Chapter 140 The End
Now, everything has quieted down.

Whether it was the voices from the depths of his mind, or the environment sensed through the various "nodes," whether it was Nina's soft exhortations, or Vanna and Morris's calm reports, all had vanished from this world as the stars converged—the world itself, likewise, returned to nothingness.

This small sanctuary, crafted by the ancient kings, after running continuously for ten thousand years, finally silently vanished into the new world's starlight.

Now, in this primordial, chaotic sea of information, formed from the remnants of countless worlds, only the last ship sails on its final voyage.

The *Shisxiang Hao* (Lost Home) sailed on the reverse side of the World Scar. Beneath its "hull" was the "rift" that had once spanned the boundless sea for ten thousand years. No one had ever imagined that the reverse side of this "rift" was completely different from its front side—

Zhou Ming stood by the helm of the *Shisxiang Hao*. Now that the world was destroyed, there was no need to worry that his observation would destroy the boundless sea, so he opened his eyes—looking down through the gaps in the deck and hull, which were about to be burned away, he saw the pitch-black rift extending almost infinitely into the distance. It emitted no light, and even seemed to actively absorb all light, presenting an extreme darkness that almost created a sense of "infinite falling." Although details were indistinguishable in the depths of that darkness, it faintly conveyed a feeling of being "recessed," as if... it contained a vast space inside.

And the Black Sun hung high above that pitch-black rift. In the depths of a vast, boundless chaotic darkness, the magnificent sun still pulsed and changed according to its rules, emitting a strong and clear navigation signal—even though the *Shisxiang Hao* no longer needed it to navigate.

Zhou Ming turned his head to look at the doll still by his side.

Alice was no longer sitting on the wooden barrel, because even that barrel had been burned to ashes by the starlight flames a few minutes ago. She was now standing on the last small piece of deck next to Zhou Ming—Lei Nola stood beside the doll.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhou Ming suddenly asked.

"Nothing!" Alice said cheerfully, but then scratched her head, seeming to think this wasn't quite right. After a moment's thought, she added with a smile, "It feels very interesting—so this is what the back of the World Scar looks like."

"Aren't you afraid?" Although he already knew the answer, Zhou Ming asked out of curiosity.

"Not afraid," the doll shook her head as expected, "Although I don't know why I'm not afraid..."

Zhou Ming smiled and looked up at Lei Nola again: "What about you?"

"I was thinking... the end of the world is so quiet," Lei Nola said slowly, her expression serene, "From a very, very young age, I always heard and saw those things transmitted from the deep sea. Those twisted, torn scenes and chaotic roars once brought me great fear. I thought the apocalypse would be like that, with everything screaming and being torn to pieces amidst great fear and earth-shattering changes.

"But the truth is, the apocalypse is so quiet. Everything disappears. In the last moment, this world made no sound, neither the roar of the brave nor the wails of the cowardly... nothing. It's so quiet that it feels unreal, making me think the world is still here. If I go 'down' from here, I'll still see that endless blue sea and the sunlight sprinkled on its surface."

Zhou Ming didn't speak. After a few seconds of silence, Lei Nola took a light breath: "It's time for me to leave."

"Leave now?" Zhou Ming raised his eyebrows. "There's nowhere to go anymore."

"I know, but I want to get 'Drifting House' out of here now," Lei Nola smiled. "I've already seen the scenery of the apocalypse. In the new world, I still hope to continue my journey."

"...I understand," Zhou Ming nodded slightly and gave the "Frost Queen" a smile. "Then I wish you a safe journey—the *Shisxiang Hao* will always leave a door open for your 'Drifting House,' even in the new world."

"Thank you," Lei Nola smiled and took half a step back. "Then, see you in the new world."

She left the remaining bridge, passed through the fragmented stairs and the deck with only a few afterimages left, and walked into the "Door of the Lost Ones" that still stood quietly in the void. A moment later, a stream of light appeared at the fiery edge of the *Shisxiang Hao* and flashed in the brilliance of the stars... //Lei Nola??? ==> ^...%$ migrated to new data *&*%$ save complete.

Then, the deck on the bridge contracted and collapsed again. The remaining parts of the *Shisxiang Hao* further disintegrated in the starlight flames. In a gradually subsiding roar, the phantom of the mast completely disappeared, followed by the structure connected to the helm.

