Chapter 706 The Eerily Quiet Border

As the shadows in the spirit world rapidly receded from around the *Vanishing Sail*, the pitch-black sea gradually returned to its normal azure color. The daylight of the real world and the thin mist drifting around the ship enveloped the sea.

Nina ran from her room onto the deck and quickly spotted the bizarre ship not far in front of the *Vanishing Sail*, a vessel wreathed in ghostly green flames and nearly torn apart.

The ship, destroyed by a massive explosion and now driven solely by spectral flames, was slowly decelerating, yet it continued to sail forward. Its bow pointed towards the "Border," a sight once seen in textbooks but witnessed in reality for the first time today.

The magnificent wall of mist reached from the sky to the sea, a waterfall of clouds cascading from its summit, transforming into a thin fog that permeated the entire sea. Before it, everything seemed insignificant. Even after witnessing so many incredible things with the *Vanishing Sail*, Nina couldn't help but widen her eyes and let out a long cry of surprise, "Wow—"

Shirley also ran out, clinging to the railing of the deck, exclaiming along with Nina, "Wow—"

No sooner had she spoken than Agou's voice echoed from the shadows, "That's why I tell you to read more. If you had a better vocabulary, you wouldn't just 'wow' after seeing such a magnificent curtain as the Border…"

Shirley glared at him. "Nina 'wowed' too! Why aren't you saying anything about her?"

Agou jumped out of the shadows, shaking his head as he muttered, "Nina 'wowed' because she thought the word was appropriate here. You 'wowed' because that's the only word you know. You two are different…"

Listening to Agou's muttering, Shirley puffed out her cheeks indignantly, arguing, "I… I have a large vocabulary! I have so many modal particles, but Captain and Master Morris won't let me use them! If I could speak freely, I…"

But Agou was no longer paying attention to her. The formidable-looking Deepsea Hound became increasingly cautious after reaching the Border, peering around as if sensing the auras from other dimensions. After a moment, he mumbled, "...The environment here is different from the safe waters… There are unstable auras everywhere. Even though we're in the real world, I can faintly smell the spirit world…"

"This is the Border, and it's just the most insignificant part of its countless bizarre and dangerous characteristics," came Lucretia's voice, accompanied by a swirling colorful paper scrap. "Here, the boundaries of 'reality' become blurred, and all those 'things' suppressed in the safe waters… become active. The probability of machines becoming possessed is very high, and books attract more and more dangerous lurkers. Many things on the ship become easily animated, and at certain times, especially when the ship and some invisible 'fields' accidentally overlap, these dangers are amplified."

She strolled to the edge of the deck, gazing at the distant mist. Lost in thought and memories, she continued softly, "Therefore, very few sane adventurers come to the Border to 'try their luck'… There is no honor or wealth here, only a cold, eerie environment and a dangerous, terrifying fate. The rare 'madmen' who dare to set foot here have summarized some 'rules of conduct' unique to the Border, such as not carrying any idols or portraits with human features on board, not shouting loudly in the fog, not lingering in front of mirrors for too long, and so on…

"But these rules and taboos can only reduce the risk to a certain extent. Seasoned adventurers still disappear into the mist near the Border. They forget where they are when the fog rolls in, they push open a non-existent door in the cabin, and sometimes, in a daze, they believe they have completed a thrilling and lengthy exploration of the Border and have successfully returned to their home city. Their taut nerves relax, and they finally breathe a sigh of relief as they step onto the solid ground of the dock—and thus walk into the dense fog of the Border, leaving only empty ghost ships drifting on the sea."

Listening to the "Sea Witch's" description of these bizarre and terrifying events, Shirley's eyes widened, and she shivered involuntarily. "I… holy crap… that sounds a bit scary…"

"Yes, it's very scary. So under normal circumstances, people with no Border exploration experience like you shouldn't approach this sea area at all—but you still don't need to worry, because this is the *Vanishing Sail*, and you are members of the *Vanishing Sail* fleet."

Lucretia smiled faintly, gazing at the sea as she spoke unhurriedly. "Father and this ship… are no longer as I remember them. If it's the current *Vanishing Sail*, I believe even if some 'thing' really does get on board and open your door, it will politely apologize and close the door on its way out…"

As soon as she finished speaking, a voice suddenly came from the side, "Usually, they don't get the chance to close the door or apologize."

