At the place where the Sea Singer once set sail, the mooring dock remained vacant—but the ship that had returned through the incorrect time window in 1675 could never return to this place again.

"This place seems familiar…"

The sailor muttered, gazing towards the pier illuminated by high-powered lights. The pier extending from the mobile port resembled the outstretched limbs of a giant beast, each limb pointing towards the distant, endless night. In this place, far from the lights of civilization, it seemed that once one left the illuminated pier, they would forever dissolve into the surrounding darkness—setting sail from here towards that thick, dark fog was an act that required considerable courage.

"We have arranged three escort vessels—they will also serve as navigators," Helena said. "After preparations are complete, they will enter the Veil with you and guide you to the 'lighthouse' where the Sea Singer last transmitted a signal. From there, you will continue forward and cross the six-nautical-mile threshold. The three escort warships will remain near the lighthouse, awaiting your return."

Duncan didn't speak, only nodded slightly. Lucretia beside him curiously asked, "How long will you wait here?"

"Forever," Helena said quietly. "There will be no new border patrol missions. The Eternal Veil is gradually collapsing, and more and more ships are encountering bizarre and inexplicable dangers. Most patrol routes are impassable. Therefore, apart from the necessary fixed monitoring points, all patrol fleets are gradually retreating to the inner reaches of the Boundless Sea—this mobile port will remain here, and my avatar will remain here, until you return. Or…"

She didn't finish her sentence, but took a long breath and looked up at Duncan: "I look forward to your safe return."

"We will return safely," Duncan said, folding his arms and calmly gazing at the distant wall of fog. "The Forsaken and the Radiant Star have both returned from that threshold, and we now have the 'route' left by Captain Kalani—nothing can stop us from coming back."

Helena nodded gently.

After that, Duncan led his crew to rest briefly at this frontier base until the three escort ships responsible for navigation were ready. At an unremarkable moment in the long night, they set off.

Three new warships bearing the insignia of the Deep Sea Church and two "ghost ships" that were a century old departed from the dock amidst the resounding horns of the mobile port.

The bright lights of the port were gradually left behind, and the surrounding area slowly became filled with increasingly dense darkness. The thick fog, which seemed like a living thing constantly swelling and writhing and appearing pitch-black under the night sky, revealed an increasingly astonishing oppressive force in their vision.

Duncan stood on the towering stern deck, but couldn't help but look back at the port. As the distance grew, the lights there dimmed. Suddenly, he recalled the words that the last Cretan had said to him—go against the light.

The Doomsday Survey Team had gone against the light, and the Sea Singer was going against the light when it set sail from here. Now… it was the Forsaken and the Radiant Star's turn.

Along the path carved out by those who had gone to their deaths, each journey against the light could advance further. Now, the Forsaken finally had the opportunity to touch the true "beyond the end" of this world.

Alice stood beside Duncan, her doll eyes completely drawn to the magnificent and dark fog in the distance. As they approached, she tilted her head back further and further until she finally exclaimed at the Veil: "Wow… it's even scarier than it looks during the day… boop."

After tilting her head back beyond a certain angle, the doll's head inevitably fell off her neck—without even looking, Duncan reached out and grabbed Alice's hair with practiced ease, holding it in front of his eyes and muttering helplessly, "When will you ever learn…"

Alice blinked her eyes: "Cap… Captain, don't pull my… hair, it's fal… falling out…"

Duncan casually tossed Alice's head to her outstretched hands, which were flailing around, and she quickly pressed her head back onto her neck with a "boop." Then, she touched a strand of hair that had just fallen out and held it with distress, muttering, "Another one… poor Kalenifoskina Portitas Angwenistan Lefogeni IV…"

Duncan was stunned: "...You've given them such outrageous names?"

Alice didn't say anything, but lowered her head and carefully wrapped the strand of silver hair with its ridiculously long name around her finger with a sad expression.

Duncan shook his head when he saw this: "...Be careful, don't get it stuck in your knuckles. It was a lot of work to clean the hair out of your joints last time."

As he spoke, he looked up again at the "Eternal Veil" that was gradually approaching the front of the Forsaken, and then suddenly, he began to frown.