Zhou Ming raised his head and glanced at the "sunlight" in the distance, then lowered his eyes and looked at the last remaining afterimage of the helm in his hand—after a moment, he let go.

"Thank you for your hard work," he said softly to the ship.

He stepped towards the edge of the bridge, passing through the former stairs and deck in almost transparent fragments of light and shadow. Alice followed closely behind him—they came to the door of the captain's cabin at the stern, and the "captain's cabin" was now almost non-existent.

Even the "Door of the Lost Ones" had become an almost transparent phantom, standing quietly in its former position. Through that transparent door, Zhou Ming could see the last remaining part of the *Shisxiang Hao*—

The dark wooden goat head floated there, floating above a phantom of what was once a chart table. It was turning its head, looking at Alice and Zhou Ming, who were standing not far away.

Zhou Ming walked towards the goat head, surrounded by the illusion of stars. The last structure of the *Shisxiang Hao* collapsed and disappeared step by step in that illusion.

"It's about here," he said to his first mate, "The *Shisxiang Hao* should rest—Xilandi is waiting for you too."

"Leave me a spot on the *Shisxiang Hao* in the new world," the goat head raised its neck, its hard wooden face seeming to smile. "You decide the specific form."

"Okay," Zhou Ming nodded.

The goat head took a light breath. After a moment of silence, it squinted its eyes and finally asked the initial and final question again—

"Name?"

"Zhou Ming."

Magnificent starlight burst forth from the depths of the *Shisxiang Hao*'s remaining structure. The starry flames silently swallowed the phantom of Saslozka's spine and its head. In just an instant, the entire ship returned to nothingness in the starlight, leaving only a few remaining sparks slowly scattering.

Alice opened her eyes wide and watched this scene. She raised her hand in the darkness, as if trying to touch those scattered sparks. When a speck of light landed on her fingertip, she seemed to realize something belatedly, forcing a smile and waving her hand vigorously: "Goodbye, Mr. First Mate, goodbye—see you in the new world!"

The sparks disappeared. Miss Doll finally slowly stopped waving her arms. She thought for a while in the darkness and looked up at Zhou Ming: "Captain, what's next? Is there... a little bit of road left? I see the Black Sun is still ahead, how do we get there?"

Zhou Ming laughed, reached out and pressed Alice's hair, pointing behind the doll.

Alice was stunned for a moment and turned her head.

She saw a familiar, gorgeous wooden box floating silently in the darkness.

"I kept it separately. I'll leave the rest to you," Zhou Ming said beside her.

Alice finally reacted, and a happy smile appeared on her face.

She floated to the wooden box, bent down and stroked it, gently caressing its surface as if greeting an old friend: "Hello... we're setting off again!"

Zhou Ming laughed and stepped into the wooden box, followed by Alice—the doll's wooden box wasn't too big, like a small canoe, but it was enough for two people to stand in.

Alice grabbed the wooden box lid floating beside her, but then she hesitated a little, looking at Zhou Ming with some uncertainty: "Captain, can we really row over there? There's no water here..."

Zhou Ming just smiled, his eyes swept across the surrounding nothingness and darkness. In this exile dimension shielded by the World Scar, the darkness rippled.

"We can," he said to the doll.

Alice blinked and tried to row in the surrounding darkness with the box lid in her hand—the wooden box moved.

She immediately became happy and began to wave the wooden box lid in her hand, paddling hard in the darkness—just like that first day, just like when she chased the *Shisxiang Hao* in the waves of the boundless sea. The wooden box gradually accelerated in the darkness, carrying the doll and her captain, sailing together towards the sunlight in the distance.

Time seemed to have lost its meaning, and the distance of space also seemed to have lost its meaning. The wooden box, like a small canoe, sailed all the way towards the sunlight in the distance above the dark rift. Alice didn't know how long she had been paddling. She only knew that the captain was always with her, and the sun in the distance seemed to always be at the same distance—but suddenly, that sunlight was very, very close. The distant sun had turned into a sea of fire extending everywhere within sight, right below the wooden box. Huge flames spewed out like amazing storms—yet they were silent and cold.

Alice stopped her hand movements. She leaned her head and glanced downwards, turned to look at Zhou Ming, and a big smile bloomed on her face: "We're here!"

Zhou Ming was silent for a long time. After a long while, he took a light breath: "Yes, we're here."

