Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 159: Phantom is coming, deep sea dream

"The deepest part of the sea is not darkness."

"It's a dream, a dream from which one cannot wake up. It's the sleeping place of all memories and destinies."

The water pressure roared like a war drum, slowly vibrating in the deep rhythm of the dream sea.

The Lost One lurks in the deep blue abyss, with an unnatural cold light floating on its hull.
It was as if there was some weak but persistent will struggling to maintain the existence of this ship, preventing it from collapsing with the nightmare.

Every advance is like crossing some forgotten boundary of destiny.

The deck was dim, and the ship's light hung alone on the bow, like a soul-guiding lantern, lighting the fire of hope in the endless black water.

The faint blue light was both faint and firm, as if it came from the guidance of the deepest part of a dream.

Calvino stood at the bow, gripping the tiller with both hands, his knuckles white, his face as calm as a sinking ship.

Lilia stood beside him, her long hair floating gently in the low-gravity ocean current.

It was as if she did not belong to this world, but was part of the deep ocean.

"Already...almost there." She whispered.

Her voice sounded like a dream talk, or like the whisper of a ghost in the deep sea, swallowed by the water and echoing again.

In the Lost's meeting room, the silence was as thick as the night tide.

The light from the deep sea streamed through the heavy portholes, reflecting on the mottled metal of the round table and between the fingers, like some ancient and inviolable call.

The protagonists sat in a circle, each with a different expression and heavy thoughts in their hearts. The air seemed to be filled with static electricity, as if the mystery of their fate was about to be revealed.

"Why are we here?" Rex spoke first, his voice as low as the surging tide.

Calvino looked up, his eyes as steady as the rocks on the seabed: "Because I want to end their obsession."

He spread out his palm, and eight "seals" lay quietly in his palm, like the embers of the soul, each engraved with a forgotten name - those crew members who had boarded the Lost and were swallowed by nightmares.

"I owe them closure," he whispered. "A real end."

Rex was silent for a moment, then nodded: "I came because...Mira's whispers continue."

His voice was trembling, but firm.

"She said that at the end of the Sea of Dreams lies the 'Riddle of Fate.' If I can find it, perhaps, I can... bring her back."

"That was a dream," Alison snorted, her voice sharp and cold.

"It could also be a lie." She paused, but did not continue.

"But isn't all faith in this world based on little dreams?"

Rex asked back, his eyes calm, as if he was looking into something deeper.

Alison leaned back with her arms folded, her tone still cold. "I don't need dreams. I'm here to take back the 'resources' to fulfill my promise."

Be it gold coins or secret rewards—as long as the remaining soldiers under my command can still have enough food and clothing, that’s enough.”

"You are truly the most romantic rationalist in the world." Ian smiled, leaning back in his chair, his feet casually resting on the table, his fingertips flipping a wind card.

"What about you?" Lilia looked at him.

An imperceptible shadow flashed across Ian's eyes, which was quickly hidden behind a chuckle: "Me?"

"I just want to forget something." His tone was relaxed.
"If the dreaming can help me sleep—and stop having those nightmares, then... that's good."

After these words were spoken, the table fell silent for a moment. His smile was light, but it couldn't hide the old scar of fatigue at the corner of his eye.

"Baroque?" Calvino looked at him.

"I..." Baroque scratched his head and spoke awkwardly, "I didn't think too much about it."

"But you're the captain, and this ship is my home. If you say you want a 'true ending'... then I'll follow."

He paused and grinned.

"Pirates, that's the kind of awareness that matters."

Everyone smiled slightly.

Turn your gaze to the last person.

Siming said nothing. He sat in the shadows with his head bowed, his fingers fiddling with the deck of cards in his hand, flipping them out one by one and then pushing them down one by one.

It's like waiting for a gambling game to start.

"I came here to find the answer." He finally spoke, his voice as light as a chip dropped into the deep sea.

"About your own nightmare?" Lilia asked.

Siming looked out the porthole and saw the sea as mirror-like, dark blue and surging.

His eyes were equally deep, hiding some unspeakable stubbornness and sharpness.

