Chapter 1 "Subspace Incursion"

“I don’t think you should call my weekly trip to Frost Cathedral to collect the cemetery guard's wages a ‘subspace incursion.’ It's a bit imprecise…”

Aboard the Vanished, currently navigating the shallows of the Spirit Realm, Duncan inspected the large wooden crate that Aylee had just teleported from Prand while mentally addressing Vanna.

“I said it precisely because I’m being precise,” Vanna replied seriously, making it difficult for Duncan to tell if the Inquisitor was joking. She paused, then continued with even more sincerity, “And honestly, I still don't understand why you insist on collecting that ‘wage’ in person using an avatar—you know, Agatha of Frost is willing to dedicate a team of guardians to serve you, and Mr. Tyrion has been wanting to find a better place for your ‘avatar’ over there, but you still insist on watching over those cemeteries…”

Duncan stopped what he was doing. In the silence that followed, he recalled the cold northern city-state—the place where it always snowed, the winter cemeteries, the quiet streets, a little girl named Annie, and that old caretaker.

“…I like that place,” Duncan said slowly in his mind. “Doing ordinary things in a place I like is one of my hobbies.”

Vanna fell silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. A light footstep then echoed from nearby. Duncan looked up and saw Alice walking over happily from the other end of the deck—she was always so cheerful.

“Captain! Are we almost at Breeze Port? I saw the ship starting to ‘surface’…”

The doll suddenly noticed the large crate on the deck.

“What's this?” she asked curiously, circling the crate and examining its contents. “Is it for me to sleep in… I guess not? What are these?”

“These are important documents, the original construction records of the Vanished,” Duncan explained casually, picking up the wooden plank. “But this is the most important.”

Alice leaned in curiously: “What is it?”

Duncan was silent for a long time before finally speaking softly, under Alice's curious and puzzled gaze, “Perhaps… an ‘interface.’”

He looked up at the distant sea.

The chaotic darkness in the sky was gradually receding, and the black "hairs" in the sea were dissipating at a visible rate. The hazy, illusory shadows on the sea first turned into thin mist, then quickly faded and dissolved in the increasingly strong sunlight. The Vanished's speed was slowing down—under the goat head’s control, it was gradually surfacing from the Spirit Realm into reality.

“The Vanished is approaching Breeze Port. What's the situation in the city?”

Maurice's voice responded immediately: “Still chaotic, but some guardians and magistrates have successfully arrived in the districts. Control personnel are organizing residents to rescue themselves. It doesn't seem like it will worsen further for now—but no one can guarantee what tonight will bring.”

Duncan hummed softly, then refocused his attention on the sea.

The Vanished completed its surfacing. Bright sunlight from the real world shone on the deck and masts. The sea outside the ship gently rose and fell in the breeze, the broken waves shimmering.

Endless, with nothing to see.

Duncan blinked, feeling that something was wrong.

Alice blinked too. Even this solid-headed doll felt that something was amiss.

A hazy shadow wriggled up from the deck and stared into the distance for a long time. After a while, Agatha finally broke the silence on the deck, “Where's Breeze Port?!”

Where was Breeze Port?! Where was such a big Breeze Port?!

Duncan looked into the distance for a long time, then turned to look in other directions—he scanned the sea and finally found something familiar.

A huge, irregular glowing geometric shape was floating quietly on the distant sea.

It was the "fallen object" "docked" near Breeze Port. However, apart from that enormous glowing geometric shape, nothing else could be seen on the surrounding sea.

Duncan immediately called out in the mental connection: “First Mate, confirm our location.”

The goat head responded immediately: “Yes, Captain, I've noticed… The Vanished's position is not a problem. The charts show that we are near Breeze Port. That ‘glowing geometric shape’ can be used as a reference point… but Breeze Port is gone.”

A sea breeze blew across the deck. The bright sunlight of the southern sea shone on the water, so bright that it was almost blinding.

The mark established by the Spirit Fire shone in a distant and unobservable place. Duncan heard Nina's voice coming from the depths of his consciousness: “Uncle Duncan, have you arrived?”

“I've arrived,” Duncan took a breath, thinking about how to explain the current situation. “But Breeze Port is gone.”

Nina: “…Huh?”

Some time later.

The Vanished arrived at the sea area where the huge glowing geometric shape was located and finally found a trace of proof that Breeze Port had once existed within the shape's coverage area.

