Chapter 1 A Corner of the Border

This was a hidden sea area not marked on any official nautical chart, far from any legitimate shipping lane—the lights of the civilized world could no longer illuminate the surface of the sea, which was covered in a thin haze. Any deep-sea captain with a shred of sanity would not willingly set foot here. The magnificent mist barrier that surrounded the entire world stood ahead, and even though the sun still shone on the sea, those who sailed here would not feel any comfort from that sunlight.

People had given this chilling place a name—the Border.

A ship, almost completely broken apart and which, by all logic, should have sunk to the bottom of the sea long ago, was slowly traversing the fog, sailing towards the wall of mist in the distance like a silent ghost.

Eerie green flames rose and burned around the shattered ship like silent phantoms. The semi-transparent spiritual flames forcibly held the ship together, which should have already been torn apart. A terrifying gash had ripped open half of its hull, exposing the massive and complex mechanical structure within, like the entrails of some giant beast, soaked in the eerie green flames. The ghostly fire spread outwards from the ship, flowing and permeating the surrounding sea surface. Wherever the flames flowed, the thin mist that permeated the surroundings slowly receded.

A burst of flames rose, and Duncan's figure appeared on the deck—in semi-transparent spiritual form.

Using the artificial beacon left on this ship, he had arrived here. But this time, he did not teleport his entire body here as he had done before, but only projected a phantom—most of his attention was still on the Vanishing Line.

The ships from all sides had not yet converged, and he wanted to come here first to see the situation.

The magnificent fog finally stood before him.

Duncan walked across the deck, stepped over the cracks torn by the explosion and the crumpled metal wreckage, and came to the vicinity of the bow, quietly gazing at the magnificent spectacle in the distance.

It was a wall that reached the sky, the thick, boundless fog almost solidified, connecting the sky and the sea, standing in his field of vision like the end of the world. Magnificent cloud streams, like waterfalls, constantly collapsed from the top of the barrier, flowing and silently falling onto the sea surface, turning into constantly spreading mist, permeating the entire border sea area.

In front of this magnificent barrier, whether it was the large ship built by cultists under his feet, the Vanishing Line, or even those church arks, they would appear as small as dust.

This is the end of the world… Duncan stood quietly at the bow, muttering to himself as if talking to himself, finally seeing it with his own eyes.

He recalled the Border collapse he had experienced not long after he had first arrived in this world, and recalled the collapsing mist he had suddenly seen on the normal sea—at the time, he had found that scene extremely magnificent, and its awe-inspiring pressure was still clearly imprinted in his heart today.

But after truly being here and seeing the boundless barrier of the Border with his own eyes, he realized how insignificant the collapse that had occurred within the Sanctuary was compared to the real Border... But would this boundless, magnificent, real Border also have a day of collapse?

Duncan turned this thought, which would terrify everyone, over in his mind, quietly gazing at the scenery in the distance for a while, and then gently waved his hand in the air.

Flames swirled and appeared at his fingertips, outlining an oval shape in the air. The inside of the outline presented a mirror-like scene. The next second, Agatha's figure appeared in this mirror: "I'm here."

"Any changes in the spirit world here?" Duncan asked casually.

"Wait a moment, I'll go down and take a look." Agatha in the mirror nodded, and then her figure disappeared into the air.

Duncan waited patiently for a while, and Agatha's figure reappeared in the summoned mirror—only her hair looked a little messy.

"The spirit world is even darker and more chaotic, and there are amorphous shadows passing over the sea—compared to the inside of the civilized world, those shadows seem more unfriendly," Agatha reported while tidying her hair. Then she paused and added, "...Very unfriendly, almost violent."

"Got beat up?" Duncan frowned, a little worried.

"I beat up all the guys who came close," Agatha moved her arms, smiling a little happily—after putting down the heavy burden of the gatekeeper's memories and staying on the Vanishing Line for a long time, she seemed to have adapted well to the atmosphere of the gang... team. "Not difficult to deal with, just more bizarre. Also…"

"Also?"

"There is also a barrier in the spirit world," Agatha raised her hand and pointed to the barrier wall connecting the sky in the distance, "Like a reflection of this barrier, standing blackly in front of it, and it looks... more dangerous and strange. There are many amorphous contours rising and reorganizing in that black barrier, and it doesn't feel good to me."

