Ashes Of Deep Sea - Chapter 39

Chapter 39 Captain Steps Foot on Land

The pigeon said those words in its usual whimsical, joking, and idiotic tone.

But now, it was an undead ghost bird with spirit flames burning all over its body. One can see the flaming skeleton and tendons beneath its translucent flesh and blood. Its chirps were mixed with the explosive crackling of the flames. It almost sounded like the agonizing shrieks of tortured souls when the gates of hell are opened.

Reality had proven that sometimes, the supernatural wasn’t very far away from the whimsical.

The spirit flames coiling around Duncan continued to burn. He watched as the three cultists disappeared in front of his eyes, but he wasn’t sure about the principle behind what happened.

All he knew was that it was Ai’s ability.

A few seconds later, after confirming that the three cultists weren’t going to return, he turned his head slightly to ask the pigeon standing on his shoulder, “…Where did you move them to?”

Ai flapped its wings a little and combed its fine feathers with its beak. After a while, it suddenly replied, “Back to the shadows!”

Duncan frowned. Recently, he started to learn the real meaning behind what Ai said. He asked, “Do you mean that… you exile them to some… parallel dimension? Or have you changed them into a state that cannot be touched?”

The pigeon raised its head and looked at Duncan with its dodgy eyes. “Coo coo!”

Now it’s pretending to be a real pigeon.

But Duncan was convinced that he had learned the truth now. He jabbed Ai’s head with his finger, then looked around the dimly lit “shelter” again.

Under the illumination of the flickering flame from the oil lamp, everything in the room was decently visible. The followers of the God of Sun that once hid here had now completely vanished from the face of this world. The only person standing here now is a ghost captain who had possessed the body of a cultist and his pigeon.

But somehow, Duncan had a strange feeling. He could feel that the three cultists were still here. They were right beside him, trapped in this room. They were stuck in a rift between dimensions that couldn’t be detected by any means.

He could even feel the cultists screaming and struggling in vain. He could feel their desire to touch the real world once more. He could feel their despair as they were permanently blocked outside of reality by an invisible wall.

This feeling remained abstract speculation until Duncan saw evidence for it: At one of the flickers of the flame from the oil lamp, when the light and shadows crossed in just the right way, he saw a mark on the wall near it. It looked like a mark from a short sword slicing at it. When he looked toward it again, the flame from the oil lamp flickered again, and the marking disappeared.

That was the last time that the three followers of the Sun managed to come into contact with the real world.

Duncan exhaled lightly, then brought the pigeon and left the room.

Outside the abandoned resting room, there was a passageway that was a lot narrower than the corridors of the sewers previously. The long and deep passageway extended in two directions — one connected to a branch road and the other to a slope upwards.

Even though this area was abandoned, the city management still did basic maintenance work on the underground infrastructure. At the very least, the gaslight on the sides of the passageway was still lit.

Duncan quickly judged the directions of the passageway, then figured out a path to the surface based on the memory fragments in his brain. He quickly walked toward the passageway that connected to the slope upward.

He walked faster and faster.

He started to smell the fresh air. A light breeze from the surface blew on Duncan’s hair. He could hear some vague noises coming from afar. It seemed to be the boom of some sort of machinery from the factories on the surface. There was also the sound of waves from even further away. That was the sound of the tides hitting the reefs near the coast.

Duncan started to run a little.

After shedding its spirit flames, Ai, the pigeon, returned to normal and flapped its wings on Duncan’s shoulder. It chirped happily, “The era calls us! The era calls us!”

Duncan suddenly stopped. He stared into the pigeon’s eyes and said, “Don’t speak when we’re outside. Normal pigeons don’t talk.”

Ai pondered for a while, then flapped its wings forcefully and answered, “Aye, captain!”

Duncan was surprised that this pigeon actually replied to him directly for once. He wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence or something else, but soon, he wasn’t bothered by it anymore.

He had to get ready to greet this world.

He couldn’t go out there with the black robe that he was wearing. Based on the memory that he “devoured” from this body, this suspicious-looking black robe was only used for the secret rituals by the followers of the Sun. If he walked on the city streets on the surface in these clothes, he would probably be tied to a tree and beaten by a team of sheriffs.

The City-state of Pland enforces a strict curfew on all of its citizens. Roaming around at night seemed to be a very dangerous thing to do. For ordinary citizens to go outside at night, they needed a permit and must ask for permission from the government beforehand. Obviously, this cultist that he had possessed didn’t have these legal permits, so he had to evade the night patrol if he wanted to move around in the city.

The people maintaining order in the city at night were known as “Guardians.” They seemed to be armed forces belonging to the Deep Sea Association. Based on the memory fragments, the original owner of this body was extremely fearful and hostile toward these armed priests…

He took off the black robe before walking on the slope leading to the surface. He was wearing ordinary clothes under the black robe, clothes that wouldn’t be suspected while walking outside.

He contemplated whether he should just burn the black robe, but the flame and smoke could attract the attention of the night patrol. So, in the end, he simply rolled up the rob and hid it in a corner somewhere near the slope.

The sun talisman could also bring him trouble, but it might contain precious information. After hesitating for a long while, Duncan decided to bring it with him. He could use this talisman for experiments after returning to the Lost Home. Maybe Ai can bring it back for him.

He could research this thing on the Lost Home without worries.

He covered up his tracks of hiding the black robe, then tidied up his demeanor to look like an ordinary citizen as much as possible instead of a cultist hiding in the sewers. After doing all that, he stepped foot on the sloping corridor.

The path after that wasn’t very long.

Duncan walked briskly on the slope. The air, which was becoming fresher and fresher, filled his lungs. He could clearly hear the sounds from the faraway factories and ocean. After a few minutes, he saw the light spilling onto the stairs not far ahead.

He quickly took a few more steps forward. The pale, cold light finally shone on him.

He stepped foot on the surface. Solid, stable ground bathing under a pale, dim light.

Duncan’s eyes widened. He saw a city. A city that represented a human civilization on the boundless sea. The giant gash stretched across the skies above the city, emanating light that illuminated the neatly tiled roofs, towers, and buildings further away. In an area a short distance ahead, he could see the older and slightly shabby-looking region at the edge of the city. At a highland, further along, he saw many majestic, grandiose buildings. That was the “upper city region” where the great church and town hall was located.

Duncan suddenly started laughing. He didn’t make any noise, but he laughed so hard that he could barely breathe.

But after a while, he stopped his laughter. He took a deep breath in the cooling night breeze, then started taking big strides toward a specific direction in the memory fragments.

The cultists also had “normal lives.” Other than a few “priests” who preyed on and scourged the people full-time, the cult of Sun actually operated like most other cults. They depended on a significant number of ordinary folks to support their operations. These low-level followers who were tricked by the cult were mainly poor citizens in the lower strata of society. They were old people who had no one else, teenagers who hadn’t seen the real world, or people like the original owner of the body that Duncan had possessed.

He was an ordinary folk who no one cared about, had a terminal illness, and opened a scammy antique shop in the lower city area, struggling to pay the taxes and live his day-to-day life.

The pathetic life of this antique shop owner, “Ron,” had ended. The debts he owed to some evil deity out there had been wiped out as he breathed his last breath. However, he still left a position in this world… And Duncan was very interested in that position.