The confrontation on the sea turned into a more complicated situation - a powerful sea fog fleet emerged from the cold wind, and a fourth force appeared in the original three-party confrontation. However, looking from another angle, things seemed simple again.

The Cold Harbor and Murphys navies no longer have to worry about the opposing artillery fire and the threat of the church fleet.

Sollena stared at the iron face, his eyes showing no fear or the slightest wavering - although he knew the abilities of this "Iron Vice Admiral", he also knew that the Sea Mist Fleet was not invincible. These undead could rely on sneak attacks to control the two flagships, but they could not control the other ships in the fleet. If this really turned into a melee, it would not be a good thing for anyone.

Tirian Abnomar chose to meet in this way, indicating that he wanted to "talk."

"Cold Harbor needs sunshine." After a long confrontation, Solenna broke the silence in a deep voice.

"Yes, Cold Harbor needs sunlight, and now the commander of the Morpheus Navy, your old friend Hobo, is also telling me that Morpheus needs sunlight." The iron-faced mouth opened and closed, making a metallic trembling sound. "And you know what? Jotun City, Hyperion, Bandor Island, and the farther Phaeren and Moko...Darkness has begun to devour the world, and the islands with sunlight are only a small part of all city-states...Everyone needs sunlight."

The muscles on Sollenna's face were tense, but his voice was calmer than before: "Captain Tirian, do you think it's useful to say this now? I want to keep Cold Harbor alive first - unless you are willing to take out the 'sun fragment' that fell in the frost."

"...it's on its way to Cold Harbor." The steel-faced man said calmly.

Solenna's tense face suddenly showed astonishment - he had prepared many things to say, but this unexpected answer made his mind a little blank.

Even the entire bridge fell silent all of a sudden.

"Go back now. You should be able to see it arrive at the northern coast of Cold Harbor," Tirian's voice echoed on the quiet bridge, while the undead sailors wrapped in cold mist silently released their control over the sailors on the bridge and retreated to the side as if waiting for orders. "Let the Morpheus Navy take away the sun fragments here before this confrontation develops out of control."

Solenna was silent for a few seconds, then slowly spoke: "What about Frost?"

"Frost is safer than any of you think - we have our own 'security', so you don't need to worry," Tirian said calmly, "You and Hobo's most important task now is to return to your respective city-states and get everything back on track as soon as possible under the sunshine."

"...What do you want?" Solenar suddenly said, "There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world. I understand this simple truth. Tell me what you think, Archon Tirian."

"...I need to establish a 'joint mechanism' that operates under the cover of night," the steel face stared into Solena's eyes, "dominated by frost, covering the entire Frigid Sea - I need the full support of Cold Harbor and Morpheus Port."

Solenna hesitated for a moment, and soon guessed the intention of the "Iron Vice Admiral". He frowned, and subconsciously looked up to find the three Death Church warships that were originally cruising on the edge of the "Sunshine", but found that the three ships had come to the vicinity of the Sea Mist Fleet at some point, and stayed next to the Sea Mist as if they were part of the formation.

"...I understand. Get the sunshine, take the responsibility. Those who don't want to take the responsibility...will be dealt with by us." He withdrew his gaze from the porthole and nodded to the steel-faced man. "As for Hobo..."

"He was three seconds earlier than you promised," Tirian said calmly.

"Okay, I have no questions."

The undead retreated back into the fog in silence. The cold fog condensed with ice crystals gradually dissipated on the bridge. The large pieces of ice floating on the sea were shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye - the sea fog fleet's deterrence to the two opposing parties was lifted.

There was a squeaking sound coming from the receiver hanging next to the communication station, and the indicator light next to it flickered - the communications soldier raised his head hesitantly and looked at his commander.

Solenna's voice was cold and hard: "Pick it up, do you want me to tell you?"

The signalman picked up the receiver and raised his eyes after a moment: "It's Morpheus's public channel..."

Solenna took a step forward with a not-surprised expression, took the receiver, put it to his ear, and listened to the voice coming from inside -

"Sorenna, listen, when I get back..."

"You can tell my nephew everything that happened today—or I'll tell him myself later."

"…You are such a rare asshole."

"Yes, thank you, you too."

"...Yes, thank you, bye."

