Chapter 662: Border Intelligence

Duncan stood at the ship's railing, his gaze fixed on the horizon where the ocean blurred into the sky. He appeared deep in thought, possibly pondering the uncertainties or challenges that awaited him. Behind him, Lucretia stood in silence. She understood the need for contemplation at this moment, acknowledging the significance of their silent communication about the weighty matters at hand.

"Tell me about the borderlands," Duncan finally said, his voice calm yet carrying a sense of urgency.

Lucretia, usually confident and direct, hesitated. "You..."

"I can't recall past events," Duncan interrupted gently, his tone subdued. "I need your insight into the borderlands. You're well-versed in that area, having faced its challenges for years and even braving the infamous fog that envelops it. If we are to confront that fog again, I must rely on your knowledge and experience."

Lucretia met Duncan's gaze, her expression filled with uncertainty and reflection. She seemed to assess him, perhaps fearing that this crucial ally could disappear as unexpectedly as he had appeared. Her father had also spoken of the borders, but they had never explored the topic deeply. Lucretia had always avoided these discussions, but today felt different, as though an inevitable conclusion was drawing near.

After a brief pause, Lucretia began to explain. "I've entered the fog but only ventured to its outer edges. That's the furthest I've dared to go, beyond which even the Four Divine Churches stop their surveillance."

Duncan's interest intensified. "What lies beyond those regions?"

Lucretia took a moment to collect her thoughts. "Inside the fog, it's unnaturally calm, even more so than anywhere else in the Boundless Sea. The water becomes like a polished mirror, perfectly reflecting our ships' flags. Even the ripples from our vessels settle quickly, leaving the surface smooth, almost gel-like, though it's just regular seawater that doesn't hinder navigation."

"But that tranquility is misleading. Scattered throughout are erratic, unpredictable currents. They emerge suddenly and are nearly invisible, which makes them extremely dangerous. They move silently but swiftly, creating a 'slicing line' effect. Ships caught unawares can be thrown off course or worse, capsize."

"And these are just the less threatening aspects of the fog. When conditions worsen, truly bizarre events happen."

"Sometimes, surreal objects emerge from the fog—huge floating cubes on the sea's surface, or sharp, mountain-like structures that rise from the water like giant blades. Navigating around these structures is a challenge, often compounded by severe weather anomalies. Sometimes it's a violent storm, other times a massive, ring-shaped current. Occasionally, parts of the sea seem to vanish, leaving behind a fearsome, bottomless chasm..."

Lucretia paused, her mind wandering to memories that even she, the fearless "Sea Witch," found disturbing. She regained her composure before continuing.

"Amid these unpredictable and dangerous phenomena, we sometimes make unusual discoveries. These include strange materials and objects that either appear with the currents or during storms. These items are tangible; we can handle them, collect them, and take them from the fog. Some have been incredibly useful, like a grease that burns indefinitely and crystals that cleanse the mind from negative influences. The Explorer's Association and the Truth Academy are highly interested in these items, offering significant rewards for a chance to study these artifacts from the edge of our known world. But the nature and appearance of these artifacts vary widely, making it hard to predict what we might find next..."

"In even rarer cases, amid the chaos and danger, we come across something truly supernatural..."

Lucretia stopped abruptly, her voice faltering, her tone now unsure.

Duncan, looking concerned, urged her, "Lucy, what did you encounter?"

Lucretia, with a hint of uncertainty, replied, "Just once, and I'm still not entirely sure if it was real or just a hallucination from extreme fatigue. I saw a massive, dark column rising straight from the ocean, surrounded by large, equally dark and vague rings. It was the closest I've ever gotten to anything within the mist. The sea was unusually calm around it, with only mild waves. I managed to navigate to the base of the column and got close enough to touch it... That's when I heard a voice."

She touched her temple, "The voice boomed inside my head, speaking a language I didn't recognize but somehow understood. It kept repeating the same phrase: 'Warp drive activated... We are escaping danger, warp drive activated... We are escaping danger...'"

She looked up, noticing a change in Duncan's expression, and asked, "Do you understand what that means?"