The fog seemed even darker—at close range, he gradually discerned that the darkness of the fog was not simply due to the night, but that the color of the fog itself was changing.

Because, in theory, even at night, "fog" should be light in color. When light shines on it, its natural color shouldn't be so dim and gloomy.

He immediately called out to Vanna, who was guarding the front deck, and asked her about this—the latter quickly contacted the navigation ships in front and received a response.

"The color of the fog has been slowly changing in the last two days," Vanna reported through the mental link. "It started roughly after the Sea Singer crossed the six-nautical-mile threshold—but only the surface layer of the fog has changed. After going deeper into the Veil, it's still normal light-colored fog."

She paused, seemingly still exchanging details with her compatriots in the Church, and then continued, "The scholars have done many checks. Apart from the change in the color of the surface fog, these fogs have not changed in any other way. There's no poison… It feels as if, only in this shallow layer, the attribute of 'color' has gone wrong…"

Listening to Vanna's report, Duncan slowly nodded with a serious expression, and in his vision, the dark fog had gradually covered the bow of the Forsaken.

All ships reduced their speed and lit various warning lights on the hull outlines. The lead ships and the Forsaken and Radiant Star began to approach each other, maintaining a distance that ensured no accidents would occur—visibility on the surrounding sea surface was rapidly decreasing, and fleet members had to stay close to each other to avoid getting lost, but they had to be careful to avoid collisions.

Then, flames of burning ghostly green light began to rise from around the hull of the Forsaken—the rising spirit fire dispelled the surrounding dark fog to some extent and reflected the hazy outlines of the surrounding ships in the flowing fog.

The dispelled black fog hovered around the fleet like heavy, undulating gauze.

After the flames ignited, Duncan was still frowning and staring at the black fog, then suddenly walked towards the captain's cabin.

"Hey, Captain, where are you going?" Alice asked in surprise.

"Temporarily 'leaving'," Duncan waved his hand. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

As he spoke, he called out to his first mate in his mind: "Goat Head, take over the Forsaken. I need to 'leave' for a while—if I haven't returned after approaching the six-nautical-mile threshold, tell the others to wait."

"Roger, Captain."

Before long, Duncan had arrived at the door of the captain's cabin—in front of him, the "Door of the Forsaken" still stood silently.

He took a light breath, then pushed the door open and entered.

The slight chill and the sense of perceptual reset flashed by as usual. Zhou Ming shook his head and saw that he had returned to his familiar studio apartment.

Outside the window was still the same unchanging grayish-white fog, blocking everything and sealing off the small house.

But this time Zhou Ming didn't check the windows—he didn't walk into the room, but turned back and looked in the direction he had come from.

The door to the apartment was open, and surging black fog was outside the door.

On the first day, when he first decided to cross this door, such black fog surged outside the door—he crossed this black fog and came to the Forsaken. In a sense, this "black fog" was the door for him to go from his "shelter" to the Boundless Sea.

Zhou Ming frowned little by little. He recalled that he had also been curious—why was it grayish-white fog that blocked everything outside the window, while it was that strange and pitch-black fog outside the door of the apartment…

Now, the exact same black fog has finally appeared at the edge of the Boundless Sea.

Is this a sign of the approaching apocalypse? Is it a symbol of the gradual collapse of the barrier? Or… was it destined that he would come to a moment before the end of the world the day he crossed the fog—

The Sea Singer that crossed the border did not accurately "navigate" when returning to the Boundless Sea, which caused it to fall into the time window of 1675, but when "he" chose to cross this black fog, he accurately arrived at the Forsaken in 1900—this day was exactly one step away from the apocalypse.

"...Time is discontinuous beyond the six-nautical-mile border...

"In the absence of accurate 'navigation,' the 'time landing point' for returning to the Boundless Sea across the six-nautical-mile threshold is random…

"Some method can constrain the 'time landing point'…"

Zhou Ming murmured to himself, sorting out his somewhat messy thoughts, and then after a while, he slowly walked into the room.

He suddenly stopped as he walked past the window.

In the corner of his eye, he saw something on the window.

It was a line of blurry, water-stained, and mirrored letters.

Zhou Ming couldn't describe his shock and tremor at this moment in words—he was only stunned for a moment before rushing to the window almost like the wind!

(End of this chapter)