Chapter 1 The Silence

Silence fell in the captain's cabin.

Duncan was still staring intently at the enormous, bizarre eyeball on the draft paper.

It was drawn with almost frantic, chaotic strokes, yet it was unbelievably accurate and vivid, so much so that anyone would understand the meaning of every line on the picture with just one glance, as if its true information had been woven into every element that made up the image.

In that frantic, chaotic brushwork, the huge eyeball had a deep pupil, and the structure of the surrounding blood vessels and nerve clusters could be vaguely distinguished. Outside the eyeball, there was an obvious layer of dim substance. Talan Eyl used many fine lines to depict what was covering the eyeball, seemingly trying to restore what it was, and the only information Duncan received from the picture was that it was a "shell layer with a complex structure."

It was an eye encapsulated in a jewel-like shell.

Squeaking sounds came from beside him. The goat head on the edge of the chart table was turning its head anxiously. It seemed to want to take a look at the contents of the paper, but hesitated.

After a long while, it hesitantly opened its mouth, "Captain... what exactly is that?"

"It's an eye," Duncan said after a few seconds of silence, starting to explain the contents of the draft paper to the goat head while carefully considering his words, "Structurally, it looks a lot like a human eye. You can see blood vessels and nerve clusters. It's encapsulated in a spherical shell, but the shell looks like a man-made object..."

Listening to Duncan's description, the goat head was quieter than it had ever been before.

After a long time, it moved its mouth with a snap, making an extremely uneasy sound, "That's really...

...a terrifying sight... The true appearance of Anomaly 001 is such a huge eyeball?! Doesn't that mean that during the sun's extinction, there were many people..."

And that information itself was enough to make Heidi's mind conjure countless speculations and associations.

"...I'm still a little apprehensive," Talan Eyl explained with a slightly embarrassed tone, "Probably because I didn't dare to meet your avatar directly before knowing the truth."

With a click, the goat head's neck seemed to be stuck at some angle. It froze completely on the chart table, without a word.

The door to the captain's cabin opened, and Talan Eyl walked quickly into the room, taking out a letter from his arms as he walked, "Captain, Danitz suddenly sent a letter. The letter mentions... unusual things that need to be reported to you."

Creeping Sun - Pale Sun.

Fortunately, Lucresia had been cautious enough not to leave the paper to the ordinary scholars of the Truth Society, otherwise, who knew how big a mess would have been made—although the Truth Society did not have his convenient "spiritual fire" to unravel the seal on the paper, they had all sorts of wonderful research methods, and who knew, they might have really restored the true pattern on the draft paper.

There were eight Creations, which were the "Eight Long Nights." The Pale Giant King died in the First Long Night, the Dream King died in the Seventh Long Night, and the Crawling King finally succeeded in shaping all things in the Eighth Long Night, and together with the Quaithe clan, lit up the current "sun," beginning the night, but He Himself was exiled by the other Ancient Kings for arbitrarily changing the blueprint and could no longer return to the throne..."

"Morris and Frost don't have similar 'observation' devices. The lens assembly is the property of the Truth Society, precise and rare," Heidi finally looked up, "Outside of Deepwater Port, even if someone observed the surface of Anomaly 001 during the sun's extinction, they wouldn't see these 'truths.'"

Ayi traveled back and forth between the *Sea Wanderer* and Morris every day. In addition to transporting some necessary supplies, he also did some routine mail collection and delivery at places like the cathedral, Talan Eyl's house, and the governor's mansion. It was normal for Zhong Yan to send a letter through these channels, but since he wanted to contact the captain of the *Sea Wanderer*, going directly to the antique shop was obviously a more convenient option.

Heidi's brows furrowed a little. Once a vague sense of familiarity appeared, it could not be ignored. The images in his mind were quickly compared with the sketch on the paper in front of him, and some bold ideas gradually began to emerge in his heart.

The sun was about to set on the sea.

Just then, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the captain's cabin, interrupting Danitz's thoughts. Immediately afterward, there was a knock on the door, and Talan Eyl's voice came from outside, "Captain, I have something to report to you!"

"Ah?" the goat head exclaimed in surprise, "What terrible things are you talking about!?"

The goat head's head shook slightly to the left and right, finally making an incomprehensible sigh, "Oh..."

"...Other city-states won't see this extinguished sun," Heidi said suddenly.

Heidi breathed a sigh of relief and folded up the draft paper, carefully putting it close to his body.

The Seventh Long Night... the promised ark... the sun turning "violent" and the approaching dusk, and...

...appearing with a certain "variable" and the gradually expanding "hollow"...

Heidi stared at it, imagining that he was actually staring at an eyeball that was larger than any city-state and had been overlooking this world for ten thousand years.

