Chapter 166: Noon and Night

Chapter 166: Noon and Night

Huff! Hah!

The enormous breathing sound slowly and rhythmically entered Klein’s ears, chilling his spine and filling his heart with an inexplicable fear—yet he received no premonition of danger.

It was not only him. Admiral of Stars Cattleya, Toxin Expert Frank Lee, and all the other pirates also heard the breathing. Some turned their heads, some looked outside, some took up weapons, and others grew highly alert, revealing the richness of their experience.

After a brief attempt to distinguish its direction, Klein discovered that the intense breathing came from the ruin ahead and to the side—from between the stones and stone pillars piled into a peak above the surface of the sea.

Just then, Bloodless Heath Doyle emerged from the shadows, clutching his head with both hands. In pain, he let out a low groan.

“There is a corpse…

“There is a corpse there!”

A corpse? A corpse giving off enormous breaths? As thoughts raced through Klein’s mind, Cattleya, who had instinctively removed her heavy glasses and looked toward the ruin, suddenly turned grave. She turned to the pirates in the dining room and said, “Quick!

“Accelerate around it. Do not approach!”

Her voice carried a faint magnetism, instantly snapping everyone awake. The sailors immediately rushed out of the dining room, heading to places where help was needed. Under the command of Navigator Ottolov and Boatswain Nina, they adjusted the sails, changed the route, and passed the ruin from a considerable distance.

Only after the peak formed from stacked stones and pillars vanished beyond the horizon did Bloodless Heath Doyle lower his hands, his expression no longer so pained.

Seeing this, Klein’s eyes narrowed slightly. He felt that this Rose Bishop, the Future’s second mate, might become a major hidden danger during this voyage.

This was not prejudice against Beyonders of the Secrets Suppliant pathway, but a judgment based on Admiral of Stars’ description and Heath Doyle’s reaction just now.

All of them had heard the tremendous breathing, yet only Heath Doyle had fallen into pain and instinctively believed that a corpse lay buried in that ruin. Cattleya’s reaction after checking indirectly confirmed his words.

In other words, even if Heath Doyle did not actively listen to the True Creator’s voice, as someone who possessed the Beyonder powers of a Listener, he could hear more than ordinary people and the vast majority of low- and mid-Sequence Beyonders in a normal environment. When he encountered the breathing just now, when the source was close enough, he suffered far greater influence and obtained more dangerous information.

Here, it was not enough to simply avoid ruins and relics of that kind. According to Admiral of Stars Cattleya, this sea was filled with voices that should not be heard—voices capable of making even demigods lose control. If one day Heath Doyle’s condition was poor, or perhaps too good, he might hear those fatal whispers.

In that regard, a Sequence 6 Rose Bishop might not be too far from a demigod who was not especially good at listening. To explain it with the Die of Probability, it would only need to roll a 2—not a 1—for Heath Doyle to go mad or lose control because of those voices that should not be heard… I should remind Madam Hermit, though she has likely already thought of it and made preparations… Klein withdrew his gaze and heard his stomach give a faint rumble.

He had not yet had time to eat breakfast.

By now, light beer had spilled across the floor. Cream had been trampled everywhere. Pan-fried fish, toast, white bread, and other foods were either lying on the ground or hanging from surfaces, all rather dirty.

If I cut off the outer layer, it should still be edible… Klein looked at a loaf of bread leaning against a table leg, hesitating over whether to act on the thought.

It conflicted somewhat with Gehrman Sparrow’s persona!

Just as he decided to wait for lunch, Admiral of Stars Cattleya instructed the cook, “Prepare breakfast again for everyone remaining.

“Give these to Frank. Perhaps—perhaps they will be useful to him.”

To cultivate monsters? Klein lampooned inwardly.

A while later, he finally ate a less plentiful breakfast than the first: one smoked pork sausage with two slices of toast crisped on the outside, along with a glass of light beer that had not been mixed with sedatives and was being used as drinking water.

Because they were sailing through an extremely dangerous sea, where unexpected incidents might happen at any moment, Klein employed the cafeteria-eating style he had developed during university and swept the breakfast clean in only a minute or two.

Leaving the pirate dining room, he came to the deck, half for a post-meal stroll and half to observe their surroundings.

At that moment, the sea remained in the state of being illuminated by noon sunlight, faintly tinted with gold.

Klein stopped and gazed for a while, seeing a point of light ahead and to the side grow larger and larger.

Under the sunlight, that light refracted dazzling, dreamlike, multicolored brilliance, like a huge transparent gemstone.

As the Future continued sailing forward, the light gradually revealed its true form.

First it split apart, then it became clear. It was, in fact, four gigantic pillars carved from pure diamond.

Like sea-supporting towers from myth and legend, they extended downward, standing firm as they held up a sizable floating island.

Upon the floating island, the soil was charred black, not a hint of green in sight. In its depths, light shone with extraordinary brilliance, surpassing even the noon sky.

Suddenly, a long neigh sounded from within.

The sound was loud and unrestrained, but it did not carry that hair-raising sense of danger.

