Sinking

Lu Yuan didn't walk out on his own; he was absurdly pushed out by the silk threads, as if he were being rejected or protected by something.

As he was being pushed out, Lu Yuan desperately turned his head, wanting to take one last look at those people.

Old Morgan, Hans, Mary, Allen, Xi Wading —their bodies were contorted.

Scales emerged from under the skin, bluish-gray, one on top of another, covering the back of the hands, arms, cheeks, and eventually the entire body.

The gill slits were torn open on both sides of the neck, and fresh blood gushed out, which quickly congealed into mucus.

Webbed membranes grow between the fingers, and the nails fall off, replaced by black keratin.

Their eyes eventually changed; the pupils dilated, the irises faded, and they eventually turned a dead fish-like gray.

Those who once fought alongside him are no longer human.

They were forced to abandon their human identities and transform into the creatures of the Deep Sea.

Lu Yuan saw it the instant the door closed behind him.

The sea level exploded.

It wasn't just waves; the entire ocean was boiling and roaring.

A hundred-meter-high wave rose from the sea, its crest churning with black foam, carrying wrecked ships and unidentified debris.

Amidst the surging waves, countless tentacles rose into the sky.

Each one was thicker than a city wall, its surface covered with scales and suckers, twisting in the air and obscuring half the sky.

The earth began to tear apart.

Starting from the coastline, the cracks spread into the inner city at a visible speed, buildings collapsed in the cracks, roads were broken into pieces, and the whole of Grim Port looked like a biscuit that had been broken into pieces.

Tentacles wrapped around the edge of the city, around the collapsed Clock Tower, around the burning Church.

Then they tightened.

Grim Port was being dragged along, sliding into the sea.

Lu Yuan heard the sound; it was countless people singing in unison.

Those towering, Flesh Tree stood close together, their heads singing something aloud.

A low, grinding sound came from the ground—the sound of the city's foundation separating from the mainland.

Seawater rushed into the cracks, swept through the streets, and submerged every building.

The entire city sank before Lu Yuan's eyes, the last thing to disappear being the Church spire. The Angel Statue on it swayed a few times in the seawater before being swallowed by the waves.

Grim Port has vanished.

Along with everyone inside.

At the edge of my field of vision, gray and white text danced silently:

[Grim Port Status: 51/50]

[You witnessed the sinking of a remote port of the Auris Empire]

[This place has been erased from memory and physically.]

[You are... the one who was overlooked, and also the witness; you will carry the burden of untold history as you move forward.]

[You've gained more attention, unlocking the passive skill - The Hidden Witness (1/1). After witnessing history that should have been forgotten, you've gained something incomprehensible to ordinary people: your memories can never be affected or erased by external forces.]

[Sanity III: +70/70 (Experience)]

[Level Up! Sanity IV: 1/120 (Experience)]

[You've taken another step forward in pushing the limits of human reason; perhaps you truly can walk in the real world.]

[Forbidden Studies - Seeker: +40...48.3/50]

[Current Status of the Auris Empire: +2...2/100]

A series of prompts appeared one after another, but Lu Yuan no longer had the energy to look at them, and the Parchment Scroll in his hand rolled up automatically.

The red threads connecting the body detached from the skin, turning into tiny ashes that dissipated into the air.

Lu Yuan looked down at his left hand.

The skin was charred black and Flesh, its original shape unrecognizable.

But he couldn't feel any pain, he couldn't feel anything at all.

He stiffly stuffed the Parchment Scroll into his pocket.

At this moment, the Formation on the Parchment Scroll had completely disappeared, leaving only a dry, blank scroll.

He stood at the end of a broken road, with a cliff in front of him and the sea below.

Grim Port used to be there.

Now there's nothing left.

Meanwhile, in the Auris Empire, in its Golden City...

A platinum spire pierces the sky in the heart of the city, its tip disappearing into the clouds.

Around the spire, layers of palaces and temples unfold outwards like steps, their red tiles and golden walls gleaming in the sunlight, resembling a mountain range built of gold.

On the outermost edge of the city, a huge arched Dome stretches across the sky, like a crown left behind by a god, enveloping the entire capital.

The Dome is engraved with dense runes, which appear and disappear in the clouds, radiating an ancient and solemn brilliance.

A straight avenue extends from the foot of the spire, wide enough for ten carriages to travel side by side.

The avenue was lined with shops and mansions, bustling with pedestrians, noble carriages, merchants' wagons, and Scholar in long robes—everything was orderly.

There is no darkness, no madness here; it's as if the nightmare of Grim Port is just a story from another world.

Inside the spire, in the Imperial Map Hall.

A circular hall with Dome hundreds of meters high, where sunlight pours down from the skylight at the top, forming golden beams of light in the air.

A huge, solid gold relief map was embedded in the wall, marking every inch of the empire's territory and every city.

An elderly man with white hair, dressed in a long robe with gold trim, was pacing in the hall, holding a scroll in his hands.

A soft "click."

The old man stopped and turned to look in the direction from which the sound came.

In the western corner of the giant map, a small piece of metal broke off from the relief and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

The old man walked over, bent down to pick up the piece of metal, looked at the gap on the map, and frowned.

"When did the Empire... gain an extra piece?" he muttered to himself, frowning. "I seem to have... forgotten something."

He stood there for a moment, trying to recall something, but his mind was blank.

Shaking his head, the old man casually placed the piece of metal on the windowsill and turned to leave.

Outside the window, the golden capital city remained as prosperous as ever, its enormous Dome shimmering with eternal light under the sun.

No one knows that somewhere in the western part of the empire, there once stood a small town called Grim Port.

A light rain began to fall.

Lu Yuan stood at the end of the broken road, looking at the sea before him. The sea breeze carried a salty, fishy smell and a faint scent of blood.

Lu Yuan's previously chaotic mind gradually regained a sliver of reason.

[Sanity: +1...2/120 (Available value)]

Old Morgan's face appeared before my eyes—his scaly face, his eyes that remained clear until the very end, and his silent "Go."

Hans, Mary, Allen, and others whose names he couldn't recall.

They were all in that city.

They've all sunk to the bottom of the sea now.

Lu Yuan opened his mouth, as if to shout something, but every word he uttered about Grim Port seemed to be blocked by something, turning into a silent murmur.

"Live on, yes, live on."

As if remembering something, Lu Yuan stiffly turned around to face the road.

The road stretched eastward and disappeared into the rain.

He didn't know where the road led, or what awaited him ahead.

But he had no other choice.

Step.

Another step.

I walked forward stiffly, not knowing where I was going, just walking.

The rain hit my face, icy cold.

Lu Yuan couldn't tell if it was rainwater or something else.

Confusion, despair, and numbness intertwined.

But most of the time, there are blank spaces.

Lu Yuan's figure grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared into the rain.

Behind me was an empty sea.

It was as if there had never been a city there.