Chapter 1116: 103. Audience

Muen stared out the window.

Stared at... this purest night.

There were no lights, no noise, not even stars, not even a moon. It seemed that every last trace of light in the world had completely vanished here, chewed up and swallowed by some invisible monster.

This night was like a newborn infant, displaying its spotless side to the world.

But on the other side of that purity was a terrifying phenomenon that made one’s hair stand on end.

“This time, night descended a full four hours early. Compared to yesterday’s mere ten minutes, the difference is like heaven and earth.”

“For this place, where a day now lasts less than six hours, that is a very terrifying number.”

“So does this mean that... on some level we do not know about, certain things we cannot see have already begun to gradually go out of control?”

Muen turned to look at Theodore. “Am I right, Mr. President?”

“...Probably.”

Theodore’s expression suddenly became deep and unreadable, making it impossible to tell what emotions he was feeling at that moment.

“The already brief daylight suddenly turned completely into night. For us here, that is also an unprecedented major change... Fortunately, the people living here are, more or less, all prepared for the arrival of crisis. Along with the Pioneers’ timely reassurance, it did not cause any enormous chaos—at least, that is the case in this city.”

The silence outside the window symbolized the weight of night, and it also showed that the residents here had long since learned to fight the fear brought by night.

But simply fighting fear could not solve any problem.

“Just as Mr. Campbell said, if this continues, Annabawei will certainly be finished.”

“So the question I still want to ask is...”

A ray of hope flashed through Theodore’s obsidian-like eyes. “How does Mr. Campbell think we can get through this crisis?”

“You’re asking me that kind of question?”

Muen froze for a moment.

“Correct. You come from outside, so your experience and knowledge must far surpass ours, who have always been trapped in this barren land. If it is you, perhaps you can propose a solution.”

“...You think too highly of me.”

Muen smiled bitterly. “Sorry, I don’t have one. To be honest, I’m also lost right now. The companion who came in with me still hasn’t turned up anywhere, and she is the main force when it comes to this matter.”

“I see...” The light dimmed again all at once. “There is no need to apologize. I was making things too difficult for you.”

“Speaking of which, don’t you already have your own way to solve this? Wasn’t this so-called Pioneer system born for that very purpose?” Muen asked in confusion.

“...We do have a way to solve the problem. A way proposed several hundred years ago by the First Pioneer, the hero Lord Alan.”

At the mention of the name Alan, even Theodore’s tone became much more excited, which showed the weight that name carried.

But very quickly, Muen sensed the faint sadness and despair in his words, gradually growing beyond his control.

“Pioneering. Pioneering outward, until we find a road through the Wall of Fog. For us, perhaps that truly is the best method. Unfortunately...”

Theodore sighed softly with regret.

“There is not enough time.”

Time. Time. Time.

For Annabawei, which had already struggled in darkness for several hundred years, what it lacked most was time.

On one hand, even if night had not descended early this time, they already knew that in this barren land starved of sunlight, their already meager supplies would run out sooner or later, the soil would sooner or later be unable to grow anything at all, and the warmstones they relied on for survival and heating would sooner or later be mined to exhaustion.

Just like the trees, of which only a single forest farm remained now.

And on the other hand, the Pioneer plan required even greater additional consumption of supplies. Behind every Pioneer was a massive tilt of resources sufficient to feed over a hundred more people.

This kind of action certainly could not last.

Therefore, from the moment the Pioneer plan began to be carried out, almost everyone knew that this was a grand gamble.

A grand gamble they could not afford to lose.

“But now, before the gamble has ended, we can no longer afford to keep gambling. Because night has descended early, and the complete disappearance of the Daylight Period is practically the same as confiscating all our chips.”

Theodore gently clenched his hand, but what he grasped was only emptiness.

Their chips were the potatoes dug out of the soil, the warmstones chiseled out of rock, and the Daylight Period that came only three months a year and took the shape of hope.

And now, with the descent of night, all of these would gradually vanish from their hands.

Without the fuel that supported their advance, how were they supposed to face that boundless Wall of Fog?

“Wait.”