Duncan found the research station used to study the "stone sphere" at the center of the geometric shape—it was still in the real world, but the station was empty.

Judging from the traces left in the research station, the scholars stationed here had disappeared at least before dawn—the stove for cooking breakfast showed no signs of use, and the blessed oil lamps that needed to be lit at night were still burning, with almost all the fuel inside exhausted. This showed that no one had extinguished them after dawn.

After an investigation, the Vanished left the glowing geometric shape's "light" range and returned to the sea area where Breeze Port was theoretically located, circling slowly.

“…The research facilities near the stone sphere are still there, perhaps because the ‘sunlight’ released by that glowing geometric shape has offset the power of the Nameless Dream, but the personnel on duty in the facilities are gone… It seems that ‘sunlight’ failed to completely resist the power of Xilanti.”

Inside the Vanished's captain's cabin, Duncan was analyzing the current situation, while in the oval mirror not far from him, Agatha was also looking thoughtful.

“This looks a lot like the phenomenon of residents disappearing from Breeze Port when the Nameless Dream broke out, but this time… the power of the dream has increased to an unbelievable degree,” Agatha said as she thought. “Even an entire city-state with a material entity has disappeared.”

Alice stood beside Duncan. This doll, who was usually very carefree, now showed a nervous and even frightened look. She subconsciously grabbed Duncan's arm and hesitated, “Then… then everyone left in the city…”

“They're fine now. I can still contact them,” Duncan comforted the doll. “According to the patterns previously shown by the Nameless Dream, as long as this dream dissipates, everything that disappeared because of the dream will return to normal.”

Listening to the captain's words, Alice felt a little relieved, although she still felt that something was wrong.

But Duncan knew that he had not finished speaking—

The biggest problem now was whether this Nameless Dream would dissipate as before, and whether this would be Xilanti's "last dream."

The news that Ted Riel sent from the depths of the Nameless Dream was very bad.

Xilanti had gone mad—from an "ancient obsession" that was originally in a state of muddled sleep, it had become a powerful being with clear ability to act and out of control. And the goal of this powerful being was very clear, that was to re-root and grow in the real world—in the state of being awakened and crazy, would Xilanti still let the Nameless Dream end peacefully in unconsciousness as before? Or… is the "disappearance" of Breeze Port today the first step for her to enter the real world?

Time was running out.

Duncan thought quickly. He placed the "Dragon Bone Sample" found in the city-state of Prand on the nautical table in front of him, while thinking about how to use this "wood" to establish contact with Xilanti, how to truly reach the deepest part of the Nameless Dream, and figure out what kind of truth was hidden in the most core veil of that dream.

The Sea Fog and the Glittering Star had mutated due to the "curse," the original dragon bone of the Vanished had disappeared in the subspace, and the remaining "branches" and scraps had been turned into ashes in the shipyard fire that year. The piece in front of him was probably the last piece of "Xilanti Wood" left in the world, and there would probably only be one chance.

Just as some ideas began to emerge in Duncan's mind, Alice suddenly exclaimed, “Lines!”

Duncan turned back in surprise: “Lines? You see lines here?”

“Lines… lines everywhere!” Alice opened her eyes wide, quickly gesticulating in the air as she replied, “Suddenly floating out, everywhere in the air… floating up from under the deck!”

“Under the deck?” Duncan was stunned for a moment, but instantly reacted. He immediately grabbed Alice's arm and dragged the doll out of the captain's cabin. “Come with me!”

Alice didn't react for a moment, and shouted as she followed the captain out, “Hey… hey? Captain, where are you taking me? Slow down, slow down, I'm holding my head…”

Alice's exclamation stopped abruptly after she stepped out of the captain's cabin.

She stood on the deck, staring blankly at the boundless sea outside.

The sun was gradually setting, and in the magnificent glow that permeated the area, she saw countless, dense lines, like hair strands, floating up from the entire sea, something she had never seen before.

Those lines were not floating up from "under the deck" of the Vanished—they were floating up from the sea where Breeze Port used to be.

(Push book time, from Luo Sanguan.Cs's "Child of the Stars", the author himself is also my reader, when I was on a business trip in Guangdong, I was blocked offline... In fact, his previous book was killed by the milk, and this time he also milked the sacrifice to the sky.

It is said that the new book is a hardcore science fiction theme, everyone can support it.)

(End of this chapter)