Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 848 Depth 3, Nightfall

In the following days, everyone on the vast sea saw the shining of the black sun - the false sunlight permeated and covered the entire world. Behind the creation of the world, the last lighthouse on the sea transmitted its light to all corners of the shelter, and it lasted for many days and nights.

People speculated about the origin of the "light". Some speculated that it was a sign of further collapse of the world, some speculated that some changes were taking place in the creation of the world. The last optimists believed that it was the sunshine that was about to come back to the earth, and the last pessimists believed that all things had reached the time to welcome death - but for more "people"... they didn't care about the sunshine.

Having lost their self-awareness, the entities, blindly and foolishly walking in the mist and night, staggered through the city, gnawing and tearing apart the food in their "awareness". Low roars seemed to fill the entire world, and layers of whispers came from deep underground in the city-state;

A huge shadow that was constantly expanding and contracting appeared on the sea, gathering towards the coastline of the city-state. It was a fleet of unknown origin returning from all corners of history. Forgotten and invisible sailors and pirates boarded the city-state under the cover of night, but then merged into the night in a roar. No one knew where they went, but every dock and every intersection seemed to be filled with the sound of low and vague ship songs and horns;

The city's buildings are waking up in the night. After the last sober person left them, they forgot their original appearance in the fog. The roofs opened their overlapping eyes, the chimneys curled and grew in the night, the windows grew sharp teeth, and every door sang loudly in the night, making the most boiling noise in the city-state's memory.
And those real lunatics who woke up built high walls deep in the city.

They maintained communication with each other through sewers and a few still-functioning urban rail transit lines, and the survivors of the city hall and the church ensured the final order.

People took turns sleeping to ensure that in every corner of these last refuges there was at least one pair of eyes open, to prevent the walls and roofs from growing scales and flesh.

The Night Watchmen traveled through the night, searching for the last survivors in the completely distorted and fallen city, to prevent them from being devoured and wiped out by other entities that have lost their humanity.

Everyone received the final order—the order originally came from the distant northern city-states, and later spread to the entire world with the establishment of various city-state federations and mutual communication. Its core content was only one sentence:
Survive, do everything possible to survive, and don't let too many people fall in the last darkness before dawn.

Even though the death mechanism has been shut down, those who are swallowed by the night and madness will still disappear from this world. They will turn into useless residue in the shelter, unable to welcome that "dawn" - the last protectors of this world must do everything possible to prevent this from happening.

Those who are protected, behind the high walls, talk about that "dawn" cautiously, carefully, yet full of hope and expectation.

People are talking about a new world that will emerge at the end of this long night.

No one knows how the news was first spread, and no one knows whether this was an intentional guidance by the protectors. This may only be a distant and ethereal hope, but in this night when everything is sinking, there must be a hope that spreads and grows.

Lawrence stood on a section of the old city wall in the western part of Phaeren, looking quietly into the distance.

This section of the old city wall has recently been repaired and reinforced, and it is now part of the shelter in this frontier city-state. The shelter wall extends all the way from the port area and closes in near the steam hub's factory building. Almost all the survivors in the city are inside the wall.

The few remaining survivors are concentrated in two churches outside the high walls and in apartment buildings near the churches. The night watchmen are trying to connect the underground structures of several shelters to protect everyone.

A horrible roar came from the depths of the night, mixed with the sound of steam walkers firing. Several consecutive flashes appeared in the depths of the flowing clouds, and then everything gradually returned to calm - after a long time, a flare rose from that direction, emitting a long-lasting light in the night sky.

The faint "sunlight" emanating from behind the Creation of the World complements the light of the flare.

"It seems that there are no survivors in that direction. There are only monsters bred by the city itself," Martha's voice came from the small mirror on Lawrence's chest. "At this point, there shouldn't be any new 'Awakeners' appearing deep in those long-fallen neighborhoods."

"Phaeren is a small city, and the search operation will be over soon. In the days ahead, the main task of the Night's Watch will be to ensure safety within the high walls," Lawrence nodded gently. "But in other city-states, the search for survivors should continue until the end... In those huge, maze-like old neighborhoods, there will always be people who are still waiting for help..."

Martha hummed softly and said nothing more.

The "sunshine" behind the Creation of the World slowly dimmed, then reappeared after a moment, illuminating the entire sky.

