The four great churches have assembled vast fleets on the borders of the civilized world—and they have been doing so for some time.

The reduction of the regular patrol fleet and the large number of ships, personnel, and materials gathering near the Eternal Curtain, this scale of mobilization could not be concealed from the border city-states, and long before today, Lucrecia had learned about these unusual actions of the church from Sarah Mel, but Duncan and she had always been unable to figure out the purpose of the church doing so - until now.

The truth of the death of the gods, the true purpose of the Pilgrimage Ark, and the current situation of the gods entering the "corruption stage" ahead of time, finally allowed Duncan to guess the purpose of those fleets.

"...We are looking for 'Them'," Helena finally spoke after a moment of silence, "This is one of our goals, and also our original goal."

"You mean, the gods are in the 'thick fog' of the Eternal Curtain?!" Lucrecia stood up instantly and looked at the four popes opposite with disbelief, "Just outside the 'border'?!"

"We're not sure," Banster answered her. The old man in black robes slowly shook his head, "but we are sure that the initial 'rotten breath' penetrated from the eternal curtain at the border - so our current plan is just to find the source of those breaths, but what exactly we will see at that source... no one knows."

Rune took over the topic: "It may be the 'kingdom' of the gods, or it may just be some kind of 'connection point' between them and the mortal world, or it may be..."

He stopped here and didn't say anything else.

Duncan was silent for a moment and then suddenly asked, "You just said this is only one of the goals, what about the other goals? In addition to finding 'Them', what else do you want to do?"

"Another purpose is to figure out what happened to this world," Helena answered. In this open "gathering", all the secrets finally had a chance to be revealed. "Reports on border collapse are increasing day by day. Along with the recent "failures" of the 'Sun', various abnormal phenomena related to the Eternal Curtain are becoming more frequent. An obvious fact is that the thick fog may hide secrets that are closely related to the 'current situation' and 'foundation' of our world."

"...Find out what exactly happened in the world, and then what?" Duncan couldn't help but ask. He instinctively felt that Helena hadn't finished her words.

"...If possible, try to find a 'new route' that can completely pass through the curtain, and then take as many people out as possible before the worst happens," Helena said, "If the 'collapse' inside the curtain is inevitable, then our only way out can only be to 'get out'. There may be another world outside the curtain - a wider world.

"Perhaps it is not so habitable. Perhaps the outside of the veil is more dangerous than the Infinite Ocean. But as long as we can survive, no matter how harsh the environment is, it can become a new habitat for civilization... As long as we survive, life will find a way out, even if it requires a long and painful adaptation... or even a mutation process."

After Helena finished speaking, the hall fell silent for a moment. Duncan could feel Vanna, Morris and others around him holding their breath subconsciously. After several seconds, he heard Vanna break the silence: "Is the situation so bad?"

"The worst thing is that we don't even know how bad the situation will get. If it weren't for the 'warning' from the Lost Homeland, we wouldn't even know that the sun had been completely extinguished for twelve hours last time." Rune shook his head. "In those twelve hours, the four arks also disappeared from this world along with the other city-states. This makes us even more convinced... that we must face what may happen next according to the worst expectations."

"But the 'world outside the curtain' is just a guess, a baseless guess," Duncan suddenly said indifferently. His voice was not loud, but it seemed to fall coldly on everyone's heart. "It is very likely that this is just your wishful 'effort'."

"It's better than doing nothing." Helena's expression did not change at all. She just met Duncan's gaze calmly and frankly. "We didn't take action because we were sure that something would succeed. We had to do it because we had no choice. There may be nothing outside the Eternal Curtain. It is even possible that the Eternal Curtain has no end at all. We will never find the so-called new route, but we have to do something..."

She paused, and Frame, who had not spoken much since the beginning, broke the silence with a low voice: "In the worst case scenario, we are even considering how to survive in the Eternal Curtain."

"Survive in the Eternal Curtain?!" Nina exclaimed in astonishment. She had not spoken a word the whole time, but just sat quietly beside Uncle Duncan, because she felt that this kind of occasion was not the place for her to interrupt casually. But this time she really couldn't help it, "Can people live there? Can humans reproduce and thrive in that thick fog?"