"more than."

"The Thousand Faces pushed me into the nightmare, saying it was to 'please a certain being'."

"I just want to know—who is watching us?"

"Who is the real gambler?"

He finished speaking and smiled softly. That smile did not belong to reality, as if it came from the card table of another world.
A player who doesn't believe in God or fate finally puts his cards on the table:

——"It's my turn to bet."

"arrive."

Lilia stood up and slowly raised the Dream Lamp in her hand.

The lights were like mist, swaying and dispersing in the ocean currents, illuminating the way ahead.

The Lost came to rest before a vast deep-sea rift, as if it had reached the edge of the world. The darkness seemed to swallow all language and memory, and even time itself lost its speed.

next moment--

The dark blue tide surged back from the rift, like a silver mist rolling across the deck, and like a layer of soft dream yarn, gently revealing the secrets beneath the abyss.

That's a city.

No, it is a sleeping "sea city".

It lies at the bottom of the abyss, huge in scale and bizarre in structure, like the remains of some ancient civilization frozen in time.

Towers, palaces, stairs, circular plazas, everything is decayed yet elegantly preserved in the entanglement of algae and corals, as if the remains of a dream have been soaked by the tide for thousands of years.

It looked dead, yet it seemed as if it would open its eyes at any moment.

In the center of the city, on top of a high tower, a floating crystal slowly rotates, like a star or a heart.

That is "Dream", the central will of the Sea of Dreams, and the purpose of everyone's journey.

And just as the dream core flickered, they heard a voice.

Not from someone, but from - "it".

The voice was like a whisper, like a heartbeat, and like the humming of an ancient god gently caressing the edge of the soul.

Every syllable carries a subtle sense of tearing, making one's scalp tingle and heartbeat disordered.

The dream ended.

Five shadows of light quietly emerged around the sea city, like illusions surging from the tide, or like a judge awakening from the dream of the gods:

——No.467 "Masura, the Intersection of Reality and Illusion"

She was wearing a flowing mirror structure, and her face was constantly changing, from childhood to old age, from man to woman, from laughing to crying.

She lowered her head and smiled softly: "Perhaps reality is a delusion.

Are you sure that the face you saw was 'yourself'?"

Her field - "Mirror of All Things".

——No.509 "Inar, the Soother of Deep Dreams"

She wore long hair like a mother-of-the-sea, and in her arms she held countless miniature worlds created from dreams. She whispered softly:

"You can stay. There is no pain here, only eternal tenderness and happiness."

Her field - "The End of Tranquility".

——No.618 "Illusion Director Sabellius"

He wears multiple theatrical masks, dragging gears and an auditorium behind him, and sits on a mechanical throne.

His voice was low, like a pronouncement of fate:

"All your struggles are just plot reactions preset in my script."

His domain - "Fate Loop Domain".

——No.703 "The Forgotten Manager: Tizel"

He was wearing a cloak made of torn pages, his eyes were blurred, and behind him were balls of light of other people's memories.

"You've long forgotten who you really are. I'm just helping you complete this final step."

His field - "The Abyss of Fragments".

——No.781 "Lord of Delusion: Irostia"

He was faceless and eyeless, sitting high on the throne in the corridor. His voice was hollow, a question, a sigh, a mockery, a laugh:
"Does all your persistence... make sense?"

His field - "Empty Corridor".

At that moment, Haicheng opened his eyes.

The entire deep sea trembled slightly, and an indescribable will spread out from the core of the dream, directly hitting the core of everyone's consciousness.

The Lord of Dreams has awakened.

It is not a god, but it possesses the authority of God.

It is not life, but it controls the boundary between death and dreams.

It whispers, announcing the rules of the challenge, like a judge opening a theater:
"Come on, challengers of dreams."

"With your lucidity—prove that you are worthy of existence."

The Lost was quietly moored at the edge of the sea city.

The ocean current seemed to have stopped, time seemed to have frozen, and only the countdown of the sobriety value slowly started.

One grid after another.

They will bet their existence on it.

Betting on memory.

Bet on faith.

It's not about passing the level, it's not about winning.