Before long, Klein heard the clatter of galloping horses. Two steeds, as if forged from gold, charged out of the floating island. Behind them, they pulled an equally golden and magnificent war chariot.

At that moment, Admiral of Stars Cattleya’s voice, amplified by some power, anxiously echoed through every corner of the Future.

“Lower your heads!

“Do not look!”

Klein had never been someone who insisted on showing off. He instinctively followed the command, lowered his head, and looked at his leather boots.

He noticed that the sunlight shining on the deck grew brighter and brighter. Then, after reaching its peak, it waned rapidly, swiftly returning to its previous state.

“It’s fine now,” Cattleya’s voice echoed across the ship once more, without obvious emotional fluctuation.

Only then did Klein raise his head. The two golden horses and the ornate war chariot they had been pulling were already gone. The diamond pillars silently supported the floating island, letting brilliant radiance flow across them.

Such enormous diamonds… What a strange floating island. If I hadn’t lowered my head just now and had watched that golden chariot rush out, what would have happened? Klein looked left and right. His brows suddenly furrowed.

A pirate who had been only seven or eight meters away from him earlier had vanished. Where the man had stood, two blackened, oil-streaked footprints remained.

Looking at the ash drifting in midair, Klein faintly understood what would have happened if one had failed to lower their head.

Good thing Admiral of Stars has been here several times before and knows what must be avoided and when one must lower one’s head. If I’d hired Mr. Hanged Man, even if he were steering a ghost ship, we’d probably already have been wiped out… No. If the Future hadn’t arrived at the destination early and given me no buffer time, I would already have asked the Snake of Fate Will Auceptin about the relevant matters. A Magician does not perform unprepared… Besides, if I’d hired Mr. Hanged Man, I would definitely have purchased the corresponding intelligence from Madam Hermit at a Tarot Gathering… Klein first sighed, then quickly recovered his calm.

He did not suggest going to the floating island to take a look or explore. He simply allowed the Future to pass from the side and continue sailing forward.

For the next stretch of time, this sea seemed no different from the outside world. There was only the rise and fall of waves, empty, silent, boundless.

Klein occasionally saw piles of fire floating upon the water, but he found no trace of marine life, including any mermaid communities.

Time slipped by second by second, and lunch was soon ready.

Klein was just about to leave the deck and head toward the dining room when he suddenly realized the surroundings had darkened!

The sky, which had remained in a constant state of noon, had lost all sunlight and was now completely shrouded in dense darkness.

The change came so fast, so abruptly, that Klein’s first reaction was that someone had turned off the lights!

Silently, the Future became covered in a layer of resplendent starlight, illuminating paths leading to different areas.

Madam Hermit Cattleya’s slightly magnetic voice was amplified once again, echoing beside everyone’s ears.

“Return to your rooms, or find any corner. Let yourself fall asleep.

“Then wait to wake naturally.”

Toxin Expert Frank Lee asked loudly, somewhat puzzled, “What happens if we don’t sleep?”

At that moment, his voice boomed like a giant bear speaking.

Standing behind the captain’s cabin window, Cattleya replied, “When we wake, we will discover that you have disappeared. You will never be found again.”

The nights here are that terrifying? Klein was curious, but he had no desire whatsoever to test what would happen if he stayed awake.

He returned to his room. Borrowing the starlight from the Future that had not yet gone out, he spread out the paper crane, took out a pencil, and quickly wrote:

“What should one pay attention to when heading for the dangerous sea at the easternmost end of the Sonia Sea?

“Where in that sea can mermaids be found?”

Putting down the pencil and folding the paper crane, Klein lay directly on the bed without taking off his coat. With the help of meditation, he swiftly sank into sleep.

Within a gray, hazy world, he suddenly became lucid, clearly aware that he was dreaming.

No one invaded it… Klein looked around and discovered that he was standing at the top of a mountain. Behind him and to both sides were connected black buildings resembling a monastery. Before him stood a withered yellow tree and a protruding boulder.

At the top of the boulder, Admiral of Stars Cattleya sat alone, arms around her knees, leaning forward and gazing at the mountain peak opposite.

She still wore that classical black robe with its mysterious flavor. Her expression contained an indescribable confusion.

At that moment, she did not move at all, as if she had become a stone statue.

Why is she in my dream? Klein walked forward a few steps and leaped onto the boulder.

Before he had time to ask, he was suddenly shaken by the vast, open scene before him. It felt as though both his body and mind had been struck.

Before the boulder was a cliff whose bottom could not be seen. Across from the cliff stood a mountain covered in countless palaces, countless tall towers, and majestic city walls.

Those buildings were grand and magnificent, layered and encircling one another. Even each individual structure was extraordinarily massive, as though not meant for humans to inhabit. Together, they carried an indescribable sense of epic, miracle, and myth.

The sun hung extremely far away, casting the color of dusk over that city. Its light seemed almost solid.

“This is a dream we all share…” Cattleya remained seated with her arms around her knees, her voice like sleep-talking.