Lucretia turned her head and saw that Duncan had come to the deck at some point. "Vanna just received a psionic communication. The Deepsea Church's *Tidal* has arrived in the nearby sea and will appear soon. The Death Church's two main battleships are also nearby. They are sending out small reconnaissance boats to check the surrounding sea area first."

Lucretia nodded. "That's good. We need to understand the situation here—the church fleets that patrol the Border year-round are more professional than we are in this regard."

Duncan hummed in agreement, not saying anything more. He simply controlled the *Vanishing Sail* to gradually approach the "guiding" ship ahead, while the *Brilliant Star*, having left its spirit world state, sailed alongside the *Vanishing Sail* at a steady pace.

A dozen minutes later, the *Vanishing Sail* and the *Brilliant Star* arrived near the shattered ship, maintaining a slow and steady cruise.

Perhaps because they were closer to the "curtain," the fog on the sea seemed a little denser than before. Layers of fog drifted in all directions like flowing gauze, and even the ghostly green flames emanating from the *Vanishing Sail* couldn't completely dispel them.

Under Duncan's command, the three ships stopped before the fog became even denser.

"Let's continue forward after we rendezvous," Duncan said from the bow deck of the *Vanishing Sail*, glancing at the foggy sea in the distance. "Light the lights first."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the "guiding ship" in the front.

With a snap of his fingers, the ghostly green flames burning on the ship suddenly intensified. The raging spectral fire exploded and soared, releasing a light bright enough to penetrate the mist!

A "lighthouse" constructed entirely of spectral fire rose in the mist-shrouded Border sea. The light cast by the flames shone fiercely on the entire sea, and where the light enveloped, the fog around the three ships finally showed some signs of dissipating, and visibility recovered slightly.

Vanna and Morris also came to the deck. Morris was curiously observing the sea near the side of the ship. He saw that the color of the sea seemed to be a bit more intense than outside the fog. The dark blue seawater looked quite calm, with only slight undulations from the breeze—and those undulations looked quite strange. They seemed slow and viscous, as if… the entire sea was a layer of viscous, smooth oil lacking surface details.

Vanna frowned, gazing at this sea, which gave a strong sense of eeriness and suspicion. After a moment of hesitation, she took out a small wooden charm from her person—a wave charm carved from seaspeak wood—and threw it into the sea.

The charm, symbolizing the faith and blessing of the Storm Goddess, landed on the viscous, sluggish sea surface. It bounced as if it had landed on solid ground, without causing any ripples or sinking into the water.

It remained quietly on the viscous, sluggish "water surface" for several seconds before suddenly being dyed a layer of ink blue by the surrounding seawater and silently "melting" into the water.

Vanna looked at this scene, which defied her experience, in some bewilderment.

But in her ears, the gentle sound of waves still emerged as usual.

Although the process seemed strange, the power of the Goddess Gomona still descended as usual—in this abnormal sea area, the Storm Goddess's blessing could still take effect.

Even… it seemed to take effect even faster?

Just then, Vanna seemed to suddenly sense something again and looked up at the distant, mist-shrouded sea.

Almost at the same time as she looked up, the sound of a long, clear whistle suddenly broke the silence of the Border sea, followed by a hazy light appearing in the depths of the mist—behind the light, the shadow of a huge ship gradually emerged from the fog.

The gentle sound of waves rang out. In psionic resonance, she confirmed the message from her church brethren. At the same time, the massive ship in the distance began to decelerate at a certain distance, and several smaller escort ships appeared around its silhouette one after another.

Through the drifting fog, the ships that had come to rendezvous correctly identified each other with the *Vanishing Sail* and *Brilliant Star*, which had arrived earlier—in the Border sea, this was a very important step.

Moreover, this "confirmation" of identity would accompany the entire operation, and it would be carried out again every so often.

After all, in the dense fog of the Border, you can't always be sure that the figure beside you is the same person you were familiar with a moment ago.

"It's the Deepsea Church's *Tidal* and its escort fleet," Vanna quickly came to Duncan's side and reported in a low voice, "It's been confirmed through psionic resonance."

Duncan nodded. "Good, allow them to approach. Let them enter the area illuminated by the spectral fire."