No one does not expect good news, but unfortunately, as Crete said to Duncan - at the end of time, there is no good news.

This small shelter built from the ashes is moving towards its final collapse at an increasingly rapid pace. It is not anyone's fault, nor is it a local failure or man-made sabotage - this is the end of all things, because the end of the world has come.

Rune and Helena listened quietly to everything Duncan told them, including what the joint exploration team saw and heard in the border waters, the clues found on the Holy Island, Duncan's contact with the Lord of the Deep, and even the plan to "take over the world."

Duncan did not hide this last thing. He did not mind the two popes in front of him knowing the "other choice" of this world - and conversely, he did not hide what the final outcome of the "future of fire" would be, nor did he hide the end of all things shown to him by the last preacher of the end.

Rune and Helena were silent for a long time, and even after Duncan told them everything, they still didn't speak for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, Rune sighed softly: "Some things are better left unknown."

"Ignorance is a privilege of ordinary people, but you don't have it," Duncan said calmly. "After knowing so many truths, what do you want to say?"

Helena thought seriously for a moment, raised her head and said slowly: "Although the end of the world is inevitable, it is not completely impossible to go without other options, right?"

She paused and stared at Duncan steadily. Her eyes, as deep and blue as the sea, seemed to reflect distant waves. "You actually have another plan, right?"

Vanna on the side widened her eyes slightly - when His Holiness the Pope spoke, she seemed to hear the faint, distant sound of waves, but the sound of waves seemed particularly unreal, as if it was just a casual glance from the goddess.

She suddenly reacted and immediately turned to Duncan: "Captain, this is..."

Duncan waved his hand, interrupting Vanna's next words, and then he met the gaze of the "Pope of the Deep Sea" in front of him calmly: "Hello."

The Pope seemed not to have heard him. She did not respond to the greeting, but continued to stare at Duncan. The waves in her eyes seemed to be constantly moving. Then she repeated, "You actually have another plan, right?"

There were slight tremors and echoes in her voice, as if there were many whispers that were difficult for the human ear to distinguish overlapping everything. The air in the living room became damp and cold, with a fishy and salty smell unique to the sea breeze.

Shirley and Agou sensed the change in the atmosphere and suddenly looked a little uneasy.

Duncan didn't seem surprised. He exhaled lightly and replied calmly: "...make a new one."

The "Popess" just frowned slightly and did not respond.

"The Infinite Sea Shelter is beyond repair. Any repairs done inside cannot save it. It can only survive for a short time. Starting the Age of Fire is another form of survival, and there is no turning back. Once this route is chosen, the entire civilization is actually equivalent to being sealed in a tomb..."

Duncan spoke slowly, but his eyes never left the eyes of the "Popess". Then he swung his hand down and made a cutting gesture.

"Since the plans to continue the old world have either reached their limit or are unreliable, we only have one way to go... we will no longer continue the old world, but create a new one."

The "Pope" blinked and finally broke the silence. With the gentle sound of waves, her voice seemed to vibrate directly in everyone's mind: "Another shelter?"

"Another world." Duncan said calmly.

Then he paused for a moment, during which the entire living room was silent—so silent that even the crackling sound in the fireplace not far away became the loudest sound here.

"The shelter is a narrow closed system. All disaster redundancies are very limited. All resources can only be circulated internally. There is only one crucial support system - there is only one sun, only one infinite sea, and even the number of city-states has been set to a limit since the beginning of creation. All of these are sealed up by that eternal curtain...

"It turns out that such a system is too fragile in the face of a major collapse disaster. It's like a building about to collapse. Those hiding in the house have no chance to repair the entire system from the inside. They can only watch the entire shelter gradually collapse. No matter how long the shelter ultimately lasts, and no matter how many years the civilization inside develops, this result is inevitable.

"Because the upper limit of civilization development in the shelter is that 'shell' - the Eternal Curtain."

