Chapter 1

This world has undergone astonishing historical changes, with the "Great Annihilation" as the pivotal point. The entire world, even its fundamental laws, experienced an earth-shattering transformation. As a result, the Deep Sea Era after the Great Annihilation and the Order Era before it can almost be regarded as two completely different "worlds."

Even so, some people persistently organize historical materials passed down since the Great Annihilation, trying to piece together the true face of history from the fragmented and even contradictory records of various city-states.

Unfortunately, perhaps due to the complete severance of inheritance, or perhaps due to the chaotic contradictions in the records of various city-states, people have not yet found relatively complete and reliable historical records of the time before the Great Annihilation.

No one knows what the world of the Order Era was like.

But fortunately, the world after the ancient kingdom of Crete has relatively clear historical traditions left behind—although city-states have risen and fallen, divided and merged on the boundless sea, at least the continuation of civilization itself has never been interrupted. The memories of ancient kingdoms are either left in books, carved on megaliths, or passed down through generations in ancient and hidden families and societies. There are always many scattered fragments, but also surviving threads.

Scholars believe that more than half of the reason why the Deep Sea Era civilization has been able to continue to this day under extremely unfavorable conditions is due to the miracle that illuminates the world:

Anomaly 001, the Sun.

This is the anomaly with the largest known impact range and power currently known to mankind—in fact, because its scale is so large and its existence is so "self-evident," many scholars are debating whether the sun itself is an anomaly or a natural phenomenon. However, the first recorders after the fall of the ancient kingdom of Crete, the survivors of the ancient kingdom, referred to it as Anomaly 001, and this ancient code has been passed down and has not changed to this day.

Obviously, not all anomalies are terrifying and harmful. Anomaly 001 brings safety to the world for half of the time. During the daytime under the sun, almost all pollution from the depths of the world is suppressed below sea level. It is precisely because of this stable daytime that the civilizations of the various city-states have been able to develop to this day.

According to the information left by the ancient kingdom of Crete, after the beginning of the Deep Sea Era and before the appearance of Anomaly 001, the entire world was shrouded in night for a whole century—the cold and dim glow of the Wound of the World illuminated the boundless sea for a hundred years.

Therefore, the people of the ancient kingdom referred to their country as the "Eternal Night," and even used this term to refer to the era in which they lived.

Duncan stood by the narrow window, thoughtfully looking at the world illuminated by the sun.

What was the world like before the Great Annihilation?

Before that terrible century of eternal night descended, did the sun shine on everything in this world?

It seems so, because no matter how many gaps and contradictions there are in the ancient records of the various city-states, they all have one thing in common: the Order Era was an era of light, safety, and prosperity.

But in any case, that prosperous and bright era has passed. The boundless sea is now illuminated by Anomaly 001. Everyone knows this and is grateful for the daytime brought by Anomaly 001.

Therefore, in this era, the cultists who worship the ancient "true sun" and even attack the sun in the sky today, calling it a "false sun," seem particularly prejudiced and twisted, and are intolerable to the world.

They are attacking not only the sun in the sky but also the foundation upon which human civilization struggles to survive in the Deep Sea Era.

But Duncan knew that the sun worshiped by those cultists... was very likely the true appearance of the sun that had existed before the Great Annihilation.

From a certain perspective, those cultists have grasped a part of the true history—unfortunately, that true history has become the root of their distortion in this era.

Duncan didn't think that the cultists' grand vision could be realized, nor did he believe that they could create a burning fusion star by sacrificing living people. The twisted state of this world is far beyond imagination, and the Deep Sea Era presents this appearance, which cannot be explained simply by the loss of a star.

The night sky here doesn't even have a single star.

Duncan returned to the room, closed the door, waved to the cabinet next to him, and called down Ai, who was using the top of the cabinet to grind her beak.

The pigeon landed on his shoulder, tilting its head: "Who's calling the fleet?"

