Deep Sea Embers - Chapter 601

[Chapter 599 Layered Time and Space]

In the waters near Qingfeng Port, on a sea far away from the main shipping lanes and covered in mist, the huge and majestic silhouette of the Lost Home was slowly patrolling in the fog.

Then, a layer of real and illusory ripples suddenly appeared on the sea surface. The reflection of the ghost ship undulated with the waves in the ripples. For a very brief moment, the reflection seemed to be condensed from the sea surface, but the next moment, Everything is back to normal again.

In the captain’s cabin, the carved wooden goat head on the edge of the navigation table suddenly turned its head in confusion. Accompanied by a slight creaking sound from the base, it raised its head and looked around. After a long time, it murmured in confusion: “Why did it feel weird just now?” “…”

On the wall in the corner of the room, layers of black mist floated in the ancient oval mirror. Agatha’s figure stood in the mirror, quietly looking at the goat’s head on the table.

The goat head finally noticed the sight coming from the side. It immediately turned its head away. When it saw Agatha, it exclaimed: “Hey… you scared me! Why are you looking at me so early in the morning?” he said

. Then, it shook its head again, as if it suddenly remembered something: “By the way, Ms. Agatha, where did you go last night? Why do I feel that your breath is not on the ship… Don’t you run in the mirror at night? Are you running around patrolling?”

Agatha did not immediately answer the goat-headed question. Instead, she continued to quietly observe every move of the “first mate”. After a long time, she broke the silence: “What did you do last night? Didn’t you feel it? Didn’t you notice anything unusual when I left?” “

No,” the goat head was stunned for a moment, then vaguely reacted, “Wait, what do you mean by this…Did something happen again last night? What’s going on?”

“Well, the captain should be coming to see you soon,” Agatha frowned and nodded, then asked, “You said you felt weird just now? What’s going on? “

The goat head reacted for a moment before realizing that the other person was talking about the muttering he had just said to himself. Although he didn’t know why the “former gatekeeper” who always gave people a calm and peaceful feeling had such a strange attitude this morning, it Still replied: “I don’t know how to describe it, it’s just…excited? It seems that someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder while walking…”

Agatha looked at the goat’s head in confusion: “…you Shoulders?”

“That’s just a pat on the head – metaphor, metaphor, you know,” the goat head shook his head, “Maybe I was a little distracted when I was at the helm, and there was some wind and waves on the sea just now, which woke me up. …”

“There were no waves on the sea, and it was always calm – only the dream world had ripples.” Agatha shook her head, “You were dreaming just now.” The

goat head was stunned for a few seconds. He made a sound: “…Huh?”

…

Looking at the city streets that had completely returned to normal in the morning light, Duncan frowned slightly, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

The two dolls stood quietly behind him.

After thinking like this for an unknown amount of time, Duncan suddenly whispered: “It seems that no matter how long you stay ‘over there’, no matter how the dream of the Nameless Man ends, the time in the real world after ‘waking up’ will always be early morning…” …”

Alice turned to look at Luni, then looked back at the captain, scratching her hair in confusion: “Ah… have you stayed ‘over there’ for a long time this time?” “

From the feeling, this The time I stayed in that dark and foggy space was almost twice as long as the last time – until I woke up from the dream again,” Duncan nodded slowly, “And it seems that the time point in the real world is still the same as before, it’s still early morning. The moment when the sun has just risen, this is… somewhat consistent with the rules of dreaming.”

He paused at this point, and while organizing the vocabulary, he explained to Alice: “The passage of time felt in the dream is chaotic, one second The clock and the one thousand years of somatosensory time are likely to be only a blink of an eye in reality, and will be calibrated at the moment of awakening.”

Alice thought for a while and shook her head in confusion: “I don’t understand…”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s not important.” Duncan laughed, temporarily put away the messy thoughts in his mind, and stepped forward to rub Alice’s hair. “Let’s go back first. This exploration… has yielded a lot.”

With the two dolls, Duncan quickly returned to the “Witch Mansion” at 99 Crown Street, and his crew had returned from the dream world. , and gathered again in the living room.

When Duncan walked into the living room, Vanna, Morris and others had already begun to discuss their respective experiences in the Dream of the Nameless One.

Unlike the last time when everyone fell into a dream without warning, this time the “dream” was carried out with preparation. Duncan used the “temporary mark” left by the flame on everyone to ensure that the crew remained safe among the unknown ones. Basic information exchange can be carried out in dreams, so after waking up from the dream, everyone does not have to spend extra time explaining what they have experienced, but can focus on exploring various clues.

