Chapter 13 The Sun Relit

The sun relit.

After being extinguished for a full twelve hours, that dark sphere hanging high and motionless in the sky once again became the "sun" that brought warmth and light to the world, and resumed its movement.

In Pland, in Frost, in Gale Harbor, everyone who had witnessed the sun's extinction saw the restoration of Anomaly 001.

However, the panic caused by the sun's extinction did not subside so easily—the residents of the city-states were still uneasy. Scholars and clerics looked at the relit sun with the same confusion and tension as when they saw it extinguished. The city's administrators were still trying to confirm the situation in other cities. Everyone was eager to know—what exactly had happened?

Flying colored paper scraps swirled like a gust of wind across the deck, through the windows, and into the captain's cabin. Lucrezia's figure condensed out of the paper scraps. She stepped to her crystal ball, activated it, and waited somewhat anxiously for a reply.

As soon as Tyrion's figure appeared, she quickly spoke: "I'm seeing the sun relit here. What's the situation on your end?"

"It's the same here, of course. At least for now, it seems we're seeing the same sun," Tyrion said, a hint of exhaustion in his eyes, but his spirit seemed fine. "It may take me a while to ease the atmosphere in the city-state. Everyone is worried that the sky above their heads will fall into darkness again..."

"...The sun is a symbol of safety, sheltering our days for ten thousand years. So, in other words, once it's extinguished, the most basic and solid 'sense of security' in everyone's mind suffers a heavy blow," Lucrezia sighed, casually expressing her thoughts. "No one isn't worried about this, not even me."

"Did you collect any useful information during the sun's extinction?" Tyrion asked. "You have all sorts of equipment over there..."

Lucrezia immediately nodded. "Yes. After the sun went out, a set of observation devices I set up on the Brilliant Star received strange signals from that 'luminous geometric shape.' I'll give you a copy after I sort out the data, and you can see if the scholars in Frost have any clues. Later, I'll go to Gale Harbor to see if the monitoring devices set up by the Academy of Truth in various parts of the city have any discoveries..."

"Okay, I'll wait for your news."

Lucrezia hummed in agreement. Then, she hesitated for a few seconds before cautiously opening her mouth: "How is Father doing? He was at sea when the sun went out..."

"I've been in contact with him. The Forsaken is fine, even... possibly better than things are in the city," Tyrion breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll contact him again later. Don't worry, if I notice anything wrong... I'll tell you right away."

Lucrezia nodded gently. After saying goodbye to her brother, she casually extinguished the crystal ball in front of her.

...

On the Forsaken, in the captain's cabin, the figure of Lawrence, captain of the White Oak, appeared in the oval mirror in front of Duncan. The latter was reporting the latest situation:

"The waters around the White Oak have returned to normal. The previous strange phenomena have disappeared. It seems that with the relighting of the sun, everything is returning to normal..."

"How's the navigation?"

"The observatory can see the 'starry sky' again," Lawrence immediately nodded and said. "However, it will take some time for the spirit lenses to recalibrate. Currently, the rough judgment is that the White Oak has not deviated too much from its course."

"Okay, report any subsequent situations to me in a timely manner."

The illusory spirit flames on the edge of the mirror swelled and contracted, and Lawrence's figure in the mirror gradually dissipated. Duncan, however, remained standing in front of the restored mirror, frowning in thought.

The sun has recovered, and the situation is actually about what he initially expected—although Anomaly 001 is indeed having problems, this vast and ancient "device" will not completely collapse in a short period of time. It may continue to persist for a long time through constant failures and repairs. Today's extinction is only temporary—but correspondingly, its relighting is also temporary.

Compared to the sun's brief extinction, Duncan was more concerned about other things at the moment: the strange phenomena that occurred after the sun went out.

The first strange phenomenon was the interruption of communications with other city-states besides Pland, Gale Harbor, and Frost.

If all communications across the Boundless Sea were interrupted, it wouldn't be so troubling. But the fact that three city-states didn't have problems made it all the more perplexing. If Pland and Frost had become "anomalies" and possessed some kind of special characteristic, then what was going on with Gale Harbor?

The second strange phenomenon was even more perplexing than the "communication interruption"—what exactly was that "boundary" observed by the White Oak?

