Chapter 489: Night

As soon as Lei Kedun returned to the Future Ship, Ke Lai En, who was searching the deck for any trace of a mermaid, turned his gaze toward him.

Before Lei Kedun could approach, Ke Lai En fired off a series of questions:

"What was that thing that just brought intense sunlight? Did you resolve it? Or did you obtain it?"

Lei Kedun's face was calm to the point of near iciness as he nodded slightly, his gaze falling on the fist-sized sealed metal ball in his right hand, its surface engraved with intricate patterns.

The intricate patterns on the metal ball's surface would occasionally flare with a gold-red light, emitting a scorching heat and a faint aura of the solar domain.

"This is a miraculous item corresponding to the Chaser of Light, shaped like a golden carriage, possessing a certain degree of lifelike quality; it may belong to the Ancient Sun God or to the Eternal Blazing Sun."

Lei Kedun gave a brief explanation, then his figure instantly turned transparent, turning into specks of flowing urging starlight that plunged into the deck and surged toward his cabin.

"Chaser of Light? Is it Sequence Three or Sequence Two of the Sun pathway? Probably the latter, for that sun's power and oddness have already surpassed an ordinary Saint."

As he muttered, his gaze shifted to a spot seven or eight meters away where a pirate had stood; after the fierce, blinding sunlight vanished, the place where the pirate had been left only two oily black footprints and some ash that had not yet fully dissipated.

Ke Lai En withdrew his gaze from inspecting the two black footprints on the deck, and in his mind roughly reconstructed what had happened to that pirate just moments before:

He had not closed his eyes in time; instead, he subconsciously glanced at the "sun" in the sky, and the instant he saw the true appearance of that sun, he burst into flames and turned to ash.

In the cabin of the Future Ship, Lei Kedun changed into a fresh set of clothes, then borrowed pigments and a brush from Jia De Li Ya, attempting to repaint a picture on the chaotic, structureless "Van Gogh's Starry Night" where colors had been mixed into a lump.

Only then did Lei Kedun realize that the colors he casually daubed could not adhere to the paper at all; it seemed the picture itself was rejecting this low‑skill, art‑less scribble.

Lei Kedun gave a helpless sideways glance and sighed:

"Well, it looks like this painting won't be usable until I find a true artist."

As his words fell, the surroundings suddenly darkened; outside the window, the sky, which had been at high noon, was instantly shrouded in thick darkness, and a hushed atmosphere enveloped the entire sea area.

"They came fast." Lei Kedun gazed at the pitch‑black surroundings devoid of any light and lamented:

He casually set down the brush and pigments, and the unfinished "Van Gogh's Starry Night" was placed into a prepared metal tin.

As Lei Kedun fumbled in the dark, the Future Ship suddenly flickered with a layer of brilliant starlight, illuminating the paths to various locations.

At the same time, Jia De Li Ya's calm voice was amplified and reached everyone's ears aboard the ship:

"Return to your rooms, or find any corner, and let yourself fall asleep."

"Then wait to wake naturally."

"Sleep? What happens if we don't sleep? Encounter monsters, or some silent danger?"

Ke Lai En muttered doubtfully to himself, then hurried back to the cabin and lay down in his own room.

Already lying in bed, Lei Kedun used meditation to quickly enter sleep; his thoughts blurred as he plunged into a vast dream world.

A pair of eyes, filled with countless glittering stars, cold and indifferent, without eyelids, appeared behind him.

Lei Kedun gave his head a slight shake; his hazy thoughts gradually cleared, and he could clearly feel that he was now dreaming.

After briefly scanning his surroundings, he found himself standing on the roof of a black monastery atop a mountain peak; looking into the distance, he could also see Jia De Li Ya sitting with her knees hugged on top of a large stone, gazing far away.

She made no movement; because she faced away from the black monastery, Lei Kedun could not see her current expression, but he could also sense the emotion of confusion emanating from her.

The direction Jia De Li Ya gazed upon was a mountain peak covered by countless magnificent, exaggeratedly huge palaces, towers, and walls; in the farthest reaches of the sky hung a frozen sunset, casting twilight colors onto the peak where that city lay.

Giant King's Court! This is more magnificent than the scenery I once imagined, like a divine relic. Lei Kedun's eyes showed a hint of shock as he gazed at the Giant King's Court on the mountain ahead.

Ke Lai En appeared in Lei Kedun's field of view, wearing a double‑breasted long coat and a half‑high silk top hat, breaking his slightly unfocused stare.

Lei Kedun glanced at Ke Lai En, who still retained the appearance of Ge'erman·Sipaluo in the dream; his form instantly turned transparent, becoming specks of flowing brilliant starlight that appeared beside Ke Lai En, then quickly coalesced back into his own figure within the starlight.

He stood calmly at the cliff's edge, his tone even, and said:

"That is the projection of the Giant King's Court in the dream."

Ke Lai En looked at the suddenly appearing Lei Kedun, not surprised that he too remained conscious, and instead asked curiously:

"Giant King's Court? Entrance to the God‑forsaken Land?"

"Why have we appeared in the same dream?"

