Chapter 1 Lucrezia

Lucrezia silently watched the clockwork doll lying on the workbench. Alice stood opposite the workbench, looking nervous and uneasy, while Duncan stood beside Alice, looking expressionless.

The awkward atmosphere lasted for a long time before Lucrezia finally broke the silence. "So, Luni just took her own head off?"

"...The process was complicated," Duncan said with a straight face. "I was also surprised."

Lucrezia couldn't help but glance at Duncan.

She wondered if it was her imagination, but she thought her father, who always had a straight face and a serious, gloomy temperament, seemed to have a hint of...awkwardness just now.

"I'm sorry..." Alice finally spoke. She lowered her head and carefully grabbed the corner of Duncan's clothes, obviously realizing that she had caused trouble again. "I saw that Luni was also a doll. I thought all dolls were the same, so...I was also surprised. Her head isn't detachable?"

"...It seems that Luni also thought she was like you," Lucrezia looked subtly at this "Anomaly 099" that had once frightened and alerted countless people. "But I didn't design this 'feature' for her…"

Just then, Luni, whose head was separated from her body on the workbench, suddenly stirred. Her head blinked, and her voice sounded a little out of tune: "Mistress, can you please connect my head first? Sorry for the trouble..."

Lucrezia looked down at the clockwork doll with a blank expression, sighed, and took a tool from the side. She carefully removed the cover and decorative material from Luni's body, near where the neck would be, and couldn't help but say, "Why did you follow the Black Sun without thinking?"

"The Black Sun...is a new friend," Luni's head said from the side, her mouth opening and closing with slight noise. "A new friend brought by the old master."

Lucrezia suddenly felt a jolt in her heart as she was busy disassembling and repairing Luni's joints. She looked up blankly, but couldn't find the source of the "jolt."

"On the other hand, for thousands of years, the followers of Ling Hongrong have been claiming that what we worship is the 'true Sun God,' and call the sun in the sky the 'false sun.' All along, the world has thought that this is just our crazy delusion, that the mental pollution of Ling Hongrong has caused these believers to have a deviation in their perception of the world, but Talan Elya discovered, when the sun went out, that anomaly 001 really contained an eyeball that was extremely similar to the core structure of the 'Creeping Sun Wheel'..."

"The problem is small. Even if this guy's 'gaze' is really attracted, it will only fall on me," the Offspring waved his hand. "And I've been wanting to find it all along."

Lucrezia opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Ling Hong looked at the scene from the side, feeling that the scene was already infinitely strange.

"What did you think of in those reports?"

The Black Sun looked at Luni's head with a little unease: "Are we still friends in the future?"

More evil than a cursed doll that could lose its head was, of course, finding another doll to be friends with it—he hadn't even introduced the Black Sun to the other strange "servants" on the ship.

Ling Hong slowly said what he had been thinking about during this period, then raised his eyelids and looked into Lucrezia's eyes.

The Seven Gods Church transferred some patrol fleets from the border to the interior of the civilized world in order to respond to emergencies around the world at any time.

At the same time, in the Heavy Wind Harbor's magistrate's office, Magistrate Sarah Mel unfolded a document that had just been sent to her desk. Looking at the contents, the elf, who had lived for countless years, frowned slightly.

"Finally, this point may also explain the 'cooperative state' that I observed between the Annihilation Sect and the Sun Sect—we are indeed cooperating, but the relationship is obviously not harmonious."

Listening to her father's story, Lucrezia suddenly looked around uneasily, and then hesitantly looked at the Offspring: "Talking about the ancient gods directly at sea..."

"Yes, because my head can operate independently. The mistress installed a vocal structure in my head, and my thinking is affected by the lack of a body structure," Luni explained matter-of-factly. "The difference between you and me is that my neck cannot recover on its own after it is broken."

"I was going to tell you, but I haven't figured out what way to go, and whether it is necessary to have some more direct contact with your superiors," the Offspring also quickly restrained the chaotic thoughts in his mind, and said with a rather serious expression, "The key now is actually the fact that the main body of anomaly 001 is an eyeball sealed in an artificial spherical shell. After all, since there has never been history, anomaly 001 has been unknown to mortals. No matter how strange and terrifying its true appearance may be, the real important thing is the appearance of the eyeball."

"The appearance of this eyeball..." Lucrezia slowed down the movements in her hands, frowning slightly. "You said, it is very similar to a certain structure of the...Creeping Sun Wheel?"