Burning cloth balls thrown into the sea from the ship would theoretically drift in the opposite direction of the ship's course due to the ship's movement. However, when the sun was extinguished, those cloth balls all "stalled" near a certain "boundary" after drifting out a few hundred meters...

And according to Lawrence's report just now, this strange phenomenon disappeared after the sun relit—the dried-up "sailor" had done several tests to confirm this.

Duncan frowned tightly.

The phenomenon observed by the White Oak was actually small in scale. Compared to the "disconnection" of all the city-states across the Boundless Sea, that "boundary" was limited to the vicinity of a single ship, but the things hidden behind that phenomenon... seemed to be far beyond imagination.

Duncan vaguely felt that he had touched upon some extremely crucial "secret" in this Boundless Sea. The "true face" of this entire world seemed to be hidden in those twelve hours after the sun went out.

Just then, a call from afar suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

Duncan immediately came back to his senses and scanned the mirror in front of him.

The next second, illusory, transparent spirit flames enveloped the mirror again, and the depths of the mirror quickly turned black. Tyrion's figure emerged from within.

"Father, how are things on your end..."

"Everything is fine here. The sun has recovered, right?" Duncan took the initiative to speak before the other party could finish. "How is the situation in Frost?"

"Everything is fine in Frost," Tyrion replied immediately. "The cemetery is under your 'care,' which greatly reduces the pressure on the church and the city hall. The order in various parts of the city has been brought under control, but the panic of the citizens will probably need to be soothed slowly. I will convene a meeting later to discuss how to explain the sun's extinction to ordinary people..."

Duncan noticed that Tyrion seemed to be secretly sizing him up as he spoke, as if... cautiously observing the changes in his expression.

He immediately understood why.

"Rest assured, I'm still me. I haven't been replaced by something from the subspace because of the sun's brief extinction," Duncan laughed, saying the truth with a calm expression. "If you don't believe me, go to the cemetery and confirm it with my 'avatar' in person?"

"Ah, no, I didn't mean anything else!" Tyrion hurriedly explained. "It's just... Lucy was a little worried about you..."

"I know," Duncan interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. "But you can rest assured, my mental health is very good—instead of worrying about me, let's talk about the situation in the city. Has communication with other city-states been restored?"

"We can now receive signals from Cold Harbor, and spirit communication with other distant city-states has also been restored," Tyrion nodded and said. "I've arranged for people to inquire about the situation in various city-states, and it should be soon..."

He suddenly stopped here, and then turned his gaze elsewhere.

Someone seemed to have entered the domed office and was reporting something to him.

Duncan didn't speak, and immediately withdrew his "gaze," while also concealing the connection between the mirrors—this was to avoid frightening the "ordinary people" over there.

After a few minutes, the flames on the edge of the mirror rekindled, and Duncan heard Tyrion's call, and once again turned his gaze to the mirror.

Tyrion's figure reappeared in the mirror, and this time, his face was clearly still in shock.

Duncan noticed the change in the other party's expression and frowned slightly: "What happened?"

"We... just established contact with Cold Harbor and inquired about the situation in their city-state during the sun's extinction," Tyrion's tone was hesitant, as if he was carefully considering how to express each word. "The result was that they were very surprised—they didn't know anything about the sun's extinction!"

Duncan's expression instantly froze.

After more than ten seconds, he seemed to suddenly think of something, and broke the silence with unusual seriousness: "Make it clear, is it that Cold Harbor never observed the phenomenon of the sun's extinction, or that they simply did not experience the previous twelve hours?"

Tyrion was stunned when he heard this, and quickly understood the meaning of Duncan's words.

"You mean..."

"Check again to see if Cold Harbor has any records of communication interruptions with Frost. If the whole world has always been normal in their eyes, and communication with Frost has never been interrupted... then this matter is more complicated than we thought."

"Yes, I'll check immediately," Tyrion said quickly. "And other city-states, I will check them one by one!"

Duncan nodded and waved his hand to disperse the flames floating around the mirror, but just as he was preparing to think about this matter, the goat head's exclamation suddenly came from not far away: "Captain! Something's not right! Come and take a look at the sea chart!"

The sea chart?

Duncan was puzzled, quickly turned around and came to the nautical table, scanning the strange sea chart surrounded by fog.

The next second, he saw the projection of the Forsaken on the sea chart, and... the city-state markers that were slowly emerging next to this projection.

"We... are near Gale Harbor?"

(End of Chapter)