"This is a shared dream of us all." Jia De Li Ya, still sitting with her knees hugged on the nearby boulder, spoke in a voice like sleep‑talking:

"Here lingers the divine power left by night, which links all the dreams of this sea region, constructing a near‑real dream world; whenever night falls, every sleeping creature enters this dream world, while those who remain conscious are cast into a hidden realm."

"I intend to go to the Giant King's Court to see if I can use the dream‑world Giant King's Court as a stepping stone to reach the true Giant King's Court."

"If only I had the trait of a Deceitful Mentor, I could cheat the rules and shift my own position."

After his words fell, Lei Kedun nodded at Ke Lai En, then his body instantly turned transparent, shattered, and turned into specks of flashing starlight that surged toward the distance, toward the Giant King's Court frozen in twilight.

Ke Lai En watched as Lei Kedun turned into starlight flowing toward the opposite peak, then glanced at Jia De Li Ya sitting with her knees hugged on the nearby boulder, and after a brief hesitation he spoke:

"I intend to explore the surroundings; this might yield some gains."

"No interest."

"I will wait here, wait!"

Jia De Li Ya refused bluntly; she did not shake her head, made no extra movements, and simply sat there with her knees hugged, appearing somewhat lonely.

"Lady, is that something a mature pirate general would say in a half‑dream, half‑awake state?" Ke Lai En observed Jia De Li Ya, murmured twice in his heart, then turned and walked alone toward the black monastery behind him.

On the mountain peak shrouded in twilight, those buildings were draped in a layer of gold‑yellow, appearing sacred and majestic.

Brilliant starlight flowed through the sky like a streaming river of stars, yet it never narrowed the distance between me and the peak; it was like a distant sunset, forever standing still there, forever visible but forever unreachable.

In the sky, the flowing starlight instantly condensed, re‑forming Lei Kedun's figure; beneath his feet lay a layer of solidified urging starlight, silently supporting his body.

"Is the Giant King's Court in the dream merely a figment? One can see it, yet forever unable to draw near."

He whispered softly, and deep blue‑violet radiance flowed in his pupils; his gaze became extraordinarily holy, extraordinarily cold.

Under the gaze of the Secrets‑Seeing Eye, the entire dream world in Lei Kedun's eyes became a product of tangled, layered information converging together.

His gaze calmly fixed on the Giant King's Court ahead that he could never approach, gradually deepening and gradually veiling itself with a layer of silver‑white.

On the Giant King's Court, the frozen twilight began to change, as if suddenly coming alive; the golden‑yellow light grew brighter and brighter, and a vastly blurred huge figure stepped out of the sunset.

It was immensely huge; merely standing there, it almost filled the entire twilight, as if draped in a gold‑red cloak full of wear and desolation.

Before that figure became clear, a piercing sunlight suddenly blazed, bathing everything in blinding white, then faded and vanished.

On the Future Ship, Lei Kedun naturally opened his eyes; the room was already lit by light streaming in through the window, and without looking he knew the outside had returned to high noon.

He did not immediately get up from bed, but instead placed his hand under his head and sank into thought.

This noon came just in time; if it had been any later, I would have seen the true appearance of the Giant King.

Unfortunately, the divine power left by the night inherently has a concealed effect, making it impossible for me to trace the mystical connection between the Giant King's court in the dream and the Giant King's court in reality; I can only try again in the dream world the next night, and if that still fails, I will have to ask Zhen Zao for help via chat.

After staying in the room for a while, Lei Ke Dun sensed the movement of Ke Lai En next door going out for a moment and then coming back to lie down; he tilted his head slightly in doubt and glanced next door, but did not direct his gaze that way.

Is he getting ready to sleep again? Does he want to communicate with that infant who is still developing?

The thought passed, Lei Ke Dun got up, put on his coat, and headed out toward the ship's restaurant.

In the restaurant, due to the earlier delay caused by the dream, the food on the plates of the pirates who had not yet finished lunch had grown cold, but they still ate happily, chatting while they ate about the strange encounter they had just experienced in the dream.

Lei Ke Dun's gaze swept across the restaurant, and then he sat down beside the black cat Pas.

"Huh? What are you doing over here?"

Pas raised his head to look at the suddenly seated Lei Ke Dun beside him, gave a slightly surprised greeting, and, without making a sound, moved the dried fish in front of him a little farther away with his two paws.

Lei Ke Dun noticed Pas's small movement, raised the corners of his mouth, trying to pull out a smile, but ultimately still couldn't laugh, and spoke in a somewhat flat tone:

"I'm not that greedy for your little bit of dried fish; you've been out at sea this long, aren't you tired of dried fish yet?"

"Why would I get tired of it? This is dried fish! Each kind of sea fish, when dried, has a different flavor; different times and different production processes also bring different textures—how could one possibly get tired of it?"

While answering Lei Ke Dun's question, Pas also curiously sized him up from head to toe, as if trying to see something.

After a while, it hesitantly opened its mouth and said:

"Why are you acting so weird today? You seem unable to even smile, your tone is flat and bland, like an emotionless doll."

"I was born not fond of laughing."

He replied lightly, his gaze calmly flicking toward Pas, who was staring at him as if he had seen a ghost; he reached around it, took a strip of dried fish from the plate it was guarding behind it, and put it in his mouth to bite.

(End of chapter)