Chapter 15 The End of the Voyage

Now, the warp jump reached its end—the long journey beyond the border had finally concluded, and the *Vanishing Line* was once again back in the territory of sea and fog.

But this was only a temporary stop on the entire journey. Duncan's goal was not to return to the boundless sea, but to go to that frozen doomsday suspended high in the sky.

With the slight vibrations coming from various parts of the ship, the *Vanishing Line* disengaged from the warp state. The phantom of the *New Hope* quickly dissipated in the sky, and the countless invisible threads also re-collected into the doll's body. The thick fog unique to the border sea surged in from all directions almost instantly, surrounding the entire ship like ardent welcomers—the *Vanishing Line* sailed into the sea in the thick fog, gliding for a distance in the calm, mirror-like sea, and the ship gradually stabilized.

Alice blinked, her eyes quickly regaining their agility. She looked up at Duncan, who was standing beside her, and a smile quickly bloomed on her face: "Captain! We're back!"

"Yes, back to the boundless sea. I'll take the helm from here," Duncan said with a smile, nodding to the doll. He walked to the dark helm. "Go rest, or you can watch from the side."

"Okay, I'm not tired. I'll watch from the side!" Alice said happily, then moved a large wooden bucket over and sat on the corner of the bridge, watching Duncan steer the ship with her hands propped under her chin.

Duncan looked back at Miss Doll, smiled helplessly, and then grasped the dark helm with both hands.

The ghostly green flames burned between his fingers, spreading and flowing along the helm in all directions. The deck and masts were ignited, and the translucent ghostly sails billowed in the invisible wind—the *Vanishing Line* burned brightly, just like that day in Duncan's memory, when he first grasped the helm.

Then, Duncan closed his eyes—not paying attention to the boundless sea, nor to the eternal curtain. In the gradually closed senses, he only saw a slowly flickering, cold, false sunlight, outlining a bright path in the darkness, pointing far ahead.

He heard a low rumble coming from deep within the *Vanishing Line*, heard the cables vibrating in the air, and the creaking sounds in the cabins. These layered sounds were like continuous cheers, and in the cheering of the entire ship, he heard the strange, off-key voice of the Goathead.

It was a strange ballad, one he had never heard before, and he couldn't understand the complex tones and strangely pronounced lyrics. It seemed to span a distant time and space, a hum passed down from some distant, ancient era, once used to please the gods, and it couldn't be considered pleasant at all.

But Duncan, with his eyes closed, seemed to "see" something in that strange, off-key hum.

He saw bright sunlight, magnificent mountains and rivers, saw a huge tree rooted in the earth, and the creator wandering in dreams slowly walking out of the valley.

The newly enlightened creatures surrounded the tree, decorating the place where the creator rested with colorful stones and fur, and joyfully playing crude, primitive instruments, singing songs praising the breeze and sunlight in the morning and evening glow.

Now, after so many long years, their creator remembered this melody.

Then, the *Vanishing Line* began to accelerate slowly again—the Goathead's off-key hum became the last sea shanty on the voyage, and the massive ghost ship further faded away its physical form in the burning spiritual fire, presenting an even more thorough sense of illusion than before.

The flames rose, and rose again, until they burned out the ship, burned out all its history, all the foundations that had existed, burned out the projections it had cast in all dimensions, burned out all the data units that it, as an "existence," had occupied in this small sanctuary—faint purple starlight permeated the flames, and the *Vanishing Line* finally transformed completely into a huge phantom that could hardly be recognized in the flames.

This phantom had no weight. It drifted upwards in the clouds and mist that covered the entire world, following the path outlined by the false sunlight in the distance, gradually accelerating towards the sky.

Zhou Ming gripped the helm tightly. For the first time, he so truly "felt" this world, felt himself standing here, felt the existence of the *Vanishing Line*, felt... that he was a part of this broken, dim, gradually cooling world.

He was one of the countless lost wanderers in this world.

Zhou Ming still kept his eyes closed, so as to avoid excessive "observation" causing the boundless sea to collapse in an instant as much as possible, but his "feeling"—had already begun the final destruction process of this world.

The starlight gradually rose at the edge of the sanctuary. Now, all the underlying data of this sanctuary was opening its doors to him, and the final disaster backup began to be imported into the reverse singularity database—along with this final "import" process, the "reset" work starting from the external barrier was also initiated.

Nina and Shirley widened their eyes in astonishment.

They came to the second floor of the antique shop, and they even carried Uncle Duncan's body to the window on the second floor—although that body had completely stopped functioning, Nina still let him sit beside her, "watching" the situation outside with her.

