"It's true that there is a storm, but it won't stop us." Lind shook his head. "It's a special phenomenon that has never been seen before and no one has ever known about it. It will throw most of the things that are swept into it to the north of the west and land on a mountain... It doesn't exist on any map.
On a deserted island."
"How did you know, Linde?" Felix asked curiously.
This is the youngest member of the team. He is only 19 years old, but if you only look at his clean and delicate face, you might even think he is 16 years old.
It was thanks to this appearance that could be described as a beautiful boy that Felix, who had lived in the slums of the northern parish since childhood, was able to stand out and become a poet.
And the poet...
In Sara, poets in reality are indeed mostly handsome men, just like those in fantasy novels, but in addition to singing in bars and other places, they also provide some special services.
Felix has experienced all of this.
"I rescued an old hunter in my early years, and he told me all this," said Lind.
"I have told you all this news, please believe me."
"As long as we can prove that the secret of the Crystal Sea is like this, we will definitely receive a reward from the parish, and everyone here will become famous, and even be written into stories and sung forever—"
"What else are you talking about!"
Mogali pulled out a dagger and stuck it on the table.
"We have already defeated the pirates, what are we afraid of!?"
"that's right!"
"rush!"
"For the legend! For the goddess!"
The meeting eventually turned into a party. Almost everyone was drunk, and even Felix, who was not very good at drinking, fell down.
But Lind and Britney didn't drink.
The two men refused all alcoholic drinks on the grounds that someone was needed to drive the boat. After everyone lay down, they went to the deck to get some fresh air and planned to discuss their future path.
"Linde..."
"Bonnie."
"You gave me a scare today. I thought you were going to confess to them...that you were from the Eclipse Church."
"Some things can be said, but some are inappropriate. I believe I have a sense of propriety in this regard."
"Then the group of pirates we encountered some time ago..."
"It's their people."
"Come after us?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure you can get rid of them..."
"I don't know, Bonnie."
Facing the sunset, Lind embraced the woman who came close to him.
"I have only read about Brays Island in the fragments of the Book of the Dead. It is a 'resting place' that even they dare not approach easily."
"Then we-"
"But the records mention that there are still indigenous villages there, proving that humans are not unable to survive there."
"Linde...or let's go back. You go and confess your identity to the parish, and I'll go and plead with your family. At least they won't sentence you to death."
"Impossible, Bonnie, this can't happen..."
"The only thing we can hope for is that Brays Island is really that mysterious. Only in this way can we stop them and gain eternal peace."
Chapter 39: Melting Life 1
After continuing to sail on the sea for a while, Lind and Britney finally encountered the storm as they wished.
From this moment on, they realized that something had been miscalculated.
This storm...it was even more exaggerated and terrifying than Lind's exaggerated description.
It was like a disaster in which the entire ocean world rolled over and collapsed. With just a few impacts, this expedition ship, which the seller claimed could "withstand any storm," was torn to pieces.
They were swept into the air along with the debris of the ship and cargo, and were caught in the extremely terrifying seaspout. They experienced the depth of the trench and witnessed the grandeur of the sky. Finally, they woke up in a daze and found themselves in a strange place.
Thousand-meter-high sea cliffs.
Continuous, staggered and separated cliffs and peaks.
A psychedelic white mist shrouds the surroundings all year round.
Weird birds and strange temperature changes.
And the most disturbing thing is... the native village where you always feel like something is wrong but you can't tell what's wrong.
Worm Village - that was the name of the village. The expedition team was very lucky. Except for the two sailors and Felix who were missing, everyone else fell on the main peak, which was the largest cliff peak where the main village of Worm was located.
Soon, they learned detailed information about this place from the villagers. Linde and Britney hugged each other and cried with joy despite their broken bones - they thought they had succeeded, no one could stop them from being together, they would be able to live peacefully on this non-existent island, and never, ever have to worry about being destroyed by any external force.
This kind of emotional outburst inevitably exposed their true colors. Mogali immediately doubted their motives for the expedition and directly asked them what was going on.
The two thought there was nothing to worry about, and after discussing with each other, they told the hunter lady Lind's identity and all the causes and consequences, which eventually caused her to become furious and run away in anger.
But being stranded on Brays Island has become an unchangeable reality.
According to local villagers, people who come here can never escape and will be trapped here for the rest of their lives.
Even if Mogali wanted to escape, she had nowhere to go, but she was not completely unsuccessful - she learned from the village chief at the time that there was another person in distress living nearby.
His name is Ashlar, he is 35 years old but looks like 70. Mogali learned from Ashlar that this is an island with strange things, and he advised her to "jump off the cliff now if she wants to keep her soul pure", which made Mogali tease him mercilessly.
Mogali believed that Ashlar had gone crazy due to the torment of not being able to return to civilized society for many years, so she decided to find a way to leave the island herself.
After learning about all the environmental factors on Brays Island in detail, she made a decision - to join the village's sky hunting team.
Although that kind of feather equipment is primitive and backward, it has to be admitted that it can indeed be used for gliding when there is wind.
Mogali didn't expect to rely on this thing to jump from Blade's Edge Cliff to Blade's Edge Cape on the opposite continent, but she hoped to glide closer to the sea surface so that she could jump into the sea more safely and then swim from the sea to the shore.
After all, the straight-line distance between Blade Corner and the opposite continent is only a few hundred meters. This distance is like a play for her who is very good at swimming. She is absolutely sure to achieve this goal.