"...Who would have thought that the black sun would light up the sky in the end?" Martha said softly, breaking the silence. "Even a year ago, even believers of the sun wouldn't dare to say such crazy words."

"But now, apart from us, no one in this world remembers what the Black Sun is," Lawrence sighed and shook his head. "All the fear and worship of Him have been folded into abandoned history."

He raised his head and looked at the dim sunlight filling the sky.

The "Black Sun" that has been forgotten by the entire world is still slowly flickering on the back of the creation of the world, but there is no living being in this world that still needs its sunshine.

He was just lighting the navigation light for the last ship still sailing in this world.

There were footsteps coming from behind him. Lawrence withdrew his gaze from the sky. He turned around and saw a shriveled, ugly figure in an ill-fitting crew uniform walking through the mist, stepping onto the city wall and coming to him.

"Captain, I'm back to report." The sailor tugged at the hem of the crew's uniform and revealed an ugly and terrifying smile at the corners of his mouth.

Lawrence looked the sailor up and down, his eyes twitching. "...Can you please stop smiling like this every time you see me? It's scary."

The sailor grinned: "I looked outside the high wall on the way here. My appearance is considered to be above average in today's city-state."

Lawrence spat to the side, but did not continue to tease the corpse. Instead, he took two steps forward and patted the sailor on the shoulder.

"How was it on the Lost Homeland?"

The sailor thought for a moment, and the deep wrinkles on his face slowly relaxed: "It's a good place."

“That’s good,” Lawrence laughed, then shook his head. “Now the wonderful overseas assignment is over…”

He opened his arms in a welcoming gesture: "Welcome back to the White Oak."

The sailor also smiled and opened his arms to greet him: "It's my honor."

Lawrence dodged to the side and said, "I'm just showing my appreciation. Forget about the real hug. Go back and wash yourself. Your rotten flesh is all rotten."

……

"Mr. Morris has taken his family to the shelter, and now he has signed up to join the city wall guard team... It is said that at first the person in charge of the city wall guard rejected him when he saw that he was an old man, and then the teacher beat up everyone at the scene...

"Miss Vanna is staying at the cathedral now - she is commanding the Night Watch. It is said that there are many out-of-control priests under house arrest in the cathedral. She is very busy every day, but I felt that she was quite happy when I saw her last time... Did she tell you too? Yes, she is very happy that she can help by returning to the city-state...

"Have the sailor and Miss Agatha arrived at their respective destinations safely? That's good... I heard that there are fewer and fewer fleets heading north, and the situation in the Frigid Sea is said to be bad. I was a little worried before... It's good that they arrived safely. That was probably the last fleet.

"How is Miss Lucrecia doing? Is she trying the food of Breeze Harbor? Is that true... As expected of a witch..."

Nina's mumbling voice echoed in his heart. Duncan sat on a large wooden barrel on the edge of the deck of the Lost Homeland, listening to the voices coming from afar with a faint smile on his face.

"What are your plans with Shirley?" he asked suddenly.

Nina was silent for a few seconds: "...Shirley and I decided to stay in the antique shop."

"Why don't you go to the asylum or the cathedral? The situation there is somewhat better."

"No, we don't have any other relatives, and we don't worry about safety issues. There's not much point in going to the shelter. Now Agou and Shirley are responsible for patrolling the store, and I'm responsible for maintaining the light and temperature in the antique shop. This shop can be regarded as a small 'shelter' in this block. Occasionally, the night watch troops pass by here and can come in to rest. They are all Miss Vanna's subordinates... By the way, they also said that this antique shop is the 'most reliable night safe house in the city-state'..."

Nina's voice sounded happy with a hint of pride, and she seemed very satisfied with the current situation. Duncan listened and put aside the little worry in his heart.

It seems that the two girls "ran" the small antique shop in another way, and they ran it very successfully.

While Nina was chatting casually, Duncan saw from the corner of his eye that layers of light and shadows appeared at the end of the warp tunnel.

The outline of the clouds appeared in the depths of the gray-white background. The "sunshine" that permeated the entire jump channel covered the distant clouds, outlining the silhouette of the eternal curtain.

Duncan stood up slowly.

"Nina."

The girl who was mumbling about her daily life immediately stopped and said, "Huh?"

"Prepare to look up—"

(End of this chapter)