The two girls looked up, watching the sky in the southeast direction.

A dazzling light was rising from that direction, moving slowly but dramatically towards the World Scar.

The dazzling light, mixed with ghostly green and light purple, even illuminated half the sky, bringing a "day" to this world at the end of such a long night, like dawn.

"Wow..."

Shirley craned her neck as far as she could, and exclaimed exaggeratedly. Then she tugged hard on the chain around Ah-Gou's neck, and exclaimed fussily, "Ah-Gou, Ah-Gou, look at that! Over there! The Captain really flew up! He flew towards the World Scar! It's starting, it's starting!"

"I see it, I see it, stop yanking the chain," Ah-Gou shouted loudly while pressing down on the chain with its paw. "Quickly find a stable place to lean against. The final moment is about to begin. Haven't you been talking about when it's going to start every day? It's now..."

"I... I'm a little nervous..." Shirley suddenly became nervous. She grabbed Ah-Gou's chain and leaned against the wall beside her, but quickly came to the window again. "What's going to happen? Will it hurt? Or will it just be whoosh—and it's over? Will there be a flash of light?"

"How should I know, I..." Ah-Gou muttered, but suddenly stopped.

The starlight-filled flames were burning in every gap of its bones, gushing and rising from its body in a completely uncontrollable state.

Shirley blinked, and also raised her arm, seeing the same flames burning on her body, and through the light and shadows of the flames, she saw that Nina on the side was also gradually being enveloped in flames.

"Uncle Duncan is observing this world through our eyes..." Nina quickly realized. She didn't panic at all, but said softly with a gentle expression, "Don't be afraid."

"I... I'm not afraid, but what should I do?" Shirley looked at Nina while speaking in a tone that was obviously a little scared. "Stare wide-eyed and look around, right?"

"Observing the world through our eyes is just a figurative way of saying it. Actually..." Nina subconsciously explained, but noticed the clear and uncultured expression on her friend's face halfway through her sentence, so she swallowed the rest of the explanation and turned it into a somewhat helpless smile. "Okay, just stare wide-eyed and look around. Anyway, Uncle Duncan will arrange everything..."

"Oh... Okay!" Shirley hurriedly agreed, and really widened her eyes, looking as far as she could.

And in the corner of Nina's eye, at the end of the clouds and mist covering the entire world, a magnificent spectacle that no one had ever seen in the real dimension was slowly rising into the sky, closing towards the sky like a curtain—

The stars, rose up.

The boundless sea began to collapse silently into the starlight from the outside in.

First, the border outposts, lighthouses, and mobile ports established by the Church of the Four Gods in the border sea area, and the patrol fleets that had been staying near the Eternal Curtain.

Then, the outlying islands that were slightly closer to the civilized world, where explorers had once stayed and left countless stories.

Then, the city-states located in the border sea area...

Lucrezia stood on the highest deck of the *Brilliant Star*, and the ship was docked at Lightwind Harbor's pier—she held Rabir's arm with one hand, and supported the little doll Nielu, who was only a few dozen centimeters tall, sitting on her shoulder with the other hand.

The Clockwork Doll Rooney stood behind Lucrezia, as always.

Together, they quietly watched the stars rise from the edge of the world, and like a magnificent curtain connecting heaven and earth, gradually crush and approach this side.

The stars first touched a platform on the distant sea—it used to be a facility for studying "luminous geometry," but now it was deserted. The city-state was unable to recover it, so it could only let it become a monument hanging over the sea.

There was no process of disintegration, no sound, and no flash of light—the platform silently merged into the stars, leaving no trace, and "behind" the starlight there was only extreme nothingness.

Nielu hugged Lucrezia's head tightly, her little body trembling: "Mistress, I'm a little scared..."

"Don't be afraid, Nielu," Lucrezia raised her hand and gently stroked the little doll's back. "The next time you open your eyes, we'll be in our new home."

"...Okay." The little doll nodded vigorously.

"Mistress..."

Rooney's voice came from behind. Lucrezia turned her head and saw the clockwork doll's slightly nervous expression.

"Are you scared too?"

"...A little."

Lucrezia smiled: "Then close your eyes, and open them again in a while, just like... blinking."

Rooney was stunned for a moment, and obediently closed her eyes.

In the last bit of afterglow in the corner of her eye, she saw her mistress's figure disappear silently into the starlight.

#@￥%￥#@￥……

//Lucrezia？？？==>^……%￥migrated to new data*&*%￥save complete.

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