In this way, the lives of Mogali, Linde and Britney were divided into two parts. Even though Linde later joined the Sky Hunters to "support his family", Mogali was still unwilling to pay attention to them.
The two sides have different paths, so there is really nothing to talk about in detail.
Lind and Britney got married on the island and had a child soon after. They were grateful for their current life and wanted to repay Mogali, but she was never willing to give them a chance.
The turning point happened during another eternal night.
That was their first Hot Wind Festival here. By then, Mogali's gliding skills had become very good. She could always hunt the most mist falcons and often took bird eggs from the sea cliffs.
After a period of buffering, the relationship between the two sides improved. Mogali occasionally sent bird eggs to the couple, but she was still unwilling to have any communication with them.
When the eternal night came, the weather became abnormal again.
The temperature dropped sharply at night, and frost began to form in some places. The rocks on the surface of the mountain cracked and shattered under the scorching heat of the day and the cold and bright night, and many places began to fall off, revealing a layer of soft red mud at the bottom.
Because he was worried that Mogali would be cold at night, Linde was entrusted by Britney to deliver the knitted clothes to her.
He pushed open the door and as soon as he entered the yard, he smelled a strong stench.
It was an unprecedented stench, as if all the sources of stench he knew were mixed together, stirred thoroughly, and then fermented and extracted.
The first time he smelled that smell he stopped and vomited before he remembered the more important thing: what on earth was going on in the house?
Entering the stone house in the dim night, Linde saw a scene that terrified him.
A group of villagers gathered around the stone bed, pressing down on Mogali's body, and seemed to want to do something indecent to her.
He thought so at first.
But perhaps his footsteps startled them, and they stopped what they were doing, turned around in unison, and revealed their faces.
Without exception, their mouths were wide open.
A mass of rotten, disgusting liquid that looked like mud and rotten meat flowed out from the corners of these people's mouths. Part of it mixed together with sticky threads and finally poured into Mogali's mouth that was forced to open.
He let out a roar immediately.
Then these people began to change further - their bodies shrank like a layer of skin, and all the solutions gathered together as if they had life, forming a mass of rotten meat monster.
Amid Lind's roar, the mass of rotten flesh suddenly opened its body and pounced towards him.
The picture suddenly became fragmented.
Only the man's voice could be heard faintly echoing.
There was also a chilling, sickening noise of something sticky moving.
……
After reading this, Hitzfeld finally understood most of the causes and consequences.
After observing the origin of the story, she felt a little emotional.
Who would have thought that the truth of origin would be like this?
Lind... This mysterious ranger was actually once a member of the Eclipse Church and a cultist!
From this perspective, it is completely understandable why this group of people went to explore the Crystal Sea.
Before this, Hitzfeld had always had a question that he couldn't figure out, that is, with so many mysterious legends in the world, why would such a simple expedition team choose the Crystal Sea, which is arguably one of the most difficult levels.
Now it seems that they were not going there for adventure at all, but the couple, as leaders of the team, wanted to escape from the joint pursuit of the Eclipse Church and the Mechanical Sun Goddess Cult.
That old hunter was Lind's nonsense. He knew about the existence of Brays Island through the records within the Eclipse Church, confirming the existence of such a place where mystery and opportunity coexisted, and making sure that even people in the organization did not dare to approach it.
He loves Britney and Britney loves him.
After knowing each other's feelings, the two decided to abandon everything in this world. They placed all their hopes on the legend of the mysterious island, hoping to escape to Brays Island to start a secluded life and spend their lives in peace.
But, should I say that I am in love after all…
Thinking only of his own happiness, he deceived his other companions.
Hitzfeld could understand this feeling. He also saw and heard the two men discussing how to apologize to others after they succeeded, and planned to give them all his savings in civilized society.
But she had seen the end of everything from the future - the expedition team was wiped out, and Brays Island was not the paradise that Lind had imagined but a place of death.
After a while of shaking, the picture gradually became clear again.
Hitzfeld immediately focused his mind.
Go ahead and follow Britney's fantasy back to the past.
Chapter 40: Melting Life 2
The next day, pregnant Britney woke up from a nightmare.
She dreamed of a strange creature whose shape she couldn't describe. Its body was as soft as mud and reflected a colorful halo in the sun. Its body was open like a mountain and directly wrapped her up.
When she woke up, Britney found that her husband was not around.
There was a noise outside the house. She got up and opened the door, and saw a group of fat villagers supporting two people walking in front. They were Mogali and her husband Linde.
“Linde!?” She chased after him in astonishment, “Wait… where are you going?”
The team stopped at this moment, and everyone turned their heads and stared at her expressionlessly.
"..." Britney took a step back and looked at these people carefully. She found that their eyes were dull and there was no spirit in them.
Lind was the only exception, but his improvement was very limited, just the difference between an idiot and a drunkard.
"Linde... what are you doing... cough! Why are you guys making it so smelly!?"
After taking a few steps closer, she smelled a terrible stench and immediately grabbed a nearby tree and began to vomit.
Lind... His eyes fell on Britney's head. He looked at her with a cold expression as if he was looking at food for a while, then slowly moved his gaze down to her slightly bulging belly.
He stared at it for several seconds.
Then, little by little, like a machine that had been in disrepair for many years, it turned around, swayed, and continued to walk away with the others.
Britney couldn't comprehend what had happened this morning.