Alice didn't ask why the captain was silent for so long. She seemed to understand everything. After the captain answered, she very seriously leaned the lid of the wooden box aside and looked up at Zhou Ming's eyes.

The bright smile gradually turned into a serene smile.

"Captain, see you in the new world."

"Yeah, see you in the new world."

"Don't forget my little frying pan~"

"Of course—"

The doll disappeared into the brilliance of the stars with satisfaction.

Zhou Ming stood quietly above the sea of fire of the Black Sun. After an unknown amount of time, he turned his head and looked at his shoulder.

In the diffuse starlight, A Yi's figure appeared and disappeared.

It tilted its head, seemingly curiously observing its master—when their eyes met, it suddenly flapped its wings, making a strange, sharp sound as if it was being interfered with: "To the new world, to the new world, to the new world! Brand new UR limited-time up, Duncan-Zhou Ming probability increased! SSR card 'Alice' limited-time reprint! To the new world! To the new world!"

Zhou Ming frowned in confusion.

This pigeon usually speaks abstractly, but he can still understand it to some extent, but this time it's a bit too abstract... What is this bird BB-ing about?

However, just as he was about to say something, A Yi's figure quickly dimmed in the starlight. It flapped its wings for the last time, and its usually not-so-smart green bean eyes seemed to suddenly have thought. Then it turned its head, seeming to look at its master very seriously.

"Good—bye—"

Then, the pigeon was gone.

Zhou Ming looked at this scene in a daze. After a long time, he shook his head helplessly and muttered to himself, "I thought at least this guy could be with me until the end."

No one responded to his muttering.

Including the "sun" burning fiercely under his feet.

The Black Sun was "dead." Zhou Ming had discovered this when Alice paddled the wooden box close to this sea of fire.

Zhou Ming didn't know when it stopped thinking, perhaps at the moment when the *Shisxiang Hao* entered the back of the World Scar, or perhaps when Alice paddled the wooden box to the sea of fire. During this process, the Black Sun quietly stopped thinking, without saying goodbye or leaving a word.

There was only a corpse still burning according to specific rules, maintaining a beacon-like flash that could still illuminate the route after the apocalypse.

This flame was the last "gift" that the Black Sun left to Zhou Ming.

"...You really trust my promise."

Zhou Ming smiled helplessly and shook his head. His figure slowly descended on the sea of fire until he was swallowed by the flames, until he felt himself stepping on a solid surface.

And the flames that once belonged to the Black Sun, but now were ownerless, were still burning fiercely around him, as if waiting for... "takeover."

Zhou Ming squinted his eyes slightly. He looked around at the sea of fire, and suddenly... a word appeared in his mind.

Fire Thief.

So, the final fire theft began.

In a certain moment, the flames left behind by the Black Sun were transformed into carriers of starlight. This dazzling "celestial body," formed from twisted information and chaotic beliefs, was soaked in starlight, and it erupted as if it had been ignited a second time. It turned into a strong flash of light that illuminated everything here in an infinitely short instant.

That fierce "illumination" reflected the starlight into the rift of the World Scar—this was also an infinitely short moment.

After this moment, time finally truly lost its meaning.

The Black Sun, the last remnant of the old world, the last fragment left to this moment after the collision of thousands of worlds, was completely decomposed in the starlight.

The Great Annihilation was completed.

…

Everything disappeared in the echo of the Great Annihilation void. Time and space were reduced to null values. That nearly eternal, yet infinitely short "instant"... began.

There was only one consciousness. This consciousness floated in the void, walking in this eternal instant.

It began to think and calculate.

The first parameter of the mathematical machine was generated, and then after infinitely long years, the second parameter was carefully set—this process was so long that it could not be measured on the time scale, and so short that it could not be perceived.

It was still thinking and calculating.

In infinitely long and infinitely short "time," it performed initial assignment for everything.

On a calculable and incalculable information scale, it began to arrange those who deserved and were promised in their proper places.

It was still thinking and calculating.

It began to determine the node for the operation of all things. In this not-yet-started mathematical machine, everything before the node belonged to "design," and everything after the node belonged to "possible futures."

This process took another infinitely long instant.

…

Call.

From old world - assignment - completed.

Redirected.

To new world - model injected.

So, the eternal first second passed.

Zhou Ming-Duncan opened his eyes.

The void darkness reflected in his eyes.

…

He said—

"Let there be light."