Captains who sail on the boundless sea, especially those who use modern technology to navigate, are certainly no strangers to "stars" - the vast starry sky frozen between the deep sea and the spiritual world can provide extremely accurate navigation for ships. Navigation can still guide the ship to the correct course even if it is trapped in abnormal sea areas, and can even guide those who are trapped in certain "anomalies" to escape from danger and return to reality.
Of course, there are other professions that deal with the "starry sky". Scholars will study it in order to decipher the deep mysteries of the world. Diviners will observe it to speculate on the fate of all things in the world. Some secret societies even regard the starry sky as a The source of knowledge and revelation, they will use dangerous methods that wander on the edge of reason to peer into the stars, hoping to master the secrets about demons without falling into the deep. These dangerous associations often end up becoming the food of the deep demons. , or become potential "allies" of Annihilation cultists, so these secret societies are often the focus of attacks by city-state churches and authorities - but in any case, the occupations that have the closest relationship with the "starry sky" and the most frequent use of various spiritual lenses , are still the captains of the boundless sea.
Lawrence has been wandering on this vast and malicious sea for half his life. Of course he knows many things related to the starry sky, including the methods of observing the starry sky and the dangers to be faced.
He buried his head deeply into the concave area of the spiritual lens - of course you have to lower your head when looking at the stars, this is common sense - and then began to whisper the name of the god he believed in, letting the name match the name that the priest had just inflicted on him. Blessings resonate.
As the mysterious power gradually spread, his spirituality and faith gradually increased. He first heard a subtle sound, as if water was gathering in a basin and approaching him - he smelled the slightly salty smell of sea water, and stepped down Within a second, he felt that his entire face had been immersed in water.
Novice navigators who are observing the starry sky for the first time can easily panic at this time. The illusion of "water suffocation" will shake their minds and allow unnecessary shadows to enter their minds. Therefore, newcomers must observe the stars for the first time. There is someone assisting, and the most important task of the assistor is to drag the new navigator away from the lens of the spirit world before it mutates into a pile of squirming minced meat. This "adaptation" process often takes several weeks.
But that was no problem for Lawrence.
He knew that the "sea water" that immersed him was the power of the storm goddess Gemona - God will not harm his believers. Now, he can open his eyes.
Lawrence slowly opened his eyes.
Starlight and endless darkness filled his eyes at the same time.
He looked down and saw the endless darkness, the deep and dark space, and the chaotic waves surging at the edge of the space. They were some projections of the spiritual world in the depths of the world, and between the darkness, there were countless constant Dense and dense point-like lights, they gathered into large and small groups or floc-like structures, some were like clouds, some were like vortexes, and some were like rivers. These endless light spots spectacularly covered the old captain's face. The vision outlines some mysterious picture that has not yet been recognized by mortals.
And in the depths of the starry sky like a magnificent curtain, in the gaps between certain "clusters" of light points, some chaotic shadows that are different from the darkness can be vaguely seen. They seem to be floating in the depths of the starlight. There are broken pieces of land scattered in a radial pattern, with dim and pale "rivers" running between them. Just one look at them can make you dizzy and frightened.
That is the "depth" that is deeper than the spiritual world. It is the terrifying homeland of the deep demon - the deep sea.
The starry sky is a curtain floating between the deep sea and the spiritual world.
Lawrence carefully controlled his gaze and did not let himself gaze too much into the deep depths, lest he attract the attention of those chaotic and unintelligent demons. At the same time, he concentrated his energy and began to find his position in the starry sky.
He found a dim projection, like a wandering and helpless soul, floating somewhere among the stars.
Lawrence stared at the projection, carefully screened it for a long time, and suddenly couldn't help but frown.
Your own location...is in the Frost Coast?
The old captain's heart condensed, and he began to move his hands gropingly. He touched
The control lever on the side of the lens device was used to carefully adjust the machine. Many small lenses on the side of the cylindrical machine immediately came into operation and began to adjust the viewing angle of the "starry sky" in Lawrence's field of vision.
After repeated confirmation, he found that he was indeed in the coastal waters of Hanshuang - he had already reached a position where he could visually see the main island of Hanshuang.
At this moment, Lawrence felt his eyes blur.