Solenna put down the receiver and looked through the wide porthole in front of him at the boundless sea shrouded in the night. The sea fog fleet surrounded by biting cold wind was slowly moving away and sinking into the darkness bit by bit.

Looking at the pale golden "sunlight" gradually fading on the nearby sea, Tirian, who was standing on the bow, took a deep breath. After a long silence, he slightly turned his head and said to the person beside him: "Do you think this result is okay?"

"There is no better choice. This is the best outcome." A deep and hoarse voice broke the silence in the darkness. A tall and strong figure wearing a long black windbreaker and covered in thick bandages walked out of the darkness. "Sunlight is limited. The previous way of survival of each city-state to take care of itself is no longer feasible. A joint system based on a strong center can keep as many people as possible alive.

"Sunlight rationing, joint defense fleets, macro-control of resources, and group defense and control of various threats in the night require the establishment of a joint body to achieve. Originally, this task should have been completed by the church, but now their power is limited."

Tirian looked at the three church warships that looked hazy in the night. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "To drag a piece of sun fragment from Frost to Cold Harbor, even the most powerful high-speed tugboat would need six days. This is also the average time required to transfer sun fragments between most city-states in the Frigid Sea...

"If a city-state without 'sunlight' encounters a sudden change, the time it takes to wait for 'sunlight' to return is enough for the disaster to get out of control. Therefore, we need to have several large fleets ready to support each city-state at any time. These fleets must cruise non-stop in the night, and together with the church's patrol fleet, they should be able to cover the entire Leng Leng Sea... but they can only cover the Leng Leng Sea."

"It's enough to cover the Frigid Sea. Other sea areas should also have their own plans." Duncan shook his head. "Compared to this, do you have any doubts about my request that you send the Frost Sun Fragment to Cold Harbor?"

Tirian shook his head. "No."

He turned around and faced the pair of bandaged eyes calmly.

"If I occupy the most sunlight, I will never be able to convincingly establish a reliable and fair 'Frost Sea Union'. In any case, as long as I want to be the one who distributes the sunlight, I can't leave the fragments of the sun in Frost," he said slowly, and then suddenly smiled, "and... Frost's real refuge now is your flame, isn't it?"

Duncan said nothing, but just nodded slightly.

Tirian hesitated for a while, but finally couldn't help asking: "How is the situation 'over there'?"

"We are sailing in the cracks of time, and we don't know how long it will last."

Duncan said casually, and looked down at his own body again - he was actually very surprised, because he had originally prepared to temporarily lose contact with his "incarnations" after crossing the six-nautical-mile critical line, but now it seems... these incarnations are still functioning well.

He could talk to Tirian here and sense the situation on Pland's side normally, but at the same time, his main consciousness was still on the Lost Homeland, experiencing a journey to the end of the world - this experience was wonderful.

He noticed the gazes coming from beside him.

"I didn't take you with me on this trip, but I took your sister with me," Duncan raised his eyelids and glanced at Tirian. "Do you have any grudges?"

Tirian was startled, then he adjusted his expression in an instant, and the look in his one eye returned to its usual calm and serious look: "No, I know what I should do - your arrangement is reasonable."

Hearing the other party's deliberately emphatic response, Duncan said nothing, but a smile appeared in the corners of his eyes covered by the bandages.

He turned and looked off into the distance with Tirian.

After an unknown amount of time, Tirian suddenly heard a voice beside his ear:

"Keep as many people alive as possible, for as long as possible."

He turned his head in surprise.

"You, Lucy, and everyone on the Lost Homeland, everyone in the city-state, each of you has your own things to do, and the common goal of all things is survival - to preserve everything in this world as much as possible, life, memory, civilization, everything, do everything possible to keep them alive."

My father did not look back. He was still gazing into the distance, but he continued speaking calmly—as if he was talking to himself, or as if he was giving instructions.

"Even if the sun never rises again, even if night finally swallows everything, even if the real world begins to collapse and the future seems hopeless, remember this... survive, even if it's just for one more day.

“That’s all you need to do.

"Leave the rest to Dad. Dad will figure it out."

Tirian looked at his father in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking, and did not speak for a long time.

Duncan did not speak any more. He just looked ahead at the bow, at the end of the night.

In his other field of vision, some vague light and shadows suddenly appeared in the uniform gray-white "background color".

The "route" in the cracks of time and space seems to be reaching an end.