What really made Magistrate Sarah Mel frown was the last point in the document, which seemed to be mentioned unintentionally, but was particularly conspicuous and important -

"Yes," Luni blinked. "But after the mistress repairs me..."

The following two contents were worrying, but they were still bearable. At least for the city-state's ruler, this was still an understandable "work content."

"I remember, you said it looked like a smaller 'Creeping Sun Wheel,'" Lucrezia nodded. "And you also mentioned that this 'Sun Ling Hong' had a brief exchange with you, and that it and its claws were looking for something in that dream."

After a while, Luni finally couldn't help but say, "Mistress...are you still assembling? Why don't you go to the next room to rest for a while? You can let Rabi come and help..."

The Black Sun immediately became happy again, and then seemed to have discovered something terrible: "Ah, your head doesn't stutter when it's taken off!"

"Regarding this 'eyeball' recorded by Grand Master Talan Elya, what do you think?" The "Sea Witch" turned her head and looked at the Offspring beside her. "This matter should not be made public to others, but the Seven Gods Church..."

"The main body of the Creeping Sun Wheel is an ancient god surrounded and scorched by the corona. Among the layers of tentacles, a huge eyeball structure is its main feature," the Offspring nodded and said casually. "I have a very deep impression of this eyeball—it stared at me for a long time."

However, her attention was soon focused on other things.

"...I heard similar words not long ago," the Offspring shook his head and said, "Now I only hope that the deepest truth of our world is not more crazy than this—otherwise, in the face of true history, even the most extreme cultists will appear conservative."

Ling Hong didn't care about the momentary subtle expression of Lucrezia. After a moment of contemplation, he thought of another thing: "Do you still remember the 'invader' who appeared in Talan Elya's dream? The projection of the Sun Ling Hong."

"Finally, there are the Annihilation cultists who invaded the Dream of the Renowned—according to the information I have collected, the purpose of the Annihilation cultists is different from that of the Sun cultists. We are looking for the 'original blueprint after the Holy Master created the world' in this dream, but according to the record of "The Book of Blasphemy", the 'Abyssal Holy Master' guided the Kwete clan during the process of Genesis, and may even have personally helped us build anomaly 001, so to be tolerant... the current anomaly 001 can also be called the 'false sun' in the mouths of the Sun cultists, and can also be regarded as the 'masterpiece' of the Abyssal Holy Master, a part of the original blueprint."

The Black Sun thought for a while, and although he didn't understand, he nodded: "Oh—so amazing."

She felt that she might need a long time to relearn how to get along with her current father.

"Oh."

If this silly person wandered around the ship *Brilliant Star*...

The Offspring nodded slightly, and then said slowly: "The core of anomaly 001 is an 'eyeball' that is extremely similar to the core part of the 'Creeping Sun Wheel', and after anomaly 001 went out seventeen hours ago, the Sun Duncan invaded the 'Dream of the Renowned' through Talan Elya's dream, and was looking for something in this dream with his claws, there is obviously a connection between these two things;"

The document came from the Seven Gods Church—not issued by one church alone, but with the seals of the seven popes, witnessed by the seven gods, and sent to every city-state in the Boundless Sea.

Lucrezia didn't speak, but slowly lowered her eyes in contemplation.

Lucrezia paused her movements, and then continued to work without saying anything.

Lucrezia breathed a sigh of relief, temporarily throwing away the distracting thoughts in her heart, and picked up the tools in her hand to continue working: "Rabi will only stuff his head into his own belly to make up for his endless thirst for 'cotton'—don't move, I'm going to put his head back."

Luni's head was still lying on the workbench, meeting the gaze of her mistress in contemplation.

Lucrezia had unknowingly stopped the movements in her hands. Her expression changed several times, her expression was solemn and a little uneasy. After a long time, she whispered to break the silence: "...Even a cultist who worships Ling Hongrong standing here would probably say that it's a bit extreme..."

She had seen a lot of the world wandering in the Boundless Sea for more than a century, and had dealt with even more lunatics. She had participated in topics and events that were more taboo and dangerous, but these taboo and dangerous topics were not discussed in such a vigorous atmosphere.

"Each city-state should pay attention to any warning signals from the *Lost Country* or the *Lost Country Fleet*. If the *Lost Country* itself is found to be active in the waters around the city-state... it must not take any hostile actions, and should... provide cooperation as needed."

Establish an early warning system jointly constructed by city-states, churches, and the Explorer Association to monitor the city-states, the sea surface, and the under-sea surface for possible anomalies, be vigilant against the re-emergence of the Frost Crisis, and be vigilant against the awakening of ancient gods;