Chapter 740 – The Figure Before the End

Chapter 740 – The Figure Before the End
There were no words that could describe the shock that Zhou Ming received at this moment.

The knocking on the door was not very loud, and under normal circumstances it would have been an unusual sound, however, when it resounded in this single apartment, every sound was like a roar that shook the heavens and the earth, and blasted into Zhou Ming’s ears like a heavy hammer blow!

He stared wide-eyed for a moment, almost thinking that it was a hallucination that he had created after the series of events and disappointments, but then immediately came to his senses, realizing that the knocking was a real sound – and that it had continued unceasingly up until now.

He rushed to the door like a gust of wind, reached out and pressed the handle, but just as he was about to turn it, he suddenly hesitated for another two seconds.

Could he really open the door? Would this be a reckless fall into a trap?

If he had been trapped in this room in the beginning, he would never have had such worries, because at that time, he only thought that this fog was some kind of strange “phenomenon”, and was convinced that beyond the fog was the hometown he was familiar with, however, now, Zhou Ming had already known what had happened to his world However, now Zhou Ming already knew what had happened to his own world — his hometown had long since vanished, and the only thing left in the entire universe was his own hut, and the depths of that boundless fog …… were only the ashes of all things that had perished.

After the world died, who else will come to knock on his door?
Anyway, no matter how to think about it, it is unlikely to be a normal “living person”.

Zhou Ming weighed the situation with caution, while the knocking sound was still being patiently repeated, each time with an interval of three to five seconds, which was not too pushy, but also fully reflected the patience and persistence of the knocker, as if it was a polite but stubborn visitor who insisted on coming to pay a visit.

…… If you open the door, it may be a trap, but if you don’t open the door, you may miss the “visit” – no matter who’s at the door, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event, no matter who’s at the door, and it’s important to find out what it is.

Countless thoughts flashed through Zhou Ming’s mind, and in the end, he took a slight breath and secretly made up his mind, then he pressed the door handle with one hand, while the other gently brushed against the door frame.

Translucent illusory flames flowed and spread across the doorframe, forming a layer of burning hazy barrier.

After taking precautions and raising twelve points of vigilance in his heart, he then exerted force in his hand and then violently turned the handle, pulling the door open with an extremely fast speed.

There was no one outside the door, only the black mist that kept circling, rising and shrinking and writhing, as always.

Zhou Ming gasped heavily, feeling his heart thumping as he stared wide-eyed at the empty black mist, not coming back to his senses after a long time.

Was he the one who opened the door still a step too late? The visitor who knocked on the door had lost his patience? Was it really just that coincidental that the visitor left the moment he opened the door?
Zhou Ming frowned, he was certain that the knocking sound was still repeating until he opened the door, even if the other party had really lost patience, they shouldn’t have just instantly moved away.

He was hesitant in his mind, and all of a sudden, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

It was a knock – a knock that reached his ears again.

Zhou Ming snapped his eyes wide open, staring dead on at the circling and writhing black mist in front of him, and he finally sensed it – the knocking sound was actually coming from the black mist.

The voice sounded very close, as if it was right next to the surface of that layer of fog, reaching out to touch it, yet even if he opened his eyes wider, Zhou Ming was unable to see anything from the fog, and as he reached out his hand again to probe into the thick fog, he could only feel the empty, cold touch – there was nothing there.

There was only the sound of knocking on the door repeating over and over again, still very patient.

Zhou Ming slowly withdrew his hand that was probing into the black fog, and stood quietly in the doorway, listening to the knocking that seemed like it would never stop, calming the storm in his mind.

There was a visitor who was trying to open the “hut” on the opposite side of the black mist, but ta was blocked by the shell of the “cocoon”.

After a long period of silent contemplation, Zhou Ming suddenly raised his head, thought of something, turned around and quickly ran to his desk.

He hurriedly packed up a few things – a whiteboard pen, paper, a roll of tape measure, a ball of thread, and many other odds and ends, then wrapped them all up in a plastic bag and carried them to the door.

Then he found a slip of paper on which he hastily scribbled a line in the common language of the infinite sea: “I hear you, who are you?”

He stuck this note to the mouth of the plastic bag, and then without hesitation, threw the bag at the hovering and writhing black mist.

The plastic bag filled with sundries was swallowed up by the writhing mist in the blink of an eye and disappeared into the depths of darkness.

Zhou Ming’s eyes widened as he watched the direction of the bag’s disappearance, even his breathing subconsciously slowed down a lot, he had never waited so nervously for “something” to happen, not even when the fire in Pouland burned up, he hadn’t been so tense.

The knocking stopped, the second after the bag of groceries passed through the black fog.