The starry sky filled with countless dots of light flickered for a moment, suddenly turned dark, and then returned to normal.
Lawrenceton was surprised and instinctively wanted to adjust the control stick again to reset the perspective, but his years of experience stopped him abruptly and raised his head suddenly.
If the starry sky flickers, it may be a malfunction of the lens in the spiritual world - no matter what the reason is, as long as any abnormal phenomenon occurs during stargazing, you must immediately break away from your gaze.
This is a safety system summed up by countless ancestors.
Lawrence rubbed his eyebrows, raised his hand and glanced at the watch on his wrist, and found that just a few minutes had passed.
He began to check the entire lens device, preparing to conduct another observation after troubleshooting and confirming safety.
But just when he was about to take apart the machine casing, a knock on the door suddenly interrupted his action.
"Captain!" the first mate's voice came from outside the door, "Captain, have you finished your observation? We have received a signal!"
Lawrence frowned slightly, hesitated for a while, then put down the work at hand, and quickly came to the door. After opening the door, he saw the first mate standing at the door.
"We have received a reply from Hanshuang." The first mate first took a look at the situation in the stargazing room. After roughly confirming that there was nothing unusual in the room, he turned his attention to Lawrence. "The offshore passage permit and port entry permit have been issued."
Lawrence frowned slightly, feeling a little weird in his heart for some reason. Thinking of the violation he just found in the stargazing room, he asked with a serious expression: "Have you seen Frost Island?"
"It has been visually confirmed," the first mate nodded. "The fog on the sea has dispersed, and our course has deviated slightly, a very slight deviation - but it has been recalibrated."
Lawrence looked back at the stargazing room, his expression looking a little solemn.
"Captain?" The first mate finally noticed the strange look in the old captain's expression, and his expression became nervous. "Did you notice anything?"
"Something was wrong in the stargazing room just now... and according to the observation results, we should have arrived at the frost offshore sea long ago. There is no situation where we can't see the frost due to fog or route deviation," Lawrence said in a low voice, " You arrange for a mechanic to check the spiritual world lens group to see if there is any problem with the equipment. I will go up and take a look at the situation."
"Yes, Captain."
Lawrence quickly left the bilge, walked along the stairs and corridors through the cabins of the White Oak, and soon reached the upper deck.
He did not return to the bridge, but stood directly on the bow deck and watched the situation in the distance.
A large city-state is just in front of the White Oak. The city-state's coastal buildings and port facilities are clearly visible. The fog has dissipated. Gentle waves are slowly rising and falling on the sea. Dark and light clouds are floating in the sky. Skylight is shining from the clouds. It illuminates the sea and city-states in the distance.
It does look like frost, nothing unusual about it. Lawrence frowned and glanced up at the sky again.
There is nothing unusual except that there are more clouds.
After a while, he left the deck and returned to the bridge. At the same time, the sailor guarding the telegraph machine also received another welcome message from Frost Port.
Lawrence looked at the note written down by the sailor - "The port is open, welcome to Frostbite."
Lawrence blinked, and suddenly felt that he might be a little too nervous - the glitch of the spiritual lens and the fog that had settled on the sea amplified his nervousness, but in fact, everything was obviously normal here.
"We're docking."
"Yes, Captain."
Duncan and his party left the "Second Waterway" and said goodbye to Nemo in the secret passage connecting the Second Waterway.
before them
After searching for a long time in the collapsed and blocked corridor, no clues were found. Neither more "mud" nor any pores or traces of "mud" seeping into the corridor were found.
Of course, the mysterious place that the "crow" once wandered into was not found.
The thread seems to be broken.
"The old ghost and I will bury Crow properly. Please tell Captain Tirian that Crow died like a true warrior - he was a proud member of the Sea Mist Fleet.
In the secret passage, Nemo took off his hat, bowed slightly in front of Duncan and said.
"I will tell him," Duncan looked at the "informant" in front of him and said in a very solemn tone, "Besides, the investigation of this matter is not over."
Nemo raised his head and met Duncan's gaze.
"The crow left a very important message. He must have been somewhere. The fake could not have appeared out of thin air in the second waterway," Duncan said slowly,
"I will continue to investigate. If necessary - I will search every brick, brick, grass and soil in this city-state."