Chapter 221: Chapter 225 Delayed Sunrise
After placing his new “collection” neatly in place, Zhou Ming did not leave the room directly as usual but instead sat down on the chair opposite the shelves, watching the Homeloss and the Plunder City-State while sinking into deep thought.
He was trying to summarize and understand the significance of these “collections.”
The single apartment and the world opposite the door had always been in a state of isolation. Except for himself being able to pass through that door, nothing from either world could cross the barrier of thick fog in that doorway—a fact he had tested many times.
In a certain sense, the appearance of the Homeloss and the Plunder City-State “models” in his room had actually broken this rule—they were clearly connected to the world beyond the door and their nature evidently possessed… “transcendent properties.”
Transcendence was not a concept that should appear on this side of the door.
The appearance of these two collections had one rule in common—they were objects that had been thoroughly burned by Spiritual Fire and then deliberately “controlled” by him.
Zhou Ming pondered quietly, summarizing the patterns, and eventually, he believed that “burning” and “control” must indeed be the two necessary conditions for the appearance of a collection.
The Oak originally had also been consumed by the flames of the Homeloss, but at that time, he had not actively sought to control that ship. He had not exerted any influence or “command” over the Oak, so after it burned, it left behind only a strong imprint instead of forming a corresponding “collection” on this side of the door in his room.
The Plunder City-State was consumed by the Spiritual Fire, and while it burned, he actively took control and cleansed it, even treating the City-State as a part of the Homeloss, and so the Plunder became a collection here.
So… What use could this transformation serve? What significance did the items that became collections have for him?
Zhou Ming’s gaze rested on the “model” of the Plunder City-State, and he then slowly closed his eyes.
A gentle breeze was blowing through the port district in the southeast part of the City-State, small waves lapping against the shore. The clock in the fourth district had just sounded its last chime, the steam factories in the Upper City District were roaring into action.
He reopened his eyes, and things were just as he had anticipated.
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He could sense the entire state of the City-State, down to every building, every street light—although he could not sense the part of the City-State that belonged to “people,” the essence of the Plunder to him was as vivid as the lifelike model before him, all laid out before his eyes.
This feeling… It was just like the control he had over the Homeloss.
Zhou Ming thoughtfully rubbed his chin with his finger, and realizing the extent of the influence he had over the City-State, he naturally started to use the Homeloss as a reference.
Now, the Plunder could be regarded as another Homeloss. Therefore… what he could do on the Homeloss, he could undoubtedly do with the Plunder as well.
He could command all the bell towers of the City-State to chime for him, order the City-State to sink into the Spirit Realm, or even…
Zhou Ming stopped the subconscious motion of rubbing his chin.
He could even command the City-State to submerge into the Subspace.
Zhou Ming’s eyes narrowed sharply, quickly suppressing this sudden frightening thought, but though the thought was restrained, his heart still pounded.
He truly could do it because he could make the Homeloss do it. The Subspace was there, and he could clearly sense the “direction” of that chaotic dimension—the “promised land” that the Doomsday Preachers yearned for but could not reach, to him, it was as simple as going home…
And it wasn’t just that. At the moment that terrifying thought occurred to him, he had instantly felt a vague calling, like the terrifying impulse some people get to leap forward when standing on the edge of a cliff—he had just felt that impulse!
With only a thought, a command, a concession to the impulse, a moment of carelessness, he… could reach that place calling to him.
And at the same time, bring along anything caught in his wake, dominated by him, corrupted by him, plunging together.
Zhou Ming took a deep breath and slowly stood up from the chair.
The world was right to fear the Homeloss and Captain Duncan to such an extent; they should be afraid.
Zhou Ming gave one last deep look at his collection shelf, exhaled a heavy breath, and turned to walk toward the door of his bachelor apartment.
In the captain’s quarters, the black, wooden carved goat’s head on the chart table heard activity at the door; it looked up and saw the tall figure of Captain Duncan appearing at the entrance. The eyes of the obsidian sculpture immediately lit up, and it began chirping adeptly, “Ah! The great Captain has returned to his faithful first mate! Your deeds are known by all, your power makes the Endless Sea…”
Captain Duncan stayed silent, sitting down beside the navigation table, just quietly watching the goat’s head as it prattled on, his gaze indifferent.
As a result, it was the goat’s head that began to feel uncomfortable first. It balabala’d halfway through and couldn’t help but stop, “Um… Captain, don’t you usually tell me to ‘shut up’ around this time…”
Duncan looked nonchalant, “I’m just suddenly curious, if I don’t tell you to shut up, how long exactly could you keep talking?”
