Chapter 264: Captains Warning

To be fair, Vanna had rarely been afraid of anything throughout her life, but Captain Duncan Abnomar always seemed to bring her a variety of “unexpected situations.”

In the dream-locked room, there was a boundless dark sea outside the window, an eerie light hovering high in the sky, and beneath the quiet night, someone knocked on the door.

Almost instinctively, Vanna wanted to summon her broadsword in her dream and charge toward the door – luckily, she managed to control this impulse just in time.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

The knocking continued at a leisurely pace, with great patience and politeness.

Taking several deep breaths, Vanna wasn’t sure what expression to wear, so she could only try to make her voice sound normal while keeping a straight face: “Come in.”

With a click, the handle turned, and the dark wooden door was pushed open from the outside. A tall and imposing figure appeared before Vanna and stepped into the room.

Behind this figure lay pure darkness as if it were the edge of the dream – beyond the edge, there was no existence, only the “void.”

“Good afternoon, Vanna – this time, I knocked.” Duncan entered the room, giving Vanna a friendly smile.

Vanna silently watched the ghostly captain walk to the nearby liquor cabinet, taking out a bottle and two wine glasses before taking a seat on the chair with the backrest.

“Why don’t you come sit?” Duncan raised his eyebrows and glanced at the young inquisitor still standing near the window, gesturing to the empty seat across from him. “You don’t look too happy.”

After hesitating for a moment, Vanna finally sat down across from Duncan with a peculiar expression, cautiously observing his every move as he poured the drinks. After a while, she sighed, “Don’t you think this is even scarier?”

“Is it?” Duncan looked at Vanna with some surprise, then glanced around the dream he had painstakingly created – the cozy, everyday décor, and the friendly glass of wine in his hand – and furrowed his brow uncertainly. “Then next time, I’ll try a brighter color scheme...”

“I don’t think it’s the color...” Vanna’s eyebrows twitched, but she sighed with mixed emotions immediately after, “Well, at least I do feel your ‘good intentions’... They’re somewhat scary, but I can more or less confirm their authenticity.”

Duncan pushed a glass of wine toward her, “Seems like a good thing.”

“Thank you,” Vanna took the glass, hesitated as she looked at the clear liquid with a hint of golden red, and after a long pause, she set it aside. Then she looked up at the captain across from her, “Is this another dream – a room on the Vanished?”

“It’s partly based on that, but not entirely. I’ve arranged it according to my personal preferences,” Duncan said unhurriedly. “Actually, I’m not very good at weaving dreams. I prefer entering existing dreams directly, but since you were sleeping restlessly, with shattered and chaotic dreams, I prepared a place for you to rest properly.”

Vanna didn’t pay attention to Duncan’s last sentence; she simply turned her head to look outside the window and asked her biggest question, “What is that glowing thing in the sky outside? Is it also your ‘personal preference’?”

Duncan fell silent for a moment, his gaze shifting to the window. Illuminated by the moonlight, he pondered for a while before sighing and shaking his head, “I suppose so. I don’t really like the pale, cold glow of the World’s Creation; it’s not gentle enough, and it feels full of malice. As for the one you see now... you can call it the ‘moon.'”

“Guardians never let their guard down, huh... My impression of you has improved slightly,” Duncan said, then suddenly asked, “So what’s your take on this?”

“...That would depend on the feedback from the Grand Storm Cathedral,” Vanna said in a matter-of-fact tone, “All we can do in Pland is report what we’ve observed. We are not a research facility, and we can’t think of any way to intervene in the operation of Vision 001.”

After pondering for a moment, she shook her head uncertainly, “Perhaps even the Grand Storm Cathedral won’t provide clear feedback. Vision 001... its operation affects the entire world, and its abnormalities have alarmed more than just one church.”

As she spoke, Vanna seemed to suddenly realize something and looked up at Duncan, “You’ve come to talk to me about this. Do you know something? Do you know what’s wrong with Vision 001?”

Duncan didn’t answer immediately.

He couldn’t help but recall the brief, strange dream he’d had.

In the dream, massive light bodies fell like a meteor shower, and the entire world gradually turned dark. In the end, all that remained in the sky was a horrifying, dark emptiness, like a void or a dying eye.

At the time, he hadn’t gleaned anything from this dream, but now, he seemed to get a glimpse into the omen hidden within it.

“I can’t be sure, Vanna,” he finally broke the silence, calmly staring into her eyes, “But I think this is just the beginning.”

A chill spread slowly down her spine as Vanna discerned some extremely unsettling information from those words, “Just the beginning?”

“Right now, I don’t have enough evidence, but my guess is that Vision 001 actually has a ‘lifespan,'” Duncan said seriously, “What the ancient Kingdom of Crete left for future generations is not eternal protection but temporary peace. The sun above our heads... is likely about to fail.

“As for when the evidence will arrive...”

Duncan paused, then continued:

“Perhaps huge fragments will fall from the sky, and that will be the ticking of the countdown.

“More likely, the first fragment has already fallen, just out of sight of the civilized world.”

As the chill and unease spread in her heart, Vanna’s eyes drooped, hiding all the changes in her gaze, while her hand slowly picked up the wine glass beside her, unconsciously bringing it to her lips, seemingly trying to calm herself with alcohol.

She took a sip, frowned slightly, and looked up at Duncan, “It has no taste...”

“Of course there’s no taste,” Duncan laughed and raised his glass slightly to Vanna, “Because you’re about to wake up.”

Vanna abruptly opened her eyes, finding herself still sitting in the moving steam car with the high tower and main building of the cathedral appearing in her view.

Breathing a bit heavily, she heard a subordinate’s voice from the front, “Ah, you’re awake. Perfect timing, we’re nearly at the cathedral.”