Muen suddenly realized something and narrowed his eyes. “You mean, you’re certain that after this, daylight will not appear again?”

He had originally thought this was only an enormous accident. Even if Annabawei was going to be finished, that should still happen “after a while.”

After all, most disasters were like some sort of threshold, accumulated gradually.

Even if the Goddess of Night had gone mad, surely she would not have merely revealed abnormalities a few days earlier, only to suddenly, directly...

“...Yes.”

After a moment of silence, Theodore nodded seriously. “If there is no accident, what we experienced just now was the final daylight. And now... this is also the final night.”

“...”

All right. Case solved. Premature ejaculation from the Goddess of Night.

“Why are you so certain?” Muen still found it a little hard to believe.

“If Mr. Campbell does not believe me, you may simply wait until tomorrow. When tomorrow’s daylight should arrive and does not, you will know that my words are not false.”

Theodore paused slightly. “As for how I determined this... it is very simple. The Goddess of Night herself told me.”

“...” Muen frowned.

So this was what Theodore and the Goddess of Night had communicated about last night?

But after finally being able to send a message, the Goddess had specifically come just to say this sort of thing?

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“There’s nothing to be surprised about. In this damned place, anything can happen. Besides, unlike you people, I don’t hold any special taboo psychology toward that Goddess of Night.”

“Ah, I had almost forgotten. You are an outsider.”

Theodore revealed a smile again, as if he had relaxed quite a bit all at once.

“That truly saves me a great deal of trouble.”

“If you want to save trouble so badly, then stop talking in circles. What exactly are you trying to say?” Muen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

All this twisting and turning made him feel that Theodore was guiding him toward some extremely troublesome road.

“...”

The corners of Theodore’s mouth, which had only just lifted, were once again bent back down by heavy pressure.

“It is very simple. Because the situation is critical, I can no longer delay. We must immediately execute the second plan, the second plan that we have sealed away for ten whole years.”

“The second... plan?”

Muen raised an eyebrow. “I thought pioneering outward was already your only way out.”

“For the us of the past, yes.”

Theodore nodded, then shook his head.

“But starting ten years ago, it became different.”

Theodore began telling his story.

A story that was not very long.

“Ten years ago, I had just become the president of the City-State United Pioneering Association.”

“At that time, because the previous president had suddenly died a violent death, the Association had fallen into chaos. For a time, we could not even guarantee the supply of materials.”

“And in order to ease that situation, I had to personally travel to certain city-states in Annabawei’s hinterland to raise grain.”

“This was originally only a very ordinary long journey. As a Pioneer who had only just retired, even in the fog, I could find my direction through the instruments I carried with me... But that time, I lost my way.”

“That’s right. I lost my way. I became lost in the wilderness and could not find my direction. All the instruments on my person failed. Every method of positioning I used only brought me back around in circles.”

“I wandered through the wilderness with no food and no water. I grew hungrier and hungrier, thirstier and thirstier. I tried every solution, but without exception, they all failed.”

“That long process of dying was incomparably painful and incomparably hopeless. It constantly wore away a person’s spirit and will, making even the strongest person lose himself in hallucinations built by his own mind.”

“And in that hallucination, there in the boundless night... I lit a candle.”

“A candle...”

Muen glanced out of the corner of his eye. At the corner of Theodore’s desk, there was indeed a candle, except it had not been lit.

And last night, it was precisely by lighting the candle that he had communicated with the Goddess of Night.

“That was the first time I lit a candle. It was also the first time... I heard Her voice.”

Theodore continued telling the story.

“Her voice was very strange. At times, it was like a gentle mother’s. At other times, it was like a crazed madwoman’s.”

“The gentle mother guided my direction, while the crazed madwoman kept roaring and cursing at me, trying to tear apart my soul and erase my mind. The believers of the Goddess in the darkness came along with it as well, intending to grind my bones and scatter my ashes.”

“At that time, I was originally already on the verge of death. Yet I don’t know where the strength came from. I actually escaped the pursuit of those completely insane believers of the Goddess and followed that gentle voice to a place I had never been before.”

“There... I saw the Goddess of Night.”