Chapter 15 Resplendence

The sun relit itself.

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

In Pland, in Frost, in Windwhisper 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 inhabitants of the city-states remained uneasy, scholars and clerics looked at the relit sun with the same confusion and tension as when they had seen it extinguished, the city administrators were still trying to confirm the situation in other cities, and 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 from the paper scraps. She stepped to her crystal ball, activated it, and waited somewhat anxiously for a response.

As soon as Tirian's figure appeared, she quickly said, "I see that the sun has relit itself here. What's the situation on your end?"

"Of course, it is here as well. At least for now, it seems we are seeing the same sun," Tirian said, with a hint of fatigue in his eyes, but he seemed to be in good spirits. "I may need some time 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. In other words, as soon as it goes out once, the most basic and solid 'sense of security' in everyone's mind is severely damaged," Lucrezia sighed, casually expressing her thoughts. "No one isn't worried about this, not even me."

"Did you collect any useful information while the sun was extinguished?" Tirian asked. "You have all sorts of equipment over there…"

Lucrezia nodded immediately. "Yes, after the sun went out, a set of observation devices I set up on the ship Brilliant Star received strange signals from that 'luminous geometric object.' I'll give you a copy when I've sorted out the data. See if the scholars in Frost have any clues. Later, I'll have to go to Windwhisper Harbor again to see if the monitoring devices set up by the Academy of Truth in various parts of the city have made any discoveries…"

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

Lucrezia hummed in agreement. Then, she hesitated for a few seconds before tentatively asking, "How is Father doing? He was at sea when the sun went out…"

"I've been in contact with him the whole time. The Vanishing Sails is fine, even… possibly better than things are in the city," Tirian breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll contact him again later. Don't worry, if I sense anything is wrong… I'll tell you immediately."

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

…

On the Vanishing Sails, in the captain's cabin, the figure of Lawrence, captain of the White Oak, appeared in the oval mirror before Duncan, reporting on the latest situation:

"The waters around the White Oak have returned to normal. Those strange phenomena haven't appeared again. It seems that everything is returning to normal with the relighting of the sun…"

"How is navigation?"

"The Observatory can see the 'stars' again," Lawrence nodded immediately. "However, it will take a little time for the spirit lenses to recalibrate. For now, we can roughly determine that the White Oak hasn't deviated too far from its course."

"Good, report any further developments to me in a timely manner."

The illusory spirit flames on the edge of the mirror flared, and Lawrence's figure gradually disappeared. Duncan, however, remained standing in front of the now-normal mirror, frowning in thought.

The sun had recovered, and the situation was about as he had initially expected—although Anomaly 001 was indeed malfunctioning, this vast and ancient "device" would not completely collapse in a short period of time. It might persist for a long time in a constant cycle of breakdowns and repairs. Today's extinction was only temporary—but correspondingly, its relighting was also temporary.

More than the sun's brief extinction, Duncan was more concerned at the moment about the strange phenomena that had occurred after the sun went out.

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

If all communications across the Endless Sea were cut off, it wouldn't be so troubling, but three city-states hadn't had any problems. If Pland and Frost had become "anomalies" and possessed some special characteristic, then what about Windwhisper Harbor?

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

Burning wads of cloth thrown into the sea from the ship would theoretically drift in the opposite direction of the ship's course. However, when the sun went out, those wads of cloth 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 with the relighting of the sun—the cadaverous "sailor" had done several more tests and confirmed this.

Duncan frowned tightly.

The phenomenon observed by the White Oak was actually small in scale. Compared to the "loss of contact" with all the city-states on the Endless Sea, that "boundary" was confined to the area around a single ship, but what was hidden behind that phenomenon… seemed to be far beyond imagination.

Duncan vaguely felt that he had touched upon a crucial "secret" in this Endless 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 snapped back to his senses and scanned the mirror before him.

The next second, illusory, transparent spirit fire enveloped the mirror again, and the depths of the mirror quickly turned black, and Tirian's figure emerged.

"Father, how are things on your end…"

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

"Everything is fine in Frost," Tirian replied immediately. "With you 'watching over' the cemetery, the pressure on the church and the city hall has been greatly reduced. The order in various parts of the city has been brought under control, but the citizens' panic will probably need to be calmed down slowly. I will convene a meeting later to discuss how to explain the sun's extinction to the common people…"

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

He immediately understood why.

"Don't worry, I'm still me. I haven't been replaced by something from the subspace due to the sun's brief extinction," Duncan laughed, saying the plain 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!" Tirian 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 that my mental health is excellent—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," Tirian nodded. "I have arranged for people to inquire about the situation in each city-state, and it should be soon…"

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

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

Duncan did not speak and immediately withdrew his "gaze," while concealing the connection between the mirrors—this was to avoid scaring the "ordinary people" over there.

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

Tirian's figure reappeared in the mirror, and this time his face clearly wore an expression of undisguised astonishment.

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," Tirian said hesitantly, each word seemingly chosen with careful consideration. "The result was that they were very surprised—they didn't know anything about the sun's extinction at all!"

Duncan's expression instantly froze.

After more than ten seconds, as if he had suddenly thought of something, he 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 didn't experience those twelve hours?"

Tirian was stunned when he heard this and quickly understood what Duncan meant.

"Are you saying…"

"Check again to see if Cold Harbor has any record of communication disruptions with Frost. If everything has always been normal in their eyes, and communication with Frost has never been interrupted… then this matter is more complicated than we imagined."

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

Duncan nodded, waving his hand to disperse the flames floating around the mirror, but just as he was preparing to think about this matter carefully, the goat-headed man'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 and quickly turned to the navigation table, scanning the eerie sea chart surrounded by mist.

The next second, he saw the projection of the Vanishing Sails on the sea chart, and… the city-state marker that was slowly emerging next to this projection.

"We… are near Windwhisper Harbor?"

(End of Chapter)