Chapter 1 The Anomaly

Anomaly 001 rose from the Blood Sea after the fall of the ancient Cretan Kingdom, replacing the sun of the old era and illuminating this world of the Deep Sea Age.

For ten thousand years, this immense celestial body has revolved as if eternal, bringing not only light and heat to the world, but also the stable order of daytime – without it, there would be no city-state civilization as it exists today, and the mortals of the world, deprived of the protection of the ancient Cretan Kingdom, would have vanished soundlessly in some distant age.

No one ever imagined that Anomaly 001 might one day malfunction, just as no one considered that the Boundless Sea might one day run dry.

But now it seemed that this "eternal" sun was not truly eternal.

First, the sunrise was delayed by fifteen minutes, then there was the almost imperceptible gap in the runic circle… These unsettling signs all pointed to one thing: the lifespan of Anomaly 001 was, in fact, finite!

Duncan stood by the display window, silently watching the bright daylight illuminate the street, while a storm of thoughts churned within his mind.

He was not the only one to notice the sun's aberration; there were many intelligent people in the world. Common folk might not pay attention to the changes above, but the authorities of the various city-states and the church were certainly keeping a close eye on the world's largest anomaly. By now, someone must have noticed the changes in the sun... What would they think? How would they respond? Would anyone know what was happening?

He also thought of the crazed sun cultists, the heretics who worshipped the true sun of ancient times... They muttered all day long that the world's Anomaly 001 was an evil "false sun," that the sun would one day fall... Did they know that the sun was truly failing?

Or could it be that the changes in Anomaly 001 were truly related to these sun cultists and the Children of the Sun behind them?

Frankly, Duncan didn't think much of these sun cultists. Whether they were ordinary heretics or slightly more powerful Children of the Sun, they were all the same in his eyes – things that would ignite at the slightest spark. But the great fire in Pland reminded him that while ordinary heretics might not be much, the *Creeping Sun Wheel* behind them possessed an extremely high level of power, and with a group of elusive Doomsday Evangelists stirring the waters, as well as bizarre and unpredictable things like historical contamination and reality overlay, who knew if these sun cultists truly had the ability to affect the operation of Anomaly 001...

Electrical wiring, new model gas streetlights, smoother and wider streets, taller buildings, and countless factories and pipelines – scholars and engineers had brought the power to advance civilization, and this power was transforming the city-state at a rate far exceeding anything seen before. This change... even filled Tyrian, who had seen so much, with a sense of awe.

Noticing the captain's approach, Alice immediately stopped what she was doing and held up her notepad to Duncan with a troubled expression: "Mr. Duncan, look at what I've written."

He thought of another matter in his plans.

"You go to a place, go with Aylee," he said, then composed himself, looking at Alice's carefree smile. Thinking about what he had to do, he felt a sense of relief. "Bring someone here."

"A doll?" the sailor said in surprise. "I didn't know you were into that sort of thing?"

"...He's starting to regret bringing you guys along."

Alice, however, was delighted. It seemed that this one compliment was enough for her. She then looked curiously into Duncan's eyes, "Do you have any instructions for me?"

Compared to a hundred years ago, this city had indeed undergone many changes.

Outside of combat, this was how he interacted with his subordinates – the world would probably find it hard to imagine that the legendary "Iron Vice Admiral" could be such a calm and approachable person among his men, but Tyrian himself knew why.

Though one couldn't tell at all what she was writing.

Duncan pondered for a long time, finally deciding that he should contact Vanna when he had the chance – she was a high-ranking member of the church and should be well aware of the church's movements. He could discuss the matter of the sun with her.

By the way, he could also demonstrate his friendly attitude and concern for the security of the city-state.

"Captain, do you think this is the place? Across the street is this... whatchamacallit, 'Doll House'... The name's pretty unique."

But in that city-state, there were also some things that were still vaguely as he remembered them.

He hesitated for a long time, looking at Alice's simple and happy smile, the image of that oil painting still lingering in his mind. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to voice his doubts directly, and could only stiffly nod his head. "There's... improvement."

"It's not that one," the little pirate said softly. "'Doll House' is an elven style of naming, referring not to a doll

store."

Just then, a sailor's voice suddenly came from the side, interrupting Tyrian's thoughts.

Seeing this, another sailor leaned in. "Captain, why don't you just silence him first... If you're worried about silencing them all, that works too. You can tidy them up after you're done shopping..."

Duncan was taken aback. "How did he know I had something for him to do?"

Tyrian silently glanced at his subordinate. "You have your reasons."

After getting out of the carriage, thanking and bidding farewell to the church personnel who had accompanied him, Tyrian walked with the sailors he had brought from the *Sea Fog* along the streets on the outskirts of Pland. Looking at the familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar roads and shops on both sides, his face couldn't help but show a hint of reminiscence.

…

The sign had changed, the door had changed, even the facade had been renovated, but the name of the shop remained the same – nostalgic elves, even living in the rapidly changing human city-states, rarely changed the names of their shops easily.

After a moment's thought, he raised his head and looked towards the counter.

Sui Zhen: "…"

After roughly confirming Tyrian's direction of travel, Duncan frowned slightly.

These people had been through thick and thin with him for half a century – there was no bond in the mortal world that could surpass this kind of loyalty and trust that had lasted for half a century.

In any case, this was a rare, pure fragment in Tyrian's century-long, icy memories.

"Where did you learn this?!" Duncan immediately glared at the doll. "Come with me, you tell him how to do it..."

Tyrian shook his head, looking at his subordinates with a helpless expression.

"You always look like that when you have something to tell us," Alice gestured at her face, seemingly unwilling to demonstrate Duncan's

expression just now, but others could see what she was demonstrating. "What do you want me to do?"

Tyrian looked up and immediately saw the unfamiliar name among a row of old shops: Xu Wei Doll House.

The sailors laughed and joked, but in between the laughter, their eyes were constantly scanning the distant buildings, searching for the shop that matched the captain's description.

Of course, remember to knock next time you go over.

Lure... to there?" Alice looked puzzled. "What does 'lure' to there mean? Do I need to knock them unconscious and tie them up?"

Even Sui Zhen was momentarily stunned by the perfectly timed scene of light and shadow, and then walked forward to take a look, seeing that Sui Zhen was seriously copying down some unknown letters – heaven knows where he started writing wrong, but now the entire paper was covered with large circles connected together...

Sui Zhen was lying next to Shelly, gripping a pencil and writing something very, very seriously on a notepad.

Tyrian suddenly felt a sense of dislocation. Faded memories floated up in his heart. He seemed to see that long, long ago afternoon when his father had gone to the port on business, and he and his younger sister had secretly snuck out of the house. The siblings had wandered around the bustling little city-state until they had stumbled into this shop...

"A shop," Tyrian said casually, his eyes constantly searching among the street-facing buildings with their strong central city-state style. "A doll shop, with a sign that has some elven flair."

He sensed that Tyrian had left the cathedral and... was moving towards the south of the upper district.

At this moment, bright sunlight was streaming through the antique shop's glass window, passing over the ancient furnishings on the shelves and shining into the store. The sunlight fell on the golden-haired doll's shoulders, as if casting a cool glow on Alice, and it also fell on the counter and the doll's pen tip, bringing an indescribable atmosphere of solemnity and mystery to the entire scene.

As Duncan thought this, he also spared some attention to the situation at the cathedral, and then suddenly froze.

"Captain," a sailor looked at his leader curiously, "what are we looking for here?"

It was an oil painting, and that oil painting should have a name – the ugly doll was writing quietly in the afternoon sunlight.

With that, he stepped towards this shop that seemed to occupy a corner of his memory.