"Not now," Frame shook his head calmly, "At least with the current life forms of mortals and our current understanding of the laws of the Eternal Veil, human society cannot thrive in that thick fog - the 'human society' here also includes elves and Sen'jin."

Nina opened her mouth: "Then..."

"This is what I mentioned just now," Helena said softly, "We may need a long and painful process of adaptation or even mutation - we may need to no longer be 'us' in order to survive in the world after that. Perhaps we will be like those mysterious shadows that appear in the fog, or like those noises whispering in the wind..."

"What if this is still not enough?" Duncan asked again, "The chaos of the Eternal Veil may be impossible to 'adapt' to. If both the new route plan and the adaptation plan fail..."

"Then we'll go to the spirit world. If the spirit world still doesn't work, then we'll launch a general attack on the Deep Sea," Banster said calmly. "Since there are a group of people in this world who can summon demons to the real dimension, then we can also go to the world of those demons. They can survive in the Deep Sea, and so can we. If this still doesn't work, then we still have the subspace."

This time even Shirley couldn't help but speak: "Sub-space?"

Banster nodded slightly: "No one can survive the warp. All mortals who witness it will melt into eternal madness and distortion. But if it really comes to the last moment, the warp can also be a choice - any choice, even the worst choice, is better than calmly and meekly going to that doomsday."

Shirley and Nina were silent, and an expression as if they were shocked appeared on their faces.

Duncan showed a thoughtful expression. He stared at the four figures across the table for a long time. After a long while, he spoke softly: "Is this the 'revelation' you got?"

"This is not a revelation. This is just a 'reminder' we received in the chaotic and weak communication," Helena said slowly. She raised her hand and outlined the emblem of the storm and the deep sea on her chest. "They let us survive, at all costs and by any means."

Duncan didn't say anything for a moment.

He fell into deep thought and was somewhat shocked.

He admitted that these people who seemed to be late and even slow and weak in every "incident" actually did more than he imagined.

Compared to the Ancient Gods and the Lost Homeland, they really don't have much power - but they are trying to do something that neither the Lost Homeland nor the Ancient Gods can do.

After this silence lasted for an unknown amount of time, he finally broke it: "I want to know about the progress you have made so far."

Helena hesitated for a few seconds and sighed softly: "...Unfortunately, the progress is still limited. We have set up several forward bases at the critical point of six nautical miles inside the Eternal Curtain. We can gain a foothold in that position, but that's all... So far, no one has been able to break the 'record' left by the Lost Homeland."

"Something went wrong when the Lost Homeland returned from six miles beyond the Veil," Duncan shook his head. His attitude was quite frank. "Strictly speaking, it was not a successful 'expedition record'."

The four popes all looked a little strange, and it was obvious that they didn't want to continue with this topic.

Duncan didn't care about it. He just adjusted his sitting position and after briefly organizing his thoughts, he changed the subject: "Since your progress in this area has been blocked, I do have some 'intelligence' that may be useful. You may be interested."

Helena subconsciously asked: "Information?"

"Two days ago, my daughter and I 'captured' a ship," Duncan nodded and said slowly, "It was a large ship built by the Annihilation Cultists. It was the 'base' they used to invade the Dreamland during the previous Breeze Harbor incident. It was full of traces of bloody rituals and blasphemous creations... But that's not the point.

"The point is, it's obviously impossible for a ship like that to dock and resupply in a normal city-state. Guess where its home port is?"

Helena, Rune and the others looked at each other in bewilderment, but they almost immediately reacted - Rune was the first to speak: "Wait, is it... the border?!"

"Yes, they are hiding in that thick fog," Duncan did not continue to keep the secret, but nodded seriously, "That is a nest of the Annihilation Cultists, maybe even their largest nest and 'headquarters'. They call it the 'holy land'. Now I am not sure what the so-called 'holy land' is like, nor am I sure whether it is on the 'inside' or 'outside' of the six-mile boundary. But even if it is on the relatively stable inside, a 'veil colony' that has been hidden in the Eternal Veil for a long time and can even be used as a large supply port to operate stably must be something of great research value to us."