Crown Street, in this block located on the edge of the uptown area of Breezeport, there is a mansion always shrouded in mystery located in the deepest part of it - No. 99 Crown Street.
This is a three-story spire building with a distinctive northern city-state color. It is completely different from the common elven-style houses in Qingfeng Port. It has a dark-colored roof and contrasting white exterior walls, as well as complex patterns and solemn lines.
There are tall windows, and there are spacious gardens in front and behind the mansion that are rare in the city-state. The gardens are planted with all kinds of weird flowers, plants and shrubs that almost no one can name.
Many people know the existence of this mansion, but almost no one knows the details of this mansion, because its owner rarely shows up, and only a few taciturn servants take care of the gardens and houses here on weekdays.
Afterwards, when the lights in the mansion turn on, there will be some weird and scary-looking shadows appearing in those lights——
Some people insisted that they saw the servants who took care of the house during the day taking off their human skins at night and turning into squeaky puppets and tin men walking back and forth in the house. Some people announced that they were passing near the mansion.
Sometimes they were attracted by inexplicable whispers, and when they woke up, they were inexplicably somewhere else. Some even said that they saw with their own eyes the flowers and plants in the front yard of the mansion turned into pitch-black thorns as the sun set.
, shrouding the entire first floor of the big house like a cage.
There are countless weird rumors that extend from this. Among the most outrageous rumors, the good guys claim that the house is actually imprisoned with the ghost of a woman. The power of the curse spreads from the basement of the mansion, transforming the original place.
Servants - when night falls, turn them into tin men and puppets without consciousness and memory.
However, these were ultimately proven to be just bizarre delusions made up by nervous passers-by - and in a city-state on the boundless sea, there are always a lot of similar rumors and conjectures.
The changes and pollution brought about by night are nerve-wracking, and many people will inevitably be overly vigilant and regard those caves with windy sounds and empty houses with strange noises as nests that breed filth in the darkness.
Guardians handle many reports involving extraordinary beings every day, and it is inevitable that there will be such nervous "false alarms" - under normal circumstances, as long as this kind of tension does not cross the border of "mental pollution", there will be nothing.
question.
After all, pure nervousness is not enough to actually "create" something in the darkness. It is better for citizens to be sufficiently vigilant than to have no reaction after the supernatural infection really occurs.
As for the real owner of the mansion...
The "Sea Witch" has long been accustomed to the fearful looks and scary messages surrounding her, and to some extent, she even took the initiative to spread some of the rumors surrounding No. 99 Crown Street.
"I need a place to stay in the city-state. After all, staying at sea all the time will make people nervous, and I am no exception." Returning to her "home" in Breeze Port, Lucretia came
He went to the window and looked at the quiet door outside, "But I don't like to deal with people - it's hard to find a truly undisturbed place in the city, and even the most remote neighborhoods are crowded, so it's better to create something
A frightening noise to prevent anyone from looking at my door out of curiosity."
"Why don't you consider learning from Tirian?" Duncan was looking at the furnishings in this big house curiously. After hearing Lucretia's words, he said casually, "He found a deserted house in the no-man's land of the cold sea.
The island serves as a base for the Haiwu Fleet, so you don’t have to worry about being disturbed for a century..."
Lucretia tilted her head: "Then you secretly bumped into me while watching a striptease at home?"
Duncan coughed twice immediately: "Ahem, don't say that to your brother - say it in front of him next time."
Lucretia: "..."
The corner of Miss Witch's eye twitched obviously - she didn't know whether she liked her father's current personality, but she knew that she still needed some time to adapt.
But soon, she adjusted her expression: "I can't learn from him. Occupying an island means building and managing countless facilities, commanding a fleet, and maintaining everything from logistics to external affairs."
I don't have the brains for the entire communication system - it will take up a lot of my time for research, and you know, just maintaining the operation of the Brilliant Star has already used up all my energy."
Footsteps came from the side, and a servant wearing a black and white uniform came over with a tray in his hand. There were heated towels and refreshing drinks to relieve the fatigue of the journey. This servant came to Lucretia and Duncan.
He bowed slightly to salute, with a smile as stiff as a corpse on his face, and the ticking sound of clockwork and gears could be heard in his body.
"You and Tyrion have your own areas of expertise." Duncan took a drink from the tray and looked at this person curiously, who seemed to be the same as a real person, but if he took a second look, he would notice the inconsistency that seemed to be human and inhuman.
