The night continued, and on the twenty-second day after the sun had set, many disturbing things began to emerge from the distant news.

In the distant cold harbor, a great shadow appeared briefly above the sea—it towered like a sea cliff, like a weightless cloud, and the shadow floated silently from the offshore sea, closing like a curtain on the side of the city-state, and in the night no one saw the shadow appearing, until the priest of the night watch, suddenly felt the gaze from the sky in a hallucination, and all the churches rang at the same time, and the shadow retreated into the night in terror.

In warm Moko, the entire Lower Town was once soaked in an eerie, scarlet and rancid mist, several blocks of lighting malfunctioned almost simultaneously, the scarlet rancid fog even briefly burrowed into churches and nightshades, and when the city-state's Truth Keepers finally dispelled the fog that grew from the night, several disappearances were reported in the fog-shrouded city—including two technocrats who were inspecting the steam hub.

In the case of the Palmman Islands, news came that a fleet of ships had suddenly appeared in the nearby waters and was approaching the city-state in the night, which had issued an order prohibiting docking and instructed the fleet to temporarily dock at a staging point in the nearby seas, but the fleet, as if unaware of the "long night", asked blankly about the night, insisted that it was a "normal day" and that "the warm and bright sun was shining on the deck", and even questioned that the people of the city-state had gone crazy......

As the strange fleet ignored orders and insisted on approaching the city-state, the local city-state's navy had to open fire and destroy all the unidentified ships that came out of the night—the radio was filled with screams of terror and desperate curses and shouts, until the burning wreckage spread across the sea.

No one knows what the city-state navy wiped out in the night, or what kind of "sunshine" the fleet that came in from the night......

It is now the twenty-second day of the night, and the earthly order is still struggling to maintain, and the crumbling "tranquility" is gradually falling into this long night.

In the lower town of Plande, the gas street lamps in front of Duncan's antique shop glow dimly, and the street lamp poles line the empty streets like sentinels, and many of them dance in the flames of subtle, imperceptible green fires.

Duncan sat in a chair next to the window, wiping down a brass ornament while flipping through an old book.

It was one of Morris's collections, a monumental work left by the famous "mad poet" Peumann.

On the open pages, there are beautiful floral letters printed -

"We have a ...... to sail away"

Duncan didn't really have much interest in the poetry of this world, but it was something that helped him to pass the time when the whole city-state fell silent.

It's been a long time since there have been customers here - the "history" of all the items in the antique store has at least doubled, and predictably this will continue for a long time.

But at that moment, Duncan's ramblings were interrupted by the movement of the door open—the bell rang crisply, and he looked up at the door of the shop, where he saw a man and a woman coming from the night, a little restrained and nervous.

“…… It's really strange," Duncan glanced at the two of them casually, confirming that they were just two ordinary humans, and couldn't help but be a little surprised, "There are still people hanging out at this time?" ”

The young man tugged at his coat a little nervously, and as he looked around, he said quickly, "We see that the door is still open...... Most of the shops outside are locked......"

"We work in the steam pump room and the power plant," the young girl next to her also spoke, as if she was afraid of being misunderstood, explaining the "legitimacy" of her activities at the moment, "We have the credentials to pass." ”

"Oh," Duncan said casually, putting down the brass ornament in his hand, and glancing at the two nervous young men with some amusement, "don't be so nervous, I won't check your passes...... Are you here to buy something? ”

"We want to buy a pair of porcelain plates to decorate the fireplace," said the young man at once, and then added, "...... Not too expensive. ”

I actually came to buy something.

Duncan raised his eyebrows, got up and walked to the shelf next to him, and said as he walked: "This is an antique store, and things are not cheap - of course, there is little business during special periods now, so I can give you a discount, and the original price of more than 4,000 is discounted by 26 ......."

He suddenly turned his head and looked at the couple with some curiosity: "But I'll say more, what are you buying this for?" I mean, do you have to pick a time like this? ”

The two guests glanced at each other, and the young girl smiled a little shyly: "We're getting married." ”

Duncan's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"We're decorating our new home," the young man said, "and we're looking for something to decorate...... Most of the shops are closed, but we heard that you're always open here, so we wanted to try our luck......"

“…… It's been a long night, and I didn't expect to meet a couple," Duncan said softly, finding a few pairs of beautiful decorative porcelain plates on the shelves, and said as if to himself, "Why don't you wait until dawn?" ”

"What if it's not dawn?" The young man said suddenly.