Duncan ignored the bird, walked to the bed, found the sun emblem he had hidden in the corner of the bed, then thought for a while, came to the cabinet again, opened the door, found the drawer where the spirits were stored, and took out two bottles of spirits.

There seemed to be something stuck on the bottle. Duncan curiously turned the bottle and saw that it was a small note with Nina's handwriting: "Drink less wine."

The note seemed to have been attached a long time ago.

There was a note on each bottle, and none of them had ever worked.

Duncan smiled, closed the drawer and the cabinet, took the two bottles of wine and the sun emblem back to the bed, and poked Ai, letting it see what he was holding.

"If possible, try to bring them to the *Lost Ship*."

The pigeon immediately flapped its wings and made a triumphant sound: "Honey, free shipping!"

Duncan nodded, let himself lie down in a comfortable position, and began to prepare for the crossing.

He had been away from the *Lost Ship* for too long. Although nothing would happen to the ship without him watching, he, as the captain, couldn't keep himself locked in the room all the time.

Nina was going to school in the afternoon, and after the course, she had some other things to do. She would be busy until very late. Duncan had discussed it with her and asked her to stay in the school dormitory for another night today and come back after school tomorrow afternoon.

During this time, Duncan could just study the details of spiritual realm crossing and test whether he could control the activities of both bodies at the same time without completely severing the soul projection, according to his previous ideas.

Based on his perception of the *Lost Ship* when he was on "this side," this should be feasible.

When occupying this "fresh" body, the connection between himself and the *Lost Ship*'s main body was significantly stronger and more stable, which gave him confidence and inspiration.

With the plan slowly settled in his mind, Duncan breathed a sigh of relief. A little ghostly green flame burned on his shoulder. In the crackling sound, the pigeon Ai transformed into the form of a ghost bird in the blink of an eye, and the brass compass on its chest also "popped" open.

Boundless darkness, glowing lines, twinkling stars—a familiar feeling surged like a tide, and the trajectory back to the *Lost Ship* was the brightest "sea lane" in this darkness.

Duncan's consciousness quickly traversed along this sea lane. In the blink of an eye, he felt that his main consciousness had awakened in the captain's cabin of the *Lost Ship*.

But before completely leaving that dark space, he forcibly performed a "brake" by virtue of his control over the spirit fire and his own soul, in an attempt to retain the connection between himself and that "antique shop"...

*Lost Ship*, inside the captain's cabin, Duncan slowly opened his eyes.

He looked down at his hands and looked around. What he saw was familiar furnishings, and what he heard was the familiar sound of the sea.

He slowly got up from the chair, and in the depths of his consciousness, the sensation of another body was clearly transmitted!

A smile slowly appeared on Duncan's face, and then, according to his understanding, he began to try to perceive and control his other body in the antique shop through that distant connection.

He tried several times.

Inside Duncan's antique shop on the second floor in Prand City-State, the "antique shop owner" who was quietly lying on the bed suddenly opened his eyes!

The next second, the body lying on the bed turned its head little by little with a stiff expression, observing the room from left to right as if it were a zombie. Then, it slowly moved its hands and feet, as if forcibly manipulating a rusty machine, so that its limbs began to move.

If this scene were seen by outsiders, they would probably be so frightened that they would go to the nearby sheriff to report that someone was possessed by an evil spirit here.

Looking at it from another perspective, it doesn't seem wrong to report it like this?

Duncan, in the captain's room of the *Lost Ship*, was remotely controlling that body to move slowly while thinking about these bizarre thoughts in his mind.

This was very difficult. It was more difficult to direct body movements only by some remote connections without the consciousness being in the body than it was to have a novice manipulate a marionette with twenty-eight joints.

But after many attempts, he still managed to get that body in Prand City-State to sit up from the bed!

The next second, the remotely transmitted image in his mind suddenly turned upside down.

That body fell to the floor...

Duncan sighed, "Okay, it seems I have to practice for quite a while."