Listening to Agatha's description, Duncan frowned slightly.

"That is to say, the plan to dive directly through the Eternal Barrier from the depths of the spirit world is not feasible," he said thoughtfully, "It seems that this border surrounds the entire world from all dimensions, and there is no safe shortcut..."

"That's to be expected," Agatha nodded. "After all, if our world is a sanctuary, then the walls of this sanctuary must be tight enough to ensure that we have a safe living environment in the chaos after the world collides."

Speaking of this, she thought for a moment, and then continued: "In Mr. Maurice's recently improved model, the barrier structure of the border should not only block reality and the spirit world at the same time, but may even extend to the abyssal deep sea, and not only block it from space... From time, there should also be a structure similar to the Eternal Barrier to ensure the integrity of the entire Sanctuary..."

"A border in the time dimension..." Duncan said, "In Anomaly 004, that gravedigger also mentioned it to me," shaking his head, "Maurice should have gotten his inspiration from this."

"Yes, he has been trying to construct a world model that can explain the entire boundless sea, and even the entire deep sea era. And the truth we recently found in the depths of the Dream of the Nameless and the information you just brought out from the Tomb of the Nameless King have allowed him to make great progress recently," Agatha nodded lightly. Her tone was a little admiring, "He has begun to try to explain the world we live in from time and space... He is the only scholar I know who has reached this point."

"Strictly speaking, he is the only scholar who has reached this point and is still alive," Duncan said with emotion. "Recently, his research has been creating some... extra noise on the ship. Nina is the same when she reads books."

"Scholars always inevitably have to fight with the knowledge they are studying," Agatha said with a look of habit. "Miss Nina's situation is much better. She has recently learned to calmly face the things that pop out of the book... This is probably related to the last time she accidentally burned the design drawings she had drawn for three days and three nights."

Hearing Agatha's words, the corner of Duncan's mouth twitched subconsciously.

Although he had lived in this world for so long, he still couldn't help but feel some urge to complain every time he heard about this kind of weird thing.

But in any case, the noise of Nina and Maurice fighting with knowledge was better than the two puppets who were currently playing a connecting game on the ship.

In the captain's cabin of the Vanishing Line, Duncan, who was communicating with Lucretia about the Border's intelligence, blinked his eyes and looked up with some helplessness.

A figure wearing a black and white maid's dress walked into the captain's cabin, swaying. The large wind-up key behind her was rotating with a click. When she saw Duncan in the room, a smile slowly appeared on her face: "Cap... Captain... What's for... dinner?"

Duncan held back for two seconds, but finally couldn't hold back: "Alice, why is your head on Luney's body?"

Alice immediately showed a hint of surprise on her face: "Ah, how... did you... find out?"

"I'm not blind! And not stupid!" Duncan slapped his forehead, and then heard the sound of bumping against the wall constantly coming from outside the captain's cabin. He helplessly got up from behind the nautical chart table, stepped to the door, and saw Alice's body with Luney's head bumping against the wall again and again, while commanding Luney's head while bumping: "Bumped it, bumped it... a little to the left... hey, left, the opposite! That's the right on your side! Ah, bumped it again... a little more to the left... Old master?"

Duncan looked blankly at Luney (head), who was suddenly stunned by surprise. Then, Lucretia, who was also expressionless, walked out from behind him.

The two of them looked at the Luney + Alice combination with blank faces, watching Alice's body continue to move forward, and suddenly hit the door frame.

"Don't go!" Luney (head) quickly reminded, "Old master and mistress are out!"

As soon as she finished reminding, she subconsciously controlled her body in the captain's cabin to walk out. As a result, a loud thud came from the room.

Duncan lowered his head and saw a silver-haired head rolling to his feet. Alice blinked innocently: "Captain... save... save..."

At the same time, the Luney + Alice combination also stepped on the air, and with a plop, fell near Lucretia's skirt. Luney's head fell to the ground with a thud, rolling and panicking for help: "Mistress! I fell too!!"

At this moment, the chaos on the scene was indescribable. Duncan swiped in his mind for a long time before clearing up the state of these two puppets, and finally couldn't help but say in unison with Lucretia: "Change back!"