Duncan turned his head and looked the other man in the eye steadily.

"I don't know what the future holds...... We were supposed to have our wedding last week, but it was postponed until now, but we both felt ...... There is no need to postpone any longer. ”

"The wedding was small and would not violate the current nightfall ban, and the pastor of the church agreed to give us a small 'witness' in our home if the sun no longer rises......"

The young girl said, but after saying "the sun doesn't rise anymore", she seemed a little stuck, and she didn't know what to say later, so she could only smile awkwardly.

It can be seen that they are all people who are not good at words - but in that slightly restrained smile, what they want to express no longer needs to be described in words.

Life has to go on – panic and complaining don't wake up the sun.

"Pick one," Duncan laughed suddenly, turning to the beautiful plates on the shelves that glittered in the light of the electric lights, "all with solid wood stands." ”

The two young men made a selection, and finally chose a pair of light green broken gold decorative porcelain plates with the characteristics of the Southern Elves, and they waited for Duncan to wrap the things in thick paper, and then the young girl smiled shyly and asked, "How much?" ”

"I've given it to you." Duncan said casually.

The two young men's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's a wedding gift for you - the night is still long, and I hope this gift will bring you good luck."

The young man hesitated: "But ......"

"Don't waste time, your pass isn't valid all day," Duncan said with a smile as he walked to the door, "Don't worry, I've already received your 'reward'." ”

The young man wondered, "Have you already received ......?" ”

Duncan pushed open the door of the antique shop, and in the night, the bright street lamps illuminated the way back to the depths of the night, and he smiled and pointed to the brightly lit avenue: "A good mood." ”

The guests were gone, the antique shop was quiet again, and Duncan stood in the gate for a moment, finally exhaling softly and withdrawing his gaze from the street.

The dock area of Breeze Harbor is bathed in pale golden "sunshine".

The towering mast of the Lost Country creaked slightly, and translucent spirit sails began to emerge in clear outlines around the mast, and as the sails gradually filled, the large sail expedition ship tilted slightly at an angle and began to move away from the dock where it was docked.

On the nearby sea, the sound of the impeller starting was also heard from the Bright Star, and with the crashing waves, the ship of the "Sea Witch" slowly sailed away from the dock.

On the bridge on the aft deck, Alice, who was standing next to Duncan, suddenly noticed the smile on the captain's face.

"Why are you laughing?" The puppet said curiously, "Have something fun?" ”

Duncan glanced back at Breeze, which was gradually being left behind by the Lost Homeland, and saw that the city-state had thousands of lights, and a thin, dim ray of sunlight spreading from the shoreline and covering the islands—and as the distance went on, all the light dimmed, and in its place was an infinite darkness that permeated the entire endless sea, as if it were about to swallow the whole city-state in the night.

But until a long time passed, the faint light of the fire still shone tenaciously in the dimness, and the remnants of the sun left behind by the Cretan dynasty, the lights of the city-state era, gradually merged together, as if they were fighting together against this utter endless night.

After a while, Duncan answered the puppet's question: "There is something happy about it." ”

"Oh......" Alice sighed in confusion, and then looked in the direction of the city-state with some reluctance, "Are we coming back?" ”

Duncan hesitated, he seemed to have many answers to explain the next voyage and plans, as well as many possibilities for the future, but in the end, he just nodded affirmatively: "...... Come back. ”

The puppet rejoices.

A smile appeared on Duncan's face, and then he let out a sigh of relief and let go of the dark steering wheel with both hands.

Now that they have left the Breeze, the Lost and the Bright Star will head to the "Rally Point" on the Eastern Border, where they will join the Church of the Deep Frontier fleet, and then they will head towards the Curtain of Eternity, all the way to the "six-nautical-mile line".

They will follow the route that the Sea Song once sailed to find the truth beyond the borders.

For Duncan, this will be the most important step for him to "look at this shelter from the outside."

But before that, Duncan needs to verify a few things.

He turned his head to look at the thin, stumped figure on the edge of the bridge who was trying to reduce his presence.

"Sailor."

Anomaly 077 suddenly felt a shock when he heard this: "Hey...... Ay?! ”

"Come here," Duncan smiled, he took a half-step back, looked at Anomaly 077, and raised his hand to the Lost Land's steering wheel, "Hold it." ”

(End of chapter)