Upon hearing this, the goat-headed creature immediately perked up—as if it had not detected the teasing in Duncan’s words, or if it had, chose to ignore it: “Well, now you’ve hit the nail on the head, your loyal subordinate—omitting the following—has always been erudite. I could talk from dawn till dusk about nothing but the recipes of the Endless Sea, if you’re interested, we could start with the one hundred and thirty-seven classifications of butter cookies…”
“Enough, shut up,” Duncan quickly interrupted the other, shaking his head helplessly, “I thought at the very least you’d grasp the concept of ’embarrassment.’”
The goat head shook its head, the sound of creaking coming from its neck before its pitch-black visage fully turned toward Duncan, its hollow eye sockets staring at his face: “Captain, you seem preoccupied? We just completed an unprecedented feat, what else could possibly affect your mood?”
“An unprecedented feat, huh…” Duncan murmured softly to himself, then shook his head, “You can feel it, can’t you? The connection now between the Plunder City-State and the Homeloss.”
“Of course!” exclaimed the goat head immediately, not forgetting to flatter, “I never imagined there would come such a day—your power astounds, your recent prey is an entire City-State! So where’s the next target? Shall we go to Rensa first, or perhaps Cold Harbor? Even Frost could…”
Duncan waved his hand, and the goat head immediately fell silent.
“I’m not interested in ‘prey’ for the moment. I just wanted to let you know that I don’t have the energy to constantly watch over such a large place. If you sense something that shouldn’t be stepping on Plunder, remind me—of course, that is if you have the energy to spare since your main task is still to look after this ship.”
“More than happy to!” said the goat head immediately, “It’s a breeze for me, I won’t disappoint you…”
Duncan nodded slightly, then his gaze swept over the clock on the wall before looking out the window.
Without realizing it, the night had already passed.
A few seconds later, Duncan suddenly turned around, “What time is it now?!”
The goat head was taken aback, unsure: “It should… be morning now, the sun should be rising.”
“…The sun hasn’t risen,” Duncan said in a solemn voice, his expression extremely serious. Then he suddenly turned back, staring intently at the ticking wall clock, “…Sunrise should have been fourteen minutes ago.”
The goat head fell silent instantly, while Duncan’s gaze remained fixated on the advancing hands of the clock and the mechanical disc at the top that depicted the scale of the sunrise.
The “sun” of this world, anomaly 001, a super aberration, rose and set at incredibly precise moments every day, and the clock on the Homeloss was linked with the sea charts, indicating precisely in the current sea region when anomaly 001 would leap above the sea surface—since Duncan arrived in this world, this had never been mistaken.
Today’s sun had not risen on time, and while ordinary people might not yet have noticed this change, Duncan did. And at the moment he noticed, he felt a sudden and tremendous… unease.
He didn’t even know how this unease had suddenly emerged.
“Maybe… if we just wait a little longer…” the goat head’s voice rang out again, sounding a bit nervous, “Look, the weather out at sea is always unpredictable, maybe something has blocked…”
But Duncan wasn’t paying attention to what the goat head was saying. He kept looking at the clock; however, the next second, a fine strand of golden light appeared on the edge of his vision.
The golden light streamed through the window.
Duncan immediately turned and strode to the window; after pushing it open, he looked out toward the distant sea.
The sun had risen, a vast body of light constrained by two Rune Circles gradually ascending into the sky as usual, illuminating the whole Endless Sea with its majestic glow, simultaneously dissipating the cold, pale atmosphere left by the Creation of the World.
He turned back one last time to confirm the time.
Today’s sunrise was fifteen minutes late.
Why?
Was it the aftermath of the disaster in Plunder? Related to the Sun Cultists’ summoning of the “Warping Sun Wheel”? Connected to Nina’s awakening and possession? Or perhaps… the harbinger of another anomaly?
Duncan returned to his desk, his thoughts racing uncontrollably. He knew he might be overreacting, but having just experienced the historical contamination crisis in Plunder, he was now hypersensitive to any unusual phenomena.
“Maybe it’s just the influence of the weather at sea, look, the sun has risen now,” said the goat head beside him, “Sometimes a wide expanse of dense fog can refract the light, causing…”
“The sunlight in Plunder was also fifteen minutes late,” Duncan interrupted softly, “The weather there is clear, the sea calm—the delay isn’t with the sunlight, it’s the sun itself.”
“…Damn.”