The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

Those eyes held no wisdom or emotion, only a pure, indifferent emptiness and madness, like an abyss.

An invisible and irresistible mental pressure swept across the entire sea like a tsunami, and the Alai family instantly felt a tearing pain in their souls and fainted.

Only Shen Ge managed to stay conscious under this mental onslaught thanks to the strange, dormant yet still powerful essence within him.

Even so, his brain felt as if it were being pierced by countless steel needles, and countless bizarre and fantastical illusions appeared before his eyes.

This is the truth about this island.

It is not an island, but a "cocoon"!
A cocoon of life that gives birth to this... indescribable thing.

Whether it's the World Tree, the underground base, or even those so-called eccentric researchers, they are all just "parasites" that were unintentionally spawned during its long gestation process.

With the monster fully awakened, the island, like a cocoon, finally completed its mission, sinking completely into the sea and being swallowed by the boiling darkness.

The colossal creature did not pursue their tiny, dust-like ship. It seemed indifferent to everything around it, simply and slowly, steadily, heading in a predetermined direction, sinking into the deep sea and disappearing into the distance.

As it departed, the strange phenomena in the sky and the raging sea miraculously subsided.

The dark clouds dispersed, the lightning disappeared, leaving only the still turbulent sea, a testament to the devastating scene that had just unfolded.

Shen Ge took a heavy breath, the excruciating pain slowly receding from his mind. He helped up the unconscious Alai and the others, settling them in the cabin.

He went to the helm and corrected the course.

The sea breeze caressed his slightly tired face, but a deep sense of regret welled up in his heart.

Ark Zero.

That interstellar spaceship, slumbering deep within the base, was the optimal solution for him to leave this distorted world and return to "reality".

But now, with the sinking of the entire island, the ark has also been buried in the deep sea, thousands of meters below.

The ship he poured his heart and soul into building could take him to conquer the ocean, but it couldn't take him across the stars.

"...I hope this thing of yours can lead me to find it again." Shen Ge's eyes narrowed, and he took out a palm-sized metal device from his pocket.

This is a locator he found during his last entry into the underground base to explore the bridge of the "Ark".

At that time, it still had a small amount of energy, and a series of complex spatial coordinates flickered on the screen.

Shen Ge couldn't understand what the coordinates represented, but he knew that they must be crucial to those eccentric researchers.

He brought it out, and now this unassuming device has become his only connection to the Ark Zero.

He tried to start the device, and after the screen flickered a few times, it lit up faintly.

The complex spatial coordinates above have disappeared, replaced by a constantly flashing point of light and a set of slowly changing depth and pressure data.

It's still working!
It's like a beacon, an anchor point, precisely marking the tombstone of the spaceship that sank into the abyss on this vast ocean.

Shen Ge gripped the positioning device tightly.

He knew that perhaps long afterward, when he possessed enough power to confront the terrors of the deep sea, he would return to this area once more.

For that hope, perhaps, that could bring him truly home.

He carefully put the instrument away from his body and turned his gaze back forward.

The horizon is shrouded in a thick, perpetual fog, and no one knows whether beyond that fog lies continent, a new wasteland, or an even deeper despair.

But whatever it may be, they must move forward.

Because in this restarted, bizarre world, stagnation is tantamount to death.

……

On the tenth day of their voyage, the passion and sense of new beginnings of "Ark No. 1" were completely extinguished by the most cruel enemy of the sea—

survive.

They fled in such a hurry that the fresh water they carried was only enough to last for less than half a month.

Even if some conversion instruments are used to turn seawater into fresh water, the problem of "water shortage" for the people cannot be solved at its root.

Fortunately, the Alai family's "fisherman" nature allows them to survive in the sea, but for Shen Ge, it's torture.

Furthermore, the smoked jerky was being consumed rapidly, and the endless brine surrounding them seemed to mock their hunger with every drop.

Before, when they were on the fishing boat, the Alai family could barely make a living by fishing, but whether it was due to the sea area or the impact of the sinking island, there are almost no fish in this sea area.

