Chapter 30: Exiles of the Endless Sea
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His sharp gaze swept over Su Liu like a searchlight, locking onto her in an instant. It shifted repeatedly between the hand still holding her bowl, the brief bewilderment on her face, and the astonishment she immediately forced back down.
Su Liu felt her scalp prickle.
Her thoughts churned violently.
This is bad! How could this happen?
These subterranean creatures were exiles cast out by the Dawn Empire?!
At once, Su Liu thought of her cookbook—
Published by the Dawn Empire’s Jinli Publishing House.
The guards had clearly received the translator’s highest-level warning. Some of them rushed toward the depths of the nest, while the rest nervously aimed their weapons at the cell. Yet alongside their wariness, their eyes now held something more—a complicated mixture of fear and anticipation.
“What’s going on? Su... Soso, that food of yours...” Luke swallowed hard and asked with difficulty.
Su Liu’s mind raced.
These underground creatures had reacted with extraordinary intensity to the flavor of the “Dawn Empire,” filled with almost instinctive awe, terror, and a trace of... longing?
They clearly recognized this method of cooking.
And they had used words like “envoy,” “punishment,” and “judgment”...
A daring, almost insane plan took shape in Su Liu’s mind.
She did not answer Luke. Under Mo Yu’s all-seeing gaze, she forcibly steadied her emotions.
She drew a deep breath and slowly set down the bowl of rabbit steak, still radiating warmth.
Straightening her back, she stopped pretending to be a panicked college student. The bewilderment belonging to “Soso” vanished, replaced by an expression of deliberate distance and scrutiny. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the vine-barred cell, growing deep and... condescending.
She cleared her throat and spoke clearly toward the outside of the cell in a calm yet unquestionable tone—
This time, she did not use the false identity of “Soso.” Instead, she went straight to the heart of the matter:
“I have come bearing the light of dawn. Its flavor is the seal of my identity.”
Outside the cell, absolute silence descended.
The antennae of every clansman who heard her words froze in place.
Shock. Suspicion.
But more than that...
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There was the awe of the dawnlight, buried for who knew how many ages, and... a faint, newly rekindled flame of hope.
The short translator’s body shook violently, and he nearly fell to his knees.
At that moment, hurried, heavy footsteps came from deep within the nest. An old yet remarkably penetrating voice rang out, this time in fluent Common touched with the weight of antiquity:
“People of exile, welcome... the envoy’s arrival!”
The heavy vines were cautiously moved aside by the guards. An old man with hair and beard entirely white—
if those things resembling fibers of white crystal could be called hair and beard—
appeared at the cell door beneath the protection of several powerful clansmen. His body was slightly stooped, but his eyes were like deep pools and ancient wells.
He stared deeply at the bowl of food Su Liu had set down, then looked back at her. His murky eyes contained emotions too complicated to put into words—
scrutiny, excitement, and, more than anything, a careful test... and supplication.
Mo Yu silently captured every minute change in Su Liu’s expression. The black raven lightly pecked at his ear.
Luke had completely turned to stone, utterly unable to comprehend this dramatic and bewildering turn of events.
The little dumpling perched on Su Liu’s shoulder seemed to sense the upheaval in its master’s emotions and surroundings. It quietly rose and warily surveyed the beings its master had called “the people of exile.”
At last, the elder’s gaze settled on Su Liu’s face, filled with profound reverence and the hope of someone who had finally awaited the arrival of something long desired.
“Exiles of the Endless Sea, we welcome the envoy of the dawnlight. Esteemed envoy... have you come bearing the Supreme Council’s... pardon? Or...”
He drew a deep breath. His voice trembled almost imperceptibly as he asked the question that mattered most to his entire race:
“...Is this the eternal exile of our people? Or... are you finally willing to guide us... to recover... the coordinates of the Land of Light?”
Su Liu met the old man’s eyes, eyes filled with hope, fear, accusation, and countless other tangled emotions. Her heart pounded wildly against her ribs.
She forced herself to remain calm, blending the arrogance and compassion of an “envoy of the dawn” into a posture of precisely measured authority.
She did not answer the elder’s question directly. Instead, she pointed at the bowl of rabbit steak, exuding its distinctive fragrance and now seeming to symbolize a turn in fate. Her voice was calm, yet carried an unquestionable majesty:
“This has already revealed my purpose. The dawnlight has not forgotten the remnants in the abyss. I have come here for one reason alone.”
She paused briefly, taking in the sudden, almost feverish brightness that flared in the elder’s eyes. Only then did she slowly utter the final sentence, instantly igniting all the hope he possessed:
“I have come... to lead you, within the abyss... in rebuilding the foundation of the Ark.”
A sudden blaze erupted in the underground elder’s murky eyes, so bright it nearly pierced through the mask of composure Su Liu had painstakingly maintained.
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His stooped body trembled violently, as though infused with an invisible strength. Around him, all the exiles watching let out a low, indistinct hum suppressing their wild joy, while the lights atop their antennae flickered frantically.
“Lead... lead us... rebuild... the foundation of the Ark...”
The elder’s voice broke apart, repeating Su Liu’s deliberately vague words, words brimming with hope.
Those eight words were like a massive stone hurled into a dead pool, instantly stirring the despair and longing that had accumulated in this silent underground world over countless ages.
In the darkness of exile, even the faintest ray from the dawnlight was enough to set the wilderness ablaze.
“People of exile, we are willing to die for the envoy of the light!”
The elder suddenly stepped back, raised a hand to his brow, and bowed deeply to the ground, his posture devout and humble.
Behind him, every guard and every other clansman who had hurried over at the news performed the same gesture in perfect unison, as though welcoming the descent of a true god.
The atmosphere throughout the cavernous prison district shifted in an instant—from vigilance and confinement to fanaticism and sacrificial submission.
Luke stared in stunned disbelief, his mouth hanging open.
Mo Yu remained silent. Yet the dark eyes fixed on Su Liu’s back were as deep as a freezing pool. All his shock had settled into the deepest recesses, leaving only an even more profound scrutiny.
He could clearly “see” the muscles along Su Liu’s back tighten for an instant, then forcibly relax. She was gambling—and she had won the opening move. But the game had only grown more perilous.
Su Liu’s heart hammered so violently it seemed ready to break through her chest. Her face, however, maintained that distant, compassionate expression. She gave a slight nod.
“Rise. The dawnlight has no fondness for meaningless ceremony.”
After a brief pause, her gaze swept casually across the vast and extraordinary underground nest. Her voice became even lower and calmer.
“The foundation of the Ark requires sturdy materials. Though this place lies in the depths, everything has its use. Show me what you possess that may aid in its rebuilding.”
For the time that followed, accompanied with near-humility by the elder, Su Liu was escorted through this settlement buried deep beneath the earth in her capacity as an “envoy of the dawnlight.”
Her bearing carried the natural authority of one entitled to scrutinize and criticize. Her gaze passed over structures covered in strange, luminous fungal mats, caves where supplies were stored, and materials the clansmen were processing—
metal wreckage, unusual ores, and even the shells and mucus of subterranean creatures.