"At that time, Talan Eyl was able to see the true appearance inside the sphere with the help of the Truth Society's observation device, so there is no need to worry that ordinary people in other places will casually see this crazy 'truth.'"

Heidi couldn't help but recall the description he had seen in that "blasphemous book":

Heidi listened to the goat head's uneasy words, but said nothing, remaining silent with a沉如水 expression, as if he was deep in thought.

Heidi was stunned for a moment, then reached out to take the letter. He had not expected the mental physician to contact him so quickly after establishing contact and telling her the truth, but at the same time, he was a little puzzled, "Why didn't she go directly to the antique shop to find me? Why did she send the letter to you?"

"The people who actually saw this scene are probably few," Heidi slowly shook his head, "During the sun's extinction, we also looked up at the sky, and all we saw was a completely dark sphere. The details cannot be directly observed—this picture also shows it. The eyeball is 'encapsulated' in a huge container."

Even for a chatterbox like it, it was the first time it couldn't utter a single word.

"...Extra relaxation. I even bought a vase at her shop last week," Danitz muttered, casually opening the letter. His eyes swept over the lines of hastily written words, and his expression suddenly changed slightly.

"Yes, and according to the description in the letter, it seems to be the kind that still has reason," Talan Eyl nodded, "Although the 'reason' of that uninvited guest is very suspicious. He was rambling from beginning to end and couldn't even explain himself clearly..."

"Morris and Frost don't have it, but other city-states might!" the goat head exclaimed immediately, "Who knows what those reckless fools will do! Mortals are not a reliable race!"

Danitz slowly got up from the navigation table and came to the window.

Heidi immediately composed his expression, looked up at the door, "Come in."

"Did you forget?" Heidi reminded him calmly, "Only eight city-states and the *Sea Wanderer* fleet saw the world where the sun was extinguished. The entire Boundless Sea outside of that has not experienced those seventeen hours of darkness."

"...It looks a lot like the eyes of the 'True Sun God.'" He suddenly muttered to himself in a low voice.

Zhong Yan relayed the various rambling remarks she had heard from that Duncan missionary in the letter as faithfully as possible, without making any "extra processing" of these things based on her own speculations.

"Not explaining clearly may be due to some kind of restriction, but the key is that he is willing to communicate. That is the most significant difference between the two types of Duncan missionaries," Heidi said quickly, then looked down at the letter again, and the various pieces of information mentioned in the letter came into his eyes.

Obviously, the old gentleman, who had taught many students throughout his life and whose principle was "teaching knowledge should be concise, to the point, and easy to understand," was extremely dissatisfied with the riddle-like cultist mentioned in the letter and held quite a bit of resentment.

The goat head, which was still excited, fell silent instantly.

Danitz didn't say anything more, but looked down again at the sketch depicting the core structure of Anomaly 001. Gradually, another scene emerged in his mind...

Under the constraints of the magnificent double rune ring, that dazzling and brilliant ball of light was gradually sinking into the sea, its afterglow resplendent.

The cool and peaceful curtain woven by light seemed about to fall due to the dying sun. Before that curtain disappeared, before the "Seventh Long Night" described by the Danitz missionary arrived... what would the "dusk" of this world look like?

The next moment, Heidi quickly put away the relaxed expression on his face, his expression turned serious, and gradually became slightly dignified. He quickly scanned the contents of the letter, then was silent for a few seconds before looking up at Danitz, "You met a Danitz missionary..."

"This eyeball looks a lot like a part of the structure of the 'Creeping Sun'," Heidi said thoughtfully, and as the details of the memory in his mind were filled in, his judgment became more and more certain, "That's right, very similar—if you take the 'eyeball' structure out separately, it's almost exactly the same."

That "eye" that rose into the sky in the era of the Quaithe Ancient Kingdom was now already暮年.

The Seventh Long Night... a letter sent by Zhong Yan?

The brilliant, burning corona, the writhing flesh and limbs coiled beneath the corona, and the dying, enormous eyeball surrounded by countless pale flesh and limbs.

The goat head babbled for a long time, and when he saw that the captain had no reaction at all, he finally couldn't help but remind him, "Captain, do you think we should remind you..."

Hearing Danitz's words, the goat head seemed relieved, but then became worried again, "Not many, but there might be some—not everyone has a reaction like Talan Eyl, being able to seal and tamper with the content they recorded out of instinct in a state of mental breakdown. And according to Talan Eyl's own subsequent actions, people who see that eyeball seem to unconsciously want to spread its appearance..."

"That Duncan missionary's thinking doesn't seem to be very clear, and he appears during the day, unlike other 'light' missionaries who appear at night," Danitz said from the side, "He mentioned the Seventh Long Night, and also mentioned many 'phenomena' after the Seventh Long Night, seemingly the fact that he can appear during the day itself is also a 'precursor' of the so-called 'Seventh Long Night' soon..."