven event, was now fully restored, the sturdy hull growing from the spine of the Old God closing around it, blocking the chaotic streams of light and whispers projected from the subspace—the eerie wooden door leading directly to the subspace still stood in the depths of the cabin, the door closed and silent.

Duncan led the "guest" into the cabin, and the last preacher followed him, and then looked up at the bulkheads and roofs around him, and exclaimed, "Ah...... You have repaired the place......"

"You know a lot," Duncan said, hanging the lantern on a nearby pillar and glancing back, "In some timeline I don't know, any of you have been here?" ”

"I've seen the wreckage of it—it could be the past, it could be the future," the white-robed old man seemed to recall, his brow furrowed slightly, "...... It disintegrated in the flames and fell in the darkness, and its authentic and spectacular appearance was breathtaking. ”

Duncan didn't respond to the topic, he had been thinking about various things all the way, and then he organized his language a little before he asked, "How many members of the final survey team are there like you who keep their sanity?" ”

Then he paused, and added, "I mean at this point in time. ”

The white-robed old man was silent for a while, his expression still calm: "I'm the only one." ”

Duncan felt his breathing and heartbeat seem to pause for half a beat.

Then he heard the white-robed old man's voice come again: "Captain, do you know what it's like to grope in the dark?" ”

The last Cretan, who remained awake and sane, spoke calmly, and slowly opened his hands, as if the eternal darkness still lingered before him—

"Final Survey Team...... It's been a long time since I've heard this name, and in the first moments after our departure, the name has turned into dust in history.

"The 'time' of this world is finite, this is something we have known since the beginning, the whole infinite sea, the whole age of the deep sea, is like a delicate clock that has been set in advance, we know that it can only run for a certain period of time, and our only hope is to find the opportunity to 'wind' the world again before the hands stop......

"Your wise follower, who is on the verge of constructing the whole world, has added the axis of time to the world model for the first time, and it seems to us to be even more ...... True, hard, and cold.

"Our task is to move along the timeline, while observing and guiding every point of divergence in the timeline that may give rise to branches of history, doing everything possible to extend the life of the shelter, while finding ways to continue at the end of time.

"From our own experience, the process is a bit like ...... Walk in the backlight.

"The day Vision 001 was lit up in the lab for the first time was the beginning of the light, the most stable moment in the entire shelter, everything was just born, the resources were abundant, the timeline was solid, everything was beautiful, and it even looked like it could last forever - we started that sunny morning, left the light behind, and walked all the way to the darkness at the end.

"As we move away from the 'beginning', we see the world decaying, all the small and inevitable hidden dangers left at the beginning of the creation gradually expanding, turning into all sorts of deadly dangers, the light recedes, and the darkness grows, and we turn our backs to the sun and go out into the night, getting darker and darker the further we go—we do our best to adjust, observing the possibilities in the timeline in a dimmer light, hoping to delay the onset of darkness...... In a way, we succeeded.

"The original 'design lifespan' of this shelter was 8,000 years – and by avoiding attrition, mitigating chaos, and reducing the load on the 'sun', it has now been operating 2,000 years overdue.

"But in the face of the never-ending river of time, our success is insignificant and destined to be completely wiped out.

"At the end of the timeline, there is always darkness, and no matter how much we try to extend the light of the 'starting point' to the future, or pick up some sporadic fires on this darker and darker road, we can't illuminate the end of time like an endless black wall...... We crash headfirst into that boundless darkness, fumbling around, to no avail, and then we recalibrate the entire timeline, revalidate all possibilities, do everything possible to stretch the future forward, and then crash into the darkness again, again and again...... Countless times. ”

The white-robed old man raised his head and stared at a dark corner somewhere in the dim cabin, and after a long moment he continued: "There is no road ahead - this is the last word left by the first member of our mind before leaving, he stayed at the end of time longer than all of us as a striker, he went through all the possibilities, and finally chose to give up, even ...... Go back in time and 'correct' those days that were in vain.

"That is what the first world called the 'Last Minister'...... He just got out of control not too long ago, and I've been out of sight for too long to remember his name. ”

Duncan listened quietly, and was silent for a long time before he slowly spoke: "And you, keep your sanity until the end, and even come to me soberly." ”

"Yes," the white-robed old man turned his head and his gaze fell on Duncan, "because at the current point in time, I have come into your sight—when the order of the world is crumbling, the cause can be after the result." ”

(End of chapter)