Duncan’s arrival interrupted the communication among the crew. Morris and others stood up and paid tribute to the captain. Nina quickly rushed up, looking particularly happy: “Uncle Duncan!” Duncan gave him a gentle hug

. Nina then glanced at the figures in the living room. He saw Lucrecia sitting on the sofa opposite the coffee table with a strange expression. She smiled and spread her hands: “Want a hug too?” “In the

sea “Witch” thought for a while and shook his head: “No.”

Duncan smiled, came to his seat and sat down, his expression quickly returned to seriousness: “Okay, let’s get down to business – basic information exchange is free. Go ahead, the main thing to discuss now is the emergence of two new situations.

“The first is ‘Shireen’ who appeared in front of Shirley, Morris and Nina.

“The second is the ‘giant’ that Vanna met who claimed to be a god.”

He raised his head and his eyes fell on Morris.

“I want to hear your opinion first, Morris.”

“The plural ‘Shireen’ appears in the dream, which means that our previous judgment of ‘Shireen’ needs to be adjusted.” Morris took off his While wiping the monocle, he said, “We previously judged that ‘Shireen’ was just a mental entity that appeared in the dream of the Nameless One, equivalent to an ‘aboriginal resident’, and her actions had nothing to do with the operation of the dream. Close, but now it seems that is not the case…

“When the scope and time of our activities in the dream exceed a certain level, a ‘Shireen’ will appear around us and try to guide us to that place called ‘silence’ In the place of the wall, this kind of ‘guidance’ may be a mechanism of the nameless man’s dream itself.

“In other words, the elf named ‘Shireen’ may be the ‘incarnation’ of a certain pattern in the Dream of the Nameless One – she is not a mental entity, but a mechanism. When the conditions are right, she will It will be triggered, and when conditions change, she may disappear.”

Morris said, his eyes falling on Shirley beside him.

The “disappearance” mentioned by the old scholar obviously refers to the “Shireen” who was with Shirley before – that “Shireen” finally turned into a tree.

“As for the specific rules of ‘triggering’ and ‘disappearing’, it may take several tests to summarize, and it may never be concluded,” Morris put on his monocle and continued, “But there is one thing It can be determined that the appearance of ‘Shireen’ is kind to us ‘visitors’, but malicious to those cultists who invade the dream. She calls the intruders ‘dirty’, which should mean that the nameless The ‘judgment’ or ‘position’ of one’s dream. This is good news for us. “

Duncan listened to the old gentleman’s analysis and nodded silently, then his eyes fell on Vanna.

“So about the ‘giant’, Vanna, what do you think? “

I have no clue,” Vanna thought for a moment and shook her head frankly, “I recalled all the things that ‘giant’ told me, but I couldn’t find them or any myths, legends or historical records in the real world. In the corresponding part, even in the elf culture with a relatively complete historical heritage, there is no record of the giant and the ‘city of hills and plains’ described by the giant…” “Even the ‘inheritance of the elves

‘ ‘, it’s only relatively complete. If the giant came from the era before the Great Annihilation, then it’s normal that we can’t find corresponding clues in modern records.” Lucretia shook her head, “The problem The key is, what is the relationship between the giant, the desert under his feet, and the ‘elves’? “

The “witch” raised her head and looked into Vanna’s eyes.

“Miss Vanna, you didn’t see the shadow of the forest at all in the desert, and you didn’t hear any information about elves from the giant, right? ? “

Yes, not at all.” “Fana replied firmly.

“The elf named ‘Shireen’ has no idea what the desert is, and the only thing that can be related to the ‘giant’ is the description of the creator Sasloka – she said Sasloka is a Gods without fixed images can transform into deer, goats and giants, but this connection seems too far-fetched to me,” Lucretia said while thinking, “So the current situation is that Vanna and one of us Others seem to be divided into two ‘times and spaces’. The environments they face, the people they meet, and the information they hear are completely different, but these two ‘times and spaces’ are definitely connected…”

” Yes, at least these two ‘times and spaces’ must be part of the unknown man’s dream.” Morris nodded immediately. The old scholar had a thoughtful look on his face, and after thinking for a moment, he slowly spoke. , “Then we have to figure something out: Is it the discontinuity in space or the discontinuity in time that causes the huge differences between the two space-times?”

(End of this chapter)