Obviously, the “visitor” on the other side of the black fog had received the “gift” he had sent out, and reacted to it – but Zhou Ming waited for a long time, but did not get any more responses.

In addition to the knocking sound stopping, no more information came.

Until finally.

The goat’s head on the navigational table suddenly sensed something, and immediately squeaked and swiveled its neck to look at the door to the captain’s cabin – a tall, imposing figure opened the door and walked in, with slightly heavy steps.

“Name?”

“Duncan Abnomar.”

Duncan slowly made his way behind the chart table and took a seat in the reclining chair, letting out a long breath as if to expel all the exhaustion and jumbled thoughts with the cloudy breath.

Goat head instantly noticed the captain’s state, it had already brewed a paragraph almost can read five minutes of aria to greet the captain by discussing the unique climate of the border, at this time all of a sudden all pressed back, after hesitating for a moment before cautiously open his mouth: “You …… are all right? ? Do you seem to be in a bad mood?”

Duncan glanced at Goathead and said casually, “Someone knocked on the door and got stood up.”

Goathead thought hard for a moment, “…… This has something to do with Aye?”

Duncan waved his hand, long accustomed to this kind of ass-kicking.

“It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Aey,” Goathead was even more accustomed to it, quickly adjusting his mind and changing the subject after realizing that the captain didn’t want to say much, “We’re almost through the fog of the Eternal Curtain, Captain, are we going to return directly to Lightwind Harbor next, or do we have other plans? ”

“…… Return to Lightwind Harbor, during this time I need to organize my thoughts, and in the meantime discuss something with those popes – they should all be staying in the city-state during this time. ”

“Yes Captain,” Goathead said immediately, then it opened its mouth again and visibly hesitated before continuing, “Also, what do you think of what Vanna and Maurice reported?”

“You mean the ‘figures’ they witnessed before evacuating Sanctuary Island?”

“Yes,” said Goathead, “cloaked in tattered robes, looking like apparitions of the Final Preacher, but not in contact with anyone, as if independent of another dimension of space and time …… This sounds different from what we used to know about the Ultimate Preacher doesn’t seem to be the same, and they appeared on the island of the Holy Land …… I always feel that this matter is not too unusual.”

Duncan mused slightly, then casually fished out a palm-sized piece of photographic paper and placed it on the chart table for a closer look.

It was something Maurice had handed himself during the previous meeting in the cabin – the only piece of evidence the old scholar had collected when he witnessed those suspicious figures that had suddenly surfaced on Sanctuary Island.

The image on the photographic paper was not very clear, a kind of thin streak covering the whole picture like some kind of interference or veil covering, but it was still possible to distinguish the black door located in the depths of the cavern, as well as the blurred white figure next to the black door.

The white figure clad in tattered robes had his features blurred into a mass, and it could only be judged by his posture and position that he seemed to be watching something carefully – watching the black door, or whatever was behind it.

“…… The End Preachers that appeared before people’s eyes in the past were either maniacs who had lost their minds and only knew how to preach their doomsday theories insanely, or scholars who still had their senses and tried to convey a message or guide something to the witnesses,” Goathead chimed in, “This is the first time there have been such phantoms that don’t communicate with people at all, they all seem to be so busy with their own business that they don’t even notice the heat of the fight going on in the neighborhood, it’s like ……”

Duncan spoke softly, “It’s like travelers in a hurry, on a trek.”

Goathead was stunned for a moment, “What do you mean ……”

“Just a sudden association,” Duncan looked up, “They appear to be intoxicated with their work and not the least bit responsive to their surroundings, perhaps …… what we are seeing is the Terminal Survey that is traveling through the timestream observing the team – this is what they look like ‘on the road’.”

Goathead’s mouth dropped open, “…… That means that what Vanna and Maurice are seeing are phantoms left behind by those Cretans as they travel through the time stream? But there’s never been a sighting of that before ……”

“Perhaps it has something to do with the particular circumstances of the border, or perhaps ……”

Duncan paused and shook his head after a moment of silence.

“Or perhaps this is another omen.”

Goathead didn’t respond for a moment, “Another omen?”

“The Final Survey team that set out from the beginning of the Deep Age in the first place had reached as far as the ‘End of Time’, the final hour of the Asylum,” Duncan said calmly, gazing into Goathead’s eyes, “and that would mean that the ……”

He didn’t go on, but Goathead had responded, “That means we’ll meet them at the end of time, the end of time, the only time our time streams and theirs will truly converge ……”

Duncan didn’t say anything, just looked quietly at the photo on the chart table, at the shadowy figure that stood by the black door, seemingly scrutinizing something.

I don’t know if it was an illusion or not, but he felt that the hazy figure seemed to clear up a little bit more.

(End of chapter)