The "valet", who was in a strange place and had psychological fear, casually said to Lucretia, "Before I saw you again, I heard a lot of rumors about you. According to the rumors, the relationship between you and your brother and sister is cold, even close to antagonism.
, now it seems that the deviation is really outrageous.”
"After all... the split of the Homeless Fleet was a major event a century ago, and what happened after that major event is not something ordinary people can find out. They only know that the Brilliant Star and the Sea Fog parted ways and almost ran away to the civilized world.
There are two ends, which will inevitably lead to a lot of big dramas in their minds."
Lucretia said, shaking her head with a complicated expression.
"After you... left, my brother and I briefly got together a few times. At that time, the Lost Home had completely disappeared from the real world, but we could feel that you were still... 'alive'."
She looked out the window, whispering as if talking to herself about past events that no outsider knew.
"Near the border, at night, on the waterways you have explored, as long as we relax a little, we will 'hear' your voice, that irrational roar full of malice and destructive desire.
It comes from the depths of the world again and again, as if it is struggling to surface, trying to tear apart the barrier between the real world and subspace...
"Several times, we even saw you and the Lost Home in the dimness between day and night - the ship rose up from the darkness, approaching us like a doomsday, and everywhere it passed was death.
"However, later we discovered that only we can see that scene, it only exists in our field of vision and in our thoughts.
"Later, my brother summed up some rules. He found that it is precisely because of 'our' existence that you attract your 'eyes'. The closer Tirian and I are, the stronger this attraction becomes... You
Do you know? Just like a light, when two lights come together, they will emit a brighter light, and Tirian and I are the 'lighthouses' for you to return from subspace to the real world...
"So, we separated, farther and farther apart, Tirian went to the northern border, and I kept sailing south-when we were half a world apart, we finally no longer saw your phantom, but
When we get further away... we finally can't hear your roar."
Lucretia breathed out softly, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her. She had been holding back her words for a century, and her breath was a hundred years too late.
Duncan listened quietly, but didn't know what to say - he knew that what this "witch" was remembering at the moment was actually discussing another person, and he didn't need to feel any burden because of her story, and he didn't have to
What regrets and apologies did he have, but for some reason, it was difficult for him to remain indifferent, and even "feelings" that he didn't know belonged to him could not be suppressed in his heart, so after a long silence, he could only gently
Sighing: "Thank you for your hard work."
"Actually...it's okay," Lucretia smiled and shook her head slightly, "In the first ten years, we missed you so much that we even felt uncomfortable when we heard those voices and saw those visions.
Practical thoughts, thinking that if you really follow the 'light' and return to the real world, maybe everything will get better.
"In the next ten years, the number of terrorist disasters caused by the Homeless Ship's frequent proximity to the real world increased day by day, and we began to be afraid. Coupled with some of the mentality that I don't know whether it can be regarded as a 'sense of responsibility', my brother and I began to look for
A way to truly and completely banish you.
"A few more years have passed...our 'exile' seems to have started to work. When the fear gradually subsides and the nostalgia can't help but come back, my brother will occasionally mention the past days. We are very careful not to mention you and the Lost Home Number.
names, but can’t help but discuss those great routes and unforgettable voyages...
"In the last thirty or forty years, everything that can be discussed has been discussed. We finally gradually stopped mentioning the matter of the Lost Home. Everything seems to have passed. Even in the official documents of most city-states and the sailing experiences of the captains,
Here, the Lost Home has become a "historical term" and a legend - and along with it, people's fear of the Sea Mist and the Brilliant Star seems to have faded a lot.
"Then, you appeared - the White Oak escaped from the storm and brought terrible news to the city-state of Pland... Did you know? Tirian didn't sleep well for three days after receiving the news."
She suddenly laughed, as if she had never laughed so easily in this century.
At the tip of her hair, the silver-white hair ornament in the shape of waves and feathers swayed with her smile, glowing with warm light.
Duncan sighed softly.
However, just when he was about to say something, a scream suddenly came from the direction of the living room, interrupting the conversation between him and Lucretia.
That sounded like Nina's voice.
Duncan and Lucretia looked at each other quickly, turned around and ran towards the living room.
Just halfway through, they heard Nina's voice full of shock and anger——