Chapter 830 The End of Ashes

The "flames" among the stars flowed at the edge of this world. In Duncan-Zhou Ming's perception, he seemed to clearly see the starlight slowly connecting into a ring—

Each spark he left on the four nodes of the external barrier was now evenly spreading starlight outward. These starlight beams were now gradually penetrating and covering those nodes, covering the "Ancient Gods" that constituted those nodes, covering their authority, covering their essence, covering their memories, covering… their information.

Just as he had discerned the secrets hidden behind the golden sun mask when he first permeated it with his flames, and just as he usually used flames to peer into and control those extraordinary items, he was essentially doing the same thing now.

Every piece of data in this world, from its initial birth to its final end, was gradually reflected in his mind during this process.

Because in the eyes of the "Reverse Singularity," this entire Boundless Sea, this gradually cooling pile of ashes that stubbornly pretended civilization still had a breath left, was itself an "extraordinary item."

Alice lowered her head, looking at Duncan curiously, "Captain, how much longer do we have to wait here?"

"We can leave now," Duncan said softly. "Nina and the others have safely returned to the Boundless Sea, and it's time for us to move on to the next place."

Alice was very curious, "The next place? You haven't told me where it is yet…"

"We have to find it ourselves—but it shouldn't be difficult." Duncan said slowly, then lowered his head, looking at something placed beside him.

It was an ancient and exquisite hourglass, the "vitality" that Bartok, the God of Death, had left for Gomona, the Goddess of Storms. Three days ago, Duncan had taken this hourglass from the temple.

Now, the sand representing vitality in the hourglass had almost completely run out.

Duncan picked up the hourglass, and a wisp of flame burned illusionally and quietly within the hourglass container. The last few remaining grains of sand did not fall but floated in the center of the container within the flame. He gazed at that last bit of "vitality," hearing faint and tiny voices coming from them, then nodded gently, "Yes, I'm about to leave."

The faint voices seemed to be saying goodbye to him, but it was almost impossible to hear any information.

But Duncan seemed to have understood all the meaning. He smiled, his tone gentle and pleasant, "Ah, that sounds good… Want to be with friends again, want to travel again, have a lively troupe… and also want to open a souvenir shop?

"Okay, I understand, I'll arrange it… No need to doubt or worry, it will happen. This is a one-time opportunity to customize the world and the future—you all deserve this opportunity.

"…Yes, it will take some time, a very, very long time, but don't worry, I have plenty of time. For eternity, it only takes a blink…

"Now, we're leaving, Gomona, goodbye—sweet dreams."

The last bit of sand quietly dissipated in the flame, and the hourglass silently disintegrated into dust, which drifted away in the wind. The entire island began to sink little by little in the flames of the spreading starlight.

Duncan stood up and waved his hand to open the fiery portal to the Vanishing Sailboat.

A moment later, they had returned to the Vanishing Sailboat—under the control of the Goat Head, the ship was steadily passing through the mist between the Leviathan Islands, approaching the edge of the Node Sea.

Duncan took Alice to the captain's cabin. The moment the door opened, the Goat Head, who had been spacing out at the edge of the nautical chart table, immediately turned his head. This conscientious first mate, taking advantage of the captain not telling him to shut up, let out a long sigh and began to blather:

"Ah, I'm really a bit unaccustomed to the ship being so quiet. Usually at this time, Miss Vanna should be starting to exercise on the deck, and Shirley must be taking Ah-Gou everywhere on 'adventures.' At first, I felt they were too noisy and always thought about when I could have some peace and quiet. I didn't expect it to really quiet down all of a sudden, but now I feel so unaccustomed. It's clearly just returning to the ship's initial state. Thinking about how quickly time has passed, you say, the human heart is really a wonderful thing. How did I not expect to experience so many things? Of course, I can't be considered to have a human heart now, okay, I'm done talking, I'll shut up."

The Goat Head simply and neatly shut his mouth, not giving Duncan a chance to shout "Shut up"—the latter felt that the dense, impenetrable words were like a wall crushing him. Just as he was about to open his mouth to tell this guy to shut up, he didn't expect him to learn to answer preemptively. As a result, he stubbornly held the two words in his throat, unable to get them up or down, and could only stare at the wooden carving on the table, muttering after a long while, "You can shut up on your own?"

The Goat Head was expressionless (of course, that hard face usually didn't have any expression): "Yeah, I just need to finish what I have to say."

Duncan was choked again. He suspected that this guy was doing it on purpose, and the evidence was sufficient, but the Goat Head certainly didn't care about that, so he could only keep a straight face: "…Then you continue to shut up here. Alice and I are going to solve the next navigation problem."

The Goat Head was concise: "Understood."

