Embers of Embers

Chapter 501 Light Trail
Heavy rain covered the Morning Glory Advance, and the storm in the distance brought waves. The entire ship was pushed and swayed randomly, as if the whole world was sending malice towards it.
"The details of the operation were discussed between Lancelot and the lord. I don't know the specific situation. We rested for a few days on Lord Wilgdason's territory, and then took them to sail together. This time there were more than The Narwhal, and the lord's longships."
Shrike continued to recall the gloomy past. This memory was so bad that he remembered that he had never thought about it again since he gave the report. Thinking about it now, it was as if he was looking at another person's memory.
"The lord said that there are many sleeping undead under this silent sea. It is not some mysterious legend, but real undead. Once disturbed, they will wake up and attack passing ships, and the noise of our armored ship is too loud. It's too big to drive into."
"You abandoned the Narwhal?" Lorenzo asked.
"No, we didn't care about these weird legends at first. After all, we are an iron-clad ship. Unlike those fragile long ships, we have armor, heavy cannons, and blazing steam turbines. Even solid ice can be easily broken. , let alone the undead.
There was a dispute between us. To a certain extent, Lancelot still refused to completely believe these Vikings. According to them, we must move forward completely silently and use the most primitive long boat and slow rowing methods to get across. The Sea of ​​Silence, this will inevitably require the Narwhal to stay at the edge of the Sea of ​​Silence, and the Narwhal is the biggest reliance for those of us traveling across the Viking countries. Once we lose it, our safety will be greatly reduced.
We must know that our enemies at that time were not only mysterious legends, but also these cunning Vikings. Maybe they would kill us all and plunder this ironclad ship as soon as we abandoned the Hornwhal. "
"The results of it?"
“We made concessions to each other.
There are countless glaciers on the Silent Sea, and some seas are even completely frozen. In many cases, the Vikings needed to pull their longships on the ice to advance, and then they were affected by the environment and limited by supplies. In fact, these The Vikings have not made several successful explorations of the Silent Sea. They have always been wandering on its edge, unable to penetrate deep.
Interestingly, Lord Wilgdason has a very strong interest in the Silent Sea. After many discussions, we reached a cooperation. He is willing to take risks to help us. In his plan, the Narwhal will be fully loaded with supplies and has a long voyage. Ship, we will go to the Silent Sea together. After entering the Silent Sea, the Narwhal will travel at low power to reduce noise as much as possible.
The Narwhal will break through the obstructing ice, and after going a certain distance, will decide whether to lower the longship or continue in this safe manner, depending on the circumstances. "
"Then you started taking action as planned?" Lorenzo said.
"Yes, one of the reasons Lord Wilgdason is willing to take such a risk is that he trusts our Hornwhale. He feels that perhaps this kind of armor and heavy artillery can resist the attacks of the undead."
As Shrike continued to talk, the storm outside the porthole gradually became more violent, and the sky and the earth turned into a gloomy gray without any light.
"In fact, it was the same. We followed the plan and successfully entered the Silent Sea a few days later. It was the weirdest sea area I have ever seen. I will never forget it in my life.
The sky was covered with lead-gray dark clouds, not a trace of light could shine through, as if a thunderous storm was accumulating between the clouds, while there were no waves on the sea surface, as calm as a mirror, and the water was transparent without any impurities. There is no life below, and there is nothing in the sea except dust and sand.
That is the real, dead country, as if everything is dead, the dead sky, the dead sea, the dead world..."
The memory came to the forefront of darkness, Shrike's face turned ugly, and he couldn't help but clenched his fists.
"What's even worse is the detection from the Narwhal. Our Geiger counter reacted. There is erosion floating on the Silent Sea. The intensity increases with the distance into the Silent Sea. It seems that there is something deep in the Silent Sea. It is a huge source of pollution, and the erosion it spreads affects the entire Silent Sea.
The Lord also said this. One of the reasons why the Silent Sea is frightening is this invisible pressure. As the Silent Sea deepens, some crew members will go crazy. They attribute these to myths and curses, but we know very well that this is Related to demons. "
"A... huge source of pollution?"
Lorenzo was lost in thought.
"Now it seems that this pollution source may be the end of the world we are looking for, but no one knows what the end of the world is. We need to dig it ourselves."
The shrike sighed, probably because of the heavy rain. He felt his chest was tight, as if he couldn't breathe.
"After realizing this, we deliberately drove around the edge of the Sea of ​​Silence for several days and confirmed that the scope of the erosion was indeed so huge... This shook our military morale a bit, and many people were frightened. No one has ever experienced erosion on such a large scale, it’s terrifying.
