The captain's cabin fell silent.

Duncan continued to stare intently at the crude drawing of a massive, bizarre eye on the draft paper.

It was drawn with chaotic, almost frenzied strokes, yet it was incredibly accurate and vivid, to the point where anyone could understand the meaning of every line at a single glance, as if its true information had been woven into every element that made up the picture.

Within those frantic, messy strokes, the huge eyeball had a deep pupil, and the structures of the surrounding blood vessels and nerve clusters were vaguely discernible. The eyeball was also clearly covered with a layer of dim substance. Talan Eil had used many fine lines to depict the thing covering the eyeball, seemingly trying to reproduce exactly what it was. The only information Duncan received from the picture was that it was a "shell with a complex structure."

It was an eye encapsulated in what looked like a jewel-like shell.

A creaking sound came from the side. The goat head on the edge of the chart table was turning its head restlessly. It seemed to want to glance at the contents of the paper, but hesitated.

After a long while, it spoke hesitantly, "Captain... what exactly does it look like?"

"It's an eye," Duncan said after a few seconds of silence, beginning to explain the contents of the draft paper to the goat head, choosing his words carefully. "Structurally, it looks very much like a human eye. You can see blood vessels and nerve clusters. It's encapsulated in a spherical shell, but the shell looks like a man-made object..."

Listening to Duncan's description, the goat head was quieter than it had ever been before.

After a long time, it moved its mouth and made an extremely uneasy sound, "This is truly... a terrifying sight... The true appearance of Anomaly 001 is such a huge eyeball?! Then... then during the sun's extinction, wouldn't many people..."

"Probably not many people actually saw this," Duncan slowly shook his head. "During the sun's extinction, we also looked up at the sky, and all we saw was a completely dark sphere. The details inside were impossible to observe directly—it's drawn in this picture, too. That eyeball is 'encapsulated' in a huge container.

"At the time, Talan Eil was able to see the true appearance inside the sphere only with the help of the Academy of Truth's special observation equipment, so there's no need to worry that ordinary people elsewhere would casually see this maddening 'truth.'"

Hearing Duncan's words, the goat head seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but then immediately became worried again. "Not many, but there might be some! Not everyone has a reaction like Talan Eil, able to instinctively seal and alter the content they recorded while in a state of mental breakdown. And according to Talan Eil's own subsequent actions, people who see this eyeball seem to unconsciously want to spread its appearance..."

Duncan listened to the goat head's anxious words, but said nothing, only remaining silent with a grim expression, as if lost in thought.

The goat head chattered for a long time, and seeing that the captain didn't respond at all, it finally couldn't help but remind him, "Captain, do you think we should remind..."

"Prand and Frost haven't similar 'observation' equipment. Those lens assemblies are assets of the Academy of Truth, precise and rare," Duncan finally looked up. "Outside of Lightwind Port, even if someone observed the surface of Anomaly 001 during the sun's extinction, they wouldn't see these 'truths.'"

"Prand and Frost don't have it, but other city-states might!" the goat head exclaimed immediately. "Who knows what those reckless fools will do! Mortals are not a reliable race!"

"...The other city-states didn't see that extinguished sun," Duncan said suddenly.

The goat head, which had been excited, instantly fell silent.

"Have you forgotten?" Duncan reminded him calmly. "Only three city-states and the 'Lost Fleet' saw the world when the sun went out. The rest of the boundless sea didn't experience those twelve hours of darkness."

The goat head's head shook slightly from side to side, and finally emitted an inexplicable sigh: "Oh... uh..."

Duncan didn't say anything more, but looked down again at the sketch depicting the core structure of Anomaly 001. Gradually, another scene appeared in his mind—

The brilliant, burning solar corona, the writhing flesh limbs twisted beneath the corona, and the huge, dying eyeball surrounded by countless pale flesh limbs.

The Creeping Sun Wheel—the Black Sun.

Duncan's brow furrowed slightly. Once the vague sense of familiarity appeared, it couldn't be ignored. The image in his mind was quickly compared with the sketch on the paper in front of him, and some bold ideas gradually began to emerge in his mind.

"...Very similar to the eyes of the 'True Sun God,'" he suddenly muttered to himself.

"Ah?" the goat head was startled. "What terrible things are you talking about?!"

"This eyeball is very similar to a part of the structure of the 'Creeping Sun Wheel,'" Duncan said thoughtfully. As the details of his memories were filled in, his judgment became more and more certain. "That's right, very similar—if you take this 'eyeball' structure out and look at it separately, it's almost exactly the same."

With a click, the goat head's neck seemed to be stuck at a certain angle. It froze on the chart table, not uttering a word.

Even for a chatterbox like it, this was the first time it couldn't say a single word.