Under the gaze of the "Popeess", Duncan slowly opened his hands, his expression was particularly serious: "So, we need a world, a 'world' that is much larger than the shelter, which should be able to accommodate more possibilities and allow civilization to continue to develop until it breaks through the upper limit. At least... even when the end of the world comes again, it must be able to leave more fire, rather than everything falling into darkness after the sun goes out..."

The Pope stared at Duncan quietly. After a moment, she spoke softly, "Of course we know - but how can we do it? In the hot ashes of chaos after the Great Annihilation, it is a miracle to support a shelter like the Endless Sea. Outside the shelter, order has long been gone. We have waited for a long time, but have never seen the hope of the chaos subsiding... This Endless Sea is the only remaining 'fragment' with order, and outside of it, there is no 'material' that can be used to build a new habitat."

The gentle sound of the waves seemed to be overlapped by some disturbing whistles and noises. Helena's eyes gradually became a little blurry. Something seemed to be growing and squirming in her throat, and on the skin of her cheeks, dark purple and dense scales like some marine creature quietly emerged.

But she still sat upright on the sofa, as if waiting for Duncan's answer.

Everyone else, including Maurice and Lucrecia, kept their mouths shut. No one dared to interrupt at this time.

"So, the key is 'order', the 'order' that can support the operation of the entire world. The reason why the life of the shelter is limited is also due to the imperfection of order."

Duncan looked at the "Popeess", as if he was looking through her deep eyes at another distant being, and then he exhaled softly: "...Just as I have been thinking for some time."

He raised his hand and pointed at himself.

"I have order here, complete 'order'."

You could hear a pin drop in the living room.

Suddenly, he felt a warm touch on his hand - Duncan turned around and saw Nina holding his hand, with an uneasy expression on her face.

Duncan laughed and reached out to touch Nina's hair: "Don't worry."

Nina took a deep breath and nodded vigorously - in her vision, the smile on Uncle Duncan's face was gradually becoming blurred.

That smile gradually disappeared among the countless stars.

As brilliant and dazzling as a galaxy - a giant made of starlight slowly stood up in everyone's sight. The eternal stars, gas clouds and nebulae seemed to flow and cover everything within sight. The giant was still standing in the living room, but it seemed as if it could fill the whole world and hold up the entire heaven and earth.

He bent down in the direction of "Helena". The stagnant ancient stars seemed to expand, shrink and tremble in the illusion, as if they could expand and release violently at any second and turn into starlight that swallowed everything.

"The order of the entire universe - complete and healthy, an 'order' that has never been touched by the apocalypse," Duncan said slowly, his voice vibrating among the stars. "It was only a moment, but from a data perspective, it is complete."

Duncan felt his body and his thoughts flowing among the magnificent stars. For the first time, he became aware of his own "breathing", "breathing" on the scale of stars.

Then, he immediately resisted the urge to continue breathing.

He knew that the "changes" in him had accelerated once again.

Ever since leaving the Holy Land Island, his "change" has been accelerating. At first, he could only know what he looked like when others took a hasty and careless look at him. After seeing part of the truth from the King of the Pale Giants, he could consciously control himself and see the starlight in the mirror. Not long ago, he saw the changes in himself in his "bachelor apartment". Now...

He has to exercise great control to keep himself "like a human being".

Time is running out for this sanctuary.

He doesn't have much time left.

Duncan looked into the eyes of the "Popeess" and saw a distant creature - entrenched on a gray reef, curled up in a palace-like nest, and had been dead for a long time.

Countless "descendants" who had also died surrounded her palace.

The long-dead creature raised her head and looked Duncan in the face with her many eyes.

Her voice came into Duncan's ears through Helena's mouth: "...So beautiful..."

"There are two problems now," Duncan said. He controlled himself and gradually collapsed the starlight into "Duncan". "First, data alone cannot build a new world. I need raw materials, a lot of raw materials... and I don't know how this process should be completed. I only have a vague and general impression. This impression tells me that what I need is not on this vast ocean... It is too small, it is not enough.

"Second, I don't know how to create a new world while preserving everything in this shelter. In the glory of the birth of the new world, it might be reduced to ashes."