Hearing "warp drive," Duncan's mind raced with recognition. He immediately thought of the "New Hope," a spaceship from the era before the Deep Sea Era that had famously crashed. Could it be that Lucretia had found its remains? Had it fallen into the mysterious region known as the Eternal Veil?

"Can you locate it again? Have you seen it since?" he asked urgently.

Sensing Duncan's intense curiosity, Lucretia replied with a hint of regret, "I'm afraid not. The nature of the border mist is elusive and transient. Things there appear like tangible illusions, vanishing without a trace once their time is up. I've never seen the same vision twice in that fog."

Duncan felt a wave of disappointment but concealed it well, "...Apart from that phrase, did you discover anything else noteworthy?"

Lucretia spoke carefully, her words tinged with uncertainty, "There was also this odd... 'sensation' when I touched it. It felt 'empty,' as if it had no temperature or solidity. It's hard to explain, but it was like my fingers couldn't determine what they were touching, or even if they were touching anything at all. It was as if my sense of touch disappeared at that moment, or maybe that thing... only partially existed in our dimension, making it impossible to fully perceive its absent aspects..."

Her hesitation increased as she struggled to articulate her complex feelings and theories. Finally, with a resigned gesture, she spread her hands, "Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

Duncan, however, seemed deep in thought. Lucretia's description of these strange, almost unfathomable occurrences vividly reminded him of his own 'cognitive shift' or 'epiphany' about the nature of the world, triggered by the revelations of the Great Annihilation.

He vividly recalled the 'reality' he had perceived at that pivotal moment.

The fragmented knowledge from the Deep Sea Era, pieces of the old world colliding, merging, distorting into unfamiliar forms, or becoming part of the 'information soup' that underlies their reality.

What about those elements that resisted merging or were preserved due to their 'unique properties,' those that survived destruction or corruption by other entities?

Such phenomena were certainly real. In cosmic-scale collisions, where every conceivable and inconceivable event converges, anything and everything is possible. In this chaos, the 'lucky' or perhaps 'unlucky' remnants that survive against the smallest odds of probability must have their own paths...

Duncan theorized that most of these remnants probably existed in subspace—a dark, chaotic void where remnants of the old world, like torn landscapes, pale, giant figures, and indistinct floating shadows that were not quite entities lingered in this modern age. These were likely the fragments that couldn't be completely destroyed.

But now, it seemed some of these remnants had escaped subspace.

The 'entities' that Lucretia, the 'Sea Witch,' encountered in the border mist... were such phenomena.

Lucretia felt a growing unease as she observed the change in Duncan's expression, signaling a deepening understanding and logic forming within him that was beyond her comprehension. This evoked a sense of foreboding in her, reminiscent of the time she first witnessed the 'starry sky'—though this time, there were no stars materializing behind her father's figure.

"The 'entities' you encountered in the border mist deeply intrigue me," Duncan abruptly said, snapping Lucretia out of her thoughts. "What about further in? You mentioned you could only venture as far as the outer layer into the mist. What lies beyond that point?"

"The moment you enter the Eternal Veil, any connection to the familiar, civilized world becomes a distant memory," Lucretia responded with urgency, her attention fully regained. "All traditional methods of navigation we depend on fail instantly upon entering the Veil. Even from the observatory, the usually clear and profound starry sky turns into nothing more than a vague, indistinct shadow. Within the first layer of the mist, radio signals can still penetrate to a degree, and we can use temporary lighthouses or ritual fire basins set up at the edge of the mist as beacons to guide ships back. But once you surpass the sixth-mile limit, every link to the outside world is severed completely."

"There was a time when I ventured too far beyond this critical boundary, and I nearly became forever lost in that thick, engulfing fog. Trying to retrace your path is futile; the very fabric of space and time seems to warp around your ship once you cross that border. If you take one step forward and then one step back, you find yourself not where you started but somewhere entirely different..."

Duncan listened intently, his brow furrowed in concern, "Then how did you manage to find your way back?"

Lucretia paused, her expression slightly odd as she weighed her words. Then, softly admitting, she said, "I saw the shadow of the Vanished."