Chapter 52: Anomalous Celestial Body

【Go out and take a look】

Once this death-seeking thought appeared, it took root in his mind and rapidly grew. Kraft never imagined he was so bold; in this situation, he could still come up with such an idea, risking his life for a stunt.

After excluding the interference of the glowing monster, only the light cast in from the horizontal strip windows near the top of the inn remained—a very faint, almost dim light, far different from the sunlight or moonlight Kraft knew, nor was it the dimness of an overcast day where clouds blocked the light.

This light reluctantly provided a monotonous view, preventing the world from plunging into desperate, total darkness, yet it could not provide even a hint of color to enrich itself.

Using his sensibility and the few literary cells Kraft possessed to describe it, it could be called "dead" light, lacking some element, like a paste made from stale grain and water; even the bland taste of the grain itself was not retained, serving only to perfunctorily fill the stomach, slightly better than having nothing at all.

A stable light source without heat provided this light, nailed to a fixed point in the sky; no change in the angle of the light could be observed. If he made up his mind to go out, at least he wouldn't have to worry about the sun setting, unless this place switched light and dark scenes directly like a stage set change.

To be safe, Kraft was still willing to wait first, hoping to be yanked back into reality from a deep nightmare in a flash, just like the dreams he remembered or didn't remember before, making this extra effort unnecessary.

Anyway, he had already spent quite a bit of time; he didn't mind spending another hour or so accompanying this strange place, which would do no harm.

Admittedly, knowing nothing about this place was not a good thing; he would be at a severe disadvantage in the next encounter, but that was predicated on there being a next time.

Rushing out and exposing himself to the open streets would be no different from a gamble; the risk was visible, the reward unknown, and perhaps there would never be another chance for a "next time."

That said, waiting was indeed a boring thing. Kraft simply sat down against the door panel; after all, his clothes were much wetter than the floor, and he couldn't count on natural drying here.

Surrounded by dampness and boredom, he began to plot his next course of action. First, insert the sword through the door crack, push up the door bolt to enter the room, then climb out through the large window in the room; outside was the alley behind the inn.

The second floor wasn't high, and there was waist-deep water to cushion the fall; no need to worry about smashing his knee joints.

Go around to the front door, grip the blade, and use the hilt as a hammer. If the force was applied correctly, two strikes would break the lock, which had more symbolic value than practical utility, opening the return passage.

The above process would take two minutes at best, and at most five minutes to push open the inn's main door from the outside; the first step would be complete.

If nothing unexpected happened, he could start the second step, which was the real problem. Wenden Port was huge; which direction should he go?

Actually, what he most wanted to see was the Salt Tide District, to understand what the corresponding phenomenon in the Deep was for the large-scale contact event, and he could also investigate the ultimate purpose of the mastermind behind it.

Up to now, Kraft still couldn't figure out how that person, who was likely a professor, knew all this; it was as if a bunch of knowledge about the Deep had been directly poured into him, and he knew from the start what to do, letting the situation develop on its own through a simple gesture.

After seeing the glowing monster, he not only did not feel logically clear, but because the part he had explored was too incredible, he fell into deeper confusion. What exactly could be gained from this thing?

In the event with its head and tail cut off, "how he knew" and "for what purpose" remained shrouded in mist and clouds, obscured by boundless gloom.

To understand its behavior, he must obtain an equivalent amount of information; the Salt Tide District was an unavoidable link.

But at this water level, the entire Salt Tide District was already underwater; the only thing visible were wooden planks floating on the surface. How to locate anything on the water surface was a problem in itself, and he couldn't find a boat to get to the deep water area.

Boats of all sizes were in the port; even those under construction were placed near the water. No one was so bored as to specifically place a small boat far from the coast to prevent a situation that only existed in dreams.

If he wanted a boat, it meant he might encounter overhead water levels halfway to the port; this meant he would have to swim half the distance to the port to find a boat, or choose to be a roof jumper given the large distances between houses and varying heights.

A bad choice, and another even worse choice; it didn't sound like something a human with a normal brain could do.

Kraft sat at the door for quite a while, bored enough to have worked out every detail of the first step, but still hadn't waited for the moment of naturally "waking up." He had even considered what to do if he encountered that glowing creature again, and whether there was a place to hide in the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, it did give Kraft some inspiration.

He didn't necessarily need a standard boat; his thinking could be broadened; anything large enough to float could satisfy his needs.

Coincidentally, there was a large wooden tub in the kitchen that the owner used to hold live fish; it hadn't leaked when holding water before, so it was perfect to try.

Kraft returned to the first floor, found that wooden tub in the kitchen, rolled it sideways to the front hall, and emptied the water inside.

He leaned in to smell it; there was no fishy odor, and it looked very clean. He climbed in, sat cross-legged, and the tub bobbed on the water surface, stubbornly supporting an adult's weight; judging by the waterline, there was plenty of room left, enough to carry a wooden plank for paddling.