Lancelot stood up in time, stabilized the morale of the army, and then gave me a task. "
"What mission?"
"A mission that forced me to survive. I was appointed as a recorder. I had to record all the details of the operation and then take them back. I was transferred from the front line of combat. There are many recorders like me. , and as a result, we were exposed to information that we should not have known.”
"Lancelot thought he was going to die here, didn't he?" Lorenzo said.
"Absolutely, Lorenzo, you can't understand our fear at that time. With such a large-scale erosion, who knows what we will encounter inside..." Shrike's expression was slightly distorted, and he walked into the nightmare again, "Then... It was the beginning of the action. The Nawhal moved forward silently. We broke through the ice all the way and kept moving forward.
But as we go deeper into the Silent Sea, more problems arise. The erosion is affecting us. Many crew members begin to have nightmares. Then various equipment malfunctions. Then you will find that the compass is spinning like a top, and the sextant is also spinning. It’s no longer easy to use, because we can’t see clearly those distorted rulers... Most people have begun to have hallucinations. The worst thing is that you can’t see the sun or the night sky in that place, there are only gray clouds. Storing malice.There is no light to show us the way. "
The shaking cabin, the falling rainstorm, the humid sea breeze... these were like big hands one after another, dragging the shrike back to the beginning of the nightmare. Even the shrike himself didn't notice. In his narration, he His hand unconsciously touched the gun bag at his waist, and he stroked the silver revolver, as if it was the thread that held his life together.
Lan Jade, who had been silent all this time, could no longer maintain her indifferent look. There were stirred emotions hidden in her eyes. On the other side, Lorenzo stared at Shrike closely, paying attention to all his reactions.
"It happened on the night of the seventh day. I was lying in bed sleeping. In fact, I couldn't fall asleep. As time went by and deepened into the Sea of ​​Silence, I, like others, heard bursts of sound. There was a whisper, and the whole sea was so calm, and as I lay in bed, the sound intensified, almost roaring at me."
Shrike held the death knell tightly, his eyes bloodshot.
"After struggling for a long time, I decided to get up and sort out the documents. As a recorder, I know everything that happened on the Narwhal. A steady stream of documents were sent over every day. I simplified them and put them into waterproof document bags. inside.
Since we entered the Silent Sea, the crew members have seen hallucinations more and more frequently. In the past few days, there have even been disappearances and suicides of crew members, but these news have been controlled by Lancelot. In fact, he We also know that our operation has failed. We have iron-clad ships and heavy artillery that can defeat the pirates, but we cannot prevent the torture from our hearts.
Lancelot also thought about returning, but erosion has affected all observation methods. We have been completely lost in this sea area, and those Vikings are useless. They don’t know how to navigate at all, no matter how we try Asked, they all said 'wait for the channel to appear'.
We feel cheated, we will all die here, but Lancelot still trusts them, to be precise, he trusts the Victoria family. As a returnee from the end of the world, the only instruction he can leave us is how to find the world. The end, and that instruction is 'Follow the light track'. "
"But there's no light in that damn place."
Shrike said viciously, and then his expression suddenly relaxed. The contrast in his expression was huge, like a patient whose nightmare had reached a point, and for a moment his memories were filled with light.
Shrike repeated what he said before.
"It happened on the night of the seventh day. I got up from the bed and heard the noise outside the cabin. I walked out and saw the 'channel' and the 'light track'."
"The Vikings didn't lie to me, and neither did the Victorias.
It was the most massive aurora I have ever seen. The colorful lights passed over our heads. They seemed like skirts blown by the wind, or the skirts of a goddess dancing. The blurred light was like a torrent pouring from this end to The other end runs through heaven and earth.
I stood on the deck, enveloped by this light. For a moment, I felt that this was what the Vikings called the Hall of Valor. Valkyrie was about to come. She would escape from the light and take me to the highest place. The palace of...
I couldn't remember at the time whether it was really so grand or whether it was an illusion. In short, in this long silence, when everyone was about to be swallowed by despair, hope came out.
The brilliant aurora is like a track engraved in the sky. It points out the direction for us. Without even thinking about it, at the end of this light track is what we want, that is the end of the world. "
Shrike's obsessed expression trembled, and he lowered his voice.
"And this was also the beginning of a nightmare. This hope came so suddenly that many people lost their minds. The Narwhal suddenly moved at full speed, heading towards the end of the light track. When we realized the problem, we burst out of joy. When I woke up, it was too late.
The sea of ​​silence is boiling. "
(End of this chapter)