Duncan's mouth twitched. He led the doll towards the bedroom deep in the captain's cabin, unable to resist muttering to Alice in a low voice as he approached: "I'll make a note of it later. I have to add a setting to the new world that anyone who doesn't use punctuation when speaking will have their tongue twisted…"

Alice also leaned over and muttered, "But Mr. Goat Head doesn't have a tongue at all. His voice comes directly from his neck…"

Duncan entered the room and closed the door casually. Hearing this, he turned his head to look at the doll. "Now that you mention it, I'm curious. Do you have a tongue?"

"Yes," Alice opened her mouth in all seriousness, pulling at the corners of her mouth with her fingers. "Look—blblbl, tongue."

"…I'm really curious about how that faulty copy of Navigator One managed to 'create' you in the first place. You even made a tongue, couldn't you have reinforced the joints?" Duncan looked at the lovely doll with a subtle expression, turned around, and came to the bedside. Then, he took out the wind-up key used to activate the "Navigator Alice Manor" and waved it in front of the doll.

Without the captain needing to order anything, Alice sat down in front of Duncan with practiced ease, turned around, pulled down the zipper on her back, and revealed the keyhole.

Duncan picked up the navigator key, but before turning the wind-up, he looked at Alice's back and suddenly fell silent for a moment before speaking, "Alice, I have a question."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Have you ever thought about… wanting anything? Like something you want, or a wish, like… no longer being a 'doll'?"

Alice buttoned her clothes while turning her head in confusion. "No, is there anything wrong with being a doll?"

"Do you have any requests or ideas about the new world and the future?" Duncan said very seriously. "In this matter, Nina and the others all have their own ideas to some extent. Shirley wants a large area of freedom, Maurice wants to have space for research and exploration, and even the Leviathan Queen has her own wishes to fulfill, but you… you've always been quiet. When we discuss the new world, you've never expressed an opinion."

Alice was stunned, seemingly thinking very seriously about the captain's question, but after a while, she still shook her head, "Because I really don't have any opinions."

Duncan frowned slightly.

"Because I'm not dissatisfied with anything, everything is fine," Alice said very seriously. "And I don't know what the new world should have. What I've seen since the day I 'woke up' is all here. As long as these are there, nothing else… is needed. And being a doll is also pretty good. I like it the way it is now."

She paused suddenly at this point and quickly added, "Ah, if I had to say, then I still want to be with you in the new world—I'm not used to living in a city-state."

Duncan was stunned. The surprise and astonishment on his face finally changed into a little helpless and gentle smile.

"Okay," he nodded gently, reaching out to press Alice's hair. "I'll take you with me, but that's just the basics—if you really don't know what you want, then leave it to me. I'll help you think of it and make it happen."

"Oh, okay!" Alice nodded happily, moving around on the bed to turn around, but suddenly seemed to remember something and turned her head happily, "Oh, right, I want a new frying pan, a smaller one, the kind that can make small sweet pancakes. Please add that."

"…Okay, I've written it down," Duncan was stunned for a moment, a gentle smile gradually appearing on his face. He nodded solemnly, "In the new world, Alice wants a new frying pan."

"The kind to make small sweet pancakes!"

"Yes, the kind to make small sweet pancakes."

The wind-up key slid into the keyhole. With a click, the key rotated on its own in the doll's keyhole—light and shadow shifted, the five senses reset, and Duncan opened his eyes, seeing that he had returned to the position where he had left Alice Manor before.

The main hall of Navigator Three.

Dim light sprinkled down from the high sky. In the center of the gloomy hall, a "tree" quietly stood, formed by cables, pipes, and metal branch structures intertwined together. At the edge of the platform where the tree roots were located, the doll holding a drawing board slowly opened her eyes—like a robot gradually starting up after being powered on. She woke up little by little, then a smile appeared on her face.

"Captain! We're in again!"

Duncan nodded, walking over to help the doll, who was a little unaccustomed because she had just woken up, to stand up.

"Captain, what are we going to do next? Are we going to say hello to the Black Sun at the door? Are we going to find that… next route you mentioned?"

Duncan looked down at the "drawing board" in Alice's hand.

This so-called "drawing board" was essentially the surviving "functional interface" of Navigator Three.

"I want you to search for something," he said.

"Search for something? Search for what?"

"The New Hope's escape pod—it was lost at the end of the ashes."

(Book recommendation time, Toad's new book *The First Magic World War*—

Charlotte Mecklenburg transmigrated to the Fals Empire, wanting only to be an alien continent civil servant. He is not a combat personnel… but who would have thought that clerical staff would also have to go to the battlefield!

Recommending a book at the end, highlighting that after nurturing, life and death are up to fate…)

(End of this chapter)