He tentatively stood up holding the rim of the tub, jumped lightly and landed inside the tub, and surprisingly, there was no problem. The maker could be called the most conscientious merchant in Wenden Port; even a soul from another world had never seen such a conscientious wooden tub; no one knew what kind of fish the owner bought it to hold.

Except for looking a bit childish, there was no flaw to find in this tub.

Very quickly, Kraft returned to the kitchen, brought back a water ladle and a wooden plank, and threw them into the tub. This was his "voyage" preparation.

Now, the plan to explore outward was basically complete; Kraft pried open the room door and came to the window of the room.

He removed the wooden bolt, tapped the window with it, quickly retreated to the side, gripped the sword hilt, and waited quietly. If anything was attracted by the sound, he would strike it with a sword and give up the plan to go out.

There was no movement outside the window; in the extreme silence, he could only hear his own slight breathing and heartbeat.

"I really hope some god will bless me once," Kraft muttered in his heart, "Next time I will definitely donate a silver coin to the church."

【Next time for sure】

For no reason, a piece of content that was strange but impressive flashed by, and the pressure was relieved through a certain subtle humor.

Taking a deep breath, he made his final mental preparation, pushed the window open with one hand, and faced this world different from the present world for the first time.

【Fading】

In the dimness, the familiar scene outside the window was coated with a layer of dullness; the faint, bland light seemed like it could be blown away by the wind, attaching unstably to the surfaces of objects, with a brittle thinness like weathering.

The scenery outside the window, usually seen and grown accustomed to, had its brightness lowered and its colors stripped away, showing a tone like an old mural; things painstakingly created by humans were destroyed by irresistible forces, entering an unavoidable, disgusting state, disregarding the prosperity of the present world.

The Deep rejected outsiders with silent expression, declaring that this was not a place where living creatures of the present world could survive, using a significant distinction to make them clearly realize they did not belong here.

Kraft leaped from the window, jumping into the water in the alley; pure, cold seawater, without any trace of life; he felt he couldn't find a single strand of seaweed or marine creature rushing in; presumably, there was no beachcombing here, a pity for such a huge tide.

Walking between the houses on both sides, above his head was a starless dark night less than two steps wide; it was impossible to tell if it was naturally so or covered by clouds.

In the gloom, he touched the wall, leaned his body forward, and moved forward in a posture of half-swimming, half-walking, rounding the corner and turning toward the main street.

At the mouth of the alley leading to the street, he saw the source that scattered the obscure light. It was fixed on the sky like a curtain, surprisingly large, with extremely low brightness but no stars to dot it.

He raised his head, his gaze captured by it, attracted by the lonely, cold light source and its texture. That special light made it difficult to judge the distance in a sky lacking reference points, creating the illusion that it was both at an unreachable distance and simultaneously right before his eyes.

The sky, lacking sufficient light sources, looked like a fake; it had no sense of vast openness; it was like a giant rock dome turned upside down, with oppression and a sense of suffocation abnormally heavy.

Intuitively, it was several times the size of the moon, but its brightness was far inferior to the latter. The visually huge area made the texture on its surface easier to distinguish than the lunar seas.

And those textures were not the arcs of ordinary celestial bodies, but intersecting straight cracks, vertically and horizontally dividing this circular face with faint light, cutting open bottomless grooves, like skin covered in scars.

In the center, a diagonal mark passed through the middle, almost splitting it in half; an indescribable color flickered like noise points, seeming to expand toward both sides.

His spirit was touched; Kraft felt he was not observing, but making eye contact, receiving corresponding attention. A great sense of abnormality swept over his whole body; his nasal mucosa was stimulated, and a slightly sour fishy taste spread between his lips and teeth.

He knew this was his marginalized spiritual senses seizing other neural pathways to express the signals received.

As if by ghostly guidance, Kraft did not look down; he involuntarily wanted to see it clearly, to observe that horizontal stripe flickering with colorful noise points, just as he couldn't help but observe the internal structure of the nauseating glowing creature; there was an unspeakable attraction.

His senses were in chaos; the buzzing sound in his ears amplified; pain came to the tip of his tongue; the smell of blood mixed with a sour, bitter, sourceless taste spread out; physical sensation oscillated horizontally, then inverted.

Something was fading away; his spirit and body were being rejected; he felt the heavens and earth were upside down, the water surface flipped to the top, and the cracked celestial body switched to the bottom, continuing to exert some influence on him.

He felt he was falling, falling toward that deep black, lightless sky, while the water surface and buildings were rising, moving away from him.

In a haze of consciousness, Kraft felt the sensation of weightlessness return, his fall unstoppable.

【Another direction】

A thought flashed through him, and he plunged into darkness.