Duncan took a light breath, folded the draft paper, and carefully put it close to his body.

Fortunately, Lucrezia had been cautious enough not to leave this paper to the ordinary scholars of the Academy of Truth, otherwise who knew what a big deal it would have become—although the Academy of Truth didn't have his convenient "spiritual fire" to remove the seal on the paper, they had all kinds of wonderful research methods, and might really restore the true pattern on the draft paper.

Just then, a burst of rapid footsteps suddenly came from outside the captain's cabin, followed by a knock on the door and Maurice's voice from outside, "Captain, I have something to report to you!"

Duncan immediately composed himself, looked up at the door, and said, "Come in."

The door of the captain's cabin opened, and Maurice walked quickly into the room, taking out a letter from his arms as he walked. "Captain, Heidi suddenly sent a letter, mentioning... unusual things that need to be reported to you."

A letter from Heidi?

Duncan was stunned for a moment, and reached out to take the letter. He didn't expect the mental physician to contact them so soon after establishing contact and telling her the truth, but at the same time he was a little puzzled: "Why didn't she go directly to the antique shop to find me? Why send the letter to you?"

Ayi traveled between the Lost Ship and Prand every day, transporting some necessary supplies, and also doing some routine mail collection and delivery at places like the cathedral, Maurice's house, and the governor's residence. It was normal for Heidi to send a letter through these channels, but if she wanted to contact the captain of the Lost Ship, then going directly to the antique shop was obviously a more convenient option.

"...She's still a little nervous and fearful," Maurice explained with a slightly embarrassed tone. "Probably afraid to meet your incarnation directly after knowing the truth."

"...Unnecessary tension. She bought a vase from my shop last week," Duncan muttered, casually opened the letter, glanced at the lines of hastily written words, and his expression suddenly changed slightly.

In the next moment, Duncan quickly put away the relaxed expression on his face, his expression turned serious, and gradually became a little dignified. He quickly glanced through the contents of the letter, and then looked up at Maurice after a few seconds of silence: "She encountered an Endspeaker..."

"Yes, and according to the description in the letter, it seems to be the kind with reason," Maurice nodded. "Although that uninvited guest's 'reason' is very suspicious, rambling from beginning to end, not even explaining himself clearly..."

Obviously, this old gentleman, who had taught many students throughout his life and whose principle was "teaching knowledge should be concise, straightforward, and easy to understand," was extremely dissatisfied with the riddle-like cultist mentioned in the letter, and held a deep resentment.

"Not explaining clearly may be due to some kind of restriction. The key is that he's willing to communicate, which is the most significant difference between the two types of Endspeakers," Duncan said quickly, then looked at the letter again, and the various pieces of information mentioned in the letter came into his eyes.

The Fourth Long Night... the Promised Ark... the "gentle" sun and the approaching twilight, and... the "hollow" that appeared with a certain "variable" and was gradually expanding...

Heidi relayed the various rambling remarks she had heard from the Endspeaker in the letter as accurately as possible, without making any "extra processing" of those things based on her own guesses.

These pieces of information themselves were enough to cause countless guesses and associations to emerge in Duncan's mind.

"That Endspeaker's mind doesn't seem to be very clear, and he appeared during the day, instead of appearing at night like other 'normal' Endspeakers," Maurice said from the side. "He mentioned the Fourth Long Night, and also mentioned many 'phenomena' before the Fourth Long Night began. It seems that the fact that he can appear during the day is itself a 'harbinger' of the impending 'Fourth Long Night'..."

The Fourth Long Night...

Duncan couldn't help but recall the description he had seen in that "Blasphemous Book":

There are three genesis events, known as the "Three Long Nights." The Pale Giant King died in the First Long Night, the Dream King died in the Second Long Night, and the Crawling King finally succeeded in shaping all things in the Third Long Night, and together with the Crete Clan, lit up the current 'sun,' ending the night. However, He Himself was exiled by the other Ancient Kings for arbitrarily altering the blueprint and could no longer return to the throne...

Duncan slowly got up from behind the navigation table and came to the window.

The sun was about to set on the sea.

Under the magnificent restraint of the dual rune rings, that dazzling and warm ball of light was gradually sinking into the sea, its afterglow brilliant.

Duncan stared at it, imagining that he was actually staring at an eyeball that was larger than any city-state and had overlooked this world for ten thousand years.

This "eye," which rose into the sky during the ancient Cretan kingdom, was now in its twilight years.

The curtain woven from light, the curtain of warmth and peace, seemed about to fall due to the sun's demise. After this curtain disappeared, after the "Fourth Long Night" described by that Endspeaker arrived... what would the "twilight" of this world look like?

(End of this chapter)