Moreover, the seabed was terrifyingly dark, as if sunlight could not penetrate the surface. For safety reasons, Shen Ge did not dare to let the two brothers go into the water rashly.

For the first few days, Kyle and Roca excitedly took turns standing guard on the mast's lookout, hoping to spot new islands.

But day after day, all that met his eyes, besides the unpredictable weather, was that despairing, eternal blue.

Hope is being quietly devoured by unseen hunger.

Shen Ge stood at the bow of the ship, silently observing everything.

He knew that morale was being depleted faster than resources. If supplies couldn't be found soon, the ship would collapse from the inside before their bodies could even move.

He turned his gaze to the nautical chart, the tattered one he had found in the underground base, marked with Old World ocean currents and topography. Although the landscape of this world had long since been transformed, some fundamental geographical features might still retain traces.

Based on the vague markings on the nautical chart, he deduced that there should be an archipelago to the northwest of their route. However, in reality, a huge, perpetually thick fog clung to the horizon in that direction.

The fog was so thick, like cotton wool, that it completely stitched the sea and the sky together, obscuring all light and exuding an aura of deathly stillness that instinctively repelled people.

The Alai family instinctively avoided that direction; in their cultural tradition, that "dark fog" was the lair of sea monsters and the realm of the dead.

But Shen Ge saw a glimmer of hope within that terrifying fog.

Such dense sea fog indicates extremely high humidity and extremely low temperatures. Fog means there is a possibility of water vapor condensation.

More importantly, it might be a barrier to some huge island or continental plate, containing everything they desperately need.

"Roca, turn around." Shen Ge's voice wasn't loud, but it could be clearly heard on the deck.

Roca was startled, an expression of disbelief on his face. But absolute obedience to Shen Ge's orders was already ingrained in his bones.

He didn't ask any questions, but gritted his teeth and turned the heavy bone rudder.

As the bow of "Ark One" entered the edge of the dense fog, a cold, damp air instantly enveloped the entire ship.

The temperature plummeted, as if we had stepped from the height of summer into the depths of winter.

Everyone shuddered. Within minutes, visibility dropped from several kilometers to less than ten meters. All around, in all directions, above and below, inside and out, was a thick, milky-white fog that flowed slowly.

As the ship sails, the sound of the waves is barely audible; only the monotonous "whoosh" of the hull cutting through the water and the occasional rustling of the membrane sails in the breeze are amplified, making it seem particularly eerie.

They seemed to have entered a white cage, isolated from the world.

"Brother...look at this." Roca's voice trembled slightly. After two years of study, he could communicate with Shen Ge with some difficulty, although his pronunciation was still not very clear.

He pointed to the simple compass in front of him, made by Shen Ge using lodestone and animal bones. The bone needle pointing north was now spinning wildly and erratically, like a madman.

Shen Ge walked over, her eyes narrowing.

The compass is malfunctioning.

This means that the magnetic field, or rather, the physical laws of this place, have fallen into chaos.

Then, something even stranger happened.

"Did you... hear anything?" The first to notice something was wrong was Moya, whose senses were the most acute. She curled up in Alai's arms and asked softly.

A faint singing voice, seemingly coming from the distant seabed, pierced through the heavy hull and drifted into everyone's ears.

The song had no lyrics, only an ethereal and sorrowful melody that repeated itself endlessly, like some kind of ancient requiem, filled with an indescribable allure.

Alai hugged Moya tightly, while Ellie clung to her, cautiously glancing around.

Kyle and Roca gripped their bone spears tightly, staring intently at the thick fog around them where nothing could be seen.

The singing became clearer and clearer.

Just then, Alai's body suddenly froze.

She stared blankly at the thick fog on the right side of the ship, and for the first time, confusion and vulnerability appeared in her usually resolute blue eyes.

"Is it...is it you? Mother, Father!" she called out to her parents in a dreamlike voice.

At the edge of the thick fog, two tall, blurry figures appeared and disappeared.

"Mom?" Kyle saw it too, and he instantly gripped the bone spear tightly, but his hand was trembling.

There is more than one illusion.

Soon, Kyle and Roca were joined by their childhood playmates.

The phantoms smiled and silently beckoned to them, as if inviting them to join a tribal bonfire party.

The atmosphere on the ship instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Reason told them it was all fake, but the bonds of emotion, like invisible threads, firmly pulled their minds toward those false illusions.

Shen Ge also saw a hallucination.

But those weren't the primitive tribespeople that Alai's family had seen; instead, they were several figures with resolute faces, dressed in the standard combat uniforms of the Special Tactics Department.

In a daze, he saw familiar figures again.

Cheng Shengnan, Fang Mingyue, Yun'er... Then, the scene returned to the ark, where someone was softly calling him "Master".

But Shen Ge only took a second to completely sever the emotions that surged up in that instant, and his eyes returned to absolute coldness and calm.

"Don't embarrass yourself by showing off this level of demonic energy corruption, right?" Shen Ge only lost his demonic energy, not his rank.

It's like a kettle. If you pour out the water, it's still a kettle. It doesn't become a cup just because you pour out the water.

The intensity of this strange energy was not high, at most no more than the fifth level, so it only affected Shen Ge for a moment before disappearing.

"Everyone, plug your ears! Don't look, don't listen!" Shen Ge shouted, his voice like thunder from a clear sky, instantly waking the confused Alai family.

Alai woke up with a start, his face instantly soaked with cold sweat.

She immediately tore off a piece of her clothing, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into her own, Ellie's, and Moya's ears. Kyle and Roca, as if waking from a dream, followed her example and blocked out the deadly song.

"Roca, give up on determining direction, maintain speed, and move forward in a straight line!" Shen Ge walked to the helm and patted the still-frightened boy.

"Kyle, go to the bow, keep your eyes straight ahead, and don't stop no matter what you see!"

He knew very well that in the face of this unknown, eerie power, any hesitation or fear would become a catalyst, dragging them completely into the abyss of madness.

They had only two choices: one was to break out of this cage as soon as possible and get rid of the voice that was corroding them with the strange energy;
Second, find the source and solve it!
"Allais, move all our firewood to the center of the deck and start a fire!"

Alai paused for a moment. Start a fire on the boat? But the thought only flashed through her mind, and she immediately began to carry it out without hesitation.

Soon, a campfire, shielded by a spare stone slab, roared to life in the center of the deck. The warm, orange-red flames stood out starkly against the deathly still, milky-white world.

It not only dispelled the biting cold, but more importantly, the hot air generated by the burning flames created a small-scale rising vortex that gently pushed away the surrounding thick fog.

After doing all this, Shen Ge stood beside the flames.

The flames illuminated his calm yet resolute face, and were reflected in the eyes of all the crew members. He gave no more complicated orders, but showed everyone through his actions that as long as the fire burned and he stood there, they were safe.

I don't know how much time passed; maybe a few hours, maybe a whole day.

"Light!"

Kyle, who had been staring intently ahead, suddenly let out a hoarse shout filled with extreme joy.

At the edge of the thick, impenetrable fog directly in front of them, a faint light appeared.

The light was neither sunlight nor human light, but a cold, phosphorescent greenish-blue glow.

It pierced through the thick fog, appearing particularly eerie.

Whatever the light is, it signifies that this place is no longer empty.

"Roca, slow down, we'll approach slowly," Shen Ge commanded in a deep voice. The excitement of the unknown could easily make people lower their guard, but he sensed something unusual.

The speed of "Ark One" gradually decreased, slowly clearing away the last layer of mist.

When the ship broke through the last layer of fog, the sight before them left everyone on board speechless, overwhelmed with shock.

What appeared before them was neither an island nor a continent.

Instead, it was the carcass of a giant sea turtle